Guns N' Roses are an American hard rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California in March 1985 by Hollywood Rose members Axl Rose (vocals) and Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), and L.A. Guns members Tracii Guns (guitar), Ole Beich (bass) and Rob Gardner (drums), their name coming from a combination of the 2 original groups. First Beich and then Guns quickly left the group, with their replacements being Duff McKagan and Slash (who had known Rose and Stradlin during a short stint in Hollywood Rose) repectively. The band finally established a stable line up when Gardner quit, replaced by Steven Adler.

After witnessing a Guns N' Roses show at the Troubadour, Geffen Records A&R exec Tom Zutaut falsely warned other scouts "they suck" so he could have more time and leeway to try to sign them. Axl Rose demanded (and received) a $75,000 advance from Zutaut, and with Alan Niven subsequently hired as the band's manager, they began to record their debut album. However, to maintain interest in the band whilst they were away from the club scene recording, Geffen decided to release an EP in December 1986 on a newly created "independent label", Uzi Suicide Records. The 4 song EP, entitled “Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide”, contained covers of Rose Tattoo's "Nice Boys" and Aerosmith's "Mama Kin", along with 2 original compositions - "Reckless Life" and "Move to the City" (both of which were co-written by Hollywood Rose's founding member Chris Weber). Despite having the look and sound of a live album, band members have since admitted that the tracks were actually studio recordings with a live audience overdubbed. Only 10,000 vinyl copies of the album were produced.

Debut album “Appetite for Destruction” was released in July 1987, with “Welcome to the Jungle" issued as its first single. Both album and single lingered for almost a year without performing well, until Geffen Records founder David Geffen personally convinced MTV execs to play "Welcome to the Jungle" during their after hours rotation, a move which helped the single break into the US Top 10. Second single "Sweet Child o' Mine" (co-written by Rose as a poem for his girlfriend and future wife, Erin Everly) received heavy airplay on both radio and MTV, and also became a US Top 10 hit. With "Paradise City" a third consecutive US Top 10 hit, “Appetite for Destruction” reached number 1 on the Billboard charts, becoming the second highest selling debut album of all time (behind Boston's self-titled debut album). The band's next release was “G N' R Lies” in 1988, which reached number 2 on the Billboard charts. It included the 4 “Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide” recordings on 1 side and 4 acoustic songs on the other. Even after the release of “GN'R Lies”, “Appetite for Destruction” continued its success for the rest of 1988 and 1989, winning “Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Album” and helping the band to win “Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist” at the 1990 American Music Awards.

In 1990, Guns N' Roses returned to the studio, but line up changes interrupted progress, with keyboardist Dizzy Reed becoming the 6th member of the group, and Adler being fired due to his struggles with drug addiction (his replacement was former Cult drummer Matt Sorum). Eventually, with enough music for 2 albums, the band released “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II” simultaneously in September 1991. The albums debuted at number 2 and number 1 respectively in the Billboard charts, setting a record as they became the first and only group to date to achieve this feat. However, halfway through the Use Your Illusion world tour, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin quit the band due to a combination of being upset with Rose's management of the band, and differences with Slash, Sorum, and McKagan due to his newfound sobriety. He was replaced by L.A. based rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke.

In November 1993, Guns N' Roses released a collection of punk and glam rock covers entitled "The Spaghetti Incident?". Despite protests from Rose's bandmates, an unadvertised cover of the Charles Manson song "Look at Your Game Girl" was included on the album. Years later, Rose said he would remove the song from new pressings of the album, claiming that critics and the media had misinterpreted his interest in Manson. However, as of 2008, the song is still on the album. “The Spaghetti Incident?” did not match the success of the Illusion albums and tension increased within the band. Rose began work on a new album of original material in 1993, but none of the material has ever been released. 1994 saw Gilby Clarke leave the band, replaced with Paul Tobias, and the band recorded a cover version of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" for the movie “Interview with the Vampire”, which would be the last recording by the original version of the band. Slash drifted in and out of the band for the next couple of years, beginning a side project called Slash's Snakepit, and Sorum and McKagan toured with their own side project Neurotic Outsiders. The band returned to the studio in August 1996, but eventually over the remainder of 1996 and 1997, Slash, Sorum and McKagan all left the band for good (later forming Velvet Revolver with former Stone Temple Pilots frontman Scott Weiland and Infectious Grooves/Loaded guitarist Dave Kushner).

