The band has released six studio albums: Appetite For Destruction in 1987, G N' R Lies in 1988, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991, "The Spaghetti Incident?" in 1993 and, after 15 years and with frontman Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed being the only members left from the previous lineup, Chinese Democracy in 2008. They also released three EP's in 1986, 1988, and 1993 and two live albums, in 1999 and 2014.
The group was formed in early 1985 by Hollywood Rose members Axl Rose (vocals) and Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar) and L.A. Guns members Tracii Guns (lead guitar), Ole Beich (bass) and Rob Gardner (drums). The band created its name by combining two of the members' names. Rejected names were "Heads of Amazon" and "AIDS." A short time later, Beich was fired and replaced by Duff McKagan, and Guns was replaced by Slash after not showing up to rehearsal. Slash had played with McKagan in Road Crew and with Stradlin during a short stint in Hollywood Rose. On their first tour (from Sacramento, California to Duff's home town of Seattle), Gardner quit and was replaced by Slash's friend, Steven Adler.
Stemming from the LA rock underground, the ugly lyrics matched the sleaze of the music--driven by heavy blues licks--covering misogyny, violence, city life, sex, liquor, and hard drugs. They also, however, tended to show sensitivity and a desire to break free from the city. Subsequent albums revealed influence from bands in the vein of The Rolling Stones and Queen.
Their 1987 breakthrough, Appetite for Destruction, (18-times platinum and the highest-selling debut album of all-time), coupled with the success of the hit single "Sweet Child O' Mine" in 1988, took the world by storm. "Appetite" was full of raunchy hard rock with blistering, anthemic guitar riffs and snarling vocals.
The followup EP, "G N' R Lies", contained four songs from their debut EP, three new acoustic songs, and an acoustic version of "You're Crazy". The album sold well and got into the top 10 alongside Appetite. By the end of the 1980s, they were one of the most popular bands in the world.
Steven Adler (original drummer) was kicked out of the band due to his drug abuse and replaced by Matt Sorum.
Following the release of G N' R Lies, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II made history by making the number 1 and 2 spots on the American Billboard Album chart. The albums were filled with songs that pushed Guns into a different direction, far from the Appetite era. They surprised critics who expected hard rock songs but found more "epic" tracks featuring a wider range of instruments (pianos, brass instruments, various effects, etc). The main response was that instead of releasing two albums that included "filler tracks", they could have released one CD.
The band then started a world tour to support the albums. During this tour, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band due to differences with Slash, Sorum and McKagan due to his newfound sobriety and Stradlin's anger at Rose's management of the band.
They played 192 shows in the 28-month tour, which set attendance records and concluded with a show in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on July 17, 1993. This show marked the last time original members Slash and McKagan and newcomers Clarke and Sorum would play a live show with Rose.
Axl began work on a new album of original material in 1993. In 1994, Gilby Clarke left the band, and was replaced with Paul Tobias. That same year, the band recorded a cover version of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" for the movie Interview with the Vampire. According to Slash's 2007 autobiography, the first version of guitar track was rejected by Axl, who wanted Slash to copy Keith Richards' playing on the original. Reluctantly, Slash agreed and recorded another version closer to the original. Slash was further infuriated when he discovered Tobias' guitar copying his own solo note by note layered in the final mix of the song. This would be the last recording by the original version of the band, and five years would go by before any new material came out under the Guns N' Roses name.
Slash drifted in and out of the band for the next couple of years, beginning a side project called Slash's Snakepit. In August 1996, GN'R returned to the studio, even though McKagan and Sorum were simultaneously touring with their side project, Neurotic Outsiders. Eventually, only Slash and Rose were left to continue working. During this period, Slash commented in an interview, "My relationship with Axl right now is sort of at a standstill." Additionally, Axl had approached guitarist Zakk Wylde (Ozzy Osbourne, Black Label Society) about jamming and possibly joining Guns N' Roses.
In 1996 and 1997, Slash, Sorum and McKagan all left the band, leaving Rose as the only remaining charter member of the band. The three later formed rock supergroup Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and guitarist Dave Kushner.
In 1998, a "clean" (i.e., profanity removed) version of Use Your Illusion was released (in the USA only), mainly so the album could be sold in Wal-Mart and K-Mart stores. The album, titled "Use Your Illusion" was a 1 CD compilation of the 2 albums.
Also in 1998, Axl put a new version of the band together and returned to the studio. This version of the band has been touring and recording sporadically ever since. The new band's membership has changed frequently, but its core members have included guitarist Robin Finck, effects man Chris Pitman, bassist Tommy Stinson (formerly of The Replacements)— as well as Paul Tobias, drummer Josh Freese and longtime GN'R keyboardist Dizzy Reed.
