Original Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 17 minutes ago, Nicklord said: Dave Grohl and umm... Yeah- he's cool. They are big. But the Foo's are no GnR circa UYI's era. Dave isn't a household name. I was 22 in the UYI era, even my old man new who Axl and "that Slash guy" we're. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ericy210 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 This is not a matter of debate. look at records sold by year and concert revenue by year and you will find an objective answer. im guessing U2 or even a pop act, someone with broad appeal who consistently sold out multiple nights. someone please look it up Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BadApples87 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 35 minutes ago, ericy210 said: This is not a matter of debate. look at records sold by year and concert revenue by year and you will find an objective answer. im guessing U2 or even a pop act, someone with broad appeal who consistently sold out multiple nights. someone please look it up Of all acts...Grateful Dead were tops in 1991 for tours. U2 was number 1 in 92-93 for tours. That doesn't take album sales into consideration. But, I assume that this thread is referring to Hard Rock/Metal acts. But I could be wrong, since I did not start the thread. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pacu44 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Yes. Dominated... I would say world wide too... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourcrazy Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 They absolutely were. Metallica was close, Nirvana got really big but only for a short time and never at the fever that GNR had. It is hard to describe. Not many bands or people got this big besides Elvis or the Beatles. U2, Bon jovi, and motley all were very big but not quite to the GNR level with the type of passion and performance. It's still a shame they threw it all away. If they hadn't this subject wouldn't be debatable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. ritz88 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I have to comment because I was there to see this happen... You have to imagine a time where new music was the most incredible thing to come out week after week. You have to imagine going to the store to buy the CD ect of the band you wanted to hear... I can smell the fucking glue from the CD booklet when I even think about it. Music was King...there were so many fucking good bands out it was unbelivable.. But when guns released those 2 CDs there were lines outside every place that sold those 2 albums in every shape or form for days. There will never be anything like that again. I remember listening to use your illusions with friends and being blown away by what I heard. What a fantastic time for music... I'm hoping this reunion will be 10% of what that was like. It will be more than enough to be on top today. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. ritz88 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Yes this makes me very old... But it was just a much simpler time and you had to earn your stripes to prove you you were a fan of a certain band. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr. ritz88 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) If you want to talk about nirvana, grunge, ect. Yes they absolutely hurt guns in their prime but however, if guns kept being guns, they would have outlasted the grunge era and they are almost literally the only hope Rock has today. Axl was so afraid that the were going to be old school compared to the grunge movement.but in reality old school classic rock is what Rock needs right now, and what a kick in the ass these bands today need to get into fighting shape. Edited March 2, 2016 by mr. ritz88 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gnfnrs1972 Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) UH YEAH! Edited March 2, 2016 by gnfnrs1972 no text 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smokin' Cigarettes Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 They were the biggest. MTV News & Kurt Loder made it larger than life. The Ritz live special and then later with Rock In Rio Live it just went to another level. Every time you turned around there was the Kurt Loder interviewing Axl fresh out of jail, on the way to jail, in the jail, on a cruise ship, first night of world tour, and everything in between. Axl was such a intriguing person. I swear that sometimes it was more about the mystery & suspense of the band than the music itself. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercool Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) in europe, U2 was huge back in 1991 (achtung baby). they were as big as gnr, if not more. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achtung_Baby#Charting Edited March 2, 2016 by supercool Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swedish Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 7 hours ago, Sprite said: It all totally depends on what you're a fan of. Confirmation bias at it's finest. Go to a Nirvana forum and you'll read about how Nirvana "ruined" GNR, and stay here too long and read the right comments from the right people and they might try convincing you Dead Horse was a bigger hit than Smells like teen spirit. I just spit my coffee all over the table! That was hillarious 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stella Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) IMHO...yes. They absolutely were. When they toured in the area -- and I was in a major city where people have a reputation for being very blase - it was all anyone could talk about. People saved the roses they'd caught at the concert and brought them to school (for a while they ended the shows by tossing roses into the crowd). People camped out for tickets and for the Illusions album. They appealed even to people who usually turned their noses up at hard rock. When the Illusions tour started, MTV devoted hugs chunks of their programming to it...they replayed the Ritz show, did interviews, etc. etc. I remember that the Rolling Stones magazines with Axl/GnR on the cover were read until they fell apart in the school library, and then they were stolen. And after GnR, I would say that Nirvana was the next band that generated that much popular appeal and excitement. Metallica was big but they weren't the same level of popular hysteria, at least in my neck of the woods. Plus there were people who had followed them for a while who were angry and thought they'd sold out because they were doing videos (before ...Justice they never did videos and swore up and down that they never would. And then when they did a video for "One" they swore it was a one-time thing. And then with the Black Album, well, you know how that went). Edited March 2, 2016 by stella Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulMonster Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I think we are being a bit insular about this. GN'R was huge at some time, maybe even the biggest band for some months, but if you look at record or tickets sales for 1991 and 1992 then they were beaten by other musical acts (Mariah Carey and Garth Brooks were in their prime in this time). GN'R DID get a lot of attention on MTV, but GN'R and MTV fit like hand in glove, more so than many other artists. GN'R was controversial, rude and charismatic, much more so than most other bands, generating a lot of noise and excited fans, more so than what you would think by looking at sales figures. But yeah, GN'R was huge, and