Guns N' Roses are one of the most iconic bands ever, and in many ways defined the post-glam image of what a rock musician should look like. In the years since their so-called original lineup fell apart, the drama continues and reached another peak when Axl Rose refused to perform at their Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction.
With all that drama, it's easy to forget that they wrote plenty of incredible songs that still sound original decades later.UG readers know more than a thing or two about Gn'R, so on Wednesday we asked them to nominate their favorite Gn'R tracks. Thousands of votes later, the results are in.What are the best Guns N' Roses songs ever? Read on to find out.
10. "Sweet Child O' Mine" From "Appetite For Destruction"
This might as well be a dictionary definition for the term "power ballad". It was probably the band's biggest hit as their only number one single in the US, but legends say guitarist Slash played the opening riff as a joke and later called the song a simple "string skipping" exercise. The lyrics "where do we go now?" were from Axl literally asking producer Mike Clink what the song should do in the finale.
9. "You Could Be Mine" From "Use Your Illusion II"
James Cameron picked this song as the official theme to the film "Terminator 2: Judgement Day", and there's some cool references to Gn'R in the film too - notice how the Terminator takes a shotgun from a box of roses.
8. "Mr. Brownstone" From "Appetite For Destruction"
Slash and Izzy Stradlin wrote this song while complaining about being heroin addicts (you can probably guess what they mean when they say "Mr. Brownstone"). "I used to do a little, but a little wouldn't do, so the little got more and more. I just keep trying to get a little better, said a little better than before," sing the lyrics about drug tolerance and what it's like to live the tedious life of a drug addict.
7. "Welcome To The Jungle" From "Appetite For Destruction"
Axl wrote the lyrics about this metaphorical jungle while visiting Kingston, Washington, near Seattle. It's a rural but relatively large city, and Axl apparently wrote about how it looked to him and how it's established local economy meant you could get hold of anything - and to a rockstar, that's pretty useful.
6. "Rocket Queen" From "Appetite For Destruction"
Axl Rose: "I wrote this song for this girl who was gonna have a band and she was gonna call it Rocket Queen. She kinda kept me alive for a while. The last part of the song is my message to this person, or anybody else who can get something out of it. It's like there's hope and a friendship note at the end of the song."
5. "Civil War" From "Use Your Illusion II"
Rock stars aren't exactly the most qualified commentators on human conflict, but it won't stop them from trying. Axl asks "What's so civil about war anyway?" and calls all war a civil war. 90s rock stars might have be easier to take seriously if they didn't generally indulge in a relentlessly hedonistic lifestyle, but there you go.
4. "Nightrain" From "Appetite For Destruction"
An ode to cheap wine with a high alcohol content, namely the Night Train Express brand which was popular with the band in their early days. The band often play it as the last song of their set before the encore.
3. "November Rain" From "Use Your Illusion I"
At first glance "November Rain" looks like the indulgent results of giving a band loads of cash to record a big budget orchestral score, but Axl had actually been working on the track since 1983. He always knew there was something special about it, but it took almost a decade to find a home.
2. "Paradise City" From "Appetite For Destruction"
This is Slash's favorite Gn'R song. He wrote the opening guitar in the back of a tour van, and wanted the verse lyric to open with "Where the girls are fat and they've got big titties." Axl offered a more attractive alternative, and Slash was outvoted. It's probably they most loved anthem and often closed their live sets.
1. "Estranged" From "Use Your Illusion II"
At 9 minutes and 23 seconds long, this is Gn'R's second longest song and one of their most progressive tracks ever. There's no set chorus, and evolves with everything from sentimental pianos to soft whale-like guitar sounds. Axl says it was written during a low point when his marriage to Erin Everly was annulled.
How does the list stack up compared to your personal favorites? Let us know what you think in the comments.
Gee, No Chinese Democracy? What a shocker. I thought the list would be nearly all Chinese Democracy, with couple tracks from The Spaghetti Incident thrown in (Kidding!)
I'm actually surprised that Patience or Used to Love Her from Lies aren't on the list.
I don't know if others will agree with me, but I don't think anything on the new album is even as good as their lesser stuff from the older albums.
It just feels like they went in and threw whatever together, which is fine, but it's just not as good as their old stuff. It all sounded good enough, and none of it was particularly bad, but I don't think I actually liked a single song on that album.
