“All the other bands had spandex and make-up and crap,” Guns n’ Roses drummer Steven Adler told VH1’s Behind the Music. “We just played rock ‘n’ roll.” From the time Appetite for Destruction hit #1 in the summer of 1988, until 1992 when the band had lost credibility through lavish videos, bloated tours, and departed band members, Guns n’ Roses was the biggest rock band in the world. They released just four original albums, toured for years at a time, and dominated MTV. And then they were gone.
In the late ’80s, Axl Rose could be heard singing, “I see your sister in her Sunday dress,” ordering his missus to “Take your credit card to the liquor store,” and going off on immigrants starting “some mini-Iran” and gays who “spread some f---ing disease.” Within a few years, Axl insisted on the inclusion of a dreadful rap track on Use Your Illusion II, sang at glitzy AIDS benefits with Elton John, and demanded background singers and a horn section tour with the band. By the time The Spaghetti Incident was released in 1993, Guns n’ Roses was no longer cool. What happened? VH1 attempts to explain the rise and fall of one of America’s greatest rock bands on their Fourth of July installment of Behind the Music.
Starting with the banned original cover art for Appetite for Destruction, Guns n’ Roses proved the nostrum that any publicity is good publicity. Authorities arrested Izzy Stradlin for urinating in the galley of a commercial airplane. Slash and Duff, in altered states of consciousness, began swearing on live television at the 1989 American Music Awards. At MTV’s Video Music Awards that year, Motley Crue’s Vince Neil punched Stradlin in the face, launching a dumb series of heavily publicized challenges between Axl and Vince. GNR’s live act attracted endless publicity for riots in St. Louis and Montreal, no-shows at various venues, and habitual tardiness. GNR sent the youth of America an unmistakable message: this band is unpredictable, dangerous, and not your parents’ cup of tea.
While VH1 covers these well-publicized episodes, they fail to delve into the murkier aspects of GNR’s history. How much truth is there in tales of Axl Rose abusing wife Erin Everly, girlfriend Stephanie Seymour, and various other women? What about rumors of Steven Adler and Slash engaging in prostitution? Was Izzy Stradlin really once a heroin dealer? Such unanswered questions are among the reasons the band remains an enigma.
Perhaps the most interesting theme explored in the VH1 program is the destructive effects coming off the road had on the band. In the case of Guns n’ Roses, idleness truly was the devil’s workshop. After taking a break in ’89, Slash admits: “That’s where we really went down hill. I got lost. Izzy got lost. Steven got lost. Duff even got lost.” GNR truly became a band of junkies, and Axl famously issued an ultimatum to his chemically dependant band mates: stop dancing with Mr. Brownstone, or Guns n’ Roses is no more. GNR persevered, but Steven Adler’s addictions proved too powerful and his fellow gunners let him go. The entire band became the casualty after they returned from two-and-a-half years of touring in support of the Use Your Illusions project.
By the early ’90s the grimy, tattooed, hard-rockers had transformed into staid, poster-children for music industry excess. Lavish videos, a singer with the attitude of a diva, and a string of ballads (Don’t Cry, November Rain, Estranged) released as singles helped to undo their image and popularity. “What’s with the piano?” thought drummer Matt Sorum. “It got bloated, plain and simple,” GNR tour manager John Reese told VH1. Fed up with Axl’s dictatorial methods and the music increasingly taking a secondary role, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin split. “Everyone wished they could go with him,” tour manager Reese admitted. When Stradlin left in late ’91, he took much of the band’s songwriting talent with him. Guns n’ Roses has released just one original composition since Stradlin’s departure.
Ultimately, one hour isn’t enough time to tell the GNR story. Other constraints beyond VH1’s control hurt the documentary. Of the band’s original line-up, only Slash and Steven—GNR’s Southern California contingent—consented to be interviewed. The story is thus told largely from their perspective. The takes of the band’s two reclusive Hoosiers, Izzy and Axl, go unrepresented. Ditto for Seattle punk rocker Duff McKagan. Other errors are apparent. The narrator claims that “Axl supplied the menacing lyrics” to GNR’s tunes, for instance, ignoring that Stradlin penned “Patience,” “Mr. Brownstone,” and so many other songs. Wouldn’t Axl’s twenty arrests in Indiana, or the explosion of Duff’s pancreas, have made great BTM fodder? Alas, GNR is not Tony Orlando, so many of their exploits naturally ended up on BTM’s cutting room floor.
In 1991, I stood in line on a Monday night at Tower Records in Harvard Square to purchase the Use Your Illusion albums on their release date. Two Guns n’ Roses concerts I attended in late ’91 were among the best I’ve seen. On the tail end of that marathon tour, I saw a drugged-out GNR stumble through a set at the old Boston Garden. Complete with an unplanned intermission stemming from Axl storming off the stage, it was the worst concert I have ever witnessed. That was Guns n’ Roses. When they were bad, they were horrible. When they were good, they were untouchable.
“That kind of s---,” Illusions-era drummer Matt Sorum noted, “will never happen again.” No, it won’t.
well written Dan. Boy i missed those guys. Rock music really has never been the same since the days of GNR and the Soundgardens of the world. That kind of music was revolutionary in my eyes and it cant be touched by any of the psuedo bands of today.
Guns n roses is the best band ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Guns and roses are so awesome smoking herion peeing on planes and getting kicked out of your house at the age of 16 recieving awards intoxicated no other band has the balls to do that
