Guns N' Roses: Legends Like AC/DC & Metallica Or A Disappointment?

[@jonathonholm8737]

AFD era GnR is my favorite band of all time. I don't care for most of what came after, but I am rabidly obsessed with Appetite era GnR and Appetite is and always will be my favorite album of all time. 1985-1990ish Guns is just fucking perfection. That original lineup is just special, the chemistry and energy they had will never be duplicated.

[@layn3904]

I knew I shouldnt have listened to this video. Fckin Love Use your Illusion. I think its a masterpiece. So much going on and so many styles of music!!!

[@mickfrendo8212]

Incredible lyrics on each and every song.

[@hansehrenhard5428]

Trajectory only could go downhill after such an absolutely awesome debut.

[@ashesantics]

Appetite is a monster. But I love l.a.guns and warrant way better

[@jondoe8693]

Maybe it's an age thing when it comes to the use your illusions. My buds and I were 14, huge gnr fans, and bought into the hype. We played the hell out of those albums, I still like 80% of each. Great episode guys!

[@jasonschilcher5686]

Honestly I was let down and disappointed more times with Metallica than GnR. 🤷 Both legendary bands though

[@chrisitalia8868]

Metallica did release some crap, but they did always kick ass live

[@DragonFireProWrestler]

I would put GNR best 40 songs against the best 40 songs from any other band ever.

[@tcb7098]

I still haven't heard Chinese democracy

[@marcbrockmann3360]

Use your Illusion is great as they are. It`s a different sound then Appetite but Guns never wanted to be like ACDC were every album has the same sound. What some people call filler other call their favourite so I think to release all the Illusion songs was the right choice. Everybody can create their own 1 CD Version if you want. Of course to have Matt on Drums change their sound to more powerful and less groovy like the Steven Style

[@jameshuseby9931]

Guns n ROSES Axel destroyed a great band

[@williamlevin239]

This is James Anthony another great video the problem with GNR is I love Appetite For Distruction one of the best debut albums of all time then 1992 the Illusions came out they where a disappointment in my oppion some great songs but alot of filler and Chinese Democracy that was a let down in my oppion they are not up their with Metallica and ACDC at all loved the video my brother never stop rockin

[@mattc560]

So many great points brought up, I'm glad that Metal Mike was the guest for this video. I am on the fence about GNR's legacy. On one hand, they definitely do not belong in the tier with ACDC or Van Halen, based on the fact that they do not have the extensive catalog of great albums like those bands. On the other hand, they had such commercial success with Appetite and the Use Your Illusion albums, that a lot of other rock bands could have only dreamed of.

[@ScottFerguson-s4t]

There's a good video of live performance of 'Used to Love Her' on some late 80's nightly talk show. I only kind of like that song but the band sounded AWESOME that night.

[@lonnyhopkins5658]

I agree that they have not had the constant career most mega bands have had and they have got a lot of mileage from Appetite. I think a lot of people really do like Lies and I am a huge Use your Illusion fan. There are a couple of throw aways but I like most. The other big part is the live show. You never knew what to expect early on but they kicked ass when they went out and to this day the still play 3 hour sets. Best bang for your buck. It’s the live show that pushed them and the stigma of band. No one was like them. Motley was the closest I think. The ultimate bad boys.

[@mickfrendo8212]

Another great discussion ! Guns n Roses are a genius !

[@slurrygod]

I remember going to the record store when appetite first came out. I bought it and the Faster Pussycat debut at the same time. Guns n' roses was really nothing like I expected not ever having heard them before. If I'm not mistaken they actually released Welcome to the Jungle twice as a single. The first go-around it never caught on but they re-released it after Sweet Child of Mine became such a hit I was fortunate enough to see them open for Aerosmith right when Sweet Child hit number one. Then we had the opportunity to get tickets welcome to Kansas City but after the unfortunate St Louis incident our show was canceled. It changed my whole opinion about them. I always liked the bands that like to go that extra effort for their fans and appreciate them and the writing was on the wall that guns n' roses was never one of those bands so they lost me. Never have went to see them again nor I never will

[@planetofthelivingsandman3862]

I don’t know man, I think Chinese Democracy is a great record. Of course, I view it as an Axl Rose solo record. After Appetite, the original band is somewhat mediocre. But I agree if they’d cut the crap off of Use Your Illusion, they’d have had an unbeatable follow up to their debut. Great conversation fellas.

