History Trivia / GunsNRoses

** According to Matt Sorum, ''It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'', the 1995 debut by Slash's Snakepit, could have been a Guns 'N' Roses album, but Axl didn't think the material was "good enough" [[note]]on the 1994 documentary video ''The Making of Estranged: Part IV of the Trilogy, GN'R can briefly be heard working on a new song, which later became “Back and Forth Again” by Slash's Snakepit instead[[/note]] . As it was, the lineup for the album could be considered TheBandMinusTheFace for GN'R - the main band consisted of Slash, Matt, ''Use Your Illusion'' tour / ''Spaghetti Incident'' era rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke, bassist [[Music/AliceInChains Mike Inez]] and vocalist Mike Dover, with some guest contributions from GN'R keyboardist Dizzy Reed.

** According to Matt Sorum, ''It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'', the 1995 debut by Slash's Snakepit, could have been a Guns 'N' Roses album, but Axl didn't think the material was "good enough". As it was, the lineup for the album could be considered TheBandMinusTheFace for GN'R - the main band consisted of Slash, Matt, ''Use Your Illusion'' tour / ''Spaghetti Incident'' era rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke, bassist [[Music/AliceInChains Mike Inez]] and vocalist Mike Dover, with some guest contributions from GN'R keyboardist Dizzy Reed.

** According to Matt Sorum, ''It's Five O'Clock Somewhere'', the 1995 debut by Slash's Snakepit, could have been a Guns 'N' Roses album, but Axl didn't think the material was "good enough".

* ReferencedBy: The Mavericks in ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' are all named after the members of this band in the original English version.

* ReferencedBy: The Mavericks in ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'' are all named after the members of this band in the original English version.

** After Izzy left the band, one of the people asked to replace him before Gilby was Marc Ford, formerly of LA club stalwarts Burning Tree. Unfortunately, he had just accepted the lead guitar position in {{The Black Crowes}}. Ford explained in an interview in 2017, "Of course, I was very flattered and my life would be a whole lot different now. I’d probably be dead, to be honest with you. I think it was probably the best decision and Slash agreed. He said, ‘Man, that’s really cool. That’s probably a better fit for you anyway and good luck.’” Ironically, around this same time, Ford did uncredited work on Izzy's first solo single, Shuffle It All.

** One time he ''did'' follow through on his threat, it didn't end well. Just ask the people of St. Louis.

* ChartDisplacement: While their best performers in the Hot 100 are the expected ones ("Sweet Child O'Mine", "November Rain", "Patience", "Paradise City", "Welcome to the Jungle", and "Don't Cry", the first a chart-topper, the next two Top 5, and the rest Top 10), only "Don't Cry" is also one of their four top 5 hits on Mainstream Rock - "You Could Be Mine" and "Civil War" are still well-known and regarded, but "Chinese Democracy" came out long after their heyday and in a quite divisive era.

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Good luck trying to acquire an authentic record of their ''Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide'' EP, and that goes ''triple'' for the cassette release; count yourself lucky if you pick up an authentic copy (especially of the cassette) for less than a hundredth of what they usually go for (usually triple digits for the vinyl record and ''quadruple digits'' for the cassette). The EP was eventually reissued in 2018 as part of the ''Locked N' Loaded'' box set, but the set itself is expensive

* ReferencedBy: In the original North American version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'', all of the Mavericks are named after the members of the band.

* ReferencedBy: In the original North American version of ''VideoGame/MegaManX5'', all of the Mavericks are named after members of the band.

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: If the band hadn't essentially disappeared off the face of the planet in the mid-'90s despite being one of music's biggest rock bands at the time, there's no telling just how much bigger they could have become. Gene Simmons from Music/{{Kiss}} once commented "If it wasn't for Axl's ego, Guns 'N' Roses could have been the American Music/LedZeppelin."

* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: Good luck trying to acquire an authentic record of their ''Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide'' EP, and that goes ''triple'' for the cassette release; count yourself lucky if you pick up an authentic copy (especially of the cassette) for less than a hundredth of what they usually go for (usually triple digits for the vinyl record and ''[[UpToEleven quadruple digits]]'' for the cassette). The EP was eventually reissued in 2018 as part of the ''Locked N' Loaded'' box set, but the set itself is expensive

** After being thrown out of Guns N' Roses, Tracii Guns restarted his band L.A. Guns (Ole and Rob are also examples of this trope for L.A. Guns in and of themselves). They actually didn't do too badly for themselves: Their first two albums went gold and their song "The Ballad Of Jayne" made the Top 40. But once the curtain fell on hair metal, they were one of the first bands to be quickly forgotten. They're now better remembered as a footnote in Guns N' Roses history than for their perfectly decent career back in the day.

