4. Dancing With Mr Brownstone (October 1989)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Bt7g3H23Fc In 1989 Guns N' Roses had been living on the road for the better part of three years, dealing with the impact that fame and success had brought to their music, as well as the individual turmoils the band members were facing. Money and success had brought the band everything they could have ever wanted, which in the case of drug addiction, was almost as self destructive as their marketed image. In October the band were invited to open for the Rolling Stones in LA, across four shows, this being a major coup for the band and cementing their short (but heavily documented) journey from complete unknowns to the biggest band of their generation. During the first night's performance, Rose announced that the shows would be their last if certain members of the band did not stop "dancing with Mr. Brownstone," a reference to their song of the same name about heroin and also a direct attack on Duff, Slash and Steven Adler's well documented addictions with the drug. Depending on who you believe, Rose either quit Guns N' Roses for a few days following these performances, before rejoining or decided instead to take major inspiration from Mick Jagger. Rose commented years later, in interview, that he was extremely impressed about Jagger's knowledge of the entire tour and how everything went on - taking stock of financials and understanding the mechanics and mainframes. It's unclear how much of this Rose wanted to emulate personally but he made measures to legally attain the rights to the Guns N' Roses name in exchange for large cash advantages. With the Guns N' Roses name in hold it was Rose who then orchestrated the reshuffle of the band and within a few years old faces had been replaced by newer ones, who were then replaced again. This moment and these dates with the Rolling Stones brought the 80s to an end for Guns N' Roses and also brought the band, in it's most original form, to an end as well.
Wayne Madden
Contributor
First studied Journalism in Ireland in 2003, returning to Sunderland University on the tenth anniversary of my first studies in the subject to continue towards an MA. Interested in all sorts including WWE, Music, Film, TV and Games. Has travelled around a bit to places like California, Ontario and Mexico and plans to do more of the same soon again.
Recently I've been writing pieces on my favourite topics which have included obscure theme music from nostalgic shows, Guns N' Roses and a few other surprises I'll be happy to share in time!
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Wayne