[@ARONHALLAM]

The day illusions came out we took our pocket money to town I bought #1 and my mate bought both. When he heard that shite he started crying.

[@dannyinoakpark9095]

In a perfect world You Could Be Mine would be on Appetite I could totally see it maybe after Sweet Child

[@Almeida5]

I saw the band when they were just about to break big at the Coronado Theater in Rockford, IL on April 29th, 1988, with U.D.O. and Zodiac Mindwarp. It was amazing seeing the band with the original members Steven Adler and Izzy Stradlin. For myself, they were never quite the same after those two departures. They were at their hungriest and most dirty sounding with Appetite. When Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II came around, I enjoyed them, but they were so bloated with a lot of what I would call filler. I know their filler would be probably considered other bands classic music had someone else written those songs. I don't have A.D.D. when it comes to music, but these albums were way too long. Axl had a whole lotta ego during the Appetite days, but it was out of control ego by the time the two aforementioned albums came out and during their subsequent tours. Shockingly (not), the band began to disintegrate. Let's face it, this band is the definition of being a legacy band, and it has been this way for a long time. I was never much of an L.A Guns fan back in the day, but I got into them eventually. I find their initial run of albums to be overall better. They don't necessarily have an Appetite of Destruction in their discography, but they had more consistency.

[@steel_horse7570]

For a band whose been going nearly 40 years the amount of output is pityfull. I love everything they done including CD (even though thats an Axl solo album) and there are some decent songs on there but we are getting CD rejects passed off as new songs. But what would a new GnR album sound like as the best song writer, Izzy, has long gone. Im sorry but I dont see Lies as a cash grab? There were 4 new songs on there, 2 covers and re-worked song. Interesting fact the gap between CD and a new Album is bigger than the gap between UYI and CD!!

[@ScottFerguson-s4t]

EP's were popular at the time.

[@ashesantics]

Another great episode 👏 ❤❤❤

[@Jayhawk9]

Love AFD. Perfect rock n roll album. The illusion albums have a lot of great songs but also too many bad ones too. The problem for me is not having Steven Adler after the AFD album and then not having Izzy later. Those too were also a big part of that band

[@HairBandBasement]

Here is the issue with the UYI albums: You Could Be Mine - released before UYI 2 Civil War - released before UYI 2 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door - the better live version was already out there. Yesterdays - ballad Don’t Cry - ballad November Rain - ballad Where is the kick ass rocker?

[@Hwy13La]

Man .. I was freshman in high school , Summit Houston Texas , 1992 . Sold out , a then unknown Soundgarden opens the show at 830 , does 45. Around midnight ! Guns shows up , proceeds to kill . Still a top 5 show I’ve ever seen . The Illusions stuff was so much better live , which always left me to think it was over produced , like a Def record . I would see them again , like 6 months later in the Astrodome with Metallica , Faith No More , and it was already fleeting . They were lightning in a bottle , the things that would tear them apart , were also the things that made them legends . Saw them in San Antonio in 17 , was not good .. played for 3 hours , not good . The lost of Izzy was the trigger , never to be the same . Still rock the JuJu Hounds .

[@ScottFerguson-s4t]

I like 'parts' of the 4 new songs. Hopefully, they are just testers for the full album. 1 more album. Hopefully.

[@rockstarfriend2049]

I agree that Appitite is their best album for sure. Lies was ok, just a different take on the band. But I disagree with you about the Use Your Illusion albums. Both are VERY good albums with a few bunk tracks thown in. And there is a huge difference between Piano and Keyboards/Synth. (Keyboards = The Final Countdown, Piano = Home Sweet Home) Chinese Democracy is an album I just didn't get into.

