The Top Ten Songs by Guns 'N Roses

The late 1980s and early 1990s were dominated by one band, Guns ‘R Roses, with Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II creating a new standard and new marketing technique for releasing double-album sets.

With the seemingly endless controversies the band created, feuding with tour partners, punching fans and causing riots, the short life of the band was to be expected, but the quality and volume of music they produced while together was simply amazing and offers dark insight into the black heart of rock and roll.

“Estranged” is the single best insight the band offers into how fame and fortune and mental illness can affect the mind and is by far the best song the band released. It is a dark and driven song, with hard-rocking guitars and honest gut-wrenching lyrics. Like many of their songs, it speaks to the dichotomy of relationships and the pain that is part of the human condition.
And, in addition to the depth of emotion in the lyrics, the song is full of change-ups and musical variety, highlighted by Axl Rose’s powerful voice.

Even Guns ’N Roses’ most loved songs are not happy-go-lucky love songs. “November Rain”, arguably the most powerful ballad the band released, and the second best of their songs is filled with the pain of heartbreak. Strangely, when it was first released and even now, people tend to think of it as a long song, despite that it ends with the lovers parting.

“Civil War” very nearly made it to the top of the list based on the ending monologue alone, asking “What’s so civil about war anyway?” This is not your parents’ protest song, but it could have been if your parents’ were cooler. The sarcasm and social commentary of the lyrics is unmatched in most modern music.