Original subtitles

we're just a rock and roll band on the

road

[Music]

in 1991 guns and roses already

established as the biggest band on the

planet released two albums that would

change the face of rock music the record

industry and everything that surrounded

them

accompanied by a monumental world tour

the unveiling of use your illusion 1 and

2 was an exercise in over-the-top

superstardom to which no other band has

since come close

i don't think any band has ever released

on the same day two double albums of

original studio material and i'm sure

this was guns and roses using the clout

that appetite had given them enormous

sales

huge profits for the record label to say

what we want now is to do things our way

there were lines of people out in front

of tower records

we watched it on the news you know we we

were part of a record that was on the

news looking back on it you know it was

pretty amazing

you know with this

with how this band went from

guys who were living off of biscuits and

gravy from denny's

you know to all of a sudden becoming

superstars

this film takes an in-depth look at

those albums the music and the men

behind it

[Music]

even before their extravagant antics in

1991 guns and roses had gained success

with remarkable speed exploding from the

vibrant and fertile los angeles rock

scene

la was kind of um i guess the melting

pot of rock and rollers everywhere

whether you were from europe you were

from even as asia and of course

mid-america we all came here hoping to

get discovered

i think hollywood has places like the

rainbow bar and grill

which is the only bar or restaurant you

could go to where you could meet

either your future ex-wife or your lead

singer you might need your roadie you

might you might meet the record company

that gives you a deal and i think the

rainbow

kind of offered that

that synergy that place where you could

go and and make your dreams come true

and

i don't think you've you had that in

philadelphia or new york or chicago the

first time i saw guns and roses was in

uh 1986 i saw them at the music machine

and you know at that time there was a

buzz

you know regarding them as one of the

one of the best la bands out there and

they were definitely different than a

lot of the bands that were around at the

time you know you had a lot of the uh

girl glam bands you know the real hair

bands

at the time that were playing the strips

you had white snake and you had uh molly

crew doing uh you know the girls girls

girls tour you had poison

[Music]

hair metal was an actual cliche that

people used at the time if you walked up

and down sunset strip you'd see all

these bands essentially trying to play

at these pay for play clubs and mtv was

pretty much as influential as it ever

would be in the music scene

um as a result most of the bands that

you saw queueing up to play in these in

these clubs

looked like say the poisons of the world

they had the puffy hair these were the

bands that

were trying to emulate what they saw on

tv and they were basically filling the

la clubs guns and roses kind of stood

out because they were very raw they were

very on your face axel still had the the

poofed hair but it was

more of a raw rougher sound than what

was going on at that time guns and roses

just had the it factor like motley crew

did there was

a low in the glam scene and a lot of

people say that guns and roses came on

with this different look and this harder

edge and all that stuff well you know i

was there and their music might be a

little bit more heavy metal than

the glam rock the glitz of of rat or

motley crew but they look the same to me

they were glam too the difference

besides the music being harder was they

weren't quite as good looking as the

bands previous to them like motley crew

and rat

those guys were actually prettier than

the girls

you never saw

a music scene like the sunset strip glam

rock scene where

it it was

the worldwide music scene you know what

i'm saying there was not

uh other there wasn't other bands

exploding from other places and and they

were kind of joining in with you

maybe they came from other places but

you all had to come through

kind of the filter that was the sunset

strip so even before bands got worldwide

success or mainstream success they still

had to to earn their stripes here you

know in hollywood hints of the band's

later excess were clearly evident back

then

musician howard tiemann later to feature

on use your illusion 2 played with guns

and roses at infamous la hangout the

whiskey it was such a mad house there

that the show was on

uh we were up at the house before that

jamming at the house anyways we're all

getting very drunk we backed in very

drunk

and so they said okay you're on so we

all got in our cars there was a big

caravan of us and we all drove down the

whiskey and it was so packed we couldn't

even get near the place so they said

okay forget it it's canceled so we went

back home then we get the call it's on

again so we had to rush back down there

and get down there and by the time we

got off stage it was just such a joke

and a funny i wasn't intimidated we were

just really good drunk perfect perfect

timing perfect high so i didn't i wasn't

nervous it was great i still remember to

this day like sitting there the feeling

of playing like um welcome to the jungle

and just though this is really wild it

was really fun time but

i got real lucky because uh steve adler

broke his arm i guess they

they were in chicago

rehearsing for the next album or

whatever they were doing and they were

told that they were able to go back home

and then they left let that they made

them stay an extra two weeks and steve

at all pissed and punched a light post

and broke his arm broke his hand and so

i got lucky i ended up sitting in for

him for a show and playing

so i got to play all those songs i

really liked very much like paradise

city there was he came to me duff told

me that we're going to play four songs

and um

i practiced those songs you know it was

like two or three days before the show

and then we get on stage and of course

they open up with i used to love her but

i had killer which i hadn't even heard

yet because the second album wasn't even

out yet so

we ended up starting a song

the set of a song i never even heard

they were teaching me backstage we ended

up doing eight songs all you know all of

my favorites and stuff and on the way

there i was i go i knew in my head that

they're gonna hit hit us up for an

encore they're not just gonna let us do

four songs so i was listening to it's so

easy in the car trying to

like really learn it you know you you

listen to it you know the song but you

have to know it to play it

[Applause]

[Music]

[Music]

everybody

sure enough that was our encore it's so

easy which ended up working out real

well

steadily gaining more notoriety it was

the band's breakthrough full-length

debut album that would skyrocket them to

worldwide fame appetite for destruction

arrived in july 1987.

[Applause]

[Music]

my personal history with the band

goes back to shortly after the release

of appetite for destruction

so

rip magazine

was the first magazine that was on the

streets gathering interviews and

and material on the band

my editors my freelance writers were all

hanging out with them anyway hey what's

up i want you guys to stay tuned for a

great offer from rip magazine the

coolest metal magazine in the known

universe listen to guns and roses call

1-800-962-8600 get 12 issues of rip and

a free rip t-shirt for only 18.95 call

1-800-962-8600 now to get 12 inches of

rip and a free rip t-shirt so is that a

great deal or what pick up the phone

gets you 12 issues of rip magazine to

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let me just play it i'm reading the map

here

just call

1-800-962-8600 yet 12 issues of ripping

a free rip t-shirt for only 18.95

yes don't be stupid subscribe today we

had some of the earliest earliest pieces

as appetite started to pick up steam

appetite blew up as everybody knows to

into a global phenomenon

[Music]

