Here Today... Gone To Hell!

LOS ANGELES, CA –July 31, 2020 – On September 25, 2020, Guns N’ Roses’ 2004, multi-platinum best of compilation Greatest Hits (Geffen/UMe) will be released on vinyl for the first time. Previously only available digitally and on CD, Greatest Hits will be pressed as a 2LP set on 180gram audiophile black vinyl and an exclusive 2LP set on gold colored vinyl with red and white splatter. The vinyl edition of Greatest Hits will also feature the band’s single “Shadow of Your Love,” which hit No. 5 on the Mainstream Rock chart. Originally recorded in December 1986, “Shadow of Your Love” made its debut on the 2018 box set Appetite For Destruction.

In 2004, Greatest Hits reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and in 2007 hit No. 1 on the Catalog Albums chart. Featuring all eight of the band’s Top 40 Billboard Hot 100 tracks (six of them RIAA-certified “gold,” i.e., sales of more than 500,000 units), Greatest Hits spans the group’s five album releases, including their cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy For The Devil” for the 1995 film Interview With The Vampire.

The first full-length album from Guns N’ Roses, 1987’s Appetite For Destruction, is one of the most popular hard rock albums in history and has been on the Billboard Top 200 albums or Top Pop Catalog chart for a total of 746 weeks. Certified 18 times platinum in the U.S., Appetite For Destruction charted No. 1 for five weeks and includes three Top 10s: the anthem “Welcome To The Jungle” (No. 7), the frenzied rocker “Paradise City” (No. 5) plus their platinum selling No. 1 single “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” The video for “Sweet Child O’ Mine” recently hit over 1 billion views on YouTube.

1988’s G N’R Lies, comprised of songs from the group’s independently-released 1986 EP Live?!*@Like A Suicide plus new studio recordings, followed Appetite For Destruction up the charts, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. The Grammy®-nominated album (for Best Hard Rock Performance) was five times platinum (each platinum level connotes sales of more than one million units) and claimed the gold No. 4-charting ballad “Patience.”

Then, on September 17, 1991, with one of the most anticipated releases ever in music, both Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted. Use Your Illusion I featured two gold singles with “November Rain” (No. 3) and “Don’t Cry” (No. 10) plus another Top 40 with “Live And Let Die” (No. 33). Use Your Illusion II boasted another gold hit with the previously-released single “You Could Be Mine” (No. 29), heard in the film Terminator II: Judgement Day. Each of the Use Your Illusion albums went seven times platinum with Use Your Illusion I going to No. 2 and Use Your Illusion II hitting No. 1. Use Your Illusion I was Grammy® nominated for Best Hard Rock Performance as was the Wings cover “Live And Let Die.” Greatest Hits also culls from II “Yesterdays,” “Civil War” and GN’R’s take on Bob Dylan’s “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door.” Both Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II have sold over seven million copies to date.

A collection of Guns N’ Roses covers of classic, mainly punk, songs that had influenced the bandmembers since their early days, 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident? hit No. 4 and is certified platinum. Included on Greatest Hits are its renditions of The Dead Boys’ 1978 track “Ain’t It Fun” and an unlikely cover of The Skyliners’ ‘50s doo-wop gem “Since I Don’t Have You.”

Tracks

LP1 – Side G
1 Welcome To The Jungle
2 Sweet Child O’ Mine
3 Shadow Of Your Love
4 Patience

LP1 – Side N
1 Paradise City
2 Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
3 Civil War

LP2 – Side F’N
1 You Could Be Mine
2 Don’t Cry (Original Version)
3 November Rain
4 Live And Let Die

LP2 – Side R
1 Yesterdays
2 Ain’t It Fun
3 Since I Don’t Have You
4 Sympathy For The Devil

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/jarmo

So is the splatter vinyl exclusive only to the EU or something? It's not in the US store.

So there are 4 releases that I am aware of:

The standard black

Picture discs (both of these still available at the gnr online store)

A gray, white, and red splatter vinyl from Walmart; can find it on their online store

A gold, white, and red platter vinyl available in the UK; here is one site that had it (sold out now): https://www.recordstore.co.uk/recordstore/recordstore/Greatest-Hits-Gold-White-Red-Splatter-Vinyl/6MT90000000

Didnt see this coming.

Dumb question of the day....... What exactly is a picture disk?  

Instead of a black vinyl disc, it's got a picture on it instead.





/jarmo

https://gnrmerch.com/collections/greatest-hits/products/greatest-hits-picture-disc?variant=31845067161698

One disc has the bullet logo on it, the other has a live pic of band members, presumably Axl, Slash, and Duff, maybe just Axl and Slash, maybe just Slash, hard to see

Rhetorical question: Wonder if this release is with or without the band's consent this time around??  :-X

The answer is: Yes. Definitely one of them.  :P  :hihi:




/jarmo

So we are getting something no one asked for.  : ok:

dejuv?  Just waiting for somebody to leak the album and force the label to stop stringing GNR along?

Does the greatest hits release count towards an album?  Meaning GnR has fulfilled their contract obligations, or does it need to be a new album release?

Im pretty sure when it was released in 2004 it counted for the label. This 2020 release is just a "new" format from that same 2004 album.

Yeah. I could be wrong but live albums and compilations are often part of the deal. It's specified in the contract that the record company has the right to release one.





/jarmo

I think it all depends on your record deal but live albums and compilations are extras and don't fulfill your actual contract.  For example, if you have a 5 album deal, the label wants 5 albums of original material.  Double albums usually only count as 1 towards a deal.  Green Day released 3 separate albums on the same day a few years back and I remember them talking about how it only counted as 1 album towards their record deal.

Yes. That's what I meant. :)

It seems to be that compilation albums are on top of the albums of original material.

Also, might explain why some artists have multiple "best of" albums out. Their record companies are probably free to release them since it says so in the contract....





/jarmo

The vinyl release entered the UK vinyl chart at #3.



/jarmo

Optimistically hoping that this release is a way of shoring up funds for the new album 🤞

Also re-entered the UK physical albums chart at #9. I'm guessing that must be mostly due to the sales of the vinyl.





/jarmo

It definitely depends on your record deal.  It was revealed in the 2pac movie "All Eyez on Me" that the double album (of the same title) counted as 2 albums towards 2pac's contract of 3 with Death Row.

On another note, the RIAA counts both discs when certifying albums as Gold and Platinum.  For instance, Guns N Roses' live album "Live Era" was certified Gold (500,000 copies) in the U.S. after selling 250,000 copies of the dual album.

2021 is almost over and Greatest Hits is on the following Billboard Year End Charts:


Hard Rock Albums
#4 Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/hard-rock-albums/   


Top Rock Albums
#19 Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-rock-albums/


Top Album Sales
#61 Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-album-title-sales/



Catalog Albums
#28 Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/catalog-albums/


Billboard 200 Albums
#115  Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits
https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/2021/top-billboard-200-albums/





/jarmo

Nice…and that’s without the old school fan base.  ;D

The 10 longest-charting albums of all time:

1.    The Dark Side of the Moon – Pink Floyd
2.    