Your memories of purchasing the Use Your Illusion albums in 1991-24 years ago today!

[ludurigan]

i didnt actually buy them when they were released because a radio station played THE TWO ALBUMS BACK TO BACK so i fucking recorded them in like 3 or 4 cassete tapes

i remember not really loving it as much as I did love appetite and lies

[eggers]

I remember my best friend coming over with the CDs straight from the record shop and looking through the booklets as we listened to I. I remember that day vividly.

[gnrkoncerti]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

[DarkFairy81]

Stole both with my cousin as casettes, but have later bought them a couple times as cds

[nn18]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

I'm really sorry for your loss.

Pozdrav iz Srbije, iz Paracina.

[Russel Nash]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

Wow... what a story. Sorry for your loss.

[brocky888]

I have vivid memory of hearing don't cry on mainstream radio and thinking it was cool sort of grown up version of afd. On my 21st birthday in Sept 91 my friend bought me uyi2 on vinyl and I can remember how epic it sounded. I still have it but it scratched pretty bad. Guns were so big back then singles just rolled on and on from the illusions seemed to last forever. Very special time shame it Cudnt last longer.

[Bono]

By the time the Illusion albums came out I had pretty much worn out the You Could Be Mine casette single. The day the albums came out I walked down to the grocery store(yes that's where we had to buy casettes) and bought Use Your Illusion 1. I picked 1 because I had already heard two songs off UYI2 so I went with something "new". I remember the opening of Right Next Door to Hell and being so blown away by it. The whole album was this strange turning point for me as I was now a music fan and not just a music listener. The next day I walked back to the grocery store and bought UYI2. I've loved them both ever since but UYI1 is slightly better in my opinion. PLus the opening with RNDTH holds so many memories for me. It's like a kick in the face with nostalgia every time I hear it. The opening to UYI2 never had that same impact cause by that point I had heard Civil War hundreds of times.

[wasted]

Pretty Tied up would have been a better opener for UYI II. Civil War is more a side 1 closer to me.

[Gordon Comstock]

I wasn't born for another year and a half but my past life regression therapist tells me it was awesome

Seriously though, it'd be cool to have the long-boxes. They do midnight sales for shit like games now, which aren't my thing so I'd liked to have experienced something like that for an album like UYI, last time I actively avoided the album leak/stream and bought it right when a store opened was Chinese Democracy. I know, I'm so lame.

Edited September 18, 2015 by Gordon Comstock

[annablue]

I bought them separately - I got UYI 1 first (I had limited cash as a 13 yo or whatever I was then) and I remember going to Zellers to purchase it and I'm pretty sure I was wearing black Levi's 501 and a purple and black polka dotted shirt that I constantly borrowed from a friend.

[Intercourse]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

I remember so much of that war from TV. I was 21 and couldn't believe that other Europeans my age and younger were being butchered in that senseless madness of a war.

The power of music is shown right here, I hope those happy memories sustain you man and that you've found peace.

[JONEZY]

Bought them both the day they came out. The same "Best Buy" store that I bought Chinese Democracy decades later.

They were the biggest band in the world.

[fabrph5]

I was in college. Me and a buddy drove to the local record store and each bought them. Went back to his place and listened to them in order. Great times!

[Kater]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

I'm really sorry for your loss.

Pozdrav iz Srbije, iz Paracina.

To add more of ex-YU...pozdrav iz Zagreba!

[nn18]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

I'm really sorry for your loss.

Pozdrav iz Srbije, iz Paracina.

To add more of ex-YU...pozdrav iz Zagreba!

Pozdrav i tebi

[Lio]

Use your illusion tour was a memory for me...In that 1992 I had 21(I am Bosnia Serb) and styding philosophy in Sarajevo.In february 1991 I met Mirza(Bosnia muslim) and she became my girlfrined ,my first and biggest love...In summer We were on Guns show in Budapest.After that she went to Sarajevo and I was went in my parents city Banja Luka 140km from Sarajevo,for a couple days.Six days later I was Mobilised in Serbian army.The war started.I lost my concats with Mirza.I sent letters her and she sent letters to me.That was only way to had a concat.In 1993 war was across the Bosnia and I lost concat with Mirza.I can not forget when.she singing "don't cry in Budapest" and she was on my arms...When war finished 1995 I tried to make contact with Mirza.In january 1996 I got information She was dead.Murdered by snipe in april 1994.

Now I have 46 and have 3 kids.But I have necer forget Mirza and our last days on Guns show in Budapest.For me Guns is something more than music.And UYI tour was the best time for me.

Such a sad story. A beautiful memory though.

I didn't buy the UYI's straight away. I bought UYI II for my cousin's birthday and copied it for myself on cassette before giving it to her. I copied UYI I from a friend. Shortly after, I bought UYI II, because that was the one I loved most at the time. I had all GNR albums copied on cassette before buying the cd's.

