I have no idea why it took me so long to actually listen to Guns and Roses....but I finally did today.

The guitar work on Chinese Democracy is kicking my butt.

I LOVE this.

Can you guys please recommend more music like this?

Wow.

GNR are my favourite band. I am a massive fan.

Unfortunately, they have a pretty small back catalogue, but everything they have put out is worth owning. Their first album Appetite For Destruction is (quite rightly) considered to be the best hard rock album ever made. Stuff like Welcome To The Jungle, Rocket Queen, Mr Brownstone, Sweet Child O Mine etc is just absolutely timeless.

Their second release was an odds and ends EP called GNR Lies. It comprised of four pre-Appetite demos and four new acoustic tracks. It's only eight tracks long and no way near as good as their proper albums (for obvious reasons) but it's still worth owning though for songs like Patience, Used To Love Her and Move To The City.

The proper follow-up to their debut album was Use Your Illusions I and II which were two seperate albums released simultaneously on the same day. They're both pretty epic, and whilst it's not as concise or focused as AFD, both albums are rated very highly amongst the fans. It was pretty much original GNR at their creative peak, 28 tracks in total, including some absolute classics like November Rain, You Could Be Mine, Estranged, Civil War, Don't Cry etc. And then you have the lesser-known but equally brilliant gems like Coma, Locomotive and Breakdown which are amongst some of the best songs in their canon of work.

Next came the covers albums "The Spaghetti Incident?" which I suppose, objectively speaking, is the only GNR album that isn't essential listening imo. I happen to really like it. They picked a lot of songs from fairly obscure or little-known punk bands and gave them the Guns treatment. Check out Human Being - that ones brilliant.

And then came Chinese Democracy - by far their most divisive and controversial record. Axl and Dizzy Reed are the only members remaining from the original line-up, so a lot of purists don't even consider it a proper GNR record. But I personally love the fuck out of it. Songs like Better and Shacklers Revenge are amongst the most kick-ass rock music I've heard from anyone post-00's. And then you have the more mellow, piano-laden stuff like Catcher In The Rye and This I Love which are just classic Axl Rose.

It's worth checking out Velvet Revolver also. It's pretty much Guns N Roses fronted by Scott Weiland (RIP) instead of Axl. There were actually more original GNR members in Velvet Revolver than on Chinese Democracy, and their first album Contraband is a solid rock album with some great ballads (check out Fall To Pieces, You Got No Right, Loving The Alien). They did a second album, which was widely considered to be below-par, but I quite liked it. They did a song called Messages which is a tribute to 9/11 victims. For some bizarre reason it was only released as a bonus track on their second album Libertad. But it's probably the best song Velvet Revolver ever did and a firm fan favourite.

Velvet Revolver went on hiatus and Slash released a bunch of solo albums with guest singers. They're also worth owning, although are a tad generic, especially compared to what Axl did with Chinese Democracy.

[Edited 12/5/15 0:43am]

MattyJam said:

GNR are my favourite band. I am a massive fan.

Unfortunately, they have a pretty small back catalogue, but everything they have put out is worth owning. Their first album Appetite For Destruction is (quite rightly) considered to be the best hard rock album ever made. Stuff like Welcome To The Jungle, Rocket Queen, Mr Brownstone, Sweet Child O Mine etc is just absolutely timeless.

Their second release was an odds and ends EP called GNR Lies. It comprised of four pre-Appetite demos and four new acoustic tracks. It's only eight tracks long and no way near as good as their proper albums (for obvious reasons) but it's still worth owning though for songs like Patience, Used To Love Her and Move To The City.

The proper follow-up to their debut album was Use Your Illusions I and II which were two seperate albums released simultaneously on the same day. They're both pretty epic, and whilst it's not as concise or focused as AFD, both albums are rated very highly amongst the fans. It was pretty much original GNR at their creative peak, 28 tracks in total, including some absolute classics like November Rain, You Could Be Mine, Estranged, Civil War, Don't Cry etc. And then you have the lesser-known but equally brilliant gems like Coma, Locomotive and Breakdown which are amongst some of the best songs in their canon of work.

Next came the covers albums "The Spaghetti Incident?" which I suppose, objectively speaking, is the only GNR album that isn't essential listening imo. I happen to really like it. They picked a lot of songs from fairly obscure or little-known punk bands and gave them the Guns treatment. Check out Human Being - that ones brilliant.

And then came Chinese Democracy - by far their most divisive and controversial record. Axl and Dizzy Reed are the only members remaining from the original line-up, so a lot of purists don't even consider it a proper GNR record. But I personally love the fuck out of it. Songs like Better and Shacklers Revenge are amongst the most kick-ass rock music I've heard from anyone post-00's. And then you have the more mellow, piano-laden stuff like Catcher In The Rye and This I Love which are just classic Axl Rose.