[@Jmmusic2003]

Appetite is a 10/10 rock n roll masterpiece. GNR lies was a killer EP solid 8/10 for me Use your illusions was a great follow up . Some of GNR best songs are on here and tracks like coma , estranged, November rain , locomotive, breakdown, cival war and the garden are fucking brilliant. 9/10 albums for me

[@ARONHALLAM]

I think afd is the best metal album. The later songs aren't the same style-like the Beatles when they started to write separately, the white album etc.. I don't like the production on illusion, or the songs, the drums,axl's low voice, synth,new image.... Even if you watch farm aid charity gig with steven from 89 he can't save songs like '' civil war''... I agree with guru and his mate. (i have nme or melody maker from 1990 and slash talks about ''a punk covers EP'' and the songs that would have been on that are pretty good but they deleted izzy's guitars out of spite )

[@TheMultiStanKpopFan]

I do not agree with cutting anything from UYI. Lots of people have done the, "make 1 perfect record." Most of the time people's ideal track listing is pretty different. Soooooo......listen to what you like. Skip the tracks you don't like.

[@ScottFerguson-s4t]

After several attempts at 'fixing' the UYI albums I just gave up because it's difficult.

[@MrNikkisixx6]

No Gn’R do not rank up as a top tier Hard Rock band. I’m very realistic about my 4 tier rankings. Top tier legends are Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, KISS, Metallica, Van Halen (Dave era) Aerosmith. as examples. 2nd Tier: Bands that didn’t quite reach the same success but still great enough to sell out arenas today on their own. Mötley Crüe, G’n’R, Def Leppard, Iron Maiden are examples. 3rd tier: Bands that can’t sell out an arena on their own, but a good enough to have a large enough fanbase worthy of being an opening act for 1st and 2nd tier bands. Skid Row, Poison, Cinderella are examples. 4 tier: Bands that had ads in Hit Parader magazine but weren’t really good enough to be bigger than the local club scene. They’re opening acts for the opening acts. Kix, Britney Fox, Killer Dwarfs. are examples. Guns n Roses would never headline over Metallica today.

[@NYUK-x-4]

3 things, RIAA says both Illusion albums hit 7 million on July 16, 1997. AC/DC Back in black album hit 26 million on July 8, 2024 BUT, hit 27 million on August 21, 2024 so it sold a million in one month in 2024?!!! I bought the Izzy Stradlin And The Ju Ju Hounds album, I liked it, and it wasnt like GnR, my favorite song was "Shuffle It All".

[@themindseyecmh]

In a way, GNR only have 1 album. Appetite.. Lies, as you said was a cash grab, pretty much only worth it for Patience. As much flack as Diver Down gets, GNR should have taken that approach here. You've got a hit single with Patience, why not give us studio versions of those Live Like A Suicide songs? Throw in Shaddow of Your Love. In retrospect, maybe those UYI covers would have been better on a project like this. Etc. UYIs, personally is my go to GNR era but there is so much fluff to sift through to find the great material. I'd go as far as to say you can still have 2 albums here but they need WAY trimmed down. They feel more like a collection of songs than two well thought out albums imo Spaghetti Incident...it's a covers album, it's not bad but no where near the greatness of Appetite And Chinese Democracy, a glorified Axl Rose solo album, imo it has 3 or maybe 4 good songs and the rest does nothing for me. And am I the only one that remembers them saying there was supposed to be two more albums after this within the next few years? And here we are nearly 17 years later and nothing lol

[@denisen87]

hate rock, but love guns n roses

[@rob1tnt]

I can appreciate the talent within GnR but their one of the few bands of the era that I've never been that into. Despite all the praise Axl's vocals receive, they've always sounded kind of forced/strained to me. Gimmie Dangerous Toys or Spread Eagle among many others over GnR

[@maxklein7653]

I actually prefer the alternative lyrics of dont cry, should've been the release, so much darker

[@MetalMan73100]

Guns´n Roses to me is part of the one album category of bands. The Two greatest one album bands I can think of are GNR and the Sex Pistols. Both had red hot legendary debuts, followed by... nothing.

[@gellargod]

Slash seperates them from all the rest. For me the best band of the 80s. You can analyze this shit to death. Fact is for me I will always listen to Gnr the songs never get old. They still make millions. What does most of the rest of the bands make now.💲money talks! Just bend the knee Guru!!!

[@Kyush4]

Is my favourite album and band but they are overated, yep. Still that's how good the album is, they just needed one to get all that press and acknowledgement. Slash said stuff from It's Five O' Clock Somewhere was supposed to be on the next GN'R album but Axl didn't like it, do you like that album Guru? I think it's a ripper. Also friendly reminder to check Anxious Disease by The Outpatience, that's Appetite for Destruction 2, with West Arkeen, who cowrote many of the GN'R tunes and the last song recorded with Axl and Slash. Also I think Duff is the best musician out of the five, his solo work is just the best and that Believe in Me album is fucking great. With Izzy's discography if you heard one you heard them all. Slash I feel is on autopilot from a couple of albums already, last one I liked was World on Fire.