that

album is an it album that album will

will stand the test of time forever when

i hear appetite for destruction i think

i was live in l.a i heard this song on

the radio and i saw these guys live many

times they sure were famous weren't they

and then weirdly and this is the thing

that i think is really interesting with

gundam roses i think of what they look

like because i was forced to see what

they look like from senior music videos

all the time i think of what they're you

know i hate to say costumes that's not

really quite true but i think of their

look i think of them almost as like kind

of cartoon caricatures in a sense so

that said if i'm at a party and someone

puts on uh guns and roses appetite for

destruction

you know the more drinks i have the

better it sounds i think people have to

bear in mind when epitype of destruction

came out there was very little hype they

were just another band on geffin from la

i do remember at one point uh their

manager at the time alan livens saying

if we go gold there is some half a

million coppers to the south in america

we will be delighted and i was with them

in san francisco when they were

supporting the cult when the album first

broke into the billboard top 100 now

we're talking about top 100 not top 10

and they were ecstatic they couldn't

believe they charted so they weren't a

band who had a lot of money poured into

them the expectations were not enormous

at that point

but it slowly gathered momentum don't

forget appetite wasn't an immediate hit

album it took a year really for it to

take off and then suddenly it just

locked into the zeitgeist as it were and

just hit it hit a nerve and suddenly

became the right album in the right

place at the right time and just

exploded and to this day i don't believe

for a minute anyone at the label

genuinely thought it was going to be

even close to as big as it became it

didn't sound like anything else that was

out at the time

and you just knew

i mean

you listened to that record you go wow

if you listen to it in a car if it comes

out you know like uh

um welcome to the jungle that

you hear that on the radio it's just

you roll up the windows man you turn it

up man

[Music]

[Music]