Well, The Sphagetti Incident was pretty bad and I like quite a bit off of Chinese Deomcracy (it's a good album but overlooked cause it's a GNR album without Slash).
I love Appetite, but I prefer the Use Your Illusion albums more. Just my opinion though, so there is no need to start a flame war.
I've owned Chinese Democracy since its release and must say that it definitely isn't overlooked to the fact Slash isn't on it. Whether Slash would be on it or not, to me that album isn't the GNR album anybody was expecting. I'm not trying to bash it, it's a good effort nonetheless and I enjoyed it for the most part, but I once played it while my dad was in the room and he asked "who is this?", replied with GNR, his reaction was that of strong distaste and being let down in what their sound became. Spaghetti Incident was one turn, but Chinese Democracy just isn't meant to be labeled GNR, it deserves a different band name or something
Chinese Democracy sucks. I'm sorry, it just does. I'm not bashing it because it's not the original lineup, it just sucks. On it's own, by itself, it blows. If Chinese Democracy was their first album release, you'd have no idea who Guns is
Good list, a little disappointed that Locomotive and Don't Damn Me didn't get onto the list, but I'm still content with it. Estranged is an amazing song.
Glad to see Estranged at 1st place...it's my favourite gnr song and probably my favourite rock song ever...now make a poll for Iron Maiden's best song please!
An Iron Maiden list would be awsome here's my top ten of theirs:
10: Alexander the Great
9: Coming Home
8: Phantom of the Opera
7: Powerslave
6: Paschendale
5: Run to the Hills
4: Fear of the Dark
3: The Trooper
2: Hallowed Be They Name
1: Dance of Death
Dude, awesome list. It's nice to see that a song from their new album made it on your list I feel like a lot of people, even the die-hard Maiden fans, haven't heard that album.
I love Adrians solo in it, it's so emotional and very difficult, I also wanted to put Mother of Mercy on the list but there were a few other songs that deserved the list more.
pretty good list man! as an Iron Maiden fan, i appreciate that. It would be difficult for me to make a good top ten. I would only put Hallowed be thy name at 1st, but I personalliy won't be able to do an objective list. Too many great songs.
Hallowed be thy Name is probably their most influential, but Dance of Death really got me hooked on Iron Maiden, I think the lyrical, progressive story telling in Dance of Death is a little better than HBTN and I love the triple solo in Dance of Death, but I think any Maiden fan would agree these are both great songs, thanks for the comment, I appreciate and respect your opinion, UP THE IRONS!
slipknot. that would be a fun list. or creed. alter bridge. motley f-in crue. that would be a great list.... linkin park. led zeppelin would piss alot of ppl off cuz no one can agree on their best songs. metallica.
haha, mate, those are the exact polls that go all the time on this site so quit moaning straight away! This is a guitar site, so why not list the best guitar band of all times? I mean, there are many types of guitar playing (like, I dunno, bluegrass, funky shit or whatever, reggae type backbeat stuff, spanish flamenco style stuff and so on and so on) but it seems the mainstream music that the big masses of guitar dudes are still playing is the same rubbish over and over. Some minor variations but basically it always revolves around the same goddamn bands that were pushed by big bucks labels in the 70's-90's. The music is good but stop going on about it!!! We've all heard Maiden, GNR, Metallica, Nirvana, FooFighters, Oasis, Zeppelin, Floyd, ACDC, Mötley, Megadeth, Slayer, Sabbath, Slipknot, ALL THOSE FUCKING BANDS ARE GREAT BUT WHY DON'T YOU STOP ARGUING ABOUT POINTLESS OLD SHIT AND TALK ABOUT NEW BANDS INSTEAD!! Or like I said, why not just list different cool guitar bands that have some cool innovative playing styles or sound or whatever instead?
The only logical thing you said was that there are too many good Zeppelin songs. And they already did a top 10 Matallica songs. If you want good lists try Iron Maiden, Dream Theater, Deep Purple, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, or anyone that can be considered and actual band or musician.
i refuse to blame UG for this one. voters, you are all terrible. how is sweet child o mine 10 and welcome to the jungle #7? really? estranged #1? good song but not GNR's best song ever. people don't understand how to vote for the best songs.... its not hey what is your favorite song that most people wont list as their favorite. its legitly what song is best in structure, vocals, guitars, drums, etc. what song goes above and beyond expectations.
