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Guns n Roses was formed when 2 Hollywood
Local bands merged together. One of the Bands was "Hollywood
Rose" and the other was "LA Guns".
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Guns n Roses was Officially formed in the
summer of 1985, The five original members were W.
Axl Rose (vocals) Izzy Stradlin (guitar) Tracii Guns (guitar) Duff
McKagan (bass) Rob Gardner (drums). Shortly after this, Slash and
Steven Adler joined the band, and Tracii Guns and Rob Gardner Left. On
June 6 1985 the finalized 5 members were: Axl Rose
/ vocals - Duff McKagan / bass guitar - Steven Adler / drums - Izzy
Stradlin / Rhythm guitar - Slash / Lead guitar.
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Their first gig was played on Thursday
night at LA's Troubadour. A few days after the first gig they went on
tour. During the tour their car broke down in Fresno, and they
hitchhiked their way to the next show. After the next show they didn't
receive the money they were promised and were forced to hitchhike their
way back to LA.
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The streets of .LA. was the only home
they had for a while. They used to visit all of the porn stores on
Hollywood BLVD because they were opened all night, and it was a place to
go.
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Eventually all 5 of them ended up living
in a 1 room recording studio on Gardner St. in LA. The room measured 4ft
X 12ft and had no Bath, Shower, or Kitchen. They had parties there all
the time. About every weekend around 500 people would come over to party
in the alley right next to the building they were staying in. It was one of
the biggest parties in LA.
Slash Quote : "A very comfortable prison
cell" "But God did we sound good in there! We're a really loud
band and we don't compromise the volume for anything! We'd bash away
with a couple of Marshalls in this tiny room, and it was so cool because
all the loosers from Sunset and all the bands would come over and hang
out there every night"
AXL Quote : "Every weekend, the
biggest party in L.A. was down at our place. We'd have about 500 people
packed in an alley and our old roadie was selling beers for a buck out
of his trunk. It was like a bar and everyone had their whiskey. We could
get away with what ever we wanted, exept when the cops came...If there
was a problem with someone, we'd escort them out. By 'escort' I mean
we'd drag 'em out by their hair down the alley, naked"
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Because of all the controversy and talk
about the band, many of the major record labels started to contact them.
They would try to get them to sign a recording contract. The band
members would have them buy dinner, give limo rides, and give them the
royal treatment before they would hear what they had to say. The band
turned down many major record label contracts, because many of them
didn't even know who Aerosmith was. Eventually Guns n Roses signed with
Geffen Records on March 29 1986, because they seemed to be the coolest
of them all.
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With all this going on they decided to
release a Record called "Live Like A Suicide", on their own
Uzi Suicide Lable In December of 1986. It sold over 10,000 copies in the
first 4 weeks with no advertising what so ever, and became an instant
collectable.
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Since then, Guns n Roses have released
many great albums,
and have had many changes in the band. Many band members have left the
band, and new members have entered. As it stands right now AXL is the
only original member left, and owns all the rights to the band.
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Axl and the new band are presently
working on releasing the new project, "Chinese Democracy".
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Only time will tell what will happen with
one of the greatest rock bands in history
SOURCE OF FACTS and quotes: = "Low
Life In The Fast Lane" and other magazines
Guns-n-Flowers"©