when i heard welcome to jungle the first

time it's the same way when i heard

nirvana with that first song

teen spirit

it's just like you just go it's this one

you go [ __ ] i wish i would have written

that one that was the record i remember

first coming to hollywood that uh

it didn't matter what strip club you

were at if it was in san francisco san

diego la there wasn't a strip club in

america that didn't have a girl dancing

to

welcome to the jungle you heard it at

every strip bar it had that kind of

impact

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

they were the epitome of a stripper kind

of rock band

you had to have a singer like axel you

had to have a drummer like stephen adler

you had to have a wild jack daniels

swinging guitar player like slash

i'd be interested to see the stock and

jack daniels sales after uh appetite for

destruction came up i'm sure slash sold

a lot of whiskey at the time

you know i didn't really realize what

was going on you know because i was part

of it but looking back on it you know it

was pretty amazing

you know with the st

with how this band went from

guys who were living off of biscuits and

gravy from denny's

you know to all of a sudden being

superstars

one time i was at the rainbow and i ran

into izzy and he's in a limo and

everything and and it was just so weird

because i almost felt like he he almost

like was talking apologetically goes man

i don't know how this happened i don't

know how this happened i'm going well if

you figure it out can you tell me so i

can do it

appetite will always be a classic album

um

there are a lot of other classic albums

that don't sound so well produced now as

they did then but that one seems to pass

that test still they still

traverse the line between

mainstream and sort of classic integral

rock really they're

they're loved by housewives as much as

real rockers that have like them since

day one um

and it's still selling today just like a

lot of other classic albums and it will

probably always be selling at the same

rate i think it's 5 000 copies a week it

tends to sell so that's obviously proof

that it's

it still is what people still want to

hear it now as if it's a new album

this fast rising superstardom was

testament to the unique chemistry of the

band's personalities a collection of

wild spirited yet undeniably talented

rock and rollers

obviously the focal point is axel

and

closely followed by slash

axle really was the

the breaking point for the band in terms

of

if it wasn't for him then they certainly

wouldn't have ever made it he had the

volatility as well as the sort of

sensitivity

that really clashed well with slash he

was very mellow and chilled out and kind

of not interested in the drama then you

mix them with izzy and steven who were

kind of lazy and didn't really care too

much what they were doing

um and then duff obviously stood out

because he was really tall and

um

he came from a punk background which

kind of gave them an extra boost it

wasn't they weren't a soft band like a

lot of the hair bands were

i i had met like that fellow duff uh i

think before they even made their first

record at that backstage it i think uh

an alice cooper show i thought he was a

very nice very tall guy i liked him a

lot generally speaking i thought he

brought some degree of stability to the

band uh

slash i thought he was a really good guy

i know he had his problems i thought

that from a musical standpoint i

probably thought he brought the most to

the band

of anybody in the sense of actually

really liking music

and uh being aware for better or worse

of the images and the importance of

image and an

appreciation

i do think that the biggest issue

if you will

with guns and roses was in and and has

historically been

axel

and i do think that uh everybody else it

was sort of a subsidiary to axel in

almost every capacity

just like def leppard obviously joe

elliott

you know they're not from la but there's

a perfect example of another band that

made it in the glam era joe elliott was

obviously the boss axel was clearly the

leader and

clearly the one that had the vision but

every single one of those guys stephen

adler izzy

um

slash and duff they all could contribute

what seemed like nobody else could and

when you bring five guys like that

together and then you've got a leader

and a front man that's as phenomenal as

axel

there's no way they couldn't have made

it

since 1970

1980 it's been pretty bland as far as

rock and roll is concerned and so at

least if nothing else the attitude of

the band has come over and people are

like yeah because

i mean that's sort of like what rock and

roll is all about right sort of that

freedom kind of thing it wasn't that

there wasn't a little uh

i mean there was always aerosmith and ac

dc were still around they're great bands

but i think kids you know in the late

80s here didn't really have

a band who were their peers to

to cling on to or whatever you know man

that's just that's the kind of chemistry

that you just you can't buy that it just

happens

and sometimes it lasts a long time and

sometimes it lasts for an instant but

they have it

they they complemented one another i

think they are the act that they are

because they were better

they were just better

more talented

more skill

more charisma

they just had it all

guns and roses were now undeniably

massive their repackaged lies ep went on

to sell quantities far in excess of most

bands proper albums

what with such a level of ubiquity many

would have thought that a backlash would

be inevitable this did not however prove

to be entirely the case

there's no question that

the paradigm that guns n roses got

caught up in as time went on was very

much a 1990s paradigm of the mainstream

versus the margins but i actually think

that if you look at where they started

and you look at heavy metal and you look

at

los angeles

you're actually not talking about places

where

anyone had a problem with being

successful i mean the notion of that

there was something to be embarrassed

about where success was concerned

um

that that was really much more of a kind

of avant-garde rock notion a college

rock notion guns and roses was what a

lot of people attributed aspired to they

were they really broke through and they

were leading the crowd

in la we were so happy that somebody was

actually taking the torch and continuing

the metal glam scene because if guns and

roses hadn't come along when they did

the la glam scene would have been gone

years prior but guns n roses in my

opinion and because i was there they

kept the scene alive for i don't know

another three to five years and

otherwise it would have perished before

that it would have been a real drag

there was a pretty tight network of

dudes

and

when one of them out of the out of the

masses would would shoot up to to

stardom of course there's going to be

resentment because

you're going to rock and roll denny's on

sunset boulevard with that dude the

night before you're going to canters you

were living probably in the same

apartment complex with a guy from quite

right or a guy from winger and you you

know you were partying with them at the

jet boys show at the cat house they were

all in this tight network in each

other's faces day in and day out not

only on the scene not only at the

recording studios i mean in their

everyday life it was you know the whole

city was taken over by these guys with

teased hair and leather jackets so

when one of them would would crawl out

of the you know the lobster cage of

course the rest of them are going to try

to pull that dude back in

and especially when you're

an inflammatory person to begin with

you're kind of an abrasive dude like

axel was despite having the world at

their feet it would be a further three

years before guns n roses unveiled their

next project

it would prove to be a turbulent time

for the band non-stop touring

accompanied by a number of personal

problems which would eventually result

in the dismissal of drummer stephen

adler to be replaced by former cult

member matt sorum

when

gnr first started recording what were

were to be the user illusion albums

stephen adler was still very much the

drummer but they've had problems with

him for a long time he had a heavy drug

dependency now i'm not suggesting for a

moment the rest of the band were

completely clean because they were not

in fact there was a famous incident at

in in los angeles when gnr opened for

the rolling stones in the summer of 1989

when axel pretty much went on stage and

said this is it vanda over because one

or two members of this band can't

actually get off their drugs and he was

talking about izzy and slash not adler

stephen adler was becoming a problem was

apparently

um

drugged out and drunk a lot and couldn't

play when uh steve got thrown out of the

band um

i think when matt's a great german all

but it just didn't have steve had the

special beat that wasn't so i think

matt's good player but he's kind of more

of a

machine like a you know not as much feel

steve was not as good of a drummer but

had a much better feel and once you took

out one of the ingredients in the band i

think it never was the same again it i i

believe the first you know the original

lineup was guns and roses

matt sorum who came from the cult and

was a great drummer

and on the drums here to turn your

brains into mashed rice is mr matt

sorrell

[Applause]

[Music]

