the release of Appetite for Destruction in 1987 and “The Spaghetti Incident?” in 1993. However, their hunger for carnage led the band to crash and burn like a night train, and the original line-up disassembled in the mid-1990s after Axl Rose had become too much of a tyrant. In 2016, Slash and Duff McKagan decided to put aside their differences with Rose and re-ed the band. Since then, Guns N’ Roses have toured excessively and recaptured a lot of their audience base. The question is, are they back to their best or can they never relive those glory years?
Sweet Child O’ Mine Tops Facebook Live Video Charts
The return of most of the original Guns N’ Roses lineup has served to bring back a lot of the fans of old who have long wished for them to reunite. But for the Los Angeles rockers to get to the level of notoriety that they previously enjoyed, they need to get younger listeners onside. Guns N’ Roses’ breakthrough album sold over 30 million copies, including 18 million in the USA. This made it the best-selling debut album of all time in the States. Use Your Illusion I and II were also highly successful, with combined sales exceeding 35 million units.
Guns N’ Roses have aimed to attract newer audiences by branching out onto modern platforms. They have tapped into the booming iGaming industry by allowing their songs and images to be used in the Guns N’ Roses slot game from NetEnt. Betway describes the slot as immersive and atmospheric, showing the band’s varied appeal. Another platform which wasn’t around in Guns N’ Roses’ early days is Facebook, and the band have adapted to the rise of social media by posting live videos to the network. In fact, a live clip of Sweet Child O’ Mine reached top spot in Billboard’s Top Facebook Live Videos chart in December of 2018. This shows that the band is gaining a lot of new fans in the internet era.
Appetite for Destruction Remaster Receives Universal Acclaim
After the three main stars of the original Guns N’ Roses lineup announced that they were getting back together in 2016, they went on a huge tour which spanned four continents and lasted nearly two years. Some critics thought that Guns N’ Roses were past their best and wouldn’t be able to hit the same highs they had experienced before. But the Not in This Lifetime tour was an unprecedented success, and by the end of December 2018, it had grossed $563,300,000. This makes it the second-highest grossing tour of all time behind U2’s U2 360° tour which began in 2009. It also received excellent reviews across the board.
Guns N’ Roses used the tour as a springboard to propel them firmly back into the public eye, and they are now at a stage where they can release albums and guarantee high sales. The band proved this with the remastered version of Appetite for Destruction which hit shelves in June of last year. It features a number of previously unreleased songs along with an unseen video for It’s So Easy. The album has received highly positive critical , with a 10/10 rating from Spill Magazine. The rock publication described the new version of the classic album as a “treasure trove” of content with things to appease die-hard fans as well as new listeners.
After years in the wilderness, it is fair to say that Guns N’ Roses are back with a bang. They may not be the most dangerous band in the world anymore after packing in their previously hedonistic lifestyle, but they have reached a level of maturity which could help them hit the same highs as before in the modern age. The fact that Guns N’ Roses have adapted to modern innovations like Facebook suggest that any future material from the band will be hugely successful. For new fans, as well as those who were there at the start, this is great news.
