2 8 aad 47a c7c ÊÌ GUNS 'N' ROSES - THE SCANDALSÉË ------------------------------------ Èby ÊTOMMYÈ Since Guns 'n' Roses released their first album in 1988, an unlimited flow of rumours and scandals has surrounded this band. R.A.W. invites you to an exclusive trip through the world of this band, called the "Most Dangerous Band In The World": ÉTHE BEGINNING È The band made their first gig on 6. June 1985 in their "hometown", Los Angeles. Guitar-player Ê SlashÈ and drummer Ê Steven AdlerÈ had joined the band two days before and after intensive rehearsal they were ready for their debut. Ê Axl RoseÈ on vocals, bass-player ÊDuff McKaganÈ and guitar-player Ê Izzy StradlinÈ made up the rest of the band. The band lived in a tiny rehearsal-room, where, in addition, all the band- equipment stood. They had to manage without toilet, bath and kitchen, but in spite of these facts they had parties almost every day. Apart from earning some money on gigs, the boys made a living by selling pizza, mowing lawns, washing up, contributing in medical-tests - and selling drugs. On the 26. March 1986 the band finally got a record-contract. With the contract followed 75.000 dollars which immediately were spent on debt, more drugs and parties. The band sets out to conquer the world with the motto: "Fuck everybody, before they fuck you!". ÉUPHILL È In between the many gigs, the band went in studio and in July '87, Ê"Appetite for Destruction"È was released. The album started it's slow climbing to the top, while the band toured with The Cult, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper and Aerosmith. During this time, Axl Rose developed an image of being a trouble-maker. At a concert in Los Angeles he is arrested during a song after having stage-dived out among the audience, hitting a guard which bothered one of Axl's friends. In Philadelphia Axl got in trouble with police and are finally thrown in a waiting-cell, after an argue about a parking-place. Axl is released only minutes before G'N'R have to attend a gig. After a year, "Appetite for Destruction" reached the top on the Billboard-list, and the sale increased on both sides of the Atlantic. Together with the record-sale and the fame, more scandals happened.. In August 1988, two boys were killed during the band's gig at the Monsters of Rock festival in England. Short after they got in trouble with their second release, Ê"Lies"È, which contained a song called "One in A million". The lyrics included words like "niggers", "faggots" and "homos", which caused big headlines in the press. É DOWNHILL È After returning from their two year long tour, Guns 'n' Roses were superstars. All band-members disappeared to different places and moved into new houses. For the first time they were not together as a gang, which gave both Slash and Steven Adler big spare-time-trouble. They rescue themselves from the boredom, by consuming big amounts of alcohol, cocaine and heroin. A year passed. Slash is in for drug-treatment, but is soon back again, while both Adler and Stradlin are doing drugs. And when G'N'R opened for Rolling Stones in Los Angeles, 83.000 people heard Axl Rose giving his band-mates a clear message: "I dislike doing this on stage, but if some of the guys in this band don't improve, this might be the last Guns 'n' Roses concert. I'm sick and tired of your 'dancing with Mr. Brownstone'" (Dancing with Mr. Brownstone means taking heroin.) Short after, Izzy Stradlin got in trouble with the Motley Crue vocalist Vince Neill's wife. It all resulted in Stradlin being charged for rape. Slash followed up by receiving the American Music Award on behalf of the band, while being "dead-drunk". Axl Rose got married and demanded a divorce after 48 hours. The marriage lasted, but today Axl is divorced. Ê (Flip page) ÿ