In 1999, the band released one new song, "Oh My God", on the soundtrack of the film End of Days. The track featured additional guitar work by [arist]Dave Navarro and Gary Sunshine, Rose's personal guitar teacher. The song's release was intended to be a prelude to their new album, now officially entitled Chinese Democracy. Geffen also released Live Era '87-'93, a collection of live performances from various concerts during the Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion tours. Also in 1999, during an interview with Kurt Loder for MTV, Axl said that he had re-recorded Appetite for Destruction with the new band, replacing two songs with "Patience" and "You Could Be Mine".
In 1999, guitarist Robin Finck departed the band in order to rejoin his former band, Nine Inch Nails, on tour. In 2000, virtuoso guitarist Buckethead joined Guns N' Roses as a replacement for Finck. Josh Freese was replaced with Bryan "Brain" Mantia (formerly of Primus). Robin Finck returned to Guns N' Roses in late 2000 to complement Buckethead on lead guitar.
The revised lineup finally made a public appearance in January 2001 with two well-received concerts, one in Las Vegas and one at the Rock in Rio Festival in Rio de Janeiro. The band played a mixture of old hits and new songs from their forthcoming album.
The new lineup played a further two shows in Las Vegas at the end of 2001. In 2002, rhythm guitarist Paul Tobias left the band because of his frustrations with life on the road. He was replaced by Richard Fortus (formerly of The Psychedelic Furs and Love Spit Love). The band then played several shows in August 2002, headlining festivals and concerts throughout Asia and Europe. They made their way to New York for a surprise appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in September.
In 2002, the band's first North American tour since 1993 was organized to support Chinese Democracy. However, the opening show in Vancouver was canceled by the venue when Rose arrived late due to his plane being held up by bad weather conditions at Los Angeles airport. A riot ensued. This tour was met with mixed results. Some concerts did not sell well, while shows in larger markets such as New York sold out in minutes. Due to a second riot by fans in Philadelphia, tour promoter Clear Channel canceled the remainder of the tour.
The band went on hiatus until they were scheduled to play at Rock in Rio IV in May 2004. However, Buckethead left the band in March of that year, causing them to cancel. Also in March 2004, Geffen released Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits, since Rose had failed to deliver a new studio album in more than 10 years. Rose expressed displeasure with this album as its track listing was established without his consent and went as far as trying to block its release by suing Geffen. This failed, however, and the album went triple platinum in the USA.
In February 2006, demos of the songs "Better", "Catcher in the Rye", "I.R.S." and "There Was a Time" were leaked through a fan site. The band's management requested that all links to the MP3 files and all lyrics to the songs be removed from forums and web sites. Despite this, radio stations began adding "I.R.S." to playlists, and the song reached #49 on the Radio & Records Active Rock National Airplay chart in the final week of February - the first time an internet leak had done so.
On May 5, 2006, Axl appeared on the Friday Night Rocks with Eddie Trunk radio show (during an interview with ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach) and said the new Guns N' Roses album would be released before the end of the year. Later in May, the band launched a European tour, headlining both the Download Festival and Rock In Rio - Lisbon. Four warm-up shows preceded the tour at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and became the band's first live concert dates since the aborted 2002 tour. The shows also marked the debut of virtuoso guitarist and composer Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, replacing Buckethead. During the tour, Bach and Izzy Stradlin made frequent guest appearances. By the tour's end in 2007, the band had played to over 750 000 people in over 23 countries.
On April 5, 2008, a picture of Finck appeared on Nine Inch Nails web page under the title "Welcome Back!" starting the rumor of his possible reunion with Trent Reznor. On April 11, Finck expressed his happiness on playing again with NIN. On April 20, on Guns N' Roses' web site, Axl expressed surprise about the news.
Chinese Democracy had been given the tentative release date of March 6, then reported September 17, 2007. However, both dates passed with no sign of the album. After further release dates were discussed, the album finally came out on November 23, 2008, to mostly positive critical reviews & underselling industry expectations.
Slash, McKagan and Sorum still played together in Velvet Revolver. However, Izzy Stradlin, original GN'R rhythm guitarist and co-composer of many of the band's most successful songs, has not joined them. He did, however, play a few dates as a guest with GN'R in the summer of 2006. Keyboard player Dizzy Reed, while not a founding member of the band (joining in 1990 in the Use Your Illusion period), remained in the previous lineup. in 2014, Bassist Tommy Stinson had previous commitments to The Replacements, leading former bassist Duff McKagan to fill in. After the 2014 tour, bassist Tommy Stinson, guitarists DJ Ashba & Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, and keyboardist Chris Pitman all left the band.
