History Music / UseYourIllusion

* DownerEnding: "November Rain".

* EndOfAnAge: Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' was released a mere seven days after ''Illusions'', marking the albums as the final blockbuster hit of the 80s glam metal trend.

* {{Foil}}: Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', another album released by Creator/GeffenRecords, came out just a week after the ''Illusion'' albums, directly posing Nirvana's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth style against Axl's mega-budgeted artistic pretensions. Needless to say, [[TakeAThirdOption many rock fans bought all three]].

* CoverVersion: "Live And Let Die", the Franchise/JamesBond theme by Music/PaulMcCartney and Music/{{Wings}}, and "Knockin' On Heaven's Door", by Music/BobDylan. In an odd coincidence, both were originally 1973 movie themes.

The albums had a 30th anniversary reissue and remaster in 2022, comprising 2-disc deluxe editions for each album with an additional live disc, and a Super Deluxe box set featuring both albums alongside several live discs, plus album art and other goods.

* {{Foil}}: Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', another album released by Creator/GeffenRecords, came out shortly after the ''Illusion'' albums, directly posing Nirvana's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth style against Axl's mega-budgeted artistic pretensions. Needless to say, [[TakeAThirdOption many rock fans bought all three]].

* OedipusComplex: Referenced in "Right Next Door To Hell":
--> ''My mama never really said much to me / she was much too young and scared ta be / Hell, Freud might say that's what I need...''

* EpicRocking: "November Rain" is the longest top-ten single in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, clocking in at 8:57. "Coma", (10:13) "Civil War", (7:42) "Breakdown", (7:05) "Locomotive", (8:42) and "Estranged" (9:23) all break the seven minute mark.

* SongStyleShift: "Live And Let Die" is a mostly-faithful adaptation, even giving 'em some Linda [=McCartney=]-penned reggae! "November Rain" shifts from a piano ballad to a big orchestral piece to a showcase for Slash and back again.

* {{Foil}}: Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', another album released by Creator/GeffenRecords, came out shortly after the ''Illusion'' albums, directly posing Nirvana's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth style against Axl Rose's mega-budgeted artistic pretensions. Needless to say, [[TakeAThirdOption many rock fans bought all three]].

** "Don't Damn Me" in ''Use Your Illusion I'' also has the variant line "your satisfaction lies in your illusion".

* AlbumTitleDrop: "Locomotive"
--> ''You can use your illusion, let it take you where it may!''

# "Pretty Tied Up" (4:48)
# "Locomotive" (8:42)

* TheSongRemainsTheSame: Subverted with "Don't Cry", which is featured twice on the album, albeit with different lyrics.

* DesignStudentsOrgasm: Graphic/fine artist Mark Kostabi painted the cover in two different colour schemes, after Raphael's ''School Of Athens''.

** The album covers were drawn out of a scene from the painting ''Art/TheSchoolOfAthens'' by Renaissance painter Raphael. The packaging in recent releases after the initial ones extend to a recreation of the whole painting in the covers' style.

* GainaxEnding: ''Use Your Illusion I'' ends with "Coma", a ten minute conceptual piece about a near-death experience. ''Use Your Illusion II'' ends with "My World", an electronic song welcoming the listener to "a socio-psychotic state of bliss" and getting stranger from there. The other band members didn't even know it existed until the actual release.

* OrangeBlueContrast: ''Use Your Illusion I''’s cover is painted in shades of yellow and red and is generally filled with heavier, harder rocking songs. ''Use Your Illusion II''’s cover, by contrast is painted in shades of blue and purple and contains blues-like, softer ones.

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/useyourillusioni_4018.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300: ''Livin' right next door to hell, why don't ya write a letter to me?'']]

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/useyourillusionii_9627.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''A would-be philosopher clearly believing his own hype.'']]

* {{Foil}}: Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'', another album released by Geffen Records, came out shortly after the ''Illusion'' albums, directly posing Nirvana's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth style against Axl Rose's mega-budgeted artistic pretensions. Needless to say, [[TakeAThirdOption many rock fans bought all three]].

* {{Foil}}: Music/{{Nirvana}}'s ''Music/{{Nevermind}}'' came out shortly after the ''Illusion'' albums, directly posing Nirvana's ThreeChordsAndTheTruth style against Axl Rose's mega-budgeted artistic pretensions. Needless to say, [[TakeAThirdOption many rock fans bought all three]].

In spite of themselves, the two albums were mad commercial successes. ''Both'' albums went seven-times Platinum in the United States, and Platinum in the United Kingdom. While ''II'' went Diamond in Canada, ''I'' was one Platinum short of that certification (nine-times).

** The album covers were drawn out of a scene from the painting ''Art/TheSchoolOfAthens'' by Renaissance painter Raphael. The packaging in recent releases after the initial ones extend to a recreation of the whole painting in the covers' style. According to Axl himself, he got the idea of the covers upon visiting an art gallery with the AlbumTitleDrop in "Locomotive" in his mind, wherein he saw a crop out of the scene that just so happened to be named "Use Your Illusion." Consequently, Axl commissioned artist Mike Kostabi to design the covers based on the cropped scene.

** The album covers were drawn out of a scene from the painting ''Art/TheSchoolOfAthens'' by Renaissance painter Raphael. The packaging in recent releases after the initial ones extend to a recreation of the whole painting in the covers' style.

** The album covers are a reference to a scene from the painting ''Art/TheSchoolOfAthens'' by Renaissance painter Raphael. The packaging in recent releases after the initial ones extend to a recreation of the whole painting in the covers' style.

-->--'''"Estranged"'''

* {{Foil}}: To ''Music/{{Nevermind}}''.

** The album cover is a reference to a scene from the painting ''Art/TheSchoolOfAthens'' by Renaissance painter Raphael.