Greatest Hits [Original recording remastered]

Guns N' Roses | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 23, 2004)
• Original Release Date: 2003
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Original recording remastered
• Label: Geffen Records
• ASIN: B0000TLA9G
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  MP3 Music
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (393 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,421 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #85 in Music > Hard Rock & Metal > Hard Rock

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

If time is the true test, then Guns N' Roses' Greatest Hits confirms that they really were one of the greatest rock & roll bands in the world. While, in retrospect, fellow graduates of the class of 1987 are about as cool as poodle perms and spandex, the L.A. bad boys still rock like gods. Listening to the sun-drenched chords of "Paradise City" and the ensuing stadium-sized swagger is enough to make wearing leather trousers and bandanas seem like a good idea. Of course, it helped that for them sex, drugs, and rock & roll was a way of life, not a fashion statement. As Axl Rose wails "I wanna watch you bleed" on "Welcome to the Jungle" like a chain-smoking lunatic possessed, it's hard not to believe he meant it. Yet equally, it was his surprisingly poetic nature that made genuinely touching love songs of "Patience" and "Sweet Child of Mine."

Though none of their subsequent albums matched the drug-crazed genius of Appetite for Destruction, they did, as the Greatest Hits reminds, have their moments. From the bloated Use Your Illusion I & II came ultimate rock ballads "Don't Cry" and "November Rain," along with the primal rage that was "You Could Be Mine." And while the covers of the The Spaghetti Incident? were largely forgettable, the fact that their final single was a seedy sneer through the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" seems spectacularly fitting. --Dan Gennoe

Product Description

It may surprise some to realize that Guns N’ Roses released only four full-length original albums, and two of those debuted simultaneously. But they were enough to forever change rock ‘n’ roll. Even more shocking is that one of the great bands in rock history, with its last studio album issued 10 years ago, has never had a "best of" compilation. Now it has. Welcome to the jungle with Greatest Hits (Geffen), released March 23, 2004. With 14 selections housed in a digipak, Greatest Hits features all eight of the band’s Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 tracks (five of them RIAA-certified "gold," i.e., sales of more than 500,000 units). Along with spanning the group’s five album releases, Greatest Hits also marks the debut on a Guns N’ Roses album of the band’s cover of the Rolling Stones’ "Sympathy For The Devil" for the 1995 film Interview With The Vampire.

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

75 of 85 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars LOOK AT THE FREAKIN' TITLE! July 25, 2004

By Paul Everdark

Format:Audio CD

Oh, come on! Look at you all, complaining that your fave GNR song isn't on it!

Look at the title of the CD. It says: 'Guns n' Roses' Greatest Hits', doesn't it? That means it has - guess what? - the greatest hits of Guns n' Roses, not the 'specially crafted Guns n' Roses CD especially for YOU and nobody else'.

Just check any UK Top 40 Singles Chart Archive (try www.everyhit.com and type in Guns n' Roses in the 'Artist' slot) and it will show you how each of their singles rated in the Public Charts.

Compare the list of their hit singles to the Greatest Hits album and you'll see that the line up is virtually identical. Cool, Eh?

Now, where on that list do you see 'Estranged', 'Coma' or 'Mr Brownstone'? Nowhere.

'Nuff said.

141 of 169 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy it if you're a Guns N' Roses fan March 31, 2004

By Daniel Aldana

Format:Audio CD

If you're a Guns N' Roses fan, there's only 2 reasons why you should buy this album...

- You're a G'N'R collector
- You have a friend who likes G'N'R, but doesn't own any of the albums. So this album is a great present indeed.

A true fan already owns at least "Appetite For Destruction", "Use Your Illusion I & II" and perhaps "Lies". "The Spaguetti Incident" was just a plain bad album, but if you liked "Since I Don't Have You", you might as well go to ITunes or Napster and download it.

People on the previous posts complain a lot for this album not including more songs from "Appetite For Destruction" or "Use Your Illusion" but let me remind them... THIS IS A HITS ALBUM!! ...which includes pretty much every single song played on the radio. There's a lot of fan favorites not included here, but that's just because THEY WEREN'T HITS!

Yet this is a great pick for anyone who is just about to get introduced to this band. Guns N' Roses could have been the biggest thing since 'The Beatles', but we all know how that story ends. So don't even bother to wait for 'Chinese Democracy' to come out.

25 of 30 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good album, but I would recommend starting off with AFD March 6, 2005

By Mark Rumin

Format:Audio CD

First of all, this is a very good album, with few weak tracks. But if you are trying to get into Guns N' Roses, I would recommnend first buying Appetite For Destruction, which is almost a "Best Of" album itself. GN'R only released five albums, and the few tracks on Greatest Hits just don't do them justice. Skip this, and go with AFD, and I guarantee you will be hooked on Guns N' Roses enough to buy their other albums.