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Earliest: Mar 26, 1985
Latest: Nov 8, 2025
[
WikiPedia] Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985 from L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. After signing with Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" lineup featured vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler.
Guns N' Roses gained a local following before releasing their debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987), which initially struggled until the breakout success of the "Welcome to the Jungle" music video. The album sold over 30 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling debut album in the U.S., and spawned hits like "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child o' Mine". Their follow-up, G N' R Lies (1988) combined earlier material with new acoustic songs and reached number two on the Billboard 200, sold ten million copies globally, and featured the hit "Patience" and the controversial "One in a Million". In 1990, Adler was replaced by Matt Sorum due to drug issues, and keyboardist Dizzy Reed joined. Their 1991 twin albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted at numbers two and one on the Billboard 200 and sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide. The Illusion albums contained successful singles like "You Could Be Mine", "Don't Cry", and "November Rain", as well as a series of high-budget music videos.
After finishing the record-setting Use Your Illusion Tour (1991–93), Guns N' Roses released the punk covers album "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993), which debuted at number four on the Billboard 200 and sold over 1 million copies in the United States. They then entered a turbulent phase amid lineup turmoil; several members left, leaving only Rose and Reed from the Illusion years by 1998. The band was rebuilt with new recruits, including Robin Finck, Buckethead, Tommy Stinson, Brain and Chris Pitman among others. The various lineups worked on the long-delayed industrial and electronic-influenced Chinese Democracy (2008), which cost an estimated $14 million, making it the most expensive rock album produced. Gaining notoriety for its protracted development, the album debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and sold 2.6 million copies worldwide. In November 2004, Geffen released Greatest Hits (2004), which has sold over 6 million copies in the United States. It became one of the longest-charting albums in the history of the Billboard 200. After years of animosity, 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. The current lineup consists of Rose, Slash, McKagan, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, drummer Isaac Carpenter, and keyboardists Reed and Melissa Reese.
Guns N' Roses is one of the best-selling musical acts of all time, with estimated worldwide sales of over 100 million records. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. Known for their volatile performances, media feuds, and provocative lyrics, Guns N' Roses cultivated a reputation as "The World's Most Dangerous Band". Their fusion of punk, blues, and metal helped shift late-'80s rock away from glam rock. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of their era, with Appetite for Destruction frequently ranked among the greatest albums of all time. Songs such as "Sweet Child o’ Mine" and "Welcome to the Jungle" are considered classics of the genre, and the band has been included in lists of the greatest artists of all time by publications like Rolling Stone and VH1.