!!For the [[Music/GunsNRoses band itself]]:

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!!For the [[Pinball/GunsNRoses pinball game]]:

* CutSong: "Ain't Going Down", which was cut from the ''Use Your Illusion'' album and debuts here instead.
* ExecutiveMeddling: Slash took his proposal to Creator/DataEast over the larger Creator/WilliamsElectronics to avoid this trope.
%%* PromotedFanboy
* RealSongThemeTune: Not surprisingly, the game plays nine different Guns N' Roses hits, including "Welcome to the Jungle," "Night Train," "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Ain't Going Down" (advertised as a "world-wide debut"). Also, [[WordOfGod Slash confirms]] that the game has eight more original Guns N' Roses recordings which were taken off the masters.
* SelfAdaptation: The original idea and initial layout for the game came from Slash himself, who is a major pinball fan and collector. The January 1995 issue of ''Rip'' magazine has him explain his thought process:
--> "You know, there hasn't been a good rock 'n' roll [pinball] machine in, like, 15 years... I thought, well, ''Guns'' is a well-enough known name that we could probably do one. So I started drawing out the game, then I started sketching, writing down the rules..."

** After the extensive Music/UseYourIllusion Tour wrapped, the band was unsure on their future. Their album ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"'' (which consisted entirely of covers) did not sell as well. To make matters worse, Axl Rose was still missing guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who was his primary songwriting partner and an old childhood friend. Stradlin had left in the midst of the last tour due to his recent sobriety and his anger at Axl's behavior. He had been replaced by Gilby Clarke (though Izzy was brought back to some ''UYI'' concerts after Clarke injured himself). However, in the midst of this upheaval, Clarke was fired and Axl's old friend Paul Tobias was hired without consulting anyone else. Slash in particular hated Tobias, but Axl stood by him. The final straw came when a cover of [[Music/TheRollingStones "Sympathy for the Devil"]] for the ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' soundtrack had Tobias' guitar part mixed on top of Slash's. Slash officially quit two years later, but was pretty much done with the band at that point.
** The band did try to record a new album, but it never went anywhere. Axl and Slash both have stated that the other tried to take over all writing and have the other fired. Slash in particular has repeatedly stated that Axl took the rights to the Guns 'N' Roses name by force (refusing to go onstage until Slash and Duff signed the name over to him - which actually wouldn't work at all legally) [[IAmTheBand and treated all members as session musicians]]. Axl denies this and claims he was the one repeatedly shut out and threatened with dismissal. He does own the rights to the name, but this was apparently after a complicated legal battle.
** After Slash's departure, Music/NineInchNails guitar player Robin Finck was hired as the new lead guitarist. Tobias stayed on, but eventually drove drummer Matt Sorum and bassist Duff [=McKagan=] away. This left Axl and keyboardist Dizzy Reed as the last two members from the Use Your Illusion tour. Tommy Stinson of Music/TheReplacements, Chris Pitman, and Josh Freese joined the band around this time and officially started work on ''Chinese Democracy''. However, after cycling through many different producers and recording for a full year, the band only released one song in 1999. That song,"Oh My God," was only ever featured on the soundtrack to ''Film/EndOfDays'' and was not critically or commercially well received (eventually being left out of the finished album despite some live performances of the song).
** Finck quit for the first time before 2000 to rejoin NIN. When he returned to the band, Music/{{Buckethead}} had already been hired as a replacement. The two toured together starting in 2001, and they didn't get along, because Buckethead was mad that he had to "share the spotlight" with Finck. Freese also quit and was replaced by Bryan "Brain" Mantia of Music/{{Primus}}.
** Buckethead was also hard to work with in the studio. Among other things, he demanded a chicken coop be built for him to record his parts in and when a puppy had an accident in the studio, Buckethead demanded that the feces not be cleaned up as it gave him inspiration. He also tried watching hardcore pornography while recording until Rose forbid it. Also, after several festival performances, Paul Tobias announced he would stop touring with the band and was replaced by Richard Fortus. Tobias did remain as a recording partner of the band and still appears on several tracks on the finished album.
** Despite these problems, the album was mostly finished by 2002, but a terrible performance at the 2002 [=VMAs=] and a North American tour that imploded after only half the promised dates had been performed set everything back. It's also rumored the album was rejected by the record label for not having any potential "hits."
** The album was then tentatively set to be released in 2004, with an accompanying tour. Right before the tour was supposed to begin with a performance at the Rock in Rio festival, Buckethead left the band. Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal was hired to replace him in 2006 and would end up rerecording many of Buckethead's parts, while Frank Ferrer replaced Bryan Mantia on drums during the 2006 tour. (Mantia said it was because he wanted to take some time off to spend time with his newborn daughter.) The album again was to set to be released in 2006, but didn't happen due to the line up shift. However, a number of leaks from 1999-2006 came out that year.
** Weeks before the album was finally released in 2008, lead guitarist Robin Finck again quit the band, which cancelled a hopeful tour. Axl Rose did zero promotion for the album for the next year, barring a few message board fan interviews. The band hired DJ Ashba (who played with [[Music/MotleyCrue Nikki Sixx]] in Sixx AM) as the new lead. A year after the album was released, the band continued the Chinese Democracy Tour (which had been going on since 2001) with a band that only had 3 contributing song writers left. To top it all off, the booklet and promotional materials were rife with errors and some have said the album was actually intended to be a TRIPLE album (Axl Rose has said he always thought of it as a double. Music/SkidRow's Sebastian Bach claims to have heard four albums worth of material at one point). Instead, one record with the majority of the songs being nearly 10 years old was released with no further albums in sight. The band would continue to tour for ''Chinese Democracy'' until 2012. A whole decade of (mostly successful) touring on one album that took 12 years to be released as 1/3rd of the intended content. And that doesn't mention the multiple law suits, including one over plagiarized ambient music before a track (a track that was completed and performed live in 2002, yet had the offending sample added shortly before release in 2008), and a major one with a former manager of the band.

