Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an iconic American hard rock band that gained immense popularity in the late '80s and early '90s. The band is often miscredited as "hair metal" based on their original fashion style, but on subsequent albums revealed a heavy influence from bands in the vein of Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones, as well as many other artists including Queen, and Led Zeppelin,. The music on their first album was, at the time, compared to early Aerosmith due to lead guitarist Slash's bluesy riffs. They are also the most successful sleaze metal act, with other bands in the genre such as Faster Pussycat and L.A. Guns never breaking into the mainstream with near as much success as Guns N' Roses.

Their 1987 breakthrough, Appetite for Destruction, which is the second highest-selling debut album of all-time (15 times platinum, compared to 17 for Boston), coupled with the success of hit single "Sweet Child O' Mine" in 1988, took the world by storm and by 1991 they were one of the most popular bands in the world. However, by the mid-'90s many original members had left (including guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin, along with bassist Duff McKagan) due to internal conflict in relation to drugs and where GN'R would go musically.

When Guns N' Roses ruled the world they were the most hostile band around. While doing a stadium tour with Metallica in Montreal, Metallica's frontman James Hetfield sustained second degree burns after an accident on stage. Hetfield had to go to the hospital and Guns N' Roses came on early to cover for Metallica. Not long into the set, Axl Rose threw his microphone to the ground and stormed off stage taking the rest of the band with him. The P.A system had been acting up and the band could not hear themselves playing. This led to one of the largest riots in musical history, with riot squads called in and cars overturned.

Sole original member Axl Rose (vocalist) retreated into solitude around 1997 to record the long-awaited LP Chinese Democracy, the so-called "most expensive album never made."

Guns N' Roses have successfully toured in Europe in the Summer of 2006 (their first European tour in over a decade), with dates now lined up for a US tour and a new album called "Chinese Democracy", expected to be released by September 17, 2007.

Chinese Democracy had been given the tentative release date of March 6th, but the newest reported date is in September 17, 2007. The album is available for preorder from HMV with that release date reported.

Many of the other members of Guns N' Roses (Slash,Duff McKagan & Matt Sorum) now play together in the hard-rock band Velvet Revolver with ex-Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and Dave Kushner. However, Izzy Stradlin, original GN'R rhythm guitarist and co-composer of many of the band's most successful songs, has not joined them. He did however play a few dates with the new line-up of Guns N' Roses in the summer of 2006, as a guest. Keyboard player Dizzy Reed, while not a founding member of the band (joining in 1990 in the Use Your Illusion period), remains with Guns N' Roses in their current incarnation.