History Music / GunsNRoses

* EveryoneHasStandards: As DennisMiller once said about Steven, "How [[spoiler: fucked]] up do you have to be to get kicked out of Guns n Roses?"

The group is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012. In an inversion of what happened to the band itself, [[TheBandMinusTheFace everyone but Axl]] came to the ceremony.

* TheBandMinusTheFace: VelvetRevolver, 75% composed of former Gunners. The band entered a hiatus on 2008 as they couldn't find a new singer (the original got back to [[StoneTemplePilots his old band]]).

The group is being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012.

* TheBandMinusTheFace: VelvetRevolver, 75% composed of former Gunners. As of 2009, they're still having a hard time getting a new vocalist, thus going back to 60% composed of former Gunners.

* FiveManBand
** Slash = TheHero
** Axl = TheLancer/ TokenEvilTeammate
** Duff = TheBigGuy
** Izzy = TheSmartGuy
** Steven = TheChick
** Dizzy = SixthRanger

** Axl = TheLancer/TokenEvilTeammate

** Axl = TheHero
** Slash = TheLancer

* EpicRiff: "Sweet Child o' Mine". "Welcome to the Jungle" as well.
** Somewhat {{subverted|Trope}} for "Sweet Child". The riff was just Slash messing around and Axl had happened to hear it and write lyrics to it. [[QualityByPopularVote The fans love of the song made it epic]] when the band thought it was just going to be album filler.

* AerithAndBob: The original lineup consisted of [[SmallNameBigEgo Axl]], [[AwesomeMcCoolname Slash]], Duff, Izzy... and Steve. Steve's replacement Matt too.

* SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll: Duh.

* PowerBallad: "Patience", among others. ''Chinese Democracy'' has a lot of these too.

** A 2011 radio commercial that's running on the St. Louis classic rock station KSHE 95 (their actual frequency number is 94.7) references this; 2011 is the 20th anniversary of Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, previously known as Riverport. The riot occurred there. Guns N' Roses' Paradise City starts playing in the background of a commercial, then there's high-pitched mic feedback as the music stops, footsteps in the background, and the voiceover says "Sorry... he's still a little sore about that" referencing the riot and the band's subsequent ban from St. Louis.

[[quoteright:350:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guns_n_roses.jpg]]

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/guns_n_roses.jpg

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! Tropes involving this band:

* NotableMusicVideos: Besides the three Concept Videos, "You Could Be Mine", which was part of ''{{Terminator}} 2''{{'}}s OST. It even features {{Arn|oldSchwarzenegger}}ie himself.

--> ''[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere "Thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!"]] [[{{Ragequit}} (drops microphone on the stage]], [[HellIsThatNoise making a horrendous sound)]]''

--> ''"First off, this guy grabs me and calls me BonJovi. [[TakeThat Bon Jovi can suck my dick]]. Second off, he tried to hit me. That's when Steven cracked him in the head with his cast. And his words were, '[[TrueCompanions You never try to hit one of the family]].'"''

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

* TroubledProduction: ''Chinese Democracy'', which used lots of money, time, and people.

* {{Vaporware}}
** ''Chinese Democracy'', the musical equivalent to VideoGame/DukeNukemForever, took 15 years to be released.
** The music video for the second single, "Better".

Guns N' Roses has sold an estimated 90 million albums worldwide, including over 42 million in the United States. The band's 1987 major label debut album, ''Appetite for Destruction'', has sold in excess of 28 million copies and reached number one on the United States Billboard 200. In addition, the album charted three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Sweet Child O' Mine" which reached number one. The 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone. After over a decade of work, the band released their follow-up album, ''Chinese Democracy'', on November 23, 2008, a date to be remembered throughout history as the day when (non PinkFloyd-affliated) [[CueTheFlyingPigs pigs actually flew]].

* 2004: ''[[GreatestHitsAlbum Greatest Hits]]''

* {{Badass Longhair}}: Well, everyone.

--> ''[[ScrewThisImOuttaHere "Thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!"]] [[RageQuit (drops microphone on the stage]], [[HellIsThatNoise making a horrendous sound)]]''

--> ''"First off, this guy grabs me and calls me BonJovi. [[TakeThat Bon Jovi can suck my dick]]. Second off, he tried to hit me. That's when Steven cracked him in the head with his cast. And his words were, '[[{{Nakama}} You never try to hit one of the family]].'"''

* GTARadio: Axl is the DJ of the classic rock station in ''{{Grand Theft Auto San Andreas}}''.

** His sunglasses are so iconic that some people wonder if he's blind or if he even has eyes. [[CaptainObvious Neither of these claims are true]], [[HandicappedBadass but his playing would somehow be even more epic if he was blind/eyeless.]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqRxsu8tegE He has been seen once]] without his hat or his sunglasses, when he played with [[DefLeppard Joe Elliot]] and members of {{Queen}} at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. But even so, you don't really see his eyes past his hair, to the point where you wouldn't even know it was him if Joe Elliot didn't shout, "Slash!" when he takes to the stage. And aside of this, have you ever seen him without his sunglasses? He can be seen occasionally without his signature top hat, but without the glasses? Not so much.

