Guns N’ Roses – biography

Chinese Democracy has finally arrived. One of the most highly anticipated albums in rock history, the long-awaited Chinese Democracy marks the first album of new material from Guns N’ Roses since 1991’s simultaneous release of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. With a frenzied energy, Guns N’ Roses arrived on the music scene in the mid-’80s and rock was never the same. Now the enormously influential G N’ R is ready to rock once again.

Chinese Democracy (Black Frog/Geffen Records) will be available globally on November 23 on CD and vinyl (accompanied by a free digital download of the tracks), and as a separate digital album.

Produced by Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo, Chinese Democracy includes 14 tracks. The title track and first single from the album, ‘Chinese Democracy’, will be released to radio at 5:00 am eastern time today. Two of the recordings have been recently released–‘Shackler’s Revenge’ debuted September 14 in the ‘Rock Band 2’ videogame and ‘If The World’ debuted October 11 in the film Body Of Lies.

‘The release of Chinese Democracy marks a historic moment in rock ‘n’ roll,’ said Irving Azoff and Andy Gould, Guns N’ Roses’ co-managers, ‘and we’re launching with a monumental campaign that matches the groundbreaking sound of the album itself. Guns N’ Roses fans have every reason to celebrate, for this is only the beginning.’

‘Guns N’ Roses redefined the American rock band and became a global music icon,’ added Steve Berman, President, Sales and Marketing, Interscope Geffen A&M Records. ‘We’re incredibly excited that Chinese Democracy will be heard worldwide through Geffen Records and the Universal Music Group.”

Seventeen years ago, the two previous original albums from one of rock’s most intense and compelling bands, Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II, were issued simultaneously, a first for any contemporary artist. Debuting #2 and #1, respectively, they featured three gold hits with ‘November Rain’ (#3), ‘Don’t Cry’ (#10) and the previously released Top 30 ‘You Could Be Mine’ from the film Terminator II: Judgement Day, plus another Top 40 with ‘Live And Let Die.’ Each album went seven times platinum.

The band’s 1987 full-length debut Appetite For Destruction has sold more than 28 million copies worldwide (18 times platinum in the U.S.) and is among the biggest-selling albums in history. The #1 album notched three Top 10 hits–the gold anthem ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ and #1 ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ plus ‘Paradise City.’ 1988’s #2, five times platinum G N’ R Lies yielded the gold Top 5 ‘Patience.’ After the Use Your Illusion duo, 1994’s The Spaghetti Incident’ cover album reached #4 and platinum.

In 1999, a live album earned gold and in 2004 the band’s only Greatest Hits collection peaked at #3 and earned quadruple platinum. Overall, Guns N’ Roses has sold more than 90 million records worldwide.