10. Mr. Brownstone
9. My Michelle
8. You Could Be Mine
7. Rocket Queen
6. Nightrain
5. Patience
4. Paradise City
3. Civil War
2. Sweet Child O' Mine
1. Welcome to the Jungle
thats the list. neither estranged nor november rain deserve that list.
They wrote Sweet Child O' Mine in less than an hour. And you can hear it in the song. The intro is just 3 broken chords, that's it. The solo is improvised. This song wasn't meant to be a hit. GN'R just needed 1 more song to complete AFD.
Welcome To The Jungle, in my opinion, is not their best song. The vocals seems out of control. The guitar is ok. The riff is more like a blues riff with distortion.
November Rain and Estranged does deserves that list. When I opened this topic I expected no Estranged, but a list you just made. Your list contains only Appetite songs with exeption on Civil War, You Could Be Mine and Patience. So my conclusion what I can tell you is you did chose your favorite songs.
One last thing. November Rain does deserve this list because of the building up and the effects in the song.
Clearly you don't know what you're voting on. All of those songs on your list are great songs, but Estranged is number 1 for exactly what you just said structure, vocals, guitars, drums, etc. Just because Estranged wasn't a number 1 hit for them or got as much radio time as Welcome to the Jungle or Sweet Child O' Mine doesn't mean it's not worthy of number 1. Listen to the technical guitar work and depth of the lyrics in that song; it blows Welcome to the Jungle out of the water in those aspects. The song also has ups and downs in the energy of the music which creates a story feel to the song. You can disagree with it being number 1, but there is no way you can say it doesn't belong in the top 10.
how can you just blow off november rain like that with your little "structure, vocals, guitars, drums" rant? Have you ever actually heard november rain for that matter? As someone mentioned, estranged was chosen as the best for this list for the same reasons you listed. You must not have the feel for something being outstanding in structure and sound if it doesnt have the intro-verse-chorus-verse-bridge-outro feel
and by the way, even if it's just my opinion, "so fine", written by Duff McKagan deserves a place in the top 10. Also "Pretty tied up" and "14 Years" are great songs..
"its legitly what song is best in structure, vocals, guitars, drums, etc. what song goes above and "
VOCALS....what VOCALS....you got a guy who sings through his NOSE.....BLOWS!!!!!
WHO CARES? this list is bogus and just what the *&^(&^5 i dont even know how to explain how bad the news stories on this website are. maybe introduce me to some up and coming bands that normally get their press squashed by irrelevant nonsense like this. seriously yesterday they had an axl article (again irrelevant) because guns is not coming back and nobody likes the band that pretends to be guns today.
This is actually one of the better and more accurate UG lists. We can argue about the rankings (like Sweet Child O Mine should have been in the top 5), but still pretty good overall.
This list was Not bad, but man..
Where did those great song go ? :
Reckless Life, Don't Damn Me, Dust n' Bones, Pretty Tied Up, One In A Million, Out Ta Get Me, It's So Easy, Double Talkin' Jive, Move To The City, Ain't It Fun
This list proves that gnr has ended a long time ago. I never liked them anyway. I prefer Motley Crue. They are the true rock n roll band, gnr were just wannabes.
Having seen both Motley Crue and G'n'R recently, I can say that G'n'R are the better act at the moment. At least Axl attempted to sing all the words; all I got from Vince Neil was "girls!...girls! long legs...lips! girls! ...girls! ...sunset strip... girls!" He's well past his prime, and Mick Mars was absolutely awful. His "solo" basically consisted of lots of pick slides and scratching the strings with his hands to get that annoying "chord chamnge" sound. At least Bumblefoot and DJ Ashba can play well.
I agree, but gnr had one good album and two decent ones, while Motley had the whole decade of hits. That's 5 great 80s metal albums and another great heavy as f u k k in 1994 with John Corabi (he's better than Vince IMO, that 1994 self titled album is definitely worth listening)
I think that anyone else who's remotely interested in that topic who actually say the exact opposite.
