Top Ten Songs by Guns N’ Roses

Guns N’ Roses, the L.A band that single-handedly stopped the glam metal bands of the 1980’s in their tracks, always had their share of ups and downs. Lead singer Axl Rose was notorious for his tantrums and the band, featuring Rose, guitarist Slash, guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler broke out in the late 1980’s with their groundbreaking album, Appetite for Destruction. But the band’s drug and alcohol addictions, along with their explosive personalities, was what ultimately spelled the demise of the hit-making lineup of this great rock and roll band. Still, with so much great GNR material out there, it’s not hard to come up with a list of their top ten songs:

1. Welcome to the Jungle- Their breakout hit from 1988’s album Appetite for Destruction, this song put these bad boys on the rock and roll map. From the gritty music video portraying a naive boy pursuing his dream of fame in L.A., to the gritty lyrics and thrashing guitar riffs, this is GNR’s first – and undeniably best – song. It didn’t get the recognition it deserved until nearly a year after the album was released.

2. Sweet Child of O’ Mine- A softer song from the Appetite for Destruction album, this song was written by Axl Rose to his then-wife Eric Everly (daughter of the Everly Brothers’ Don Everly). This song also features one of the best rock and roll guitar solos of all time.

3. Patience- To whet the appetites of fans waiting for more between the release of their next “real” album, the band released an EP of older material, called
GN’R Lies. The acoustic song from this album, Patience, became a hit single and an anthem for lovebirds all over the place.

4. Don’t Cry (original version) – After the success of Appetite for Destruction, GNR needed to do something big. With the dual release of albums Use Your Illusion 1 and Use Your Illusion II in 1991, the group gave their fans a much-needed dose of new material. The first single, Don’t Cry, stands out because it is a rare ballad from GNR. It’s a beautiful song with nary a trace of Axl’s telltale screech. Backup vocals on this song are sung by Shannon Hoon, the late singer of the group Blind Melon.

5. November Rain- This song was a huge top-10 hit for the band, and one of the most-played videos on MTV in the early 1990’s. It’s also a long song – a very long song – clocking in at almost 9 minutes. The video production for this song was an expensive undertaking, and it featured Rose’s then-girlfriend, model Stephanie Seymour.

6. Estranged – This song, from the Use Your Illusion II album, is GNR at its best. Featuring a killer guitar solo by Slash, this song was meant to be the third of a 3-part music video trilogy by the band (the first part was the Don’t Cry video and part 2 was the November rain video). When you listen to a song like Estranged, it’s easy to remember why Gun N’ Roses was so great.

7. Paradise City- This song, from the album Appetite for Destruction, got plenty of radio airplay in the late 80’s and it can be attributed to helping make the album such a huge success.

8. Yesterdays-This song was one of the better songs on Use Your Illusion II (second only to Estranged). It’s great tune, and judging by the lyrics it seems as though Axl was taking some time to reflect on a few things.

9. Civil War-This song was the band’s attempt to get political (or at least somewhat). It worked out well for them, as this was one of the more popular songs from the Use Your Illusion albums.

10. Used to Love Her- The lyrics to this song, from GNR Lies, goes likes like this:” I used to love her, but I had to kill her, I had to put her six feet under, and I can still hear her complain”. Obviously some tongue-in-cheek lyrics, and Rose claims he wrote the song about a dog that he had to put to sleep. Still, leave it to GNR to cause some controversy with this song!