musically at the time i think they were

in peak form slash drunk as he was was

an is exceptional guitar player when you

hear slash play guitar

you know that slash and that's what

makes a good guitar player slash was

apparently at the height of his heroine

addiction

um

so that coupled with the fact that they

were still touring for appetite quite a

long time after it been released

um meant they were writing on the road a

lot and

really it was quite surprised that they

ever got a very good album out of it

because

everything was kind of haphazard in the

way it came together

right before you use your illusion they

just started writing you know they

they were also writing i think on the

road too you know

um

but axel's always had like lyrics and

stuff in his head anyway so he always

jots stuff down they made

illusion here

mike clink their producer was based here

and the band

recorded here

the the user illusion sessions were not

by any means normal they didn't have a

real strict time constraint

as as as the band toured so much they

started to put their material together

and they and they discovered

that user the appetite and the lies ep

were just a small amount of the material

that they had laying around so they went

back and they they looked at all of the

songs and they said we're going to

record them all we're going to make two

double albums and there was a great

hubris musical creative hubris about gnr

at that time because when you're on top

of the world then you can do whatever

you want to do

so they began the process

with their producer of

creating this record

and

it took

quite a long time to put illusion

together they were looking for a place

to mix

use your illusion one and two

that they could be off the radar screen

they also had

a number of tracks

so they needed an extremely large frame

console and in those days

a big console was a 72 channel

and i had one of only two 80s in town

guns and roses in those days were over

the top popular i mean they couldn't go

anywhere

and

if they'd be at a studio and anybody

knew they were at the studio there'd be

40 people outside of it

so

we were always a low profile studio

and they just decided to come here

so that they could do it

in private

any time you're working with a band that

big

it's going to take some time to to mix a

record

no matter what the circumstances are

there was continuous talk that the

record was being delayed and axel was

really upset that anyone would say it

was delayed it couldn't be delayed

because it wasn't finished yet and

he was very vocal about the fact that uh

he wasn't in it for anybody but the fans

he wanted to give the fans the best

package

use your illusion was originally mixed

by

bob clear mountain

who had worked with the stones on down i

mean he is legendary

mixer but when slash and axel heard the

mixes

they thought the record sounded too

clean too slick

and as good as uh user illusion sounds

sonically

the original mixes

were way cleaner

they went after bill price the sex

pistols mixer

they tested just about everybody in town

and and throughout the world

to who they wanted to have mix this and

it ended up that bill price

uh was giving them

the closest thing to what they were

looking for bill was

is a brilliant mixer he did rock the kaz

bar

and a whole you know a whole host of

records brilliant brilliant engineer and

an extremely cool guy

which you need to have with a group like

guns n roses you know somebody who who

doesn't become part of the

the crazy process and is always

you know bringing it home my interaction

was way more with bill than it was with

the group since the process took six

months

there was times when

the group was here and then times when

they were out on the road performing so

early on the the group was here and

coming in and listening to the mixes and

and

that sort of thing and then later on in

the summer when they were on on tour we

would have to fedex

what we considered to be a final mix

to wherever they were see they're going

to be in st louis tomorrow so let's

fedex the mix to the to the bonaventure

in st louis or wherever they were

staying and and

then we'd wait for to hear back from

that certainly added to the time that it

took to mix it because we didn't

necessarily get an answer back in 10

minutes

sometimes it was two days

with mixing on the albums drawing to a

close it soon became official news there

was not only one but two guns and roses

double albums on the way

expectations were being formed with the

long and uneven history of the double

album many were wondering exactly how

the band would tackle the format if you

go back to the history of

double albums the first ever recorded

double album was benny goodman at

carnegie hall first time anybody ever

put a double album and then in rock and

roll was bob dylan he got blonde on

blonde and then so many other dub albums

have come in usually by a record company

standard you know that's like could be a

kiss of death there was already the

rumors after appetite hit that

you know they were starting to get a

little bit too rock star they were

starting to get self-indulgent they were

going to get overbloated they were going

to try to

go different places musically than they

should and they were losing their street

cred and then you know the rumors start

to to come out and you gotta remember

there's a huge gap of time between

appetite and when the actual use your

illusion album comes out

the buzz starts early but the gap is big

and during that time there's all the

speculation and then you start to hear

double album

and you go uh-oh i think once the once

you could be mine came out people kind

of

warmed to the idea of a lot of material

and they're also eager to hear how a

band that were how most bands would do

10 to 12 songs on an album suddenly this

band's got 30 odd songs and they're

willing to release the lot i think that

created excitement rather than

trepidation

um and once the single was out and

people knew how good it was

they were just just itching to hear the

rest of it

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

and you could be mine was a huge hit

radio hit i mean that was people were

already you know excited by that point i

thought that's where they they've been

hiding um they've been writing songs all

this time and they just had

so

many uh so many different tracks to get

out that one album wasn't enough before

the albums emerged however guns and

roses would be embarking on their

mammoth promotional tour four months

prior to release date

as well as providing the first chance to

hear new material it also promised the

fans a live experience unlike anything

they had seen before

die hard fans

are already camping out to get front row

positions

oh they've got a pretty cool sort of

attitude they don't sort of really care

what people think of them and they say

what they think they're not hurting

anyone and it's it's um

it gives a lot of people a lot of outlet

for their own aggression and stuff today

the huge stage and lighting structure

went up it's a one of the largest stages

ever built in this country the whole the

whole stage structure is over 100 meters

across

we've worked hard to make sure that the

people are well catered for well policed

and looked after basically

among those looking after concert goers

will be more than 200 police and up to

400 security guards just to make sure

the fans at least stay under control

fired up and ready to go the group hit

the road now joined by pianist dizzy

reed axel called me up once and he said

okay we're going on tour and we're going

to bring a piano player on tour so i

wanted you to be the piano player

but i promise dizzy that um if we ever

go on tour he's going to be the piano

player so and i'm like oh thanks

so you could have been the huge so

that's when they started doing their own

tour and being the headliner

and it just got so big and

um wonderful

the growing scale of things would take

its toll

before the year was out guitarist and

songwriter izzy stradlin despite having

worked extensively on the new albums

would throw in the towel he was replaced

by gilby clark

when izzy left the band

it was a big deal you know at least as

far as i was concerned i mean but you

know he didn't tour with us anyway we

took a jet he had his own tour bus and i

said he would tow a trailer with his

motorcycles and everything so he could

go riding and have fun he he want he

loves to travel because he's a big map

guy too

and um

so you know like we're

wherever we were he would just meet up

with us we'd fly in and he would drive

him

so but i started seeing a split then i

don't think izzy ever wanted the band to

get that big

izzy's the type of guy that he would

have been very happy to stand in the

clubs i think izzy had enough is he is

not a person who enjoys the limelight

particularly he enjoys being anonymous

enjoys getting on with his life he's

very much a nomad likes travelling being

a hippie if you will and of course the

money from guns and roses gave him a

lifestyle that he could do whatever he

wanted but he got fed up with dealing

with axel's tantrums dealing with the

rock star

traits which were surrounding the band

and just said i've had it i'm out of

here and they brought in gilby clark it

was never from my mind really a proper

member of the band i think realistically

with all due respect to matt sauron

there are only five proper members of

guns and roses and when slowly one by

one they left whoever came in wasn't

really coming in as a fully fledged

member but being brought in as a paid

member of the band and i don't think

gilby clark brought particularly that

much to guns of roses competent

guitarist definitely

but what he's done since really sums up

the fact how good were you in the first

place you were decent and you got a

lucky break and good for you you used it

but the loss of izzy not only musically

but also temperamentally was a major

blow because he was closer to axel

anybody else they grew up together in

indiana and once izzy was out of the

band i think in a way there was nothing

left to hold axel back from becoming the

beast that he has

as the tour was gathering pace both new

albums entitled use your illusion 1 and

2 were released simultaneously on

september 17 1991

their arrival would be heralded by a

virtually unprecedented wave of hype

first of all it's the only band in

history that ever put out two albums

simultaneously two separate albums

simultaneously

first time i'd ever seen

a record

be sold starting at midnight

throughout the country

there were lines of people out in front

of tower records we watched it on the

news

you know we we were part of a record

that was on the news

upon its release

and these records went gold

simultaneously within something like

five hours of the time that it was

released i mean who sells a million

records in five hours

guns and roses that's it

that's the only act that's ever done

that

and it's the only time that i know of in

musical history

that any record was that anticipated

there wasn't a album like that at that

time you know at least that i can

remember where people really were lining

up to get it and you

there was just a certain luster in

having it and owning it this was more

than just a musical album it was

something to collect it was something to

have and just to have it in your hands

meant something above and beyond being

able to put it in your cassette deck and

your or your your your record player and

play it you know it was it was something

to have it was

water cooler talk the moment that the

user illusions records came out

was a moment where

bigness of a variety of kinds

had really

overtaken pop music as a whole that

record came out at a time when michael

jackson was putting out records garth

brooks was putting out records you two

was putting out octane baby metallica

were putting out their sort of gigantic

record blockbuster records were were

completely accepted as the mainstay of

the music industry they would all come

out in the sort of third and fourth

quarter of the year just in time for the

christmas season

the whole fate of the music industry

would sort of depend on how well they

did once they came out they would stick

around for two or three years with a

million videos keeping them going

you're talking about an entirely

different universe back in the early 90s

where

there was still this illuminati running

the music industry there were still

radio promoters

buying off radio station programmers to

play records there was still cocaine and

hookers going in and out of radio that

album is kind of remembered for being

perhaps the last

kind of big release of the 90s that that

people can identify with being the

primitive format if you like of vinyl um

and even cassette that was it was a

double cassette and

um

it does stand out because there wasn't

anything that was like it at the time

there hasn't actually been anything

similar since on such a big scale

fans were now able to discover the

albums in their entirety 30 tracks of

brand new guns and roses material the

first 16 of which featured on part one

of the double set

the funny thing about this record is i

sort of joke that it's a record where

axel doesn't show up till like part way

through like about halfway through the

first desk um it's almost like he's late

for his own album um because you have

all these songs that are very much

his good friend and songwriting partner

izzy stradlin's vision that are sort of

starting the record you have right next

door to hell

dust and bones you do have junk cry

which is a song that they had been doing

ever since the band began

[Music]

don't cry would have to be one of the

standout tracks and also probably one of

their most serious tracks in it that's

possibly because it had been written a

lot earlier on

and it took them that long to record it

don't cry was a favorite for so many

years even prior to the release of this

i always loved that song i you know

being a music nerd and being in la i had

my

demos of of gnr demos and unreleased

tracks and that was always a favorite of

mine so to get to hear it in sparkling

clarity was was totally cool

[Music]

i think if you ask most people

who are fans of the band fans of of

hard rock at that time

you say

as fast as you can tell me a song of use

your illusion they're gonna say november

rain it's not till november rain which

is the tenth song on the first disc that

i think of as

sort of axel doing the songs that were

nearest and dearest to him at that

moment the songs that he'd written the

big songs he'd written on his piano

the sort of beauty songs and the songs

that were sort of meant to be

um

sort of the the

statement songs of the record

10 songs into the first album

album is where the first one of these

things comes in and that's that's sort

of interesting to me it was november

rain that would prove to be the defining

moment of both albums a song memorable

as much for its epic scope as its

distinctive multi-million dollar video

it just showcased the side of uh

of axel

that to me was sort of uh

not at all the same sort of axle that i

i i liked for one of a better word on an

appetite for destruction it was it was

more like a

singer-songwriter-esque thing which

which was fine it wasn't necessarily uh

what i think most people embraced uh

guns and roses for initially but i think

it was what they ended up embracing

axelrode's video star for the video for

november rain obviously captured the

attention the extravagance of the video

and they did it because they could guns

and roses were in a position to be able

to say how much is that going to cost

fine we don't care because we can afford

it and they really put a lot of time and

effort into a story line and into the

way they presented the visuals and it

was extravagant it was flamboyant it was

way over the top but then the song

itself was way over the top and it

needed something like that to present it

in the right way and it's still to this

day regarded as an all-time classic

video so it has stood the test of time

as a piece of art in its own right

[Music]

