Guns N' Roses

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Fact Sheet

Musical genre:	Rock
Country	USA
Years active	1985-

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band that originated in Los Angeles in 1985. The original line-up consisted of:

Axl Rose - vocals
Slash - lead guitar
Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar
Duff McKagan - bass guitar
Steve Adler - drums

The name was derived from the names of two previous projects, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose.

The line-up as above released three albums:

Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide - a self-produced EP in 1985
Appetite for Destruction - Their first LP under Geffen Records in 1987, sold 20 million copies, had three top 10 singles, and hit #1 on the charts
G N' R Lies - released in 1988 hit #2 on the charts

Conributing Welcome to the Jungle to the soundtrack of movie The Dead Pool (in the Dirty Harry series) also gave them a couple of seconds onscreen in the movie.

Shortly after the release of "Lies", drummer Steve Adler was dismissed from the band, reportedly due to his unwillingness to address his heroin addiction. Other members addressed their addiction after Axl Rose spoke up about them "dancing with Mr. Brownstone" during their opening venue for the Rolling Stones. In 1990 Guns N' Roses returned to the studio with new drummer Matt Sorum and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. In 1991 they released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which debuted as #2 and #1 on the charts.

After the release of the Use Your Illusion albums Guns N' Roses went on a 28-month-long world tour, during which Izzy Stradlin quit the band and was replaced by Gilby Clarke. The tour included The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. During this time, November Rain became the most requested video on MTV, eventually winning a VMA for best cinematography.

In 1993, Guns n' Roses released a collection of mostly punk covers entitled The Spaghetti Incident? which, because grunge had started become ascendant in the rock and roll world, sold poorly. In 1994 a cover version of The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil was recorded by the band, joined by Paul Huge (replacing Gilby Clarke), for the movie Interview with the Vampire. Several members started up their side projects (such as Slash with Slash's Snakepit and Duff McKagan in the Neurotic Boy Outsiders), and over the next several years all the remaining original members were one after another kicked out of the band by Axl Rose, claiming to be the sole owner of the Guns N' Roses name.

In 1998 Axl Rose returned to the studio accompanied by:

Josh Freese - drums (from Vandals)
Tommy Stinson - bass (from The Replacements)
Robin Finck - guitar (from Nine Inch Nails)
Paul Huge - guitar
Dizzy Reed - keyboards

In 1999, the band released one new song, Oh My God, which was included on the soundtrack of the poorly-received Arnold Schwarzenegger film End of Days. This song was intended to be a prelude for a new album, Chinese Democracy; however, that project was delayed for several years, fueling speculation that it and the band were dropped by their record label, Interscope. Later in 1999, Finck returned to Nine Inch Nails to record The Fragile; in 2000, he returned once again to Guns N' Roses, along with guitarist Buckethead.

In 2001 Guns N' Roses released an official live album called Live Era 1987-93.

Reports issued by the band in 2001 and 2002 claimed that Chinese Democracy was to be released later that year by Interscope/Geffen Records, with whom they had apparently patched up their differences (if any). Several release dates set for September, November and December had come and gone with no sign of the album. As of 2004, the album is still unreleased.

In March 2004 Buckethead left the band, causing Rose to cancel a concert in Rio and still postpone the release of the album.

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