The Strange Days (mostly nights) of Guns N? Roses

Kenny "Axil" Rose (Lead vocals), D.J. "Slash (Lead guitar), Joshua "Duff" McKagan (Bass Guitar/backing vocals), Terry "Izzy" Stradlin (Rhythm guitar/backing vocals) and Chuck "Matt Sorum" Johnson (Drums/Percussion) make Guns N' Roses. The group has ridden a wave of success and failure spanning decades, which is almost unknown in the Heavy Metal music scene. Many fans of Guns N' Roses believe that Guns N' Roses is a Heavy Metal Rock band that is larger than large and has a collection of songs and hits not known to the Heavy Metal music scene since the Sex Pistols.

The lives of the band members have come under scrutiny of the public eye when the members' experiences with drugs and sexual exploits came to the knowledge of the general public. The penchant for generating negative press dims in the light of their breathtaking song-writing and energetic performances. Their 1987 album, Appetite for Destruction, is undoubtedly a benchmark that many other albums and bands have failed to measure up to.

The fame of Guns N' Roses continue to rock the world of Heavy Metal music with the rancorous songwriting and Slash's vigorous guitar performances. Slash has been featured in various popular guitar magazines countless times and the band itself has been featured on many other magazines, newsletters and newspapers.

Guns N' Roses popped into the music scene when the music scene was dominated by pop music and pop-metal and the future of Guns N' Roses seem blurry at the point. But they proved the critics wrong when songs many consider raw and an uglier version of rock & roll came galloping into the charts full speed. The members of Guns N' Roses are definitely not known to behave in an angelic way - and they've never tried to behave in any other way, in fact, the members are known to be 'ugly', 'misogynist', 'violent'?.but they are also known to be 'funny', 'individualistic', 'vulnerable' and sometimes 'sensitive'.

Guns N' Roses music is very basic and gritty - honest to a fault. They are everything true heavy metal music should be. Listening to Guns N' Roses, listeners will soon realize that their music can evoke a wide range of emotions, from anger to sadness, from devotion to hatred.

Guns N' Roses released their first EP in 1986 which grabbed attention of heavy metal music lovers all around the world. The release of the EP led to their first debut album, Appetite for Destruction. The album didn't start selling until almost a year later, as the group toured and performed in numerous live shows. Only when attention was given by MTV by playing "Sweet Child of Mine", the album shot straight for the number one spot! Taking opportunity of their sudden fame, they re-released their debut single "Welcome to the Jungle" and it instantly rocked its way to Top Ten. Other albums and songs followed including "Patience" and "One in a Million". They started work on their follow-up album in 1990 and it's in the same year that Adler was fired and replaced by Matt Sorum from "The Cult". In addition, Dizzy Reed on keyboards was also introduced. The recordings for 1 new album turned into 2 new albums - "Use your Illusion I" and "Use your Illusion II".

"Use your Illusions I and II" initially sold very well until Nirvana's "Nevermind" broke their successful stride. Rose took over the band with a change of attitude and as a result, Stradlin, one of the best songwriter of all times, left Guns N' Roses in 1991 and he was replaced with Gilby Clarke (Kill for Thrills). It wasn't until 1993 that the fans of Guns N' Roses could come to terms with the change because Stradlin had an important role to play in the band. Their following album, The Spaghetti Incident, did garner good reviews but it still failed to capture the kind of spirit that was apparent in the early days of Guns N' Roses. Guns N' Roses appeared to have lost their edge and many thought that they were out of the race for good. The situation was further worsened with the departure of, yet, another band member, Slash, leaving Rose as the last of the original cast for Guns N' Roses.

In 1999, the first original song in 8 years for Guns N' Roses, "Oh My God" was released and it was featured in "End of Days" film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. The new lineup for Guns N' Roses consist of Rose, Finck, Buckethead, Stinson, Brian Mantia, Paul Huge, and Dizzy Reed. The new Guns N' Roses continue to play and perform wherever they can but they generated some bad press when former members of Guns N' Roses were BANNED from watching their performances. Soon Paul Huge joined the lineup of EX Guns N' Roses members and was promptly replaced with Richard Fortus (former Love Spit Love). Fans and critics alike are waiting to see what the new lineup can come up with while the group of ex-GNR members continues to enjoy celebrity status.