first time i heard november rain was a

rehearsal stage above the metro club in

chicago and axel is sitting at the piano

just him and a piano and a guy at the

mixing board

i'll play you guys something

[Music]

oh

this is nice feels like ellen john a

little bit

cool when i look into your eyes i could

see a smile

wow

it was nice

and he played a seven and a half minute

ballad for us and then he did the ending

that layla kind of shift at the end of

the song which is so

to me defines the brilliance of the

songs where it goes into that shift

and he orchestrated that later but this

is just him and a piano

[Music]

it's a bit more of a childish album in

some ways but then they throw in

something like november rain which is

a very mature song really in the in the

grand scheme of things and that song is

remembered probably the most from that

album

november reigns gigantic scope was more

than matched by the progress of the

band's tour now escalating into

something much bigger it became

a very big group of people it went from

something that was like small and

friends

to

you know chiropractors massage

therapists

assistants for assistance

managers assistants

i mean it just started growing and

growing and growing and it just got very

very big i got to tell you slash was a

friend of mine was not into keyboards he

was not into the whole

keyboard thing and you know

axel had already hired dizzy

you know and uh i was kind of the

cleanup guy i did i played guitar sang

harmonica a lot of other stuff so

they needed an extra hand so

he went from having no keyboards to two

i don't think he was too happy about it

nothing was on tape and that was the one

thing that i got handed to axel he

he was insistent

we weren't gonna have anything taped it

was all gonna be played live

so we needed girl singers when they

started getting background singers and

i'm not going to say who but i know that

a few of the band members were not too

happy about that that was an actual idea

when i first walked in i was amazed that

they looked and acted just like in a

video

like they were the same there's nothing

different about them they're exactly the

same

and they're the way that they had the

rehearsal studio

with the dripping candles you know they

had their vibe around them at all times

they dressed it

they wore it they live it they were just

really the way that they are at all

times

it wasn't something they just put on for

a video and on stage and then they went

back to their regular life

they lived what they were

well what was interesting i had never

experienced this i think it's pretty

common for a band at that level but i

had never experienced it at the time the

lead singer wasn't there

so axel didn't come into the last

rehearsal i didn't meet axel until the

day

before he left for the tour he came to

the last rehearsal and said what he

liked and what he didn't like and we

were supposed to change it by the show i

thought it was strange and also now i

understand it better that they don't

come to all the rehearsals because for a

singer to sing over and over and over is

a strain on your voice and it kind of

kind of kills the song for you

a little bit and um

i understand it now at the time i didn't

understand i thought he was being a diva

but he had the right to be a diva

so he liked us we were very nervous that

day

he was going to come and say never mind

i changed my mind you guys

and he hadn't heard us until that day

either

so he was pleased

my first gig my first show was it was a

madison square garden and i'm standing

up there i'm like

wow

wow this is big i did i didn't feel

intimidated because i i had that

idea that i was supposed to do big tours

and stuff so i didn't feel intimidated

but

i did feel when i got on stage

the immenseness of what was going on i

was very um

humbled by

the amount of energy and love and just

raw rawness that they

brought out of thousands and thousands

of people you know in a stadium it's

incredible

their fans were some of the most loving

wild wanting to touch the band

just intuit fans i mean they would go

from city to city sometimes the same

people you know would come to the

different shows follow us for a while

we had girls hating on us because they

were pissed we were there and they would

give us the finger from the front row

we had um

just amazing things happen

girls

flocking to coming backstage and

just wanting any touch of the band

yeah men too just adoring them

one of the great things about playing in

a band like that is flying into a city

and you can see your gig because it's

usually the biggest uh football stadium

you know oh there's the gig

you know it's not like it's like you

know you drive up to it you could

actually see it from the sky that's one

reason why we had the plane you know we

could just fly in the place so we could

base

in like you know one area and then fly

into the you know take helicopters or

whatever that was a a quite an

experience for me anyway and i think it

was for a lot of the new people that

were doing it for the first time

while they still managed to attain it

this bombastic scale was causing

problems for guns and roses a new more

reality grounded musical movement had

emerged rendering such overblown

pyrotechnics unfashionable overnight

grunge had arrived spearheaded by a new

assortment of rock heroes from seattle

nirvana

[Music]

guns and roses and metallica are soaring

and skid row and def leppard all those

bands are making tons of money and

selling platinum records

but this record never mind it is the

reflection

of all

that has gone haywire with society

and it's gnr and it's nirvana and they

really represent a mirror image of each

other at a time where there's a complete

meltdown personally i don't think grunge

did kill off the hair bands the

the weaker ones the ones that were on

the periphery then yes

but the the big bands like guns and

roses were not suddenly out of favor

because of nirvana or because of

that scene um despite the fact kurt

cobain and axel fell out

kind of on a large scale publicly all of

a sudden axel who'd really you know

i i think sort of expected that like

he'd be friends with nirvana and that

you know these groups would sort of just

come out with them and they'd all be you

know rock and roll elite together um

realized that he wasn't invited to the

party a lot of the new bands

were then not wanting to be guns and

roses they wanted to be nirvana so the

new scene was changing

but the the old guard if you like was

still popular guns and rosie could still

tour and sell out stadiums even at the

height of grunge it's just that they

didn't by that time they were completely

fractured and splitting apart but they

could have and metallica still retain

the status

as a kind of

traditional metal band and a lot of

other bands did too it's just that the

focus was suddenly on grunge

and because of that people assumed that

that killed the other bands off

but looking at it really if guns and

roses had released something like usual

illusion in the mid 90s then the whole

thing could have been different anyway

even though november rain was distinctly

out of favor with nirvana acolytes guns

and roses fans still held it close to

their hearts

as well as the rest of use your illusion

one which following the song takes on a

far less sentimental edge the rest of

the first disc is pretty much

this kind of crazy kick that axel was on

so you have

november rain the garden and garden of

eden sort of these songs of like lost

innocence basically

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

there's a lot of rants in the album sort

of garden of eden and back off [ __ ]

don't damn me that was all kind of

axel's revenge if you like through words

um either at women or the press or

whoever he felt like at the time garden

of eden was kind of about his oppressed

religion

that he was trying to get away from from

his childhood

[Music]

the second half of the record is very

much um kind of like an axle concept

album on a certain level and i think

that's to me at least is where

um use your illusion gets a lot more

interesting my all-time favorite song on

the user illusion one is the the final

track the epic coma

i think that at the time i had never

heard anything like that coma which is

the longest track on usually illusion

one i think i'm writing saying it's the

longest track that guns and roses have

ever recorded 10 minutes

it's very progressive

it reminds me a lot in some ways a king

crimson in the way that it builds and it

moves in different directions it's very

eerie very atmospheric and you can

actually hear it at one point doctors

talking and they're actually genuine

doctors

[Music]

