Guns N' Roses

"Appetite for Destruction" came out in August 1987 and entered the chart at number one hundred and eighty-two.

Within a few months it had sold two hundred thousand copies, which for an album by a new band on Geffen was, basically, a flop. Inside the label there was already talk of dropping it.

Radio stations did not want to play "Welcome to the Jungle". MTV did not want to air it either.

Three nights

Geffen's general manager, Al Coury, went to negotiate with MTV and got the bare minimum: that they would run the video once a night, for three nights.

They ran it. And it became the channel's most requested video.

From there the album began to climb, slowly, over months, until it reached number one on the Billboard 200 on 6 August 1988. Exactly one year after it came out.

"Sweet Child o' Mine" was number one on the Hot 100, and it is the only one they ever had.

One of the best-selling albums in history came close to not existing because nobody wanted to play the first single.

What the word "dangerous" covers up

Guns N' Roses were tagged as the most dangerous band in the world, and it is worth remembering that it was a press and promotion tag, not a verdict.

Because "dangerous" sounds like an aesthetic, and what is documented is not.

On 2 July 1991, in Maryland Heights, Missouri, Axl Rose threw himself into the crowd ninety minutes into the show to hit a fan who had a camera, went back on stage, announced he was leaving and left. The roughly twenty thousand spectators wrecked the venue: dozens of people injured and more than two hundred thousand dollars in damage. The band was banned from the city for more than twenty years.

In 1988 they released "One in a Million", written by Axl, which uses a racial slur, homophobic slurs and attacks on immigrants. In 2018 the band themselves left it off the deluxe reissue of their first album.

In March 1994, Erin Everly sued Axl Rose alleging physical and psychological abuse during the four years they were together. The case was settled out of court. Stephanie Seymour also accused him of violence, and he countersued her.

And Steven Adler did not leave: he was thrown out in 1990 over his heroin addiction, pressured into signing away his rights as a partner. He sued, and in 1993 the band paid him two million three hundred thousand dollars in an out-of-court settlement.

None of that is rock and roll. It is what happened.

The name

There is a dispute that is still open and that is worth telling with both versions, because there is no way to settle it.

Slash maintains that one night in 1992, in the middle of a tour, Axl refused to go on stage until he and Duff McKagan signed the name of the band over to him. He says they signed, and that it was a mistake.

Axl denies it completely: he says it never happened.

What does exist is a memorandum of agreement dated 1 September 1992 between the three of them. Axl formally left the partnership in August 1995 and consolidated ownership of the name in 1997.

The impossible album, and how many years it really took

"Chinese Democracy" is always told as the fourteen-year album, and that figure depends on where you start counting.

The documented recordings run from 1998 to 2007, which is ten. The fourteen come from counting from 1994, when Axl started working on the idea.

The rest is accurate: he changed musicians, studios and producers over and over, and the estimated cost is around thirteen million dollars, which makes it one of the most expensive albums ever recorded.

It came out in November 2008.

And here is the part nobody tells, which is the one that closes the story: it debuted at number three and barely reached platinum in the United States. One million copies, for thirteen million dollars and a decade of work.

The reunion, without the trimmings

In 2016 Slash and Duff McKagan came back. The band did not.

Izzy Stradlin got as far as travelling out and doing a soundcheck, and left: he said publicly that they did not want to split the money in equal shares.

Steven Adler was invited to play on five songs across the whole tour.

And it was not "a tour in 2016": it began on 1 April 2016 and ended on 2 November 2019, it grossed five hundred and eighty-four million dollars and it is the fourth highest-grossing tour in history.

It was a reunion, yes. It was also a very big business with two empty chairs.

What to remember

Guns N' Roses are proof that a huge album can go a whole year without anyone wanting it.

Put on "Welcome to the Jungle", "Sweet Child o' Mine" or "November Rain" and you will hear hard rock that in 1987 sounded like something else, made by people who came from the same Sunset Strip where Poison were combing their hair to make it, playing exactly the opposite.

And when their legend comes up, do not tell it in the abstract. The album was saved by three nights negotiated with MTV. The drummer was thrown out and paid off so he would not pursue the lawsuit. And the reunion everyone celebrated left two of the five out.

Remember them like this: for the noise they made, which was enormous. And knowing what there was underneath.

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This text mentions gender-based violence. If you or someone you know is going through something like this, help is available. In Chile, the SernamEG Gender Violence Helpline is 1455, from 08:00 to 00:00 every day, with a silent WhatsApp service at +56 9 9700 7000. For emergencies during the night there are Carabineros' 149, plus 133 and 134. Seeking support is an act of strength.

Sources

Guns N' Roses, American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1985, with a classic line-up made up of Axl Rose (vocals), Slash (lead guitar), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steven Adler (drums). Their debut album, "Appetite for Destruction", was released in August 1987 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 182, with some two hundred thousand copies sold in its first months and little support from radio and MTV; Geffen's general manager, Al Coury, negotiated with the channel to air the video for "Welcome to the Jungle" once a night for three nights, after which it became the most requested video and the album reached number one on the Billboard 200 on 6 August 1988, a year after its release. "Sweet Child o' Mine" is their only number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The label "the most dangerous band in the world" comes from the press and from promotion. On 2 July 1991, in Maryland Heights, Missouri, a concert ended in a riot after Axl Rose threw himself into the crowd to assault a fan and walked off stage: there were dozens of people injured and damage in excess of two hundred thousand dollars, and the band was banned from the city for more than two decades. The song "One in a Million", released in 1988 and written by Axl Rose, contains a racial slur, homophobic expressions and disparaging references to immigrants, and was excluded by the band themselves from the deluxe reissue of their debut album in 2018. Steven Adler was expelled from the band in 1990 over his heroin addiction and, after suing the group, received 2.3 million dollars in an out-of-court settlement closed in 1993. In March 1994, Erin Everly filed a lawsuit against Axl Rose alleging physical and psychological abuse, settled out of court; Stephanie Seymour made similar accusations and was countersued. On the ownership of the name there are two versions: Slash maintains that in 1992 Axl Rose made his going on stage conditional on him and Duff McKagan signing the name over, which Axl denies; a memorandum of agreement dated 1 September 1992 between the three of them is on record, and Axl Rose formally left the partnership in August 1995, consolidating ownership of the name in 1997. The documented recordings of "Chinese Democracy" took place between 1998 and 2007, and the usual count of fourteen years starts from 1994; the album was released in November 2008, with an estimated cost of thirteen million dollars, debuted at number three on the Billboard 200 and earned a single platinum award in the United States. The Not in This Lifetime... reunion tour, with the return of Slash and Duff McKagan, ran from 1 April 2016 to 2 November 2019 and grossed 584.2 million dollars; Izzy Stradlin did not take part, publicly citing disagreement over the split of the income, and Steven Adler was invited to perform five songs across the tour as a whole. Poison has its own profile in this series. Externally authored text, edited and verified for Rebobinados. Interpretations of the meaning of their work are offered as the author's reading. No song lyrics are reproduced, for copyright reasons. Information drawn from Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, Billboard, Louder, uDiscover and other press coverage.