Features :: GODS OF ROCK: Guns N' Roses: The Perils of Rock 'n’ Roll Decadence

Rock ‘n’ roll has never been short of stories of bands making it big based on pure talent. Every now and then, from the ashes of scores of studio-manufactured-manager-marketed sham bands rises a phenomenon such as Guns N’ Roses. And like all rock ‘n’ roll success stories, GN’R was formed under circumstances so ordinary, that young boys and girls still try and recreate such situations in the hopes of making it big.

What has set this band apart from former overlords such as Led Zeppelin or latter drug-infested, teen messiahs such as Kurt Cobain, is the fact that front man Axl Rose always wrote songs that were realistic, direct, pointed and honest. Screaming in the band’s debut album ‘Appetite for Destruction’, ‘They’re outta get me / But they won’t catch me / ‘Coz I’m fuckin’ innocent’ (“Out ta Get Me”) with an intensity that ascertains the fact, Axl cuts through all the self-pity that one could have wallowed in only by poking needles. This aspect of the band made sure that from the time they made their entry into the music scene in the mid ‘80s, until when the words ‘Guns N’ Roses’ meant everything decadent about rock ‘n’ roll, Axl Rose and his band of bad boys had touched upon all aspects of the human emotion through an allure that was built on the classic “I’m fucked, but so is the world” mantra.

Predominantly brash and uncouth, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff ‘Rose’ McKagan, Steven Adler and W. Axl Rose showed the world that they could take the rough with the smooth. Axl could not only welcome everyone to the Jungle (“Welcome to the Jungle”), but could also croon about ‘childhood memories’ and ‘eyes of the bluest skies’ (“Sweet Child O’ Mine”). Slash’s signature looks and style had immediately impressed the masses. He played his Les Paul in true hard-rock fashion, creating killer tunes that combined the hardest edge of rock, with the bluesiest of blues.

But controversy wasn’t far, with the band earning itself tags ranging from ‘chauvinistic’ to ‘bigotry’ with songs like “Used To Love Her” and “One In a Million” on their second album ‘GN’R Lies’ (the first half which consisted of the previously released EP ‘Live Like a Suicide’). For those who cared to listen beyond the applause and the flak, Guns N’ Roses promised a raw, honest, intelligent and Dionysian form of songwriting that has not seen competition ever since.

Having all synonyms of the word ‘controversy’ attached to your name is not something easy to handle. And when this label comes with fame; or is the cause of unprecedented fame, it becomes hard to stay in focus and perform to the expectation of millions, who, having become frenziedly expectant after listening to the radio playing the same song over and over again, and every music writer covering the same band, make sure that they line up record stores a day in advance to buy the band’s next album. GN’R managed to hold on to their act after the wildly popular ‘Appetite for Destruction’, with the only loss being that of Steven Adler. He was kicked out of the band for heroin addiction and was replaced by Matt Sorum. Dizzy Reed was also brought onboard at this time on keyboards — a move which showed that hard-rock wasn’t always about sticking to a formula and using it until you unsuccessfully try and headbang to your songs even after sporting cropped hair and making garage albums in the studios.

The band occupied studios again in 1990, and put it to full use till 1991 to release a double album — ‘Use Your Illusion’ I and II that debuted as #2 and #1 on the charts on September 17, respectively. Packaged in two shades of the same cover art, the twin-album projected a band that had become mature and mellow in their approach towards life, music and song writing. The band had obviously moved on from exhibiting the classic gruff long hair / tattoo-revealing / gun-shot denim look, to giving the world songs such as “November Rain”, “Yesterdays” and “Estranged”. Never for once straying from the honesty that Axl has become an icon for, Guns N’ Roses went on a 28-month-long world tour after releasing ‘UYI’. This tour also saw the departure of the band’s favorite songwriter Izzy Stradlin and the inclusion of Gilby Clarke in place of him.

By now, Guns N’ Roses had become a force to reckon with. Slick, stylish videos that over-emphasized Axl’s charisma and the band’s popularity at live shows where doing the rounds on music channels. Packed stadiums with hysterical women and slogan waving fans brought the magic of the ‘70s back to the world. The band had to no longer worry about occupying the top spot on the charts — they only had to worry about staying there. Kurt Cobain was hypnotising millions, with his new cool thing called ‘grunge’. And getting more than they could handle, the GN’R camp was littered with ego clashes, drug-related issues, lawsuits, and a plethora of problems that were making the going tough for the band. Incidents such as Stradlin urinating in public on an aeroplane and Slash and McKagan swearing at the American Music Awards made headlines every now and then. It was obvious that the Gunners where finding it difficult to cope.

What happened next is the saddest part of the story. The music industry saw the mighty Guns N’ Roses die with a whimper, after releasing the album ‘The Spaghetti Incident?’ in 1993. The band tried to dish out mostly punk covers on that album, but failed to impress. Gilby Clarke was fired in 1994, and soon all the former members departed (with Slash leaving in 1996, the end was definitely upon the band). The ex-Gunners had varying degrees of success with their solo careers, noticeable among them being ‘Slash’s Snakepit’. Axl tried recreate magic by returning to the studios in 1998, but hasn’t been successful enough to release an album till date. Until ‘Chinese Democracy’ is released, many GN’R fans are going to make do with trading bootlegs and videos of a new GN’R playing at the recent MTV VMA and Rock in Rio.

If you were a child of the early ‘80s, then chances are that you either loved Guns N’ Roses with an obsession that is reserved only for a few degenerative pastimes, or you hated them so much that you currently dig New Age Metal. Of course, if “November Rain” was all you knew of the band, then you wouldn’t have even come this far.