THE MEMBERS
W. Axl Rose
William Bailey, son of L. Stephen and Sharon Bailey of Lafayette, Indiana was born on February 6,1962. His natural father abandoned his wife and when Sharon remarried, the children's surnames changed accordingly. Although considering L. Stephen Bailey to be his 'real dad', Axl decided to adopt his genetic father's surname and due to this he was briefly known as W. Rose. "Axl" was borrowed from the name of one of the original Indiana groups he used to be in and, on the suggestion of his friends, he decided to incorporate this into his name. He later legally became W. Axl Rose.
Duff 'Rose' McKagan
Duff, born Michael McKagan on February 5, 1964, was the youngest of eight children and hails originally from Seattle, Washington. Duff passed through over 30 bands during the early days in Seattle which included a hardcore punk band which was known as the Fartz. Duff left for L.A. due to "playing Seattle clubs was ultimately dead end for a serious musician....Seattle was a good training ground."
Steven "Popcorn" Adler
Steve was born on January 22, 1965 in Cleveland, Ohio and was unceremoniously kicked out of home when he was 12 years old. Steve once said " a super bad guy just seemed to come out of me when I was a wee youngster...I was really bad: got thrown out of eight, nine different schools, I used to fight with teachers, I'd get in a fight every day...I was just a feisty little kid."
Slash
Born in Stoke-On-Trent, England on July 23, 1965 his father was a successful album cover designer and his mother, Ola, designed clothing for the glitterati of rock. Having moved from Northern England to the US,and at the age of 14, Slash still didn't have a guitar until an accident in a playground with a skateboarder changed the course of destiny. The skateboarder was none other than Steven Adler.
Izzy Stradlin
An excitable teenhood mate of Axl was Jeff Isabelle who we know as Izzy Stradlin. Izzy was born on April 8, 1962 and remembers Axl well "..he was like a serious lunatic when I met him. He was just really fucking bent on fighting and destroying things..." Like Axl, Izzy could not wait to get out of Indiana and, on receiving his high school diploma in 1979, headed straight for the Hollywood hills.
THE MAKING OF A BAND
Having arrived in L.A., Duff answered an ad in a local newspaper which read something like this "Looking for a Bass player-Aerosmith, Alice Cooper. Slash." A meeting was arranged at Canter's and after a night of partying a new band was formed. It was Slash's band, Road Crew. Slash had previously met Izzy and Axl when he also answered an ad for a musician in a LA newspaper. Unfortunately, Slash falied that audition. As Axl tells it, "He was too bluesy at the time and too good; we thought he was too far into what he was doing, and we wouldn't be able to relate. But little by little, we kept bumping into each other in clubs." One night Izzy and Slash got together to listen to a tape of Izzy's band which was known as Hollywood Rose. On the tape there was the sound of a "..tiny little voice shrieking in the background." That voice was Axl. After hearing the tape, Slash tried to lure Axl to play in his band but Axl split for another local band which was known as L.A. Guns. Axl was once quoted as saying" I left Hollywood Rose and joined L.A. Guns and the drummer and bass player freaked out and we kinda broke up. In the meantime, Izzy had booked a gig for Hollywood Rose and there was no band left, then Tracii booked a gig for L.A. Guns and there was no band there either. We mixed what was left of the two bands and we got Guns N' Roses. Then Tracii left and went back to L.A. Guns and we got Duff. This line up was finalized on June 6, 1985." Slash was then assimilated into the new line up, and after a couple of days of rehersal the final chapter of Guns N' Roses played its debut gig at L.A's Troubadour. It was a Thursday night.
THE FIRST TOUR
Four days after that first gig at the Troubadour the newly founded Guns N' Roses left L.A. for their first tour. The plan was to plough through Seattle, Portland, Eugene, Sacremento and San Francisco but it all came undone when their car broke down in Fresno. They were forced to hitchhike up the coast with their guitars in hand. Finally making it to the gig, they had to play with borrowed amps and only received $ 250 (a fifth of what they were promised) and also discovered the rest of the tour had been cancelled.
BACK IN L.A.
Having returned to L.A., the band did not find immediate success. They hung out on street corners if they were unable to crash at somebod'y house. Slash once said "We'd walk up and down Hollywood Boulevard and visit every porno store there is, 'cause they stay open 24 hours." At one stage all five band members lived in a one room rehearsal studio on Gardener Street. The room measured four feet by twelve and had no bathroom, shower or kitchen but it did have plenty of holes in the ceiling. The one good thing about this room according to Slash was "..did we sound good in there! We're a really loud band and we don't compromise the volume for anything! We'd bash away with a couple of Marshalls in this tiny room, and it was cool because all the losers from Sunset and all the bands would come over and hang out there every night." Whilst doing this at night, during the day Steve endured several menial jobs while Axl did telephone sales and held a position as a night manager at a Tower Video outlet. Izzy briefly worked in a guitar shop and Slash did "..time in a clock factory." At one stage to help make ends meet Slash and Axl volunteered as medical test subjects for UCLA, smoking cigarettes for $ 8 an hour. Slowly but surely the band made a reputation for themselves on the local scene. Izzy says"..we made so much noise in the city that the labels started coming to us. They would come over to the studio and come in the alley and see drunks...and the next thing you know we're going to their office!"
THE SIGNING
Guns N' Roses signed on the dotted line with Geffen records on March 26, 1986. The band chose Geffen because "They were the coolest; they were very hip to what was going on. They know about rock n' roll..."

LIVE?! LIKE A SUICIDE
In December 1986 Guns N' Roses released their first record. A self-produced EP on their own Uzi-Suicide label. The EP was titled Live?! @ Like A Suicide. It sold over 10,000 copies in four weeks, without advertising, and quickly became a collector's item.

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