Whatever happened to Axl Rose’s re-recorded version of Guns N’ Roses’ Appetite for Destruction? The vocalist acknowledged in the late 1990s that he had worked on a new version of the iconic 1987 record with new musicians, but it was never made public. It’s unlikely that it ever will be, since that Slash and Duff McKagan have returned to the band.
Why Axl Rose Re-Recorded Appetite for Destruction
Guns N’ Roses released a double live album titled Live Era ’87 – ’93 in November 1999, featuring recordings from numerous performances over that time period. In a 1999 interview with MTV’s Kurt Loder, Rose stated that the live album was intended to be a farewell to the former lineup’s fans. When asked if the new Guns N’ Roses lineup would play the old material, the singer told them that they would, and that he re-recorded everything of Appetite save for two songs, which they replaced with “You Could Be Mine” and “Patience.”
“Well, we had to rehearse them anyway to be able to perform them live again, and there were a lot of recording techniques and certain subtle styles and drum fills and things like that that are kind of ’80s signatures that subtly could use a little sprucing up… a little less reverb and a little less double bass and things like that,” Rose elaborated.
The Musicians on the Alternate Version of Appetite
Rose revealed that the musicians he re-recorded the record with were Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails), Tommy Stinson (The Replacements), Paul “Huge” Tobias, and Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails). “I’m not sure what I’m going to do with it, or when I’ll put it out. But you know what? It has a lot of vitality. Learning the old Guns songs and recording them really challenged everyone to get them to the quality that they needed to be at,” Rose remarked.