Slash and McKagan rejoined in 2016, as did keyboardist Melissa Reese, as the group embarked on the "Not in This Lifetime..." stadium tour. The tour also featured several guest appearances, including from former drummer Steven Adler, AC/DC guitarist Angus Young, former Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, and Rose Tattoo singer Angry Anderson. The tour was a massive success, becoming the third highest grossing concert tour of all-time by its end in 2019.
The band continued with the Guns N’ Roses 2020 Tour and in 2021 released two new singles “Absurd” and “Hard Skool”, both reworkings of ‘’Chinese Democracy’’ era tracks. The singles are the first songs released featuring Slash and Duff McKagan since 1994.
GN'R's current lineup includes Rose (lead vocals), McKagan (bass), Fortus (rhythm guitar), Slash (lead guitar), Melissa Reese[/bandember] (synth & programming), Frank Ferrer (drums) and Reed (keyboard and percussion).
Discography
Appetite for Destruction (1987) #1 US Billboard, 18x Platinum
G N' R Lies (1988) #2 US Billboard, 5x Platinum
Use Your Illusion I (1991) #2 US Billboard, 7x Platinum
Use Your Illusion II (1991) #1 US Billboard, 7x Platinum
The Spaghetti Incident? (1993) #4 US Billboard, Platinum
Live Era '87-'93 (1999) #45 US Billboard, Gold
Greatest Hits (2004) #3 US Billboard, 3x Platinum
Chinese Democracy (2008) #3 US Billboard, Platinum
The above figures represent US sales only and do not constitute worldwide figures, which are much higher.
Pretty Tied Up
Guns N' Roses Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I know this chick she lives down on Melrose
She ain't satisfied without some pain
Friday night is goin' up inside her...again
Well crack the whip
'Cause that bitch is just insane
I'm serious
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
I can't tell you she's the right one
Oh no, oh no, oh no
Once there was this rock n' roll band
Rollin' on the streets
Time went by and it became a joke
We just needed more and more fulfilling... uh-huh
Time went by and it all went up in smoke
But check it out
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
Ohh I can't tell you she's the right one
Oh no, oh no, oh no
Once you made that money it costs more now
It might cost a lot more than you'd think
I just found a million dollars
that someone forgot
It's days like this that push me o'er the brinks
Cool and stressing
[pronounced: cool ranch dres'ing]
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
And I can't tell you she's the right one
Oh she's the right one ...(etc.)
(but I can tell you a thing or two
'bout somethin' else
If you really want to know...know what I'm sayin')
The "Pretty Tied Up" lyrics by Guns N' Roses talk about the perils of rock and roll decadence, and tell the story of a girl who likes to be tied up and seeks pleasure through pain. The first verse describes the singer's acquaintance with a woman who is not satisfied without some pain. She enjoys being dominated and prefers to be tied up during her sexual encounters. The lyrics describe her as crazy, indicating that her pleasure is at the expense of her sanity. The chorus further elaborates on the girl's inclination towards pain and control. She is "pretty tied up" and can be ridden by anyone, but the singer cannot tell if she is the right one for him.
The second verse departs from the girl's story and talks about the rise and fall of a rock n' roll band. The band is described as "rolling on the streets," enjoying their fame and success. However, with time, they become a joke, and their fame fades away. The lyrics suggest that the band's downfall was due to their constant search for more and more fulfilling things, which eventually led them to lose their fame and popularity.
The final verse talks about the cost of success and how it comes at a price. It describes the singer finding a million dollars that someone forgot, suggesting that he has reached a point where money does not matter to him anymore. However, this lack of care and abundance has left him feeling cool and stressed, which is a convoluted mixture of feelings that accompany the decadent lifestyle.