It's worth checking out Velvet Revolver also. It's pretty much Guns N Roses fronted by Scott Weiland (RIP) instead of Axl. There were actually more original GNR members in Velvet Revolver than on Chinese Democracy, and their first album Contraband is a solid rock album with some great ballads (check out Fall To Pieces, You Got No Right, Loving The Alien). They did a second album, which was widely considered to be below-par, but I quite liked it. They did a song called Messages which is a tribute to 9/11 victims. For some bizarre reason it was only released as a bonus track on their second album Libertad. But it's probably the best song Velvet Revolver ever did and a firm fan favourite.

Velvet Revolver went on hiatus and Slash released a bunch of solo albums with guest singers. They're also worth owning, although are a tad generic, especially compared to what Axl did with Chinese Democracy.

[Edited 12/5/15 0:43am]

I will be picking all of this material up, pronto.

Graycap23 said:

I have no idea why it took me so long to actually listen to Guns and Roses....but I finally did today.

The guitar work on Chinese Democracy is kicking my butt.

I LOVE this.

Can you guys please recommend more music like this?

Wow.

One of my Top 5 favorite bands, I agree, "Chinese Democracy" is one helluva album. When that guitar kicks in on the title track, it sends shivers down my spine. Epic beyond words. "Better" and "Shackler's Revenge" are my other favorites from that record.

I've even read all the autobiographies written by band members - Slash (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and original drummer Steven Adler have all written their own autobiographies that are worth reading!

Like Matty says, the GNR debut Appetite For Destruction is rightly considered one of the best rock albums ever made.

You may or may not know that Axl Rose has one of the largest vocal ranges in music - as I recall in a recent poll, both Axl and Prince topped the list of rock stars with the largest vocal range.

One thing that also gets overlooked is that Axl plays great piano too!

Graycap23 said:

MattyJam said:

GNR are my favourite band. I am a massive fan.

Unfortunately, they have a pretty small back catalogue, but everything they have put out is worth owning. Their first album Appetite For Destruction is (quite rightly) considered to be the best hard rock album ever made. Stuff like Welcome To The Jungle, Rocket Queen, Mr Brownstone, Sweet Child O Mine etc is just absolutely timeless.

Their second release was an odds and ends EP called GNR Lies. It comprised of four pre-Appetite demos and four new acoustic tracks. It's only eight tracks long and no way near as good as their proper albums (for obvious reasons) but it's still worth owning though for songs like Patience, Used To Love Her and Move To The City.

The proper follow-up to their debut album was Use Your Illusions I and II which were two seperate albums released simultaneously on the same day. They're both pretty epic, and whilst it's not as concise or focused as AFD, both albums are rated very highly amongst the fans. It was pretty much original GNR at their creative peak, 28 tracks in total, including some absolute classics like November Rain, You Could Be Mine, Estranged, Civil War, Don't Cry etc. And then you have the lesser-known but equally brilliant gems like Coma, Locomotive and Breakdown which are amongst some of the best songs in their canon of work.

Next came the covers albums "The Spaghetti Incident?" which I suppose, objectively speaking, is the only GNR album that isn't essential listening imo. I happen to really like it. They picked a lot of songs from fairly obscure or little-known punk bands and gave them the Guns treatment. Check out Human Being - that ones brilliant.

And then came Chinese Democracy - by far their most divisive and controversial record. Axl and Dizzy Reed are the only members remaining from the original line-up, so a lot of purists don't even consider it a proper GNR record. But I personally love the fuck out of it. Songs like Better and Shacklers Revenge are amongst the most kick-ass rock music I've heard from anyone post-00's. And then you have the more mellow, piano-laden stuff like Catcher In The Rye and This I Love which are just classic Axl Rose.

It's worth checking out Velvet Revolver also. It's pretty much Guns N Roses fronted by Scott Weiland (RIP) instead of Axl. There were actually more original GNR members in Velvet Revolver than on Chinese Democracy, and their first album Contraband is a solid rock album with some great ballads (check out Fall To Pieces, You Got No Right, Loving The Alien). They did a second album, which was widely considered to be below-par, but I quite liked it. They did a song called Messages which is a tribute to 9/11 victims. For some bizarre reason it was only released as a bonus track on their second album Libertad. But it's probably the best song Velvet Revolver ever did and a firm fan favourite.

Velvet Revolver went on hiatus and Slash released a bunch of solo albums with guest singers. They're also worth owning, although are a tad generic, especially compared to what Axl did with Chinese Democracy.

[Edited 12/5/15 0:43am]

I will be picking all of this material up, pronto.

finally someone got u into the rock n roll ....

luvsexy4all said:

Graycap23 said:

I will be picking all of this material up, pronto.

finally someone got u into the rock n roll ....

Lol

Ive been listening R&R since Lil Ricahrd & Jerry Lee Lewis.

NorthC said:

Holy crap, Graycap, where have you been living? This band has been around since 1986 (at least.) They're touring the whole world. I saw some posters announcing a concert in La Paz, Bolivia last year. How can anyone have missed these guys for such a long time?

I have a backlog of cd's.........there just isn't enough time in the day.

Nothing ever made me want to listen to it......but I'm glad I did.