In 1998, Axl put a new version of the band together and returned to the studio, with core members including Tobias, keyboardist Dizzy Reed, guitarist Robin Finck, effects man Chris Pitman, bassist Tommy Stinson (formerly of The Replacements) and drummer Josh Freese. In 1999, the band released a new song, "Oh My God", featuring additional guitar work by Dave Navarro and Gary Sunshine (Rose’s personal guitar teacher), which was included on the soundtrack of the film “End of Days”. The song's release was intended to be a prelude to a new album, the now infamous “Chinese Democracy”. Geffen also released “Live Era: '87-'93”, a collection of live performances from during the Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion tours. Later that year, Finck departed in order to rejoin his former band, Nine Inch Nails, on tour, and in 2000, Buckethead joined Guns N' Roses as his replacement (although Finck returned in late 2000 to complement Buckethead on guitar). Freese was replaced with Bryan Mantia (formerly of Primus), and the revised lineup finally made a series of successful public appearances in 2001, firstly in Las Vegas, then at the Rock in Rio Festival in Rio de Janeiro, and then 2 further shows in Vegas.

In 2002, Tobias left the band due to frustrations with life on the road, replaced by Richard Fortus (formerly of The Psychedelic Furs and Love Spit Love). The band were included by Q magazine in their "50 Bands To See Before You Die" list, and they played several shows in August, headlining festivals and concerts throughout Asia and Europe, and made a surprise appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. The same year the band's first North American tour since 1993 was organized to support “Chinese Democracy”, but the opening show in Vancouver was cancelled by the venue when Rose failed to turn up (he had remained in L.A.), and a riot ensued. The tour had mixed results - some gigs didn’t sell well, but shows in larger markets (such as New York) sold out in minutes. However a second riot by fans in Philadelphia caused tour promoter Clear Channel to cancel the remainder of the tour. The band went on hiatus until they were scheduled to play at Rock in Rio IV in May 2004, but Buckethead left 2 months before the show, causing the band to cancel. Around this time Geffen released “Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits”, and whilst Rose expressed his displeasure with the track listing (as it was established without his consent) and tried unsuccessfully to block its release by suing Geffen, the album went triple platinum in the US.

In February 2006, demos of new songs, including "I.R.S.", were leaked on the internet through a fan site, and with radio stations adding "I.R.S." to playlists, the song reached number 49 on the Radio & Records Active Rock National Airplay chart - the first time an internet leak has done so. In May, the band launched a European tour, headlining both the Download Festival and Rock In Rio - Lisbon. 4 warm-up shows preceded the tour at Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City and became the band's first live concert dates since the aborted 2002 tour. The shows also marked the debut of guitarist and composer Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, replacing Buckethead, and during the tour, former bandmate Izzy Stradlin and ex-Skid Row frontman Sebastian Bach made frequent guest appearances. A North American tour began in October 2006 in Miami, with drummer Frank Ferrer replacing Bryan Mantia (who took a leave of absence to be with his wife and newborn child), and with the song "Better" featuring in an internet advertisement for Harley-Davidson. However in December, Rose released an open letter to fans announcing that Merck Mercuriadis had been fired as the band's manager, and revealed that the last 4 dates of the North American tour would be cut so the band could work on post production for “Chinese Democracy”, setting a tentative release date for the album - March 2007. In February 2007 it was announced that “Chinese Democracy”'s recording stage was finished, and the band had now moved onto mixing the album, proving a March release impossible to achieve. No new date was given. In May 2007 3 more tracks were leaked from “Chinese Democracy” - an updated version of "I.R.S.", "The Blues" and the title track (all 3 of which had previously been played live), and the band begun the 2007 leg of the “Chinese Democracy” World Tour in Mexico in June, followed by dates in Australia and Japan, ending in Osaka on the 20th anniversary of “Appetite for Destruction”'s release.

New management (Irving Azoff and Andy Gould) was hired in 2008, but rumours were rife. In April, a picture of Robin Finck appeared on Nine Inch Nails web page under the title "Welcome Back!", with Finck later expressing his happiness at playing again with NIN. In response, on Guns N' Roses official website, Rose expressed his surprise about Finck's latest news, and assured readers that the band was working with its management on the release of “Chinese Democracy”.

Guns N' Roses have sold over estimated 90 million albums worldwide, including 39 million in the US, with “Appetite for Destruction” selling over 27 million copies worldwide.