[Applause]

these are the people who actually sort

of saved axel when he had overdosed and

he decided to

pay them back by saying you want to come

in the studio and talk on this track

so you have all these doctors talking on

the track about coma which is about drug

problems i mean some people say it's

aimed at stephen adler others it was

aimed at slash

whoever it's aimed at the fact is it's a

very deep and dark song and it's again

very different if you compare it to

let's say november rain remember rain is

a little dark but this one is much more

personally dark i feel he's putting

himself into the state of mind of the

protagonist of the song

has

he has such a kinship with psychosis

that that song is very

uh

relevant

to me

that it's comforting from a very deep

place that one stands out at me and

that's definitely one of my all-time

favorite songs in hard rock so and i

just it's just unique it's awesome

the darker slant of volume one's later

tracks seem to act as a direct gateway

and to use your illusion part two a much

more subdued and introspective

collection than its sibling

the second album is probably that is

like absolutely divided as the first one

um it starts off with the song civil war

and civil war was a song that

had come out a little while before user

illusion civil war was a really good

song and a really good rock and roll

song and you kind of

saw

them thinking outside the box like you

you knew they were going to but it

wasn't so crazy and so over the top and

avant and self-indulgent and it had a

kind of if you listen to the lyrics it

had a meaningful positive political

message

[Music]

it was a song that kind of like

gave you

the

rock and roll edge that you were

expecting from guns roses but also show

that they like it like i said that they

had a

a tad bit of an intellectual mind you

know and

that's what you're looking for with them

because the brutal power behind their

music and and the danger is is is

[ __ ] unchartable but yet at the same

time go back and listen this is these

are not just meatheads making music i

mean there's a there's a a very serious

amount of thought and and thoughtfulness

into what goes into their songwriting i

thought that civil war caught that

perfectly civil war is probably my

favorite track on either album to be

fair again it's a very long track about

seven minutes in length i do believe it

opens with a speech from the paul newman

movie call hand luke and then has a

wonderful melody and also an evocative

sense of

the futility of war and the way axel and

the band presented is magnificent

you could see

axel as

almost like liberal rocker

who could participate in a benefit

concert and sort of sing a song that

could be interpreted as having

politically progressive sentiments this

was the song um

and it's interesting that that version

which was i think immensely attractive

to to certain kinds of rock critics and

certain kinds of people who just wished

that the whole guns and roses thing

could be a little less

psychopathically masculine um that that

civil war didn't turn out to be a song

that was like that immensely popular

with guns and roses fans so it's a sort

of

road not taken ultimately i think it's a

great song but it's but it's an example

of how um

guns and roses were not gonna become

that sort of band they weren't gonna

make that switch then

you have

a couple of easy songs that to me

are sort of more examples of um

how

his vision was

just a much more sort of straightforward

rock as wildness kind of vision so this

song's like pretty tied up um and then

you and then you get um yesterday's

which i think is one of the prettiest

songs actually maybe the prettiest song

on either of the two records just a

great showcase for

axel's voice and just like the way he

kind of croaked croons the the

yesterday's got nothing for me lying

[Music]

it's such an odd kind of singing too

it's um

it's maybe the kind of thing that can

only work in a studio environment where

every note can be punched in again if

you don't like the way it sounds and um

he has such a sort of unique tonality

[Music]

the second album is a lot more together

um the sort of only really you could be

mine and

i'd say civil war that stand out as as

being particularly different on that

album and my world obviously ending it

the rest of it is all kind of sewn

together in a

kind of emotional axle

tapestry from

yesterday's to break down and estranged

it's all kind of

very introspective

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

estranged is like the november rain that

no one listened to and and for axel i

think he intended that song to be like

the final great summation of sort of

lots of that record i personally don't

believe that it was necessarily intended

to be the sequel to november and i think

it's a different type of song that

connects because of the lyrics with what

was being talked about in reign but it's

a good song in its own right it's got a

strong sense of purpose and melody but

like a lot of stuff on two it's perhaps

slightly more commercial than what

seemed to be the case for the stuff from

one particularly november rain the

november rain is strange combination

in many ways i think estranged

is a more ambitious

track

it's

it's got so many parts going and so much

happening

but together they're just really

you know it's anthemic they're like it's

like a heart anthem those two songs

together

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

the song that was supposed to be sort of

like the capper of these two records

doesn't

um you know lands with a thud um and so

that's sort of the tragic song in a way

on the second record use your illusion 2

also explored very self-referential

territory

the track get in the ring was a vicious

lyrical attack by axel on rock

journalists who had criticized guns and

rose's conduct while on tour probably

the most laughable track but it's still

a good one in its own ways get in the

ring

which actually started as a duff song

called why do you look at me when you

hate me and then axel adapted it to

basically have a go at all these media

people he felt as slighted either him or

the band it means mick wallet karang

andy session hit parader bob guccione jr

at spin he name-checked them all and a

way of trying to humiliate them but of

course all he did really was build out

their own egos and build up their own

sense of belonging and make people ask

them all the time why are you in that

guns and roses so he gave him a certain

fame which wasn't the idea and i think

he also misread and misunderstood the

point of the media it's not there just

to count out of axel that goes for all

you punks in the press that want to

start [ __ ] by printing lines instead of

the things we said that means you andy

says you're hitting parader circus

magazine nick wallace karang bob guzione

jr or spin what you pissed off cause

your dad gets more [ __ ] than you

[ __ ] you suck my [ __ ] dick in my

fantasy version of user illusion get him

get in the ring just has to be the final

encore when everyone's completely drunk

and ready to leave um that's that's the

song where he's like

he's just basically like challenging

people from

you know magazines he doesn't like to to

get in the ring and have a little boxing

competition or something um but the

funny thing about getting the ring is

for a song that um

has such a sort of stupid purpose it's

really catchy the funniest thing about

that song is

challenging to get in the ring with him

bob guccini jr

accepted a challenge never heard back

from axel which is ridiculous in a way

because you would have thought axel

would have carried through that sort of

thing many observers though even fans of

get in the ring would grudgingly have to

agree that the critics may have had a

point the usual illusion tour was

proving more tumultuous than anyone

expected audience riots were commonplace

most famously at the st louis incident

in which the band lost a million dollars

worth of equipment

axel in the band it seemed could not

help but bring chaos wherever they went

the st louis riot um

[Music]

that

was a real bummer okay um

some guy was like bluntly taking

pictures you know and just he was a

biker guy and he was like really pushing

it you know uh with the security guys

and and just kind of showing everybody

look what i can do right and so i

actually just had it and he jumped into

the audience after the guy

and uh

the band actually tried to go back on

stage and

you know the kids just started pulling

up the chairs they started carrying them

down to the front and then throwing them

up onto the stage so to me you know they

just got into it it just got way out of

hand axle rounds jumped into the

audience

caused them re-percussion

they are tearing up the stage we're

looking at thousands of dollars worth of

damage

photographers i love it

entrepreneur yes write a book

[Applause]