Motley Crue were/are kind of phonies who acted like something different than what they actually were, and they were more about the fame and women. Without Nikki Sixx to write their only good songs for them, they never would have been anything; pretty much everybody else in the band was highly replaceable. Also, Vince Neil can't write lyrics to save his life, he was never much of a singer (the band didn't even want him in the band), and he looks like a chihuahua.
GNR was much more sincere, as well as a much more cohesive band. Every member was an integral part of the group, Steven Adler and Matt Sorum probably the least so. And the whole band wrote music, not just one of them.
Their songs were about actual things that had to do with their lives. Motley Crue have songs like that, too, but the majority of their material is about partying and getting laid -- much more comparable, in terms of integrity, to the likes of KISS than Guns N' Roses.
I would gladly follow in the footsteps of Seth Putnam, and drive many miles to heckle motley crue. They are an insult to the auditory senses of an entire species.
switch how u dare even to compare them
Gnr's music is much more flexible, pure hard rock , somethimes rock n roll, somethimes slow ballads. Not just funny rhythm all the time. motley has 2 or 3 not bad songs and thats all. everything what u would try to compare was better in gnr. Singer, GUITARIST,composition,soul, just everything., wasting time here..
I sure love Rocket Queen. Great bluesy funk at the start and heavy ballady rock at the end. The most mature song of Appetite. Other killer songs not mentioned enough are Locomotive, Dead Horse and Street of Dreams.
They should do "Greatest Movie Soundtrack" for next week...for me it is a toss up between Forrest Gump's soundtrack or the Godzilla soundtrack that even made Puff Daddy seem awesome.
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Coma should have been on the list, but really this list is about songs that actually got air play on either radio or mtv or VH-1 when they actually played videos. I love Mr.Brownstone but you could litterally put any GNR song in its place and I'd be content with that being there on this list. Mr.Brownstone has been played more than any GNR song.
This list has changed my life entirely. I don't think I could have ever lived another day without ranking the top 10 Guns N' Roses; a band that brings me back to my classic rock elitist years.
Tell Kaitlyn about Sean's story of when he joined this pyramid scheme that dealt with male enhancement pills but couldn't make profit because he bought too much into his own product. It is an awesome story ya'll. Long story short he ended up homeless, f**kless, toothless but at least he found a stick to deal with his blindness.
FYI: I was Arnie who choose "you could be mine" to be in Terminator 2. In his biography he said he was great friends with the band and loved their music.
Just my opinion but I'm not a big fan of Estranged. It's a great video but it's definitely not my favorite. November Rain is the song that got me interested in G&R in the first place; it will always be my #1.
This list is completely invalid. Where there ain't "Don't Damn Me" there ain't no ****ing list of"which song is the greatest. Well it's damn obvious that everybody chose these songs, but:
- Don't Damn Me
- Coma
- Rocket Queen
- Estranged
- Garden Of Eden
- Back Off Bitch
No surprise at all that AFD pretty much dominated this list, such a great album. When Appetite first came out I was instantly addicted to it and I still love it today. Great list BTW
14 years is my favorite...i think the only reason why sweet child o mine or welcome to jungle didnt make it in the #1 stop was because they are overplayed
Locomotive, Breakdown, Bad Apples, Coma, Hair of The Dog, and Move to the City (Live Era) should all be on this list. Just shows why people hate Slash fans so much - most of them can't see beyond Appetite.
These lists are always insanely hard, I'd need a top 30 songs list for bands such as Guns, Maiden, Metallica etc. and I'd still probably struggle!
Don't Damn Me is an underrated track btw
Coma, breakdown and Locomotive should be in the top five. And yesterdays should be on there. Actually, if you picked any ten random songs of theirs besides these ones, it would probably be a better list. (Excluding Chinese Democracy tracks and My World)
If this list was in reverse order, it would make sense. I actually enjoyed the song "Chinese Democracy" WAY more than Estranged. It's boring and dull and I love the 25 minute version of Echoes by Pink Floyd, so it has nothing to do with length.
As previously stated, where the hell is Don't Cry, Patience or Used to Love Her?
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I feel like a lot of people, even the die-hard Maiden fans, haven't heard that album.
, but where is The number of the Beast??
I'm actually surprised that Patience or Used to Love Her from Lies aren't on the list.