Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band that originated in Los Angeles in 1985. The original line-up consisted of:

Axl Rose - vocals
Tracii Guns - lead guitar
Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar
Duff McKagan - bass guitar
Robbie Gardner - drums
The name was derived from the names of two of the original members, Tracii Guns and Axl Rose. Earlier names of the band were Rose and Hollywood Rose. Although Tracii Guns left by the end of 1986, the Guns N' Roses name stayed. Both Tracii Guns and Robbie Gardner left to start a new band, L.A. Guns.

They were replaced by a former member of the band London named Slash. and drummer Stephen Adler replaced Gardner.

Axl Rose - Vocals
Slash - guitars
Duff McKagan - bass
Izzy Stradlin - guitars
Steven Adler - drums
The line-up as above released three albums:

Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide - a self-produced EP in 1986
Appetite for Destruction - Their first LP under Geffen Records on August 21, 1987, sold 20 million copies, had three top 10 singles, and hit #1 on the charts. Appetite For Destruction is the #1 best selling debut album of all-time.
G N' R Lies - released in 1988 hit #2 on the charts
Contributing Welcome to the Jungle to the soundtrack of movie The Dead Pool (in the Dirty Harry series) also gave them a couple of seconds onscreen in the movie.

Shortly after the release of "Lies", drummer Steve Adler was dismissed from the band, reportedly due to his unwillingness to address his heroin addiction. Other members addressed their addiction after Axl Rose spoke up about them "dancing with Mr. Brownstone" during their opening set for the Rolling Stones. In 1990 Guns N' Roses returned to the studio with new drummer Matt Sorum and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. On September 17, 1991 they released Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, which debuted as #2 and #1 on the charts.

After the release of the Use Your Illusion albums Guns N' Roses went on a 28-month-long world tour, during which Izzy Stradlin quit the band and was replaced by Gilby Clarke. The tour included The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert. During this time, November Rain became the most requested video on MTV, eventually winning a VMA for best cinematography.

In 1993, Guns n' Roses released a collection of mostly punk covers entitled The Spaghetti Incident? which, because grunge had started to become ascendant in the rock and roll world, sold poorly. In 1994 a cover version of The Rolling Stones' Sympathy for the Devil was recorded by the band, joined by Paul Huge (replacing Gilby Clarke), for the movie Interview with the Vampire. Several members started up their side projects (such as Slash with Slash's Snakepit and Duff McKagan in the Neurotic Boy Outsiders), and over the next several years all the remaining original members were one after another kicked out of the band by Axl Rose, claiming to be the sole owner of the Guns n' Roses name.

In 1998 Axl Rose returned to the studio accompanied by:

Josh Freese - drums (from Vandals)
Tommy Stinson - bass (from The Replacements)
Robin Finck - guitar (from Nine Inch Nails)
Paul Huge (aka Paul Tobias) - guitar
Dizzy Reed - keyboards
In 1999, the band released one new song, Oh My God, which was included on the soundtrack of the poorly-received Arnold Schwarzenegger film End of Days. This song was intended to be a prelude for a new album, Chinese Democracy; however, that project was delayed for several years, fueling speculation that it and the band were dropped by their record label, Interscope. Later in 1999, Finck returned to Nine Inch Nails to record The Fragile; in 2000, he returned once again to Guns N' Roses, along with guitarist Buckethead.

In 1999 Guns n' Roses released an official live album called Live Era 1987-93.

Guns n' Roses returned to the stage in January of 2001 with two well-recieved concerts, one in Las Vegas and one in Rio de Janiero. Consisting of Axl Rose, guitarists Buckethead, Robin Finck, and Paul Huge, bassist Tommy Stinson, keyboard players Dizzy Reed and Chris Pittman, and drummer Brain (formerly of Primus), the band played a mixture of old hits as well as new songs from their forthcoming album. After cancelling two European tours during the year, the new lineup played two shows in Las Vegas at the end of 2001. During 2002, guitarist Paul Huge left the band and was replaced by Richard Fortus, formerly of the band Love Spit Love. The band then played several shows in August of 2002, headlining festivals and concerts in Asia and Europe, and then making their way to New York for a surprise appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards. A U.S. tour, the band's first since 1993, was then planned. The tour got off to a bad start, with a concert cancellation starting a riot in Vancouver, Canada. Shows went on as planned for a month, but then a concert was cancelled in Philadelphia for undisclosed reasons, causing another riot. After this the tour was cancelled. As of July 2004 the band has not played a show since their December 5, 2002 concert at Madison Square Garden in New York City.

Reports issued by the band in 2001 and 2002 claimed that Chinese Democracy was to be released later that year by Interscope/Geffen Records, with whom they had apparently patched up their differences (if any). It is set to release in November 2004 and they also released a greatest hits album on that same year on March 23rd.

In March 2004 Buckethead left the band, causing Rose to cancel a concert in Rio and further postpone the release of the album.

Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum have since formed the band Velvet Revolver with Scott Weiland.

[source: http://www.wikipedia.com]