Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies

NME.COM feature on Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies album including album review, artwork, tracks, listen now, tour dates, discography and more.

Release date: 03 July 1999

More Guns N' Roses Reviews

Guns 'N' Roses

Guns 'N' Roses

Chinese Democracy

Guns N’Roses: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, Monday May 15

Guns N’Roses: Hammerstein Ballroom, New York, Monday May 15

Set aside your cynicism and embrace the return of Axl Rose – bad hair and all

Guns N' Roses : Greatest Hits

Guns N' Roses : Greatest Hits

This shit still sounds hot today...

More Guns N' Roses Reviews

Guns N' Roses Tickets

All Guns N' Roses Tickets

Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies Videos

More Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies Videos

Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies YouTube Videos

More Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies YouTube Videos

Guns N' Roses News

Axl Rose requests 'square melon' in rider on Guns N' Roses tour

Axl Rose requests 'square melon' in rider on Guns N' Roses tour

Frontman's list of requests includes custom-made Italian leather couch

Axl Rose thanks crowd for 'not throwing shit' at opening night of Guns N' Roses' UK and Ireland tour

Axl Rose thanks crowd for 'not throwing shit' at opening night of Guns N' Roses' UK and Ireland tour

The band played a three hour set at The O2 in Dublin last night

Guns N' Roses give setlist hints as their UK and Ireland tour kicks off tonight (May 17)

Guns N' Roses give setlist hints as their UK and Ireland tour kicks off tonight (May 17)

Axl Rose and co have been covering Paul McCartney, AC/DC and Frank Sinatra in recent gigs

More Guns N' Roses News

Guns N' Roses - G N' R Lies: Wikipedia Album Entry

Lies, aka G N' R Lies, is the second studio album by the hard rock band Guns N' Roses in 1988 (see 1988 in music). According to the Recording Industry Association of America, it has sold 5 million copies in the United States and about 12 million copies worldwide to date.

Its first four songs consist of the previously released EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.

The last four songs were recorded with acoustic guitars. They were written and recorded in one studio session (with the exception of "You're Crazy", which appeared in an alternate version on Appetite for Destruction), which producer Mike Clink called "one of those magical rock and roll history moments". A Duff sung track "Cornshucker" was dropped from the album, reportedly for excessive profanity.

In later interviews, Axl Rose stated that while he loved how the band sounded on the last four songs, he hated the sound of his voice. Rose recalled that his voice was husky and scratchy from the band's lengthy touring at the time, and if he could he would've re-recorded his vocal tracks in a separate session.

The cover is a parody of tabloid newspapers as are the liner notes. The LP cover art underwent several minor modifications when the title was released on CD. First, in the bottom left corner reading "LIES LIES LIES" originally read "Wife-beating has been around for 10,000 years." Second, instead of "Elephant gives birth to midget", the original headline reads, "Ladies, welcome to the Dark Ages." Third, many copies of the original LP release contained an uncensored picture of a naked model on the inner LP sleeve. The cover also bears a striking resemblance to Jethro Tull's Thick as a Brick.

"You're Crazy" had been released previously on the band's debut album, Appetite for Destruction and was now recorded as written originally. "Mama Kin" is an Aerosmith cover, originally recorded on their 1973 debut album. "Nice Boys" is a Rose Tattoo cover.

"Reckless Life" is the opening track and it begins with Duff McKagan saying "hey fuckers, suck on Guns N' Fuckin' Roses!" This song was originally written by Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin's previous band Hollywood Rose and included in their compilation album The Roots of Guns N' Roses. It can also be found the EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.

During live performances the band would play "Patience" using electric guitars, most notably in Rock in Rio in 1991 which produced the widely used picture of Axl Rose and Slash back-to-back, occurring at the end of the song. "Used to Love Her" would also be performed live with electric guitars.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

Like Guns N' Roses? You might also like...

Powered by Last.fm

Artist/Album artwork images hosted by Last.fm. For copyright enquiries please see here.

Buy Guns N' Roses Albums

All Guns N' Roses Albums

New Issue On Sale Now
Newsletter

Free weekly music news, videos and MP3s in your inbox:

Most Read News
Popular This Week
NME Store & Framed Prints
Inside NME.COM
On NME.COM Today