Graycap23 said:

Graycap23 said:

Use Your Illusion is a must have! it shows the artsy side of GNR (Which CD also does no matter what others say) Listen to Estranged, Bad Obsession, Dead Horse, Civil War, Breakdown etc.

To see the diversity in their work.

Just be prepared for One in a Million, which has some pretty vile lyrics

http://www.teamrock.com/features/2014-06-09/blog-one-in-a-million-gay-bashing-racism-and-rock-n-roll

Graycap23 said:

I have no idea why it took me so long to actually listen to Guns and Roses....but I finally did today.

The guitar work on Chinese Democracy is kicking my butt.

I LOVE this.

Can you guys please recommend more music like this?

Wow.

I felt like this when my buddy dragged me to a Metallica show. I always loathed heavy metal. But then at the concert, the raw energy of the band made me a believer.

Guns N Roses is good. Shame that Axel Rose went off the deep end. I haven't heard Chinese Democracy, and I have heard that it's a good album...but after what - ten years and $100million to produce (or some crazy number like that) - it didn't live up to the expectation.

"November Rain" is one of my favorite songs of all time. Ever. It's a masterpiece. Thank you Gunsnhalen for the MTV clip! I hadn't seen that before.

But for me the original stands timeless...



Enjoy Gray-!

PurpleJedi said:

"November Rain" is one of my favorite songs of all time. Ever. It's a masterpiece. Thank you Gunsnhalen for the MTV clip! I hadn't seen that before.

Thank you who now? I posted it!

datdude said:

Militant said:

PurpleJedi said:

"November Rain" is one of my favorite songs of all time. Ever. It's a masterpiece. Thank you Gunsnhalen for the MTV clip! I hadn't seen that before.

Thank you who now? I posted it!

Sorry dude.

KingSausage said:

datdude said:

Is it me, did i miss it, or are people on this site conspicuously silent about GnRs racism and homophobia (unless George Michael is the subject)? I was permanently done after the One in a Million lyric came to light. That type of shit comes out when that's who u REALLY are.

I don't think people here are ignoring GNR's racist, homophobic, hateful lyrics (more accurately Axl's since his band mates tried to get him to drop One in a Million). This is a longstanding and ugly part of GNR's legacy. All of Axl's attempts to rationalize or soften One in a Million after its release are imbecilic and ignorant. He was a young, angry white rocker from Indiana fresh in Hollywood. He probably thought his tough, "edgy" lyrics would make him sound badass. Instead, they just revealed his bigotry and hate. That song and the subsequent controversy needs to be considered as part of the GNR story, along with the band's many musical accomplishments.

Never heard of it.

...on to google...

Graycap23 said:

Can you guys please recommend more music like this?

Wow.

you might dig jane's addiction. they came out of the same-ish l.a. club scene as gnr around the same time, with a more psych/punk tinge to their music. their first 3 albums (live, nothing's shocking and ritual de lo habitual) are damn good rock n roll.

datdude said:

datdude said:

Is it me, did i miss it, or are people on this site conspicuously silent about GnRs racism and homophobia (unless George Michael is the subject)? I was permanently done after the One in a Million lyric came to light. That type of shit comes out when that's who u REALLY are.

Perceived. And who fucking cares?? What does this have to do with the music of a band with 5 guys?? He performed with Elton, he performed at the Freddie Mercury tribute and so on. Bodycount opened their tour in '92. So that doesn't seem to be an issue. Unless to fuckers, who want to make it an issue and believe whatever they want to believe.

steakfinger said:

datdude said:

Is it me, did i miss it, or are people on this site conspicuously silent about GnRs racism and homophobia (unless George Michael is the subject)? I was permanently done after the One in a Million lyric came to light. That type of shit comes out when that's who u REALLY are.

Prince is a homophobe and a racist. You don't recall a few years back when Prince told W&L they'd have to publicly renounce their homosexuality in order to appear on stage with him? Here's Wendy from the Star Tribune: WENDY MELVOIN: We tried to put together a [Revolution] reunion tour in 2000, and he declined because of my homosexuality and the fact I'm half-Jewish. It came back: Go have a press conference denouncing your homosexuality and that you're converting to Jehovah. I was like: I guess we'll never hear from him again. And I had to kind of mourn him. It was devastating to think we've kind of lost him. Sexuality and being Jewish, (even only HALF Jewish)? Sounds like homophobia and racism to me. Stop being conspicuously silent about Prince's racism and homophobia.

maybe that was his way of saying no to the reunion

Uhhh for those calling the ''band racists'' Let me remind you they have a HALF BLACK member and a half Cherokee member too. Axl wrote One In A Million so the band didn't write it. And it was supposed to be from the POV of an ignorant small town white boy (which is said in thesong if y'all actually listened] i know that's not a great excuse. But Axl has never been a nice guy or politically correct.

SoulAlive said:

Graycap,are you aware that this band released a song that makes a mean reference to "niggers and faggots"?

SoulAlive said:

Graycap,are you aware that this band released a song that makes a mean reference to "niggers and faggots"?