Dean Erickson. Journalist, and web site builder Dean Erickson lives in Texas. He is the owner and co-editor of http://www.all-guns-n-roses.info on which you will find a longer, more detailed version of this article.

Latest News


Metacafe Invites Viewers to Get Their Groove On With New Music Channel
MarketWatch - 3 hours ago
Metacafe's more than 38 million unique monthly viewers(1) are now invited to watch, comment on and share their favorite music videos. ...

Nokia Music Store Italy: More Than 4 Million Songs
MarketWatch - 6 hours ago
has announced the launch in Italy of its new digital music site, Nokia Music Store, which already has a catalogue of more than 4 million songs amongst which ...

New York Times

He Can Bring the Wine and the Music
New York Times, United States - 10 hours ago
By ERIC ASIMOV FOR music and for wine, David Chan says, language has its limitations. He should know. THE RIGHT NOTES David Chan, violinist and Burgundy ...

Music Review | Kirov Orchestra and Chorus Prokofiev Did Relish a ...
New York Times, United States - 10 hours ago
By JAMES R. OESTREICH It’s too bad, as Harlow Robinson points out in program notes, that Prokofiev never got around to reshaping his music for the two-part ...

Canada.com

Music Review: Chinese Democracy
Entertainment Weekly - 2 hours ago
This is unapologetically huge music, not fit for tiny iPod earbuds. At times it's possible to hear the world-changing CD that Rose — whose banshee howl ...
Axl Rose's Most Amazing MTV Moments, In Bigger Than The Sound MTV.com
Official UK Chinese Democracy premiere announced MusicRadar.com - The place for music makers
'Chinese Democracy' review: Ancient Chinese secret, huh? Hilton Head Island Packet
Idolator - MSNBC
all 109 news articles

paidContent.org - Gaming Roundup: NatGeo; Music Mogul; Square Enix ...
Washington Post, United States - 7 hours ago
?Music-focused virtual world to launch in February : Is there room for another virtual world?and a music-focused one at that? The founders of Music Mogul ...

Product Reviews

Microsoft slashes prices of several Zune music players
Seattle Post Intelligencer - 13 hours ago
By JOSEPH TARTAKOFF Microsoft slashed the prices of several of its Zune music players Tuesday, hoping to drive holiday sales despite the weak economic ...
Microsoft Hopes Price Cuts Will Help Zune in the Holiday Season Profy
all 17 news articles

Telegraph.co.uk

Sleater-Kinney's guitarist tries out Wii Music.
Slate - 4 hours ago
That's what I thought of the first time I played Nintendo's new game Wii Music. Unlike Rock Band and Guitar Hero, where the fun is derived from living ...
"BANDthology-This Game Rocks!" MarketWatch
Wii Music fails to find an audience at launch Ars Technica
Wii Music video game review Telegraph.co.uk
Blabbermouth.net - Softpedia
all 31 news articles

Reuters

Perfume maker sues musician Prince
Reuters - Nov 17, 2008
According to the lawsuit, filed in New York State Supreme Court, Prince and his music publisher Universal Music Publishing Group reached a licensing ...
Prince Spritzed With Fragrance Suit E! Online
Prince sued for failing to promote perfume NME.com
Prince Is Smelly PerezHilton.com
Curlio.com - AHN
all 634 news articles

ABC News

A Little Bit of Country Music Goes a Long Way for Nontraditional ...
ABC News - 18 hours ago
By IMAEYEN IBANGA Country music has given birth to some of the nation's best songs, artists and has helped give birth to rock-'n'-roll. ...
Country Music Finds New Star In Darius Rucker NPR
all 2 news articles

Resources