Guns N' Roses released Greatest Hits

Guns N’ Roses A Retrospective: 1987-1994

Overview: Rock group formed in Los Angeles in 1985. Their debut album, 1987’s Appetite for Destruction, was the biggest selling debut of all time with 30 million copies sold worldwide and ranks as one of the top 100 albums of all time. The follow-up albums Use Your Illusion I & II rank in the top 1000 albums of all time. “Sweet Child O' Mine,” a #1 single from Appetite, ranks as one of the top 100 songs of all time. The songs “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City,” and “November Rain” rank in the top 1% of all time. The Players: W. Axl Rose (vocals: 1985-) Saul “Slash” Hudson (guitar: 1985-1996, 2016-) Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar: 1985-1991) Duff McKagan (bass: 1985-1997, 2016-) Steven Adler (drums: 1985-1990) Dizzy Reed (keyboards: 1990-) Matt Sorum (drums: 1990-1997) On the Web: Gunsnroses.com (official site) Facebook Wikipedia Lists: Guns N’ Roses et al: Top 50 Songs

Awards:

Compilations: G Greatest Hits (1987-1994, released 2004) Under each album snapshot, songs featured on the anthologies are noted. If the song charted, the date of the song’s release or first chart appearance and its chart peaks are noted in parentheses. Click for codes to charts.

Appetite for Destruction (1987): Welcome to the Jungle (9/28/87, 7 US, 9 CB, 13 GR, 10 RR, 37 AR, 24 UK, 41 AU, 1 DF, sales: 1.1 million worldwide) G Sweet Child O' Mine (6/11/88, 12 US, 613 CB, 12 GR, 12 RR, 7 AR, 6 UK, 7 CN, 11 AU, 1 DF, sales: 4.6 million worldwide) G Paradise City (11/30/88, 5 US, 4 CB, 9 GR, 4 RR, 14 AR, 6 UK, 10 CN, 48 AU, 15 DF) G Click here for DMDB album page.

GN’R Lies (1988): Patience (12/24/88, 4 US, 4 CB, 4 GR, 6 RR, 7 AR, 10 UK, 16 AU, 1 DF) G Click here for DMDB album page.

Use Your Illusion I (1991): Don’t Cry (9/17/91, 10 US, 7 CB, 9 GR, 13 RR, 3 AR, 8 UK, 11 CN, 5 AU, 16 DF) G November Rain (9/28/91, 3 US, 13 CB, 4 GR, 2 RR, 15 AR, 4 UK, 5 CN, 5 AU, 2 DF) G Live and Let Die (9/28/91, 33 US, 26 CB, 26 GR, 26 RR, 20 AR, 5 UK, 56 CN, 10 AU, 13 DF) G Click here for DMDB album page.

Use Your Illusion II (1991): Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (9/28/87, 18 AR, 2 UK, 56 CN, 12 AU, 4 DF) G Civil War (8/4/90, 4 AR, 11 UK, 45 AU, 1 DF) G You Could Be Mine (6/21/91, 29 US, 3 AR, 3 UK, 30 CN, 3 AU, 16 DF) G Yesterdays (10/17/92, 72 US, 58 CB, 13 AR, 8 UK, 52 CN, 14 AU, 33 DF) G Click here for DMDB album page.

The Spaghetti Incident? (1993): Ain’t It Fun (11/13/93, 8 AR, 9 UK, 32 DF) G Since I Don’t Have You (2/11/94, 69 US, 62 CB, 28 GR, 31 RR, 10 UK, 20 CN, 47 AU, 12 DF) G Click here for DMDB album page.

Greatest Hits Guns N’ Roses

Released: March 23, 2004 Recorded: 1987-1994 Peak: 3 US, 13 UK, 2 CN, 2 AU, 11 DF Sales (in millions): 6.0 US, 2.1 UK, 12.72 world (includes US and UK) Genre: classic rock/hair band/metal Rating: 4.067 out of 5.00 (average of 12 ratings)

Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

Tracks: (1) Welcome to the Jungle (2) Sweet Child O' Mine (3) Patience (4) Paradise City (5) Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (6) Civil War (7) You Could Be Mine (8) Don’t Cry (9) November Rain (10) Live and Let Die (11) Yesterdays (12) Ain’t It Fun (13) Since I Don’t Have You (14) Sympathy for the Devil Total Running Time: 79:24 Tracks Not on Previously Noted Albums: Sympathy for the Devil (from the Interview with the Vampire soundtrack) (11/19/94, 55 US, 10 AR, 9 UK, 48 CN, 12 AU, 13 DF) G

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Guns N’ Roses Dave’s Music Database: Acts’ Profile Pages and Best-of Lists Wikipedia page for Greatest Hits First posted 2/11/2023.

Guns N’ Roses “Patience” charted

Patience Guns N’ Roses

Writer(s): Guns N' Roses (see lyrics here) Released: April 4, 1989 First Charted: December 24, 1988 Peak: 4 US, 4 CB, 6 RR, 7 AR, 10 UK, 10 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to singles charts.) Sales (in millions): 1.0 US, 0.2 UK Airplay/Streaming (in millions): -- radio, 319.5 video, 185.72 streaming

Awards: Click on award for more details.

About the Song: After the success of their 1987 Appetite for Destruction album, Guns N’ Roses released G N’ R Lies as a sort of stopgap. The collection packaged the group’s 1986 Live Like a Suicide EP with four new songs. They included an acoustic reworking of “You’re Crazy,” which had appeared on Appetite, the eyebrow-raising “Used to Love Her” about killing one’s girlfriend, and the highly controversial “One in a Million” which insulted homosexuals and immigrants. The song’s big hit, however, was the ballad “Patience” about “waiting it out in a relationship.” SF The song has often been assumed to be about Axl Rose and his troubled relationship with Erin Everly, but the band has said Izzy Stradlin wrote the song about his ex-girlfriend Angela Nicoletti McCoy. WK The song was originally recorded with all acoustic instruments and no drumming, although they use electric guitar and drums when performing the song in concert. The song also features Axl Rose whistling – something he also does on the GNR hits “Paradise City” and “Civil War.” The song is a favorite for karaoke, but Kimberly Starling of The Karaoke Informer says it is one of the top 5 songs that tends to bomb. SF A version of the song by Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave) was released posthumously in 2020. He recorded the song after helping his daughter, Toni, learn it. He took it to #1 on the Billboard mainstream rock chart. Resources: SF Songfacts WK Wikipedia Related Links: First posted 8/6/2022.