1991 - May: Guns N’ Roses ”Use Your Illusion I” and ”Use Your Illusion II”

Guns N' Roses had established themselves as top tier Rock artists in the mid through late 80's, and it had been three years without an album release by the time we rolled around to 1991.  The band got its start in 1985 when members of the band L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose decided to combine.  They released their debut album, "Appetite for Destruction" in 1987, which originally received disappointing sales, but which built over the next year to mainstream success.  Their second album, "G N" R Lies" was a short album released at the end of 1988 which combined an earlier E.P. with some acoustic tracks.

The anticipation for Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II was incredibly high by the time these albums dropped simultaneously in September 1991.  Over 500,000 copies of the albums were sold in the first two hours of their release.  With each album having a run time of over 70 minutes, the quantity of material dwarfs that of their previous 33-minute album.  

Use Your Illusion I is generally considered the heavier rocking album of the two, as guitarist Izzy Stradlin contributed more of the songwriting to that album than to Use Your Illusion II.

Many speculate that the two albums were recorded and released simultaneously because the band was on the verge of falling apart at any time, and it was important to get the material out quickly before the band "blew up."  Whether this was true or not, the band certainly did have their share of problems staying together.  They would release an album of punk covers in 1993 called "The Spaghetti Incident?" before much of the band - including Slash and Izzy Stradlin - would depart.  

Lynch brings us a double helping of Guns N' Roses with these simultaneously-released albums for today's podcast.

 

November Rain Axl Rose wrote this epic symphonic power ballad which appears on the "Use Your Illusion I" album.  Clocking in at 8:57, it was the longest song to enter the top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 at the time, peaking at number 3.  The song was divisive, with most of the band not wanting to pursue it, and with both Slash and bassist Duff McKagan particularly opposed to the drift towards symphonic pieces.

Knockin' On Heaven's Door This Bob Dylan cover had been performed by the group before landing on the "Use Your Illusion II" album.  The 1987 "Welcome to the Jungle" 12" single had a live version of this song on its B-side, and a studio version of "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" was released on the soundtrack to the film "Days of Thunder" in 1990.  

You Could Be Mine This track was originally used in the soundtrack for the mega-hit movie "Terminator 2:  Judgment Day."  It was the first single released from "Use Your Illusion II," and came out in June 1991.  The video features an Arnold Schwarzenegger T-800 Terminator sent from the future to kill the band members.  At the end of the video the Terminator concludes that killing the band would be a "waste of ammo."

Don't Cry This power ballad appears on both "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II" in slightly different versions with different lyrics.  This song reached number 8 on the UK charts and number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 US chart.  Stradlin and Rose wrote the song back in March 1985, and Axl Rose claims that it was the first song ever written for Guns N' Roses.

 

ENTERTAINMENT TRACK:

Theme from the motion picture “The Addams Family” This catchy riff from the cartoon television sitcom of the 60's also appeared in the dark comedy motion picture of the same name, which came out in 1991.

 

STAFF PICKS:

The Only One I Know by The Charlatans UK Wayne kicks off the staff picks with the Manchester sound.  This song is the one that truly started the career of the band, including their use of the Hammond organ as a central part of the sound.  The organ riff in this song was heavily inspired by Deep Purple's 1968 song, "Hush."  The lyrics reflect the feelings a guy has for a girl, while the girl might or might not know that the guy exists.

Why Should I Cry for You? by Sting Bruce brings us a track from Sting's third album, "The Soul Cages."  Sting encountered writers block after the death of his father in 1987, and this is the song that broke through that block.  Sting had a difficult relationship with his father, and the lyrics of the song articulate the struggles he had with the grieving process, along with images from his childhood home of Newcastle.  

Texarkana by R.E.M. Rob features an unusual song from the Athens group, because front man Michael Stipe is not singing lead on it.  Bassist Mike Mills takes lead singing lyrics on this song for which he was the primary songwriter and lyricist.  It went to number 4 on the Modern Rock Tracks chart despite not being released as a single.

Into the Great Wide Open by Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Lynch closes out the staff picks with a story about Eddie, a rocker who moves to L.A., gets a girlfriend, and lands an album.  He always has with high hopes the record company "don't hear a single."  The video starred a young Johnny Depp as Eddie, Faye Dunaway as Eddie's manager, and Petty as a roadie named Bart, reporter, and tattoo artist. 

 

INSTRUMENTAL TRACK:

Trademark by Eric Johnson This instrumental piece from guitar virtuoso Eric Johnson was the fourth single released from his second studio album "Ah Via Musicom." 

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