probably the biggest band in USA, and some other markets, for parts of 1991, at least when we exclude solo artists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eggers Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Biggest is debatable but they were one of the very top bands. I remember when they came to Melbourne in 93 you heard and saw them everywhere. The city had GNR fever and it was pretty damn fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sonofnazareth Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) Yes and no. They were not dominating the pop singles charts and they were not played every 10 minutes on the radio like Nirvana, Boys 2 Men, Bryan Adams, Michael Jackson etc. November Rain, Don't Cry, KOHD got played occasionally in 1992. Everyone knew about them...its hard to explain..they were the biggest underground band in the world if that makes any sense?? Mainstream enough to sell out stadiums and millions of albums, but not enough to be loved by your parents. They always had this very dangerous/sleazy vibe about them. I think they were the Led Zeppelin of their generation, as Zep didn't get much radio play either...somewhat underground to the masses, but selling out stadiums and millions of albums. Zeppelin had Stairway to Heaven, but the rest of their material was somewhat unknown to the masses...its the same thing with GNR and NR/SCOM. So yes, the Led Zeppelin of the late 80's/early 90's. Edited March 2, 2016 by sonofnazareth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stress Fracture Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 Stars by Simply Red was the best selling album in the UK in 1991. The best selling album of 1992? Why, Stars by Simply Red, of course. It was all change in 1993, though. Meat Loaf's Bat Out of Hell II was king. Come 1994, Bon Jovi's Cross Road compilation sold most. Grunge killed nothing over here, evidently, and Axl would go on to spend many years trying to emulate that Mick Hucknall recipe for success. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Jaro- Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 in my opinion, grunge did not kill GNR's greatness, but they did it themselves... They were big - no wide internet, no live performaces but still one of the most popular things in Croatia in early 90s... If I remember right "Estranged" was video/hit of the year(or top 3)on national TV music show. So as I remember - they were if not greatest, one of them while on their peak (ok after NKOTB ) Were they The Gratest in the world - don't know - Metallica was there, U2 also. GNR had potential to be next Stones, but they imploded as hell - so Stones were and remained the Gratest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stella Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 (edited) IMHO this is something that also depends on age. I was in school during Illusions and for a bit afterward. Guns N' Roses WAS the biggest band in the world I knew. Someone mentioned U2 -- almost nobody I knew in high school or college liked their stuff, with the exception of the song they did for one of the Batman films...but obviously others did like them very much, and *someone* was buying their albums. If you asked this question to different age groups, you would likely get very different answers. Edited March 2, 2016 by stella 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercool Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 3 minutes ago, -Jaro- said: Were they The Gratest in the world - don't know - Metallica was there, U2 also. GNR had potential to be next Stones, but they imploded as hell - so Stones were and remained the Gratest in europe, metallica didn't tour in stadiums in the early 90's. u2, the stones and gnr were the only bands touring in european stadiums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sturginho Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 10 minutes ago, stella said: IMHO this is something that also depends on age. I was in school during Illusions and for a bit afterward. Guns N' Roses WAS the biggest band in the world I knew. Someone mentioned U2 -- almost nobody I knew in high school or college liked their stuff, with the exception of the song they did for one of the Batman films...but obviously others did like them very much, and *someone* was buying their albums. If you asked this question to different age groups, you would likely get very different answers. Hold me, thrill me, kiss me, kill me - Great song it was 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-Jaro- Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 9 minutes ago, supercool said: in europe, metallica didn't tour in stadiums in the early 90's. u2, the stones and gnr were the only bands touring in european stadiums. Metallica played in Euro Stadiums in 1991 and 1993 (Wherever we may roam and Nowhere Else to Roam tours), also they played that Monster rock in Moscow in 1991 (nobody knows how many people) - so, yes - they were on top then. AC/DC also played some stadiums in 1991... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourcrazy Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 11 hours ago, mr. ritz88 said: I have to comment because I was there to see this happen... You have to imagine a time where new music was the most incredible thing to come out week after week. You have to imagine going to the store to buy the CD ect of the band you wanted to hear... I can smell the fucking glue from the CD booklet when I even think about it. Music was King...there were so many fucking good bands out it was unbelivable.. But when guns released those 2 CDs there were lines outside every place that sold those 2 albums in every shape or form for days. There will never be anything like that again. I remember listening to use your illusions with friends and being blown away by what I heard. What a fantastic time for music... I'm hoping this reunion will be 10% of what that was like. It will be more than enough to be on top today. I Totally agree. Your post brought back some memories. I waited outside a record store til midnight to buy the illusions. It was a really special time. I doubt we will ever see that again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercool Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 48 minutes ago, -Jaro- said: Metallica played in Euro Stadiums in 1991 and 1993 (Wherever we may roam and Nowhere Else to Roam tours), also they played that Monster rock in Moscow in 1991 (nobody knows how many people) - so, yes - they were on top then. AC/DC also played some stadiums in 1991... you're right, metallica played stadiums in europe. but gnr was more popular. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsinindy Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 12 hours ago, yourcrazy said: They absolutely were. Metallica was close, Nirvana got really big but only for a short time and never at the fever that GNR had. It is hard to describe. Not many bands or people got this big besides Elvis or the Beatles. U2, Bon jovi, and motley all were very big but not quite to the GNR level with the type of passion and performance. It's still a shame they threw it all away. If they hadn't this subject wouldn't be debatable. This is in line with what I recall as well...I had a discussion with friends on this last night. We are mid-40s dudes. From 91-93 GnR was almost unarguably the biggest band in the world. U2 is the only real argument. The rest of what @yourcrazysaid above is exactly what we discussed as well. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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