Guns N' Roses: 13 Notorious Incidents You Won't Believe

6. Nearly Breaking Up On Stage

In 1989, Guns N' Roses were at the top of the world, opening up for The Rolling Stones, who they idolised, and to whom many music critics saw distinct comparisons. However, drugs and boozing had already taken a heavy toll on the band. While they would only worsen (by the mid-90s, Slash would have had a brush with death, and bassist Duff McKagan was admitted to hospital with alcohol-induced pancreatitis, with a pancreas the size of a football that was leaking digestive enzymes into his body causing third-degree burns), Axl Rose saw them coming - and quickly cleaned up his own act, though fellow band members did not. During the first of four opening gigs for the Stones in Los Angeles, Rose announced the shows would be the band's last, unless members of the group stopped "dancing with Mr. Brownstone" - Mr. Brownstone being a reference to heroin that also served as a song title from the band's first album. The audience was shocked, the incident made headlines, but the band - somehow - managed to stay together.