he looks down the crown he's like take

it take it take it from me

all of a sudden he goes if he won't take

it i'll take it from him axel

jumps into the crowd security gets there

in a hurry

i asked his throwing blows they tore

apart the stage i think

they probably lost like half their gear

and that uh riot um

and like the cops too i remember they

were like shooting people with fire

hoses

on the stage and then when it got too

hectic they would leave

so you know

that's one reason why i feel that stage

got torn apart because the cops didn't

stay up there i know a bunch of the crew

guys that were there that were taken to

the hospital and cut and stuff like that

yeah i have a one of the keyboard tech

has the um

has the uh the front panel to the grand

piano in his living room that he had

gotten out of the

the middle of the arena they had somehow

trashed the piano and

so that's kind of funny but yeah it's

just scary i mean it's it's really scary

when when that's that many people and

you know you just don't know

i know there's a couple times where it's

like hurry up get in the trucks let's go

we're getting out of here we were in

ohio

and we were on stage backstage and the

whole place was packed and axel was

still in new york so axel was just

getting on an airplane to fly

from new york to ohio

they kept saying they might riot they

might riot because we're not going to be

able to do the whole show because the

you know police gonna shut us down it

already had gone hours that we were

waiting for him to get there and the

place was

getting really intense

and the management had a way for people

to get away

but they didn't have a way for all of us

to get away

so

some of us were going to have to figure

out how to get out of there

you know and get on the buses so it was

very that was very unnerving that was

one of the most scary things that

happened on the tour we went to another

one of those in montreal when we did the

the

double bill with metallica

[Applause]

hit

[Applause]

i got attacked by a

cop dog for no reason

i was standing there and they started

beating me telling me

unfortunately axel was uh he has had

problems with his voice for the last

couple shows

and

you know

it was hard for him to sing anyway

and when that happened he came out to

try to sing and the monitors weren't

quite right

and he just says i can't i can't sing i

can't

and that's when all hell broke loose

and you know he was and again that was

the night where he came into the

dressing room where i was sitting

i always found a room and i just was

sitting there with slash he walked then

he goes you know what we're the biggest

band in the world i why can't i hear

myself why i'm always having problems

and again because it was [ __ ]

and that's like we could hear him

tearing up the the arena they were

pulling the seats out

it was pretty crazy i think this and

lewis riot was was very typical of the

the tour and the

the kind of

the chaos that surrounded the band

generally

um

axel was always a focal point because

he'd often turn up late sometimes he

wouldn't turn up at all

and often even when he did he'd throw a

tantrum on stage he'd either have a go

at slash or the audience or the security

that there'd be something that would

piss him off

one in every three or four dates i feel

personally that

the main reason that axa rose was

allowed to run right and out of control

to become who he is today was because

the other members of the band i mean i'm

talking about the end of the 80s

beginning of the 90s when they had the

chance still to reign him in decided to

deal with axel by compromising he wanted

something they gave it to him so he

wanted more so they gave it to him so he

wanted yet more so they gave it to him

and the whole attitude seemed to be if

it keeps axel happy and keeps him going

on stage and keeps him going in the

studio we're happy wrong there are many

other people in this world that react to

situations just the same way because

not all of us are perfect and but it

doesn't get you know on national

television so his is hyped up because he

is who he is but he also doesn't try to

hide it axel is what he is i don't think

anybody likes to see people get hurt i

don't think anybody wants

you know fans of theirs to come to a

rock and roll show and and not enjoy

themselves and actually you know get

hurt and go home

and and have injuries and and that

that type of [ __ ] be associated with

your band

but at the same time

i i think it is par for the course if it

wasn't gonna happen on stage it was

gonna happen backstage man that's a rock

star we don't see rock stars like that

anymore you see guys now that are

ashamed to be

rock stars almost you don't see that

kind of intensity so yeah it sucks that

people had to be hurt or there has to be

you know

litigations and all that kind of stuff

but you know what the danger that's what

made guns and roses so [ __ ] brilliant

was the fact that they did incite a riot

they did axl rose was the epitome of a

rock star i mean that was like the last

time you get to see that we did the

stuff that the guys like the who and all

those bands did we had hot tubs with

strippers in them we had

theme theme nights you know

we're in indianapolis and they bring in

an indy car with indie girls and then

they put the yellow rope around it's i

mean

we had one oh my god we had one party

where it was a roman toga night and they

had these guys these bodybuilders

dressed up with oiled up and every

carrying around a roasted pig what i

understood was is they they had a thing

with women of course and women were

always around and they loved you know

being with women and so when they

decided to bring five women on the tour

some of the management was a little bit

afraid

and so they made sure that they

understood you know these lines you know

to be drawn between the women you work

with and the women that you just play

with

and um slash actually said i have a rule

that i don't sleep with women that i

work with

i was amazed by some of the people they

could party

and just keep going i couldn't i

couldn't figure out that part out but

they had it in

this party

do another show party especially the

crew having to put up a huge

huge show and tear it down and go to

another city put it up the same the next

morning

and still partying it's a rock and roll

spirit it's the rebel spirits what all

that's supposed to be about and we're

definitely lacking that in 2007 and if

it happens now it's put on

you know it's like someone studies that

and they're it's not natural guns and

roses was the last bastion of

you know the mick jaggers the or the

keith richards like that was the last

dangerous

rock and roll band in my opinion chaos

and partying aside the tour had one

other major linking factor with the

album

each volume of user illusion featured a

cover version which would nearly always

be performed live axel in the band

taking on paul mccartney's live and led

die and bob dylan's knocking on heaven's

door

such unconventional choices would help

to highlight the band's less obvious

musical influences

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i love the way they covered that song

because

they do it in the right way if you're

going to do a cover make it your own but

also show respect to the original artist

and they did that with knocking on

heaven's door it's almost as if

you know these guys who you used to

think spent all their time in hell

are now knocking on another door and

their presentation

was

really you know it had a religious

quality to it

the band itself

was kind of

on the verge of their own

destruction

and everyone around them at that time

was on the verge of their own

destruction biologically i mean

people were dropping dead slash was on

the verge of dropping dead many at times

this ban was on the verge of becoming

extinct so i think that you know

knocking on heaven's door

was a probably a pretty pretty worthy

and a pretty appropriate song for them

to be playing knocking on heaven's door

um is a dylan song but it's kind of a

funny dylan song in that

it

it wasn't necessarily a giant anthem

at its the moment when dylan puts it out

it actually comes out on a sam pekin paw

film and it's kind of like a it's kind

of like a casually thrown off song that

people just kind of gradually realized

oh no that's a big big rock anthem here

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you can't really compare the bob dylan

version to the guns n roses one they're

both brilliant in their own way but they

did something a lot of bands couldn't do

and made that song their own and i think

a lot of people believed that it was the

guns and roses track and didn't realize

probably still don't realize it was by

bob dylan they're both good choices in

the sense that they're like big songs

that maybe hadn't been completely

drained of their significance by other

people or by by the course of history

so um and they and they work in concert

and they and they do one of the things

that i think the guns n roses audience

wants which is for the band to kind of

connect back to the to the history of

classic rock i love the cover they did

at the paul mccartney team live and let

die that you talk about left field

it almost feels like there should be

more to the song but there isn't but

it's exactly the way it was supposed to

be

and in concert it packed such a wallop

it was a real favorite on that

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well it's funny that they cover live and

