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Guns N' Roses is a heavy metal band that formed in the mid 1980s in Los Angeles, from members of the bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. The original band consisted of W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Bailey) on vocals, Slash (born Saul Hudson) on lead guitar, Izzy Stradlin (born Jeff Isbell) on rhythm guitar, Duff McKagan (born Michael McKagan) on bass, and Steven Adler on drums. Their first release was a mini-live album, "Live Like A Suicide", for the independent label, Uzi Suicide Records, in 1986. They then signed to Geffen Records.
Their first official album, Appetite For Destruction, was one of the biggest selling albums of the 1980s. It featured many classic hits, including "Welcome To The Jungle", "Paradise City", and "Sweet Child O' Mine".
Next came the album GNR Lies in 1988. This album featured four live tracks from the "Live Like A Suicide" album and four acoustic tracks, including the hit "Patience" and the controversial song "One In A Million".
Guns N' Roses tended to stay in the news quite a bit during this time, mostly due to incidents involving singer Axl Rose. He reportedly started a riot during a concert in St. Louis, when he fought with a fan who took his picture, then left the stage. This was just one of the many incidents that started wearing on the other members of the band. The first member to leave was drummer Steven Adler, when he was fired by Rose for drug usage. He was replaced by drummer Matt Sorum, who had previously worked with the band The Cult.
In 1991, GNR fans were treated to not one, but two, studio album releases: Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Both of these albums became multi-platinum sellers for the band, and featured several hit songs, including "November Rain" and "Don't Cry" from the first album, and "You Could Be Mine" and "Estranged" from the second album. More tensions befell the band during this time, and guitarist Izzy Stradlin walked away from the band to start a solo career. He was replaced by guitarist Gilby Clarke. Another member, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, was added to the lineup as well. In 1992, the band went on tour with Metallica. During a show in Montreal, Metallica guitarist James Hetfield was severely burned in a pyrotechnics accident, and Metallica asked Guns N' Roses to cover for them to keep the audience happy. But when GNR took the stage, Axl became angry with the sound system and stormed off stage after only four songs. This led to a violent riot, leaving dozens of people injured, and Montreal police almost couldn't get the crowds under control. Metallica was angered by Axl's behavior and vowed to never tour with GNR again.
For members Slash and Duff McKagan, it became more and more difficult to work with Axl Rose after the release of the Illusion albums. The band released The Spaghetti Incident, a lackluster collection of cover songs, in 1993. The only major hit from this album was "Buick MacKane", in which Slash did some lead vocal work. A cover of the Rolling Stones song, "Sympathy For The Devil", came out in 1994. By then, the band had reached a breaking point.
Slash officially left Guns N' Roses in 1996, and formed his own band, Slash's Snakepit, which released an album then. In 1997, Duff McKagan left, leaving only Axl Rose from the original band. Since 1994, Axl virtually kept himself out of the public eye, working with various musicians on a followup release to the Illusion albums. Some of the many musicians who worked with Axl during this period included guitarist Robin Finck of Nine Inch Nails, bassist Tommy Stinson of The Replacements, and the oddball guitarist Buckethead.
In 1999, the album Live Era '87-'93 was released. It was the first live effort for the band since their mini-live album debut. Geffen managed to print the songs on the wrong CDs, placing the first disc's songs on the second disc, and vice versa. In 2004, Geffen released their final GNR album, Greatest Hits, which displeased not only Axl, but also the former members of the band, stating that the songs on the album did not represent the band's best work, since the album didn't include the band members input. Nonetheless, the album has since sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone.
Die hard GNR fans still await the release of Chinese Democracy, the first GNR release in nearly thirteen years. It is supposed to feature a new sound, with only Axl Rose at the helm of the band. Meanwhile, former members Slash, Duff and Matt Sorum achieved superstardom again with their new band, Velvet Revolver, featuring Scott Weiland (formerly of Stone Temple Pilots) on vocals. Former member Izzy Stradlin continues with his solo career, and former drummer Steven Adler leads his own band, Adler's Appetite. Though they have all gone their separate ways, the original lineup of Guns N' Roses left a short but powerful mark in rock and roll history that will always be remembered.