DVDs capture Guns N' Roses at their best

Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Dec 5, 2003 by Scott Iwasaki Deseret Morning News

When Guns N' Roses emerged from the L.A. club scene in 1987, I was serving an LDS mission in Japan.

When I returned home in 1988, I was bombarded by the band's music at every turn. GN'R was everywhere -- the radio, MTV, record stores, musical instrument stores, pawn shops, car stereos, airport sound systems and my friends' home-stereo systems.

Singer W. Axl Rose, guitarist Slash, guitarist Izzy Stradlin, drummer Steven Adler and bassist Duff McKagan had hit the big time with an edgy album called "Appetite for Destruction." It was one of the first cassettes I bought when I reached the mainland. (Others included Boston's "Third Stage," Aerosmith's "Permanent Vacation" and a replacement for a misplaced Metallica cassette, "Ride the Lightning.")

While those albums were constantly in my car stereo, most of my attention was dedicated to "Appetite for Destruction." I never heard a band so passionate, so credible and so angry.

In 1988, Guns released an extended-play cassette titled "GN'R Lies," which included the acoustic ballad "Patience," causing most hard-rock fans to cry "sellout." But the band had something up its sleeve.

Three years and a couple of lineup changes later, Guns N' Roses released a double whammy -- "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II." Chock full of stark and disturbing images of L.A.'s Sunset Strip, the two albums pushed the band into superstardom.

Then came the 1992-93 "Use Your Illusion" tour. A stop in Japan's Tokyo Dome was captured on two VHS videos for all the world to see. Now, Geffen Records has re-released these two vids on two DVDs.

The lineup then consisted of the Rose, Slash and McKagan nucleus, with a trio of new members -- guitarist Gilby Clark, drummer Matt Sorum and pianist Dizzy Reed.

This was the lineup that was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in the summer of 1993. This was the lineup that made a stop at the Delta Center later that year.

And this was the lineup that Rose should have kept.

In fact, it's the lineup that Rose should rehire if he ever gets the new GN'R album on CD, the one known for almost four years as "Chinese Democracy."

Watching the energy of these two DVDs had me yearning for days of old. Guns wasn't a pretty-boy glam-rock band in the same vein as Poison and Warrant. Nor was it a metal band in the lines of Slayer and Motorhead.

Guns N' Roses was an enigma. It was hard rock, thanks to such works as "Welcome to the Jungle" and "You Could Be Mine." But "Patience" was heard on many easy-listening stations.

In concert, the band became a classic-rock aficionado, thanks to covers of the Rolling Stones' "Wild Horses," Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and Pink Floyd's "Mother." But there was also punk credibility, due to McKagan's love for works such as the Misfits' "Attitude" and the U.K. Subs' "Down on the Farm."

The DVDs show the band at the top of its game.

Only one-time tour mate Metallica comes close in energy and musicality. And these days, Metallica has returned to its thrash- metal roots and found critical acclaim with its new album "St. Anger."

GN'R, however, is still stuck in a rut.

Back in 2001, Rose recruited a new band -- including Reed, guitarist Buckethead, former Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Fink, Primus drummer Brian "Brain" Mantia and Replacements' bassist Tommy Stinson. The group played a well-received concert during the Rock in Rio festival and was on the verge of a comeback.

But Buckethead got sick, and the band unraveled. Then a tour produced by Clear Channel was canceled due to Rose blowing off a show. Rumors circulated that he was caught up watching a basketball game and didn't want to leave the hotel.

"Chinese Democracy" may never see the light of day. That's why I cherish these new DVDs. They capture the band at its best . . . a place it may never reach again.

E-MAIL: scott@desnews.com