let die because

that was a a song that was in paul

mccartney's career a representation of

him losing all his kind of

street cred as an artist and doing these

overbloated commercial songs

and then guns and roses decide to go and

cover that for their album which many

people will look back and see as

their

um

their entrance way into you know

middle of the road commercial rock and

roll and uh it i i thought it was funny

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i think they were quite unusual in their

choice of cover songs because

a bob dylan song and a wings track was

not the kind of song that

um

a sort of hard or glam rock band would

would normally choose

it would tend to be something like t-rex

and it was kind of showed that they they

had a lot more to them and there was a

lot more depth in

in their message if there was one that

the things that they liked were

more kind of

emotional and

even introspective in some ways axel

obviously has good taste he's he's very

interested and influenced by elton john

and paul mccartney and all these guys

have been at the top of their game for

decades for the band

breathy eye

pirate smile

you marry a music man

i think axel was on that path as well

uh when he was starting out and you know

when things were going really good for

uh

about a decade there i actually just

come over all the time i won't excited

piano at the house upright piano and he

used to play the song and he's always

one day this is gonna be the biggest

song and we always used to play elton

john's songs together you know because

you know when you're piano player that's

what you play

and

you know it was real elton johnny and he

used to tell me how much he loved elton

john you know it was kind of

funny

axel

loves elton john but then uh

i really cracked up when i saw that

musical words or something where

uh l john actually came out and was

playing november rain with him

elton was going to play november rain

with us

and he was very nervous about it because

he was a huge fan of elton's

and uh i i remember

very

distinctly that

when the two pianos came up i think they

just i think they both lifted up

elton just kept looking at at

axel just to make sure because you know

he's elton's a very good piano player

and you know axel was doing his thing he

was just kind of keeping an eye out that

nothing was going to go wrong

but i i remember axel being very very uh

in on you know in awe of elton

same thing when he did uh um

uh uh the

freddie mercury show the tribute show he

was he was going to sing

what was he going to sing he was going

to sing one of freddy's songs

and didn't rehearse and we were all like

oh man whoa man

you know everybody rehearsed except axel

and he just was back in his room just

working on the song and

man he nailed it

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nothing really

nothing really

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i was watching it from backstage and

when he was done i was like

yes

that's what that's great that's

greatness you know dean martin never

rehearsed he would watch the rehearsal

backstage

and then he would just go out and do it

some people can do that

eventually the whirlwind of attention

around the new releases began to subside

yet the infamous accompanying tour would

carry on until july 1993

an ordeal which contributed in no small

way to the further disintegration of the

band and their slide into a relevance

with the follow-up covers album the

spaghetti incident there's no sense

anymore

of what the group is

is about they put out a covers album of

mostly punk songs and it's seen by some

people as like a desperate attempt to

keep up with like the alternative rock

crowd even though that's really not fair

and they've been you know doing those

songs for a zillion years by that time i

don't think they even had a chance

there's nothing they could have done by

that time

the climate had changed and it was sound

garden and it was allison chains and it

was nirvana and it was there's really

nothing guns and roses by that time were

were yesterday really yesterday's news

you can't manufacture what they were

that what they were getting on the

records earlier on once it got to the

time that they were making the spaghetti

incident

it had gone too far where

if you can't even get the guys in the

same room together consistently

you can't make a quality record i would

say that

as far as spaghetti incident goes um the

swan song was done

it was

that to me in my mind that record

came out after it was over

it was uh

it you know the whole the energy reached

its peak during user illusion one and

two

and then after that it

it was uh

just kind of picking up pieces at that

point you know

the spaghetti incident in a way was a

waste of time but in another way it was

just

getting a record out to fulfill a

contractual obligation it's a covers

record and some of the covers are decent

other other covers on it are not very

good at all and of course the big

controversy was they did a charles

manson song and everyone was up in arms

about it but

the problem is where do you draw the

line between an artist and

what he does in his personal life and i

don't think in any way shape or form

guns and roses are necessarily saying we

love charles manson and what he did in

fact they never said that but they said

we think it's a cool song we want to do

it

but

spaghetti incident really was just an

interim album it's neither official

found neither here nor there but then a

lot of bands have done covers of them

since it's a way of treading water

having something new out there but it's

not taking up all your original songs

and it may well be at the time do you

know i want ready to write any original

songs and they had to put this out so

they could keep a momentum going

the whole music scene was about to

change

they released it at the wrong time

without even realizing it and they've

struggled ever since because

they know that they have to do something

spectacular to bring the band back to

where they were before that album came

out what with axel powering on with a

new incarnation of guns and roses many

fans are now asking the same question

will long delayed new album chinese

democracy now over a decade in the

making

ever be able to match the unique high

point of the use your illusions saga

it makes for a good myth doesn't it it's

kind of become the legend the legend of

the unreleased album

uh maybe they're better off waiting a

little bit until the climate's better

right now we're seeing a lot of changes

in the way americans listen to music now

so

certainly wouldn't hurt to have a a

great record come out i'd be for it

they should do what motley crue did get

their original band members back get

izzy back in the band

and just say

let's make a record and make a record

without thinking about how the marketing

of it or the sales of it and just

or trying to make a big statement

because

they're already the statement is them if

chinese democracy came out tomorrow

there'd be like two things that would

need to happen one is it would have to

be kind of good

not great just kind of good not kind of

laughable which means that it would just

have to be kind of consistent and then

if something weird happened if like for

example if a song became a hit if it got

associated with something if it just

kind of

accidentally entered our culture

almost

divorced from

guns and roses and what they mean just

if it became something then that would

be a kind of a way for for that band and

that music to enter the music business

again but it's just

it's too bad that people even knew the

name of the record if i were if i were

axel i whatever record i put out i would

never in a million years call it chinese

democracy and you know if if that was

the title track i'd call it you know

japanese theocracy and be done with it

or something like that just anything to

just kind of like that's an albatross

that that he's had for too long i'm

surprised that you know that he wants to

have his product that he's working on

be the butt of a joke for such a long

period of time but isn't it interesting

how you bring it up after it's been over

a decade since they promised it because

people are still interested in seeing if

it's going to come out now if it was

pretty much any other band you know when

an album was planned 10 years ago

everybody would have forgotten about it

but isn't it interesting how people are

still asking if chinese democracy is

still ever going to see the lie today

that tells you something right there

whatever has happened no one can take

away the fact that guns n roses achieved

what few of the bands ever have

creating a worldwide musical event

bringing their own brand of rock and

roll to the masses and defining a genre

for generations to come they had it all

they had songwriting they had playing

they had charisma

they they were stars you know they

they were the true sense of what a star

really is you see kids today

infants wearing guns and roses shirts

they really change culture

i think

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they're never going to go away i think

the way that they've impacted music and

the way they've impacted bands and

musicians and songwriting i think their

legacy is i think it's safe