The 10 greatest Guns N’ Roses songs of all time
When Guns N’ Roses announced they were reuniting with the majority of their original line-up, fans everywhere became obsessed with the fact that they were going to hear their classics performed as they should be.
Since then, Guns N’ Roses have proven that they still have it as live performers, but that their time to make original music might be behind them. They’ve released a few scattered singles here and there, but none of them sound anywhere close to the ballads they were creating their first time round as a band.
It’s okay if they don’t release any new music, the truth is, despite only having a few albums behind them, fans have already been treated to more classics than most bands could give out in double the amount of music. The band’s venom, energy, and ability to have a cohesive sound despite making versatile music is a majesty that stands the test of time.
It begs the question, what are their greatest songs? There are so many different styles to choose from that it’s hard to say, but we’ve managed to whittle it down to ten. Have a read and see if you agree.
The greatest Guns N’ Roses songs of all time
‘You Could Be Mine’
This one flies under the radar for a lot of Guns N’ Roses fans, but when you think about the things that people love about the band, it’s hard to deny that ‘You Could Be Mine’ brandishes their greatest qualities in plenty of ways. The guitar lines are absolutely killer, the drums are harsh and fast-paced, and Axl Rose brings the thunder with his vocals.
The song is a mixture of love and hate, two opposites that Guns N’ Roses seem to straddle impeccably well. There is so much attitude in this song that it’s unfair to pass it off as filler; this is Guns N’ Roses at their very best.
‘Double Talkin’ Jive’
When we think of great Guns N’ Roses songs, the majority of them come in at over five minutes long. The band have never been subtle in their genius, as they like songs to develop, revelling in an elongated intro, solo and outro. However, with ‘Double Talkin’ Jive’, they prove that they can deliver songs at a fast pace as well.
In the grand scheme of the album, this song is very blink and you miss it. Slash plays fast, Axl sings fast, and the drums are unrelenting in their up-tempo execution. The whole thing is over in two minutes, and yet, Guns N’ Roses manage to create one of their most exciting numbers of all time with it.
‘Estranged’
On the Use Your Illusion albums, Guns N’ Roses seemed to be on a mission to release as many lengthy songs as they possibly could, and they achieved that plentifully. There are a lot of great, long songs on these records, and one of the most underrated has to be ‘Estranged’.
One of the highlights comes at the beginning of the track, with Slash’s solo/introduction, which sets the foundation for the rest of the song could be built upon. It seems his work was appreciated by fellow band members as well, as in the CD booklet for the Use Your Illusion albums, Axl Rose wrote a simple dedication: “Slash, thanks for the killer guitar melodies.”
‘Knocking On Heaven’s Door’
Fun fact: Bob Dylan hated this cover of his classic. “Guns N’ Roses is okay, Slash is okay,” said Dylan, “But there’s something about their version of the song that reminds me of the movie Invasion of the Body Snatchers.”
While Dylan might not be the biggest fan, I’ve always thought that Guns N’ Roses’ version of the song is pretty good. Axl Rose has a voice which glides across the chorus wonderfully. Meanwhile, Slash’s solos are something to marvel at. The only chords he has to work with throughout the song are G, D and C, and yet he manages to make something beautiful and complex.
‘November Rain’
A classic is a classic is a classic. There is a reason why this song is so many rock lovers’ favourite, as it’s a number which is timelessly excellent and deeply beautiful. Guns N’ Roses showed they were kings of hard rock on their first album, but on the Use Your Illusion records, they really showed how ambitious they were.
You can hear that ambition on plenty of songs throughout these albums, but it’s probably most prevalent on ‘November Rain’. The string sections, the solos, and what is probably one of the greatest outros of all time, all pierce through this song and elevate it to something well beyond just being labelled a “good rock song”.
It’s one of the greatest ever, a true testament to the wonderment of this genre so many of us flock to.
‘Paradise City’
What would this list be without an absolute classic? When you talk to people about Guns N’ Roses, one of the first songs that usually comes to their mind is the timeless ‘Paradise City’. From the stadium-filling chorus to the extended outro solo to the hard-hitting three-note riff that floods the verse, there is simply nothing in this song that you can be mad at.
Whenever someone starts learning the guitar, one of the first riffs they pick up is the one in ‘Paradise City’, as Slash shows how you can achieve a great deal with a few notes. It’s great to listen to, and it highlights how special a guitar player he was. He helps make this song the classic that it is.
‘Coma’
A lot of the time, when you see a song creeping up to over ten minutes long, you roll your eyes and wonder how they’ve managed to drag it out so long. ‘Coma’ is a track that is completely justified in its long run time, though. It’s not just a rock song, it feels like a story bundled up into a track and sent off to the masses.
This track drags us through the chaos – wild living, the fallout that comes with it, and nearly losing everything along the way. Each phase shifts with the music, matching the mood beat for beat. ‘Coma’ plays out like a full-blown film – big, intense, and brilliantly put together. Even all these years later, it still holds up as a proper classic.
‘Civil War’
‘Civil War’ is a song that seems to feel more and more fitting the more time that passes. The political connotations of the track make it, dare I say, almost frightening. If we separate the politics and focus just on the music, this is a song that continues to stand the test of time.
It does the classic thing that so many great Guns N’ Roses songs do, which is present itself in layers. You have the slow introduction, those bending solos done at the top of the fret, the high-pitched vocals, the main solo, and the chaotic outro. They’re all ideas that could branch out into separate songs but that all tie together wonderfully.
‘Rocket Queen’
Guns N’ Roses kicked the door in with Appetite for Destruction. At a time when hard rock was starting to feel a bit limp under the weight of hair metal, they showed up with teeth. Every track on that debut had bite: full throttle, no filler. So then comes the big question…how do you end an album like that? Simple. You close it out with ‘Rocket Queen’.
‘Rocket Queen’ was the perfect outro for this album, as it kept the hard rock elements that Guns N’ Roses were celebrated for, but also slowed things down enough to feel like it was a song that eased people out of the record. The elongated bridge and lingering riff were a perfect way to conclude an album that well and truly announced the arrival of one of the best rock bands on the planet.
‘Don’t Cry’
The first time I ever heard ‘Don’t Cry’, I thought it was one of the most powerful songs that I’ve ever heard. The way that the band are able to convey heartfelt emotion, while also channelling the hard rock that fans loved dearly, was a combination that many bands have pined over but very few have succeeded in achieving.
This is a song that you can listen to with earphones and get completely swept up in. It might only be a five-minute tune, but the way the track is layered, the emotion in Axl Rose’s voice, and one of Slash’s greatest ever guitar solos, you have a great deal to absorb throughout.
