𝓝𝓸𝔀 𝓣𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓦𝓮 𝓐𝓻𝓮 𝓓𝓮𝓪𝓭 (🔞)

Ch.30 "Changes"

2.5 Years Later

January 1rst 1988

Through Author's Eyes

Two and half years have passed. They went through a lot of changes.

About Duff

His career. Their early gigs especially in 1985 were practically empty. Often the few people who were there had come to see the band playing after them.
Those who were there, would threw cigarettes and spit on them.
It was like people hating them.
That how some LA punk venues were.

They are used to being treated poorly by everyone.

As soos as Guns N Roses began to play more regularly in LA, they started up a phone and mailing list. They made sure people who came to their shows signed up.
Basically, what they did was to send stripper friends out to the audience and have them convince people to sign up.

If they want a bigger audience, they have to write good songs.
The mailing list worked for them

They knew they had to make it on their own and after their Seattle road trip , failure wasn't an option. (Duff's book "It's So Easy And Other Lies pg.89 *some changes*)

Duff met another bassist Todd Crew.
He was the life and the light in the room. They immediately became best friends both with Duff and Slash
Todd's a heavy drinker, often passing out at the most inopportune times.

One day, on July 17th he passed away because of heroin overdose.
Duff couldn't believe it. He refused to.
For him is hard to talk or think about it.
Two of his best friends died in such a short time.
First Jim and then Todd.

Suddenly he felt so lost
So alone.

When they started to write songs that would become their album, it was clear that Slash saw this as a chance to finally perfect his secret melody.
Slash perfected those classic parts from some dark and beautiful place himself. The shy introvert I had first met had at last found the way to express himself.

Slash and Duff were really big drinkers, alcohol addicts.
Steven was smoking crack.

In 1986 they signed a contract with Geffen Records. In December 16th they published the EP "Live Like A Suicide"
Which was included by two original songs and two covers
1) Reckless Life
2)Nice Boys
3)Move To The City
4) Mamma Kin
This EP didn't make a stir almost anywhere.

In 1986 Skylar and Duff got their first tattoos.
Skylar had a small wolf hugged by a young girl under moon under her left breast, a punctuation mark like a butterfly on her right wrist to declare suicide prevention and a small lion with a little rose above her ankle .
Duff got two guns and one rose on his left shoulder, a dagger that says Guns N Roses and a dragon.
He also ungraded his style. He bought new clothes, cowboy boots and a steel chain with padlock, wearing it around his neck like Sid Vicious, the bassist of Sex Pistols did.

They also filmed a video for "Welcome To The Jungle" but MTV refused to air it.
So nobody knew who they were.

But the good things takes time to become true.

In July 21th 1987 they released their first album.

Appetite For Destruction.

1) Welcome To The Jungle
2) It's So Easy
3) Nightrain
4) Out Ta Get me
5) Mr Brownstone
6) Paradise City
7) My Michelle
8) Think About You
9) Sweet Child O'Mine
10) You're Crazy
11) Anything Goes
12) Rocket Queen

Every song has its back story.
Rocket Queen. That's another story.
Then Steven had a girlfriend with whom always arguing and breaking up. So she wanted to do something to break his nerves.
Axl was searching for someone to record her moans for the song while solo.
Skylar was willing to participate in it but someone kept up.
Steven's girlfriend.
Her and Axl had a thirty minute session having sex and recording her moans in ignorance of Steven.
When he learned the truth, everyone saw another face of Steven.