!!For the band itself:

* CutSong: "Ain't Going Down," which was cut from the ''Use Your Illusion'' album and debuts here instead.
* DirectedByCastMember: The original idea and initial layout for the game came from Slash himself, who is a major pinball fan and collector.
-->"You know, there hasn't been a good rock 'n' roll [pinball] machine in, like, 15 years... I thought, well, ''Guns'' is a well-enough known name that we could probably do one. So I started drawing out the game, then I started sketching, writing down the rules..."
--->--Slash, ''Rip'' magazine, January 1995
* ExecutiveMeddling: Discussed by Slash, who said he took his proposal to Creator/DataEast over the larger Creator/WilliamsElectronics to avoid this trope.

* RealSongThemeTune: Not surprisingly, the game plays nine different Guns N' Roses hits, including "Welcome to the Jungle," "Night Train," "Mr. Brownstone," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Ain't Going Down" (advertised as a "world-wide debut"). Also, [[WordOfGod Slash confirms]] that the game has eight more original Guns N' Roses recordings which were taken off the masters.

* BreakthroughHit: "Welcome to the Jungle".

* BannedInChina: The album ''Music/ChineseDemocracy'' is banned in China thanks to these lyrics in the title track: "Blame it on the Falun Gong, They've seen the end and you can't hold on now".[[note]]Falun Gong are a persecuted minority class in China, banned from practicing their religion by the Communist government and naturally any mention of them is sure to be censored.[[/note]]

* FakeBrit: "Down on the Farm" has Axl attempt an English accent so dire, it makes him a prime contender for the Creator/DickVanDyke of hard rock.

* BannedInChina: The album ''Chinese Democracy'' is banned in China thanks to these lyrics in the title track: "Blame it on the Falun Gong, They've seen the end and you can't hold on now".[[note]]Falun Gong are a persecuted minority class in China, banned from practicing their religion by the Communist government and naturally any mention of them is sure to be censored.[[/note]]

* CanonDiscontinuity: The band grew to regret "One in a Million", an extremely controversial song on their ''GNR Lies'' EP that featured racist and homophobic language. The band included the entirety of the EP on their extensive 2018 box set for ''Appetite for Destruction'', but "One in a Million" was nowhere to be found.

** ''Chinese Democracy'', the musical equivalent of VideoGame/DukeNukemForever, took 15 years to be released.

** The constant delays for Chinese Democracy eventually led to the fans joking about when the next album will be released. At a clinic in 2013, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, one of the current guitarists, even made fun of this himself!

** According to Axl, "Chinese Democracy" was done and ready to be released in 1999/2000. They even had enough for a double album. However, when a new producer was brought in, he told Axl that it all needed to be rerecorded. In 2006, Rose remarked that the band had thirty two songs in the works. Come 2008, when the record is finally released, we end up with only fourteen. One has to wonder how the "lost tracks" would have affected the album, especially since there are anywhere from 30-40.