Biography of
Guns N' Roses
The original members of the most controversial heavy rock band of the late 80s included Axl Rose (an anagram of Oral Sex) (b. William Bruce Rose Jnr., 6 February 1962, Lafayette, Indiana, USA) and Izzy Stradlin (b. Jeffrey Dean Isbell, 8 April 1962, Lafayette, Indiana, USA). Vocalist Rose, who had first sung at the age of five in a church choir, met guitarist Stradlin in Los Angeles in 1984. He changed his name to Rose at the age of 17 when he discovered who his real father was, the Axl prefix coming from a band with whom he had rehearsed in Indiana. With Tracii Guns (b. 20 January 1966, USA; guitar) and Rob Gardner (drums), they formed a rock band called, in turn, Rose, Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. Soon afterwards, Guns and Gardner left, to be replaced by two members of local band Road Crew, drummer Steven Adler (b. 22 January 1965, Cleveland, Ohio, USA) and guitarist Slash (b. Saul Hudson, 23 July 1965, Hampstead, London, England), the son of a clothes designer and an album cover artist. With bass player Duff McKagan (b. Michael Andrew McKagan, 5 February 1964, Seattle, Washington, USA; ex-Fastbacks, Ten Minute Warning, and approximately 30 other north-west bands), the band was renamed Guns N’Roses.
Despite the disastrous US Hell Tour ’85, record companies were becoming increasingly interested in Guns N’Roses and in 1986, the band signed to Geffen Records. At the end of the year the four-track EP, Live?!*@ Like A Suicide, was released on the independent UZI/Suicide label. During 1987, they toured extensively, though the band’s appetite for self-destruction became readily apparent when Fred Coury of Cinderella was recruited to replace Adler temporarily, after the latter had broken his hand in a brawl. February 1988 also saw the first internal rift when Rose was kicked out, then reinstated, within three days. Their debut, Appetite For Destruction, produced by Mike Clink, went on to sell over 20 million copies worldwide and reached number 1 in the USA a year after its release date. The singles ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ (written about Rose’s girlfriend and later wife Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly), ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City’ were also major transatlantic hits, with ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ topping the US charts. ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ was also used on the soundtrack of the Clint Eastwood movieDead Pool.
The band’s regular live shows in the USA and Europe brought frequent controversy, notably when two fans died during crowd disturbances at the Monsters Of Rock show at the Donington Festival in 1988. In 1989, the eight-track album G N’R Lies was issued, becoming a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic. The first four tracks were lifted from the band’s debut EP, while the remaining four were acoustic recordings. The melodic and wistful ‘Patience’ reached the US Top 5 and UK Top 10. However, Rose’s lyrics for ‘One In A Million’ were widely criticized for their homophobic sentiments, although the singer later argued that these did not represent his personal point of view.
Although Guns N’Roses appeared at the Farm Aid IV charity concert, their career was littered with incidents involving drugs, drunkenness and public disturbance offences in 1989/90. At times their excesses made the band seem like a caricature of a 60s supergroup, with headlines screaming of Stradlin urinating in public on an aeroplane, Slash and McKagan swearing live on television while collecting trophies at the American Music Awards, and Rose’s on-off relationship with Everly. In September 1990, Adler was replaced by Matt Sorum (b. Matthew Sorum, 19 November 1960, Mission Viejo, California, USA) from the Cult. Apparently more restrained in their private life, Guns N’Roses added Dizzy Reed (b. Darren Arthur Reed, 18 June 1963, Hinsdale, Illinois, USA; keyboards) for a 1991 world tour, where their exciting and unpredictable performances brought favourable comparisons with the heyday of the Rolling Stones. In September the band released the highly publicized pair of albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, preceded by the hit single ‘You Could Be Mine’ (featured in the movie Terminator 2: Judgement Day). Further transatlantic hit singles included ‘Don’t Cry’, the epic ballad ‘November Rain’, and a cover version of Wings’ ‘Live And Let Die’ (from the James Bond movie of the same name). The Illusion brace immediately sat astride the top two album positions on the Billboard chart, the first occasion on which they had been thus dominated since Jim Croce in 1974. The feat was repeated in the UK, but the band’s more expansive sound (incorporating elements of classical music and the blues) drew a mixed reaction from critics and fans.
Izzy Stradlin found the pressure too much and left late in 1991, going on to form the Ju Ju Hounds. He was replaced by Gilby Clarke (b. 17 August 1962, Cleveland, Ohio, USA; ex-Kill For Thrills).