Guns N’ Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California. Their band name is also shortened as GNR.
By the music industry’s changeable standards, Guns N’ Roses’ desire for intemperance is legendary, with their love of the lifestyle quickly earning them the label of “the most dangerous band in the world”. Guns and roses’ current lineup consists of Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, McKagan, guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Melissa Reese. Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, Appetite for Destruction, was released in 1987. The album has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide which became the country’s bestselling debut album and eleventh-bestselling album. Besides its Guns N’ Roses have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including 45 million in the United States, making them one of the best-selling acts in history.
Here are the top 5 best Guns and roses tracks from a formidable back catalog:
Civil War (Use Your Illusion II, 1991)
Axl Rose wrote the instrumental that eventually became “Civil War” when Guns N’ Roses were touring Japan in 1988. At the same time, the band was also about to launch into its civil war. Personality conflicts and drug problems were already starting to surface. The group was completely falling apart. “Civil War” represented both an ending and a new beginning for Guns N’ Roses. It also marked Adler’s final studio session with the band. On the plus side, “Civil War” marked a new chapter in GNR’s remarkable story.
It’s So Easy (Appetite For Destruction, 1987)
Appetite For Destruction’s first single “It’s So Easy” was penned by bassist Duff McKagan. The song began life as a country-style tune which was given a radical makeover by GNR, who, as Axl Rose later revealed, was “doing the evil Iggy Pop over it”. As to the song’s lyrics, they relate to the then-penniless GNR grating with the help of various girlfriends. “It’s an account of a time all of us were going through,” McKagan said in a Geffen Records press release from 1987. “We didn’t have money, but we had a lot of hangers-on and girls that we could live off of. Things were just too easy.”
Paradise City (Appetite For Destruction, 1987)
Before they got famous and everything fell to shit, the five members of Guns N’ Roses were close friends. It was during those critical early months that the group collaborated on many of their best songs. “Paradise City” came to life one night when they were driving home from a gig in a rented van. “Paradise City,” an atypically optimistic classic rock anthem and one of GNR’s most recognizable songs. It has served as Guns N’ Roses’ closing concert number for most of their career and has been singled out by Slash as his all-time favorite song by the band.
Welcome To The Jungle (Appetite For Destruction, 1987)
It sets the stage perfectly for every other song on the album, and really for the band’s entire career. Axl Rose once claimed the song was inspired by a chance encounter, he had with a deranged man in New York City. “Welcome To The Jungle,” contains all the hallmarks of classic GNR. The song also played a crucial role in catapulting the band to fame after its famous video finally picked up heavy rotation on MTV, helping to send the album to No.1 in the US a year after its initial release.
November Rain (Use Your Illusion I, 1991)
The legendary “November Rain” was the GNR frontman’s masterpiece in every sense of the term. Reputedly dating back to 1983 and demoed before the recording of Appetite for Destruction, Rose put every fiber of his being into this opulent creation couched in strings and grand piano. The near-nine-minute “November Rain” was the longest song ever to enter the US Billboard Hot 100. That did nothing to prevent it from shooting to No.3 in the US and No.4 in the UK, and becoming GNR’s highest-charting single since “Sweet Child O’ Mine.”