* FiveManBand
** Axl = TheHero
** Slash = TheLancer
** Duff = TheBigGuy
** Izzy = TheSmartGuy
** Steven = TheChick
** Dizzy = TheSixthRanger

* ClusterFBomb - "Perfect Crime" and "Get in the Ring".
* ContemptibleCover - the original "rapist robot" ''Appetite for Destruction'' cover, eventually changed in the USA.
* CountryMatters - "Bad Obsession" and "Ain't It Fun".
* CoverVersion - "[[Music/{{Wings}} Live and Let Die]]" in ''Use Your Illusion I'' and [[BobDylan "Knocking on Heaven's Door"]] on ''II'', [[CoverAlbum a whole album of them]] on ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"''... and "[[TheRollingStones Sympathy For The Devil]]" for ''InterviewWithTheVampire'', which [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sympathy_for_the_Devil#cite_ref-book_10-0 arguably]] was the straw that broke the camels back...

* EarlyBirdCameo - The liner notes of ''Appetite'' have an excerpt of "You Could Be Mine", and ''Use Your Illusion I'' has "Ain't It Fun?" (one of the songs in ''The Spaghetti Incident?'').
* EpicRocking - Over the 7-minute mark: "November Rain", (8:57) "Coma", (10:13) "Civil War", (7:42) "Breakdown", (7:05) "Locomotive", (8:42) and "Estranged". (9:23) All of them from both volumes of ''Use Your Illusion''.

** Somewhat [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] for "Sweet Child". The riff was just Slash messing around and Axl had happened to hear it and write lyrics to it. [[QualityByPopularVote The fans love of the song made it epic]] when the band thought it was just going to be album filler.

* FakeBrit - "Down on the Farm"

* TheImmodestOrgasm - "Rocket Queen" features a woman having sex with Axl in the studio. It was Steven Adler's girlfriend, and he happened to be out of town at the time while she wanted to have revenge.

* LyricalDissonance - "[[MurderBallad Used to Love Her]]"

* MoodWhiplash - "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Rocket Queen"
* MotorMouth - "Garden of Eden". That has an hilarious FollowTheBouncingBall video. Also one of GNR's few Speed Metal songs.
* NWordPrivileges - Axl doesn't understand them.
* NeoclassicalPunkZydecoRockabilly - Every one of the original six (and later, Matt Sorum) liked a different rock style, and it led to a distinctive sound.
* NoodleIncident - As punny as it may seem, the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spaghetti_Incident%3F#Album_title inspiration]] for ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"''
* NumberedSequels - Though both ''Use Your Illusions'' came simultaneously.
* PowerBallad - "Patience", among others. ''Chinese Democracy'' has a lot of these too.
* PrecisionFStrike - ''Chinese Democracy'' has an extremely low amount of F words compared to other albums.

* RatedMForManly - Take away the ballads (and deconsider the hair/clothes of some members), and it's pure macho.
* RevivalByCommercialization - Word has it that the one big push for the release of ''Chinese Democracy'' was the [[EarlyBirdCameo inclusion of "Shackler's Revenge"]] in ''RockBand 2''. And then later the rest of the album was put up for DownloadableContent. This opens space for some WhatCouldHaveBeen if Harmonix had not considered them.
* SomethingBlues - "Shotgun Blues" from ''Use Your Illusion II''.
* StepUpToTheMicrophone - "So Fine" and a few covers on ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"'' are sung by Duff, "14 Years", "Dust N' Bones", "You Ain't the First" and "Double Talkin' Jive" by Izzy, and "Buick Mackane/Big Dumb Sex" by Slash.
* TakeThatCritics - Axl called critics out by name in "Get in the Ring." Arguably the only message this sent was "Axl is thin skinned."
* TroubledProduction - ''Chinese Democracy'', which used lots of money, time, and people.

* ArtifactTitle - The group's name was decided by its founding members, Axl Rose and and Tracii Guns, and the name stuck even after Tracii Guns [[ThePeteBest left the group before the band made it big]].
* TheBet - Dr. Pepper bet that if they released ''Chinese Democracy'' before the end of 2008, they'd give away free coupons for a free can of soda. They were fully prepared to go through with it, but problems cropped up with the online distribution of coupons...
* ConceptVideo - The superproduced videos of "November Rain", "Estranged" and "Don't Cry"
* InNameOnly - This has happened to the band twice: first when Axl fired all the former L.A. Guns members and replaced them with Slash, Adler, and [=McKagan=], and secondly when ''those'' members left and the band's style changed.
* NotableMusicVideos - Besides the three Concept Videos, "You Could Be Mine", which was part of ''{{Terminator}} 2''{{'}}s OST. It even features [[ArnoldSchwarzenegger Arnie]] himself.

** Guns n' Roses once played a double-bill with {{Metallica}} in Montreal. Early in his set, James Hetfield got confused about his stage cues and accidentally stepped into a column of phosphorous, nearly burning to death on stage. Naturally, he went to the hospital and Metallica apologized that they couldn't finish their set. [=GNR's=] roadies weren't prepared to switch over so early, so it took an exceptionally long time to set up Guns' stage apparatus. When they finally appeared, Axl threw a hissy fit over the quality of the sound and stormed off only a few minutes into ''his'' set. This pushed the '''audience's''' BerserkButton, and they tore apart the arena in rage.

** Slash = TheLancer ([[YourMileageMayVary these positions may be reversed]], [[BrokenBase depending on who you ask]])

** Slash = TheLancer

* IntercourseWithYou: "Anything Goes" and "Rocket Queen". Not to mention a cover of "[[{{Soundgarden}} Big Dumb Sex]]".