Guns N' Roses biography airs Thursday

Guns N' Roses is the subject of a new episode of the A&E series Biography airing Thursday night (November 29th) at 9 p.m. ET on the cable channel. The one-hour documentary charts the band's history from its earliest days on the Los Angeles rock scene to its breakthrough debut album Appetite for Destruction to its current incarnation, of which singer W. Axl Rose is the only original member. The show also addresses the mystery of Chinese Democracy, the "new" G N' R album that Rose has been working on for 13 years with no release in sight.

Guns N' Roses was founded in 1985 by Rose and guitarist Tracii Guns, who left before the band was signed.

The "classic" Guns lineup, which recorded Appetite, consisted of Rose, bassist Duff McKagan, guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin' and drummer Steven Adler. McKagan recalled for Biography the first time the band played together: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "They came in and like, the first couple of chords, the five of us in the same room, it was like lightning really struck."

McKagan also told Biography that although the members of G N' R had all played in other bands, they knew that this was the one: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "It was the best band we'd all been in, and we knew. For us, this was it, musically."

The bassist also recalled the group's first tour outside Los Angeles, during which its van broke down: [ Click to listen if you have a backstage pass] "We ended up hitchhiking. Five guys wearing, you know, leather jackets, carrying guitars, hitchhiking, you're not gonna get a lot of rides, and if you, not for very far. We hitchhiked for a thousand miles."

Slash and McKagan now play in Velvet Revolver, while Adler has his own band called Adler's Appetite. Stradlin' is a solo artist.

Although the current Guns N' Roses toured last year and Rose said that Chinese Democracy would come out in 2007, speculation persists that the record will never be released.
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