Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses onstage in Sofia, Bulgaria in July 2012
Background information
Also known as	G N' R, GnR
Origin	Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, blues rock,[1][2] industrial rock[3]
Years active	1985–present
Labels	Geffen, UZI Suicide
Associated acts	Hollywood Rose, L.A. Guns, Neurotic Outsiders, Praxis, Road Crew, Slash's Snakepit, Velvet Revolver
Website	gunsnroses.com
Members	Axl Rose Dizzy Reed Tommy Stinson Chris Pitman Richard Fortus Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal Frank Ferrer DJ Ashba
Past members	See List of Guns N' Roses band members

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band that formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The classic lineup as signed to Geffen Records in 1986 consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Today, Axl Rose is the only remaining original member, in a lineup that comprises Use Your Illusion–era keyboardist Dizzy Reed, lead guitarists DJ Ashba and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer, and keyboardist Chris Pitman. The band has released six studio albums to date, accumulating sales of more than 100 million records worldwide,^[4] including shipments of 45 million in the United States,^[5] making them one of the world's best-selling bands of all time.
A year after its release, Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, on the strength of the hit "Sweet Child o' Mine", their only single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[6] The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide,^[7] including 18 million units sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S.^[8] The success of their debut was followed by the eight-song album G N' R Lies (1988) which reached No. 2 on the Billboard 200. The twin albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991) debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide,^[9] including 14 million units sold in the United States alone.^[8] The cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993) was the band's last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan. After more than a decade of work and many lineup changes, Guns N' Roses released the long-awaited album Chinese Democracy (2008) which, at an estimated $14 million in production costs, made it the most expensive album to ever be produced in music history.^[10][11][12] It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 but undersold industry expectations, despite mostly positive critical reception.^[13]
Guns N' Roses have been credited with reviving the mainstream popularity of rock music, at a time when popular music was dominated by dance music and pop metal.^[13] Their late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described as the period in which they brought forth a "hedonistic rebelliousness" reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones,^[14] a reputation that had earned them the nickname "The World's Most Dangerous Band".^[15] The band's classic lineup, along with later members Reed and drummer Matt Sorum, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, their first year of eligibility.^[16]
Guns N' Roses was formed in March 1985 by singer Axl Rose and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin of Hollywood Rose, along with lead guitarist Tracii Guns, bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner of L.A. Guns.^[17] The band coined its name by combining the names of both previous groups. After only a short time, during which they reportedly played just two or three shows, Beich was replaced by Duff McKagan, while Guns' lack of attendance at rehearsals led to his replacement by Slash. Gardner quit soon after and was replaced by Steven Adler.^[18] Stradlin had previously played with Slash in Hollywood Rose, while Slash had played with McKagan and Adler in Road Crew.
In June 1985, just four days after the lineup was finalized, the band embarked on a short, disorganized tour of the West Coast, from Sacramento, California, to McKagan's hometown of Seattle, Washington.^[19] The so-called "Hell Tour" cemented the band's first stable lineup, with McKagan later commenting, "This trip had set a new benchmark for what we were capable of, what we could and would put ourselves through to achieve our goals as a band."^[20]