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INSANE: Izzy stradlin - The Real Truth

“It used to be, like, 25 minutes long!”: How Axl Rose took inspiration from Elton John to create a classic Guns N’ Roses ballad that was years in the making

Rose called it “a song about not wanting to be in a state of unrequited love”

MusicRadar

“If you lived in LA, in the trenches, you could relate to it. And knowing Axl, I could relate to exactly where it was coming from”: The electrifying early Guns N’ Roses song written in a basement that signposted how huge they would become

One of the all-time great album openers

Louder

“When I first came into the band, it was split into factions. Now everything feels solidified”: Guns N’ Roses’ longest-serving guitarist Richard Fortus on his bond with Slash and why he’s as surprised as anyone he’s still in the band

What does it take to be in Guns N’ Roses for 23 years and counting? For Richard Fortus, it requires tone mastery, the ability to mesh with his legendary gunslinger partner and a highly desirable signature Gretsch

Guitar World

From analysis to the latest developments in health,
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“A lot of the issues were to do with management and stuff that pitted me and Axl against each other”: Slash on his return to Guns N’ Roses, changing up the Sweet Child O’ Mine solo, and what needs to happen for a new GNR album

Slash is the luckiest man in rock. Quitting GNR in ’96 when they were on top, he returned in ’16 and hasn't looked back. Here he talks about the past, present, and what the future might hold...

Guitar World

“He was my favorite guitarist I played with, besides Slash, and was the one I felt most unified with”: Richard Fortus on how he’s held down the Guns N’ Roses gig – and his other favorite GNR guitarist

Fortus reveals who his favorite co-guitarists have been, and the man whose parts he'll never change

Guitar World

“There’s so much material at this point – it’s a matter of having the discipline to sit down and get into it”: Slash says a new Guns N’ Roses album is coming

He’s just not sure when

MusicRadar

“I wish I’d been treated more fairly by the record execs, but I was part of the creation of one of the biggest bands of all time. That’s a nice legacy”: How LA guitarist Chris Weber laid the foundations for Guns N’ Roses in a single studio session

Weber’s parents lent the Axl Rose-fronted Hollywood Rose $500 to make the demo that started a rock ’n’ roll revolution. Despite being replaced by Slash and losing credit for his contributions, he wouldn’t have things any other way

Guitar World

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"Y’know what I'm proud of? That they're all alive": Machine guns, snakes and missing millions – Alan Niven, the first manager of Guns N' Roses, looks back

When Guns N' Roses released Appetite For Destruction they were managed by Alan Niven. This is how he dealt with The Most Dangerous Band In The World

Louder

"The anxieties that Axl Rose generated were crushing him": Why Izzy Stradlin was the rock'n'roll heart of Guns N' Roses

Classic Rock presents the third in an exclusive series of excerpts from former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven’s forthcoming book Sound N’ Fury

Louder

“That day was probably the most important day of our lives”: the story of the first ever gig by the Appetite For Destruction-era Guns N’Roses

Forty years ago, the fledgling GN’R line-up needed a new guitarist and drummer urgently. They found them and rock’n’roll has never been the same since.

Metal Hammer

“The sex session did happen. What you hear on the song is real porn action”: The debauched story of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction, the album that electrified 80s rock

Guns N’Roses Appetite For Destruction is one of the greatest debut albums in history

Metal Hammer

"On arrival Izzy had to be loaded into a baggage cart to be wheeled through Customs and Immigration": Behind the scenes on Guns N' Roses' first trip to Japan

Classic Rock presents the first in an exclusive series of excerpts from former Guns N' Roses manager Alan Niven’s forthcoming book Sound N’ Fury

Metal Hammer

"All the blood rushed into my fist and I decked him. He fell to the ground like a tipped cow": What happened the night Vince Neil punched Izzy Stradlin

A feud between Motley Crue and Guns N' Roses came to a head at the MTV Awards in 1989, and it still hasn't been resolved

Metal Hammer

“As a player, I like to get down on my knees, turn delay knobs and make a bunch of noise. That does not work for Guns N’ Roses”: Dave Navarro on the time he turned down joining Guns N’ Roses

After Jane's Addiction split in the early 1990s, Navarro's six-string services were on the market. At the same time, GNR were also looking for a replacement for the outgoing Izzy Stradlin

Guitar World

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Guitar World

“Billy Gibbons pulls out this big-ass yellow 17-string bass and he’s like, ‘Okay, we’ll play it for a song, right?’” ZZ Top’s Elwood Francis on teching for Joe Perry, lying to Steve Vai – and the curse of playing that viral 17-string bass

The gear-trashing DIY enthusiast once had to choose between Vai and Joe Perry, before being fired and rehired by Guns N’ Roses –in a matter of days

Metal Hammer

"You have a right to a complete show. You paid for it. If they cut the power, be my guests, do what you want": Chaos, no-shows and bomb scares on Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion tour

Guns N' Roses' Use Your Illusion tour was one of the most volatile and mysterious to ever hit Europe. This is the full story

Guitar World

“If you’ve ever seen Slash give that look to whoever when they hit a bad note… You get that look once, man. You don’t want it twice”: Gilby Clarke survived a baptism by fire in Guns N’ Roses – but one day the pay checks stopped coming

The guitarist played with GN'R during their chaotic Use Your Illusion era. Now he discusses his heart-stopping audition, the early-’90s Guns album that never was and why he was never actually fired from the band

Guitar World

“Slash says, ‘You got the gig. Learn the whole catalog.’ I was like, ‘Don’t you have a set of songs?’ Slash goes, ‘There’s no setlist. Axl just calls ’em out’”: How Gilby Clarke got the Guns N’ Roses gig – and learned the band’s back catalog in a week

Clarke was formally announced as Izzy Stradlin's replacement in the early ’90s – but not before undergoing an audition process that saw him learn his test tracks in the car last minute

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MusicRadar

“That song, and Perfect Crime, we started writing when we were doing pre-production for Appetite" – Slash tells the story of Guns N' Roses's long-in-the-waiting classic You Could Be Mine

"You Could Be Mine was one of Izzy's riffs"

Metal Hammer

The 50 greatest Guns N’ Roses songs ever, and the stories behind them

Guns N' Roses changed the shape of rock'n'roll when they emerged in the mid-eighties. Here's a half-century of their very best, and the stories behind them.

Evening Standard

Axl Rose says he is following doctor’s orders after cancelled Guns N’ Roses gig

The singer has thanked everybody for their ‘well wishes’

The Guardian - UK

Guns N’ Roses – their 20 greatest songs, ranked!

As they play Spurs’ stadium twice this weekend, we rate the best of the swaggering rock gods, from epic balladry to high-speed juggernauts

People

Arnold Schwarzenegger

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