[Dr. Who]

There was a really fucking cool video of the midnight release on youtube, it was shot by a fan and was pretty long and showed the longboxes and just regular American fans in denim, leather and mullets buying the records. They had the option of CD or tape cassette and by the time the video was shot (only a bit after midnight), most of the CDs were sold out already. Warchild had it taken down, but some images from the video survive:

[dalsh327]

I'm not sure if the new Tower documentary is going to have the footage from the UYI release, I'm hoping so.

[Dr. Who]

I'm not sure if the new Tower documentary is going to have the footage from the UYI release, I'm hoping so.

The video WC had taken down wasn't from Tower, it was from some place called DJ's Record Shop in Wisconsin. It was cooler cause these weren't LA fans buying records but just regular middle American kids lining up at midnight in their obscure little town, showing just how far reaching Guns' popularity was in 1991; even kids in bumfuck middle America were eager for the UYIs.

"Monday was a good night to be a teen-age heavy-metal fan in New York City.

At midnight 1,500 people, most of them young, white and male, were lined up outside Tower Records in Greenwich Village. That was the bewitching hour when the two long-awaited new albums by Guns 'n' Roses, "Use Your Illusions I" and "Use Your Illusions II," went on sale across the country.

But those who showed up at the downtown Tower and three other record stores in Manhattan witnessed a second special event. In what might be described as a mild publicity coup, Epic Records cashed in on the presale hoopla that Geffen Records had created for Guns 'n' Roses by sending Ozzy Osbourne, its own heavy-metal heavyweight, to the two HMV and two Tower stores to promote his new album, "Don't Blame Me."

"We're here to see Ozzy and shake his hand and buy the Guns 'n' Roses albums," said 19-year-old Russ Porcino of Staten Island. "You're getting two things for one."

Anyone imagining that the demand was a product of a publicity agent's hyperactive mind, however, had only to stand in the line outside the downtown Tower store. For John Gainfort, 27, of Manhattan, who was there with a friend, Mike Torres, Guns 'n' Roses "is the greatest."

"Just about everybody I know is waiting to get the record," he said. "It may be a bit hyped, in that the band took so long to release the record, but it's worth the wait."

Inside the store, fans attacked boxes of the albums, grabbing both volumes. As soon as a photographer or television camera came close, buyers would jump up and shout, holding the albums up in the air, creating perfect photo opportunities and showing their tribal colors.

By 2 A.M., 621 copies of the "Use Your Illusions" compact disk and 224 cassettes had been sold in the downtown Tower store. (The store had no LP's available.) "I didn't think Guns 'n' Roses would do so well," said Mathew Koenig, a regional manager for Tower. "It's the Village, and the Village isn't Guns 'n' Roses territory."

Mr. Osbourne, publicity coup or not, didn't break 100, CD's and tapes combined, at the store. 2 hours, 500,000 Sales

The "Use Your Illusions" CD's sold 500,000 copies nationwide in the first two hours it was on sale, said a Geffen spokesman. Because these sales are coming from the core Guns 'n' Roses audience, it is hard to predict the albums' eventual total sales. But most industry figures interviewed said the CD's have a chance to hit the level of sales achieved by blockbuster albums like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" and Bruce Springsteen's "Born in the U.S.A." And importantly, they, along with a slew of other big records soon to be released, should help the industry recover frpm its current recession.

"It's just amazing; it's just incredible," said Ed Rosenblatt, president of Geffen. "We're sitting on top of the world.

The Camelot chain, based in Canton, Ohio, which had ordered a quarter of a million copies, sold 10,000 copies in the early hours Tuesday at the seven stores it opened at midnight. A spokesman for the chain predicted it would sell 100,000 copies of "Use Your Illusions" in the first week.

Dick Odette, vice president for purchasing for the Minneapolis-based Musicland chain, said: "We opened around 70 stores on Monday night. We had ordered a little shy of a half-million copies, and this is the biggest single release we've ever had. The demand is real. It feels real good." Too Wild for K Mart

Two of the largest sales outlets for rock records, K Mart and Wal-Mart, refused to carry the Guns 'n' Roses albums. Both chains are known for not selling any records that might be considered controversial or offensive. Guns 'n' Roses, in turn, parodies the language of warning stickers placed on records by the Recording Industry Association of America. The "Use Your Illusions" albums carry stickers that say, "This album contains language which some listeners may find objectionable," followed by an expletive.

Eddie Gilreath, the head of sales at Geffen, was quoted in Billboard this week as saying the company could have shipped a million more copies had the two chains decided to sell the album.

"I think the demand is so high for the record that kids walking into a K Mart looking for the record will just go somewhere else," Mr. Rosenblatt said. "At some point it will hurt, in that parents looking for a birthday or Christmas present may not buy it. But the stores have a great deal more to lose than we do as a record company. It's the image of the band that gets them, and they're frightened."

[rudolf1978]

I remember i have it in vynil!