The founder-members of the most controversial heavy rock
band of the late 80s included Axl Rose
(an anagram of Oral Sex)
(b. William Bailey, 6 February 1962, Lafayette, Indiana, USA)
and Izzy Stradlin
(b. Jeffrey 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
(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, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire,
England), the son of a clothes designer and an album cover artist.
With bass player Duff McKagan
(b. Michael McKagan,
5 February 1964, Seattle, Washington, USA; ex-Fartz;
Fastbacks; Ten Minute Warning; and approximately 30 other
north-west bands), the band was renamed Guns N'Roses.
Following the disastrous US Hell Tour '85, Guns N'Roses
released an EP, Live?!*@ Like A Suicide, on the independent
Uzi/Suicide label. This brought intense interest from critics and
record companies and in 1986 the group signed to Geffen
Records, who reissued the EP the following year. During 1987
they toured extensively, though the group'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 20 million copies worldwide and
reached number 1 in the USA a year after its release date.
'Welcome To The Jungle' was used on the soundtrack of the
Clint Eastwood film Dead Pool, and reached the Top 30 in the UK.
The group'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 Donington, England,
in 1988. In 1989 the eight-track album G N' R Lies was issued,
becoming a big hit on both sides of the Atlantic, as were the singles
'Sweet Child O' Mine'
(written about Rose's girlfriend and later wife
Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly), 'Paradise City' and 'Patience'.
However, Rose's lyrics for 'One In A Million' were widely criticized
for their homophobic sentiments. 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. 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 Reed;
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 group released the highly publicized
pair of albums, Use Your Illusion I and II, preceded by a version of
Bob Dylan 's 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door' from the soundtrack of
Days Of Thunder. Further hit singles, 'You Could Be Mine'
(featured
in the film Terminator II ) and 'Don't Cry', followed. The Illusion
brace immediately sat astride the top two album positions in the
Billboard chart, the first occasion on which they had been thus
dominated since Jim Croce in 1974. 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
(ex-Kill For Thrills). Meanwhile,
Slash's growing reputation brought guest appearances on recordings
by Dylan and Michael Jackson. He also contributed to tribute albums
to Muddy Waters and Les Paul, and subsequently established his
own spin-off band, Slash's Snakepit. Guns N'Roses' appearance at
the 1992 Freddie Mercury AIDS Benefit concert prompted the
reissue of 'Knockin' On Heaven's Door', and while Dylan fans groaned
with disbelief, the band's vast following was happy to see its heroes
scale the charts shortly after the single's release. While both of their
previous albums remained on the US chart, having sold more than four
million copies each, it was not until the end of 1993 that any new
material emerged. When it arrived, it came in the form of The Spaghetti
Incident, a much vaunted collection of cover versions with a punk
foundation. A perfunctory affair, it was mainly notable for lining the
pockets of several long-forgotten musicians
( UK Subs, Nazareth,
Misfits, Fear, etc.), and for including a song written by mass murderer
Charles Manson. The main inspiration behind the project, Duff McKagan,
had his debut solo album released at the same time. However, reports
of an unhappy camp continued to filter through in 1994, leading to the
dismissal of Gilby Clarke towards the end of the year, following his own,
highly public, outbursts about Rose. His replacement was Paul Huge,
a former flatmate of Rose from his Indiana days. Huge's first recording
with the band was a cover version of the Rolling Stones' 'Sympathy For
The Devil' for the soundtrack to Interview With The Vampire. However,
Huge stayed only briefly with the band, as did his replacement, Zakk
Wylde
(ex- Ozzy Osbourne ), who failed to record a single note with the
band before falling out irreconcilably with Rose. In May 1995 Izzy
Stradlin was reinstated as second guitarist, but by the end of the year
Rose and Slash were again at loggerheads and no new album was
imminent. Sorum and McKagen, meanwhile, teamed up with guitarist
Steve Jones for the spin-off band the Neurotic Outsiders. Slash confirmed
Rose's departure in November 1996, although this situation was reversed
in February 1997 when Rose allegedly purchased the rights to the
Guns N'Roses name. Later in the year, this was seemingly confirmed by
the recruitment of Robin Finck, formerly of Nine Inch Nails, to replace Slash.
|
