Guns N Roses

GUNS N ROSES. American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985 as a merger of local bands LA Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl Rose / lead guitarist Slash / rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin / bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. They heavily toured the West Coast club circuit during their early years. Their debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987) supported by the eponymous tour failed to gain traction debuting at No182 on the Billboard 200. Then a year after its release when a grassroots campaign for the "Welcome to the Jungle" music video brought the band mainstream popularity. "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Paradise City" both became Top 10 singles with "Sweet Child o' Mine" becoming the band's only single to reach No1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide, including 18 million units in the United States, making it the country's best-selling debut album and eleventh-best-selling album. Their next studio album, G N' R Lies (1988) combined an early EP, Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide (1986) with new acoustic songs and reached No2 on the Billboard 200 sold ten million copies worldwide (including five million in the US) and included the Top 5 hit "Patience" and the controversial "One in a Million". Adler was fired due to his drug addiction in 1990 and was replaced by Matt Sorum.

The band's third and fourth albums, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, recorded and released simultaneously in 1991, debuted at number two and number one on the Billboard 200 respectively and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide (including 14 million units in the U.S.). The Illusion albums included the lead single "You Could Be Mine", covers of "Live and Let Die" and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and a trilogy of ballads ("Don't Cry", "November Rain", and "Estranged") which featured notably high-budget music videos. The records were supported by the Use Your Illusion Tour (a world tour that lasted from 1991 to 1993) and was amongst the most-attended concert tours of all time. After years of publicly feuding with Axl Rose, Slash and McKagan rejoined the band in 2016 for the quasi-reunion Not in This Lifetime... Tour which became one of the highest-grossing concert tours of all time, grossing over $584 million by its conclusion in 2019. Guns N' Roses has sold more than 100 million records worldwide (including 45 million in the United States) making them one of the best-selling bands in history