Line by Line Meaning
I know this chick she lives down on Melrose
I am acquainted with a woman who resides on Melrose
She ain't satisfied without some pain
She requires pain in order to find satisfaction
Friday night is goin' up inside her...again
On Friday nights, she engages in sexual activities
Well crack the whip
Asserting dominance and discipline over someone
'Cause that bitch is just insane
Characterizing the woman as crazy for her sexual habits
I'm serious
The singer is being sincere in his statement
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
The woman is bound and suspended upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She is available for sexual intercourse while in her restrained state
I can't tell you she's the right one
The artist cannot affirm that the woman is a suitable sexual partner
Once there was this rock n' roll band
There was a band that played rock music
Rollin' on the streets
The band travelled around playing music in various locations
Time went by and it became a joke
As time passed, the band's music lost its value and became a laughingstock
We just needed more and more fulfilling... uh-huh
The band's motivation was driven by a desire for increasingly fulfilling experiences
Time went by and it all went up in smoke
Eventually, the band's dreams and success faded away
Once you made that money it costs more now
After achieving financial success, one must spend more money to maintain it
It might cost a lot more than you'd think
The cost of maintaining wealth may exceed one's expectations
I just found a million dollars that someone forgot
The artist discovered a large sum of money that was left behind
It's days like this that push me o'er the brinks
Moments such as this push the singer to the brink of sanity
Cool and stressing [pronounced: cool ranch dres'ing]
Indicates a state of being calm while experiencing stress
And I can't tell you she's the right one
The artist reiterates his inability to verify that the woman is a suitable sexual partner
Oh she's the right one ...(etc.)
The artist changes his tune indicating that she may be the right partner after all
(but I can tell you a thing or two 'bout somethin' else If you really want to know...know what I'm sayin')
The artist hints that he knows more than he lets on and is willing to share if prompted
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: (USA 2) SLASH, IZZY STRADLIN, DUFF MC KAGAN, DARREN A REED, MATT SORUM, W. AXL ROSE
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Fillipo Nascimento de Campos
know this chick she lives down on Melrose
She ain't satisfied without some pain
Friday night is goin' up inside her...again
Well crack the whip
'Cause that bitch is just insane
I'm serious
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
I can't tell you she's the right one
Oh no, oh no, oh no
Once there was this rock n' roll band
Rollin' on the streets
Time went by and it became a joke
We just needed more and more fulfilling... uh-huh
Time went by and it all went up in smoke
But check it out
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
Ohh I can't tell you she's the right one
Oh no, oh no, oh no
Once you made that money it costs more now
It might cost a lot more than you'd think
I just found a million dollars
that someone forgot
It's days like this that push me o'er the brinks
Cool and stressing
[pronounced: cool ranch dres'ing]
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
She's pretty tied up an you can ride her
She's pretty tied up hangin' upside down
And I can't tell you she's the right one
Oh she's the right one ...
(but I can tell you a thing or two
'bout somethin' else
If you really want to know...know what I'm sayin')
Merileopardi Saksassa
According to Slash the song is inspired by a friend Izzy was close to when he was 19 and up to the start of GnR. Her name was Margot and she had a sidehustle as a dominatrix.
Apparently her shtik was picking up rockers and paying for their dinner/ giving them a place to sleep that night because some of her clients had a thing for being 'discovered', 'interrupted' or a thing for her leaving them hanging for one of those disgusting rock street urchins and having to listen to her have fun.
Slash said that he went over to visit Izzy's friend with him because they both needed a place to sleep, maybe some dinner, and he was surprised to see a naked fat man taped to her wall with an onion in his mouth when she let them in.
If Izzy hung around her a lot I'd bet he saw some pretty funky stuff going down to inspire this song lol
The whole song tells the story in such a bragging, manly mans way about knowing a girl wanting to be tied up and whipped when the truth about who was so desperate was very different.
I'd guess the whole 'Perils of rock n roll decadence & rock n roll band became a joke' thing refers to poor rockers sometimes participating in stuff like this to get their dinner. Izzy has said pretty straight-up before that they all went home with women they weren't interested in to either get paid or steal from them when they were out of money. Izzy was also doing drugdealing and some indirect pimping by watching out for the cornor-girls close to his hustle spot in return for a cut.
'Pretty tied up and hanging upside down, you get down and you get right up' seems to be more about the rocker's shitty lifestyle itselvef too. Their lives look 'pretty' fun, but behind that they are 'tied up' in a web. They have no money, they keep trying with their bands just barely hanging on with couchsurfing, dating women with jobs, borderline-prostitution stealing etc. and still trying time and time again.
I literally can't make sense of 'cool ranch dressing' tho lol
Roger Hinton
This song has always been super underated
Simon
Is it some sort of meme to say that something is underrated?
Sebastian Kalbermatter
The whole album outside the hits is unrated...
Simon
@Sebastian Kalbermatter Guns N’ Roses are underrated. They should make more statues of them
Claws
AGREED!!!
old dog new tricks
Both albums never got the recognition they truly deserved but if you listen to this song in particular they were letting everyone know that it was going to be the end of GnR as we knew them. These albums were the swan song.
Direito de Família Na Prática
We want this song on shows, please. We love Pretty Tied Up.
eric gelder
Just played in Abu Dhabi
CRISTIANO ZUCATTI
música maravilhosa!!!
Göray Görgülü
The most underrated GNR work after Estranged.