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Guns N´ Roses (sometimes abbreviated as G N´ R) are an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The classic lineup, as signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Today, Axl Rose is the only remaining original member, in a lineup that comprises lead guitarists Ron ”Bumblefoot” Thal and DJ Ashba, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer, and keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman. The band has released six studio albums, accumulating sales of more than 100 million albums worldwide,[8] including shipments of 45 million in the United States.
A year after its release, Guns N´ Roses´ debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, on the strength of the hit ”Sweet Child o´ Mine,” their only single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide, including 18 million units sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S. The success of their debut was followed by the eight-song album G N´ R Lies (1988). The twin albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991) debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide,[citation needed] including 14 million units sold in the United States alone. The cover album ”The Spaghetti Incident?” (1993) was the band´s last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan. After more than a decade of work and many lineup changes, Guns N´ Roses released the long-awaited album Chinese Democracy (2008). It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200, but underwhelmed industry expectations.
Guns N´ Roses have been credited with reviving the mainstream popularity of rock ´n´ roll, at a time when popular music was dominated by dance music and pop metal. Their late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described as the ”period in which they brought forth a hedonistic rebelliousness” reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones.
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