[@Duality_of_Man]

So the funny thing about songs like Back Off Bitch and a few others, they were actually written before Appetite, so when you say they're like watered down Appetite, they sort of are! They're literally Appetite demos

[@ScottFerguson-s4t]

Axl gives you every conceivable style on UYI. I prefer ' listening' to UYI. The overall song writing is so much better but Appetite had more charisma.

[@JerseyDevil411]

When ever I think of what went wrong with Guns n Roses in the 90's I remember what Slash said about why he left. He said " I wanted to stay in the gutter and make rock music and Axl wanted to be Madonna"

[@romansalmon]

Like everyone else,apittite for distruction was my anthem album sor a while .but for me,it got old fast. There are a lot of bands out there now trying to sound like eighties stuff, a lot of them are quite good. The genra is called n w h m.

[@purplebeard1526]

I was all in through Spaghetti. Their impact can't be denied, but since Spaghetti not so much. I think we NEED a new full album from them to get it back on track, Chinese Democracy wasn't it. They are long overdue for a new album considering how long this "reunion tour" has been going on. The Hard Skool ep and 2 singles is BS considering how many albums Slash and Duff have put out on the solo tip.

[@konowd]

Never gonna happen

[@purplebeard1526]

@konowd They did the Hard Skool EP with 2 new tracks and released 2 singles....it's time. No way they've been back together this long and don't have st least one album of material ready.

[@konowd]

@@purplebeard1526 Again, not gonna happen. Give it up, the dream is over.

[@billyaltvater2238]

Now i consider myself a diehard GNR fan. But im not one that is blinded. There was no need for a alternate version of dont cry. My Way sucks ass, locomotive did nothing for me.

[@ScottFerguson-s4t]

Locomotive was good

[@seanlandonclarke]

The live stuff isn’t live. They recorded it live in a studio and then tracked in an audience sample to make it seem like it was in front of an audience. You’re Crazy acoustic wasn’t an acoustic version. It was written as an acoustic song, turned into the electric version for AFD. So, technically, the AFD version is a remake of the original acoustic version

[@lowdz68]

A one album wonder. Use Your Illusion could have been very good if they had just made one album and cut the chaff.

[@1Vettefan]

I like a lot of GNR but don't think they deserve to be called legends like ACDC and Metallica. ACDC have a long career putting out consistently good albums with 2 different singers over many years. Even their less popular albums are still really good. Metallica have experimented with their sound a little over the years but have still managed to put out an impressive catalogue. Slash is a talented guitarist who has done a lot of great work outside of GNR so maybe he deserves to be called a legend, but GNR as a band I would say no.

[@DarkCrueDethAngel]

15:13: An especially in the late 80's they almost had lol 😂

[@sadekx5251]

Looks like "someone" killed the cat?

[@billyaltvater2238]

The one song i know that will piss off alot of diehard fans nd say im not one of them is Rocket Queen. The first half of the song is good but when the sex sounds come on i tune out. Think About You is whatever, Move To The City not a fan of. And i do like Chinese Democracy. Used to despize it but it has grown on me alot.

[@adamrivera2499]

Ima pass on this episode cause i actually like all there albums

[@inmyhouse11]

Gn R a 1 hit album wonder

[@wakeupnow2233]

They had one good album. At least Metallica had four.

[@CharlesConnolley]

Gnr sucks. No new albums. Forever. Disrespectful

[@konowd]

Could have should have would have been one of all the time greats if they didn’t repeatedly shoot themselves in the foot. Because of Axl I can’t even listen to them anymore

[@AlphaAstraAqua]

GnR has always been overrated to me.

[@flyingburritobro68]

Metallica Legends. God no. Trash. G n R legends yes

[@konowd]

Big disappointment

[@scottcoburn3577]

Aside from Appetite, GnFnR is one of the most disappointing and overrated bands in rock

[@shawnlarson3311]

Guns and roses overrated