What does GnR mean to you?

[Apollo]

I've recently completed an online music project that includes a story about GnR. To wrap up the story I'd like a section where fans share their story about what GnR means to them. It can be what the band means to them, a song that saved their life, an album that helped them get through a horrible time in life, etc. If you would like your story to be shared, please shoot me a PM. You will be fully credited in whatever way you'd like - real name or screen name, etc.

The story mainly focuses on GnR, Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Bon Jovi. So I'm getting stories from fans of each band.

Thank you in advance.

[Shackler89]

Guns N' Roses became part of my daily life in 2008. Believe it or not. My real name is Ben De Jaeghere, 29 from Belgium. Id been into similar music for years. But the hype around Chinese Democracy made me buy a copy the day it came out. And while it's very underrated &not appreciated enough, i loved it by the time i got to "There was a time", i just loved the build up towards the guitar solo and the guitar solo itself. To me that record represented the kind of music i wanted to make (i play guitar and compose). I wanted to make tracks built with 50 guitar tracks and all kinds of Multi-layered details that make the track sound huge, epic but biting and heartfelt. To this day i think it's a masterpiece and someday it will be appreciated for what it truly is. Since then i've been hooked on GnR. I loved the fact that despite all the bitching and legal actions taken against the general progress of the band at the time and the record, they did what they felt was the music they wanted to make. And i respected that so much. I got further into the GnR catalogue and obviously i loved November Rain, Paradise city, Welcome to the jungle,...the classics. But i guess i had the "advantage" of not being biased, when i went to see GnR it was like the old stuff being played by these awesome musicians i respected (i loved the bumblefoot stuff, i loved richard's style of playing,...) with the new songs and a "fuck you if you dont like it attitude", which i guess is the spirit of GnR lol.

Since 2008 i got the GnR tattoo (the CD logo), i bought all the records, learned to play the songs, go see every show in Belgium or Holland. I went to see the band backstage in 2012, i tracked and bought some of the most special memorabilia i could find. Including one of the 50 AFD crosses they made for the reissue box.

GnR, not a day goes by i dont listen to a song in my head or through the record. I listen to November Rain (my all time favorite song) when i go through a painful memory, i listen to welcome to the jungle or Paradise city when i want to get pumped up or having fun with friends, i listen to There was a time when i want to hate my ex :p, or i listen to Coma when daily life gets too much for me, get in the ring when i'm pissed :p,...the list goes on and on.

GnR has got me through some horrible times, and it made the good times even better. Every single happy memory i have, there was actual GnR music playing in the background, cuz i'm a guy who's constantly listening to music. Even at work i wear my iPod as much as i can. But most of all what i got through the music, the biographies, the live shows, the interviews,...is to do whatever you love, how you love doing it and do it with passion and stand behind it.