30 Fascinating Facts Every Fan Should Know About The ‘Guns N' Roses’ Band

Guns N' Roses, often referred to as GnR, is an Amercian hard rock band formed in 1985. Considered as “The World’s Most Dangerous Band,” GnR is known to take shocking decisions and only the hardest route ever. Current members of the band are Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Dizzy Reed, Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer, Melissa Reese. Here are 30 interesting facts about the band:

1. The first tour of the band, famously known as "Hell Tour," could have been the last of the band too, as they got into a wicked car accident that almost ended Guns N’ Roses.
2. It is reported that during an early tryout, Izzy and Duff, hid one of Steven Adler's bass drum to simplify the drum set, while Adler left to use the restroom. Adler did not realize it until he played the next song, and from then on played without the extra drums.
3. The band's name Guns N' Roses, was a combination of two different band names - Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. Axl Rose a member of Hollywood Rose and Tracii Guns from L.A. Guns formed the band with rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin from Hollywood Rose and bassist Ole Beich, and drummer Rob Gardner of L.A. Guns.
4. The first single "Welcome to the Jungle," from their debut album "Appetite for Destruction," was inspired from an encounter Axl Rose and a friend had with a homeless man while they were coming out of a bus into New York. Trying to put a scare into the young runaways, the man had yelled at them, "You know where you are? You're in the jungle baby; you're gonna die!"
5. "Chinese Democracy," which Guns N' Roses launched after a 17-year hiatus from original music, cost around $13 million during production, making it the most expensive rock album ever made. However, the album flopped commercial.
6. On the day when the band signed the contract with Geffen Records, Alx Rose had lost his contacts and stromed out of his house. The lens were found by Slash and the band's manager, who went in search of Alx to find him sitting cross-legged for hours on top of the famous Whisky A Go Go. It was after this incident, that the band went on to sign the contract.
7. While recording the song "November Rain" Axl Rose had everyone leave him alone in the studio. It was eight days later that they were allowed inside the studio, only to find Axl Rose asleep, with empty pizza boxes all around.
8. The lead singer Axl Rose, born as William Bruce Rose Jr, has been named as one of the greatest singers of all time by several media outlets including Rolling Stone and NME. He is also currently the lead singer in another fan-favorite band AC/DC since 2016.
9. During a show in Buenos Aires, lead singer Axl Rose paused the show, when a fan threw a bottle his way. He bought an interpreter on stage, due to language difference and threatened to cancel the whole show, if such an event happened again.
10. Gun N' Roses' first album "Appetite for Destruction," is the best-selling debut album of all time in the United States with eighteen million units sold, and over thirty million copies worldwide.
    
11. Once when Slash, Adler and Nikki Sixx where snorting cocaine in a hotel room, it was reported that Sixx became unconscious, when Slash and Adler left for a while. Sixx had started turning purple, when Adler dragged him to the bath tub and smacked him in the face until he regained consciousness. The next day Sixx didn't remember anything and asked why his face hurt so much.
12. The legendary sound engineer Bob Clearmountain, once in an interview, said about Axl Rose's tantarums and that Rose would threaten to leave the band at least three times a week. Ironically, he has been the only original member of the band, who has been constantly present since its formation in 1985.
13. The famous title "The Spaghetti Incident," was often thought to be a food fight that occurred between Adler and Rose. However, it sticks to the GnR style and also refers to drugs. It is reported that Adler stored cocaine in the refriferator next to Italian takeout, and that he used "Spagetti" as a code word for cocaine. Years later during a court deposition, a lawyer asked Duff McKagan to tell about "The Spaghetti Incident," which led to the title.
14. It was after nearly thirteen years that Axl Rose and Duff McKagan spoke after the band's separation. Their friendship was rekindled during a chance meeting at a hotel in London.
15. The moaning and the other sex sounds that are included in the middle of "Rocket Queen," were recorded when Axl Rose was having sex with Adriana Smith, ex-girlfriend of Steven Adler.
16. Duff McKagan had a severe pancreatic problem due to his extreme drinking in the year 1994. Since then, he had been sober, and till date consumes only non-alholic beer.
17. In the year 2010, when Axl Rose was at a party for Rosario Dawson, he had moved the famous fashion designer Rommy Hilfiger's girlfriend's drink. This small incident is said to have led to Hilfiger punching Rose.
18. Slash is a very passionate reptile collector and is said to own more than 20 snakes that are in various custome built cages throughout his house.
19. In the year 1987, a fan compared Axl Rose with Jon Bon Jovi, which led to Rose freaking out. He launched at the fan with his fist and started a brawl. The next night, during the Chicago opening for Alice Copper, Rose said on stage "Bon Jovi can suck my d–k.”
20. Their famous "November Rain," released in 1991, was something Axl Rose had been working on for over a decade. In an interview Tracii Guns revealed that Rose started working on the song in the early 80's.
    
21. The band had a parking lot in the back of their Sunset Strip house, which is referred by Los Angeles officials as "Lot Number 619." This is where they reportedly held their parties in the early 1985. However, the place is also known for a variety of other questionable activities. One of the band member, Izzy Stradlin even had a room in which he sold drugs out of the window that faced the alley.
22. Slash had reportedly played on Michael Jackson's albums such as "Invincible," "Dangerous," and "HIStory." He had also been a part of the Jackson's New York City reunion shows in 2001.
23. According to their biography "Appetite for Destruction: The Days of Guns N’ Roses," before the band was formed, Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin are said to have made money by smoking cigarettes for an UCLA study.
24. During the opening of "The Rolling Stones" show, Axl Rose started to go on a rant about the band members' use of “Mr. Brownstone,” a reference to heroin. He even said that if the band members continued with their use of heroin, then there would be no more "GnR." It was Slash, who took the remarks as personally directed at him and even said that he hated Axl for that moment.
25. During their first tour "Hell Tour," around two hours north of Fresno, their 1977 Oldsmobile gave out, and left the band members to hitchhiking for the remaining forty hours to Seattle. They happened to miss several of shows due to this.
26. While recording "It's so Easy," Axl Rose is said to have punched David Bowie, who was flirting with Rose's model girlfriend Erin Everly. However, they later patched things up and went for a drink to the China Club.
27. The most popular song "Right Next Door to Hell," was written about Axl Rose's battles with Gabriella Kantor, an old neighbor. Kantor claimed that she was hit with a bottle of Chardonnay by Rose. However, Rose denied it saying, if he had done that, she wouldn't even have gotten up.
28. The highest charting GnR song "Sweet Child o' Mine," the second single from their debut album "Appetite for Destruction," was reportedly written in just five minutes. Though the song is ranked by Acclaimed Music as the 104th greatest song of all time, as well as the best song of 1987, Slash considers it the band's worst song.
29. Just the video of "November Rain," had cost the band over $1.5 million. The custom-made coffin that Stephanie Seymour uses in the video is said to have cost $8,000. Seymour was also the lady friend of Rose at that time.
30. With over 100 million records sold worldwide, Guns N' Roses is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time. Q Magazine listed them among the "50 Bands to See Before You Die," while VH1 ranked them #9 in their list of "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock." On April 14, 2012, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, right in their first year of eligibility.
    
31. GnR kicked off the five-continent "Never In This Lifetime" Tour in April 2016, which will continue well into 2017. As of June 2017, the tour has amassed over $250 million. The band members ' net worth have also skyrocketed with Axl Rose at $150 Million, Slash at $40 million, Duff McKagan at $20 million, and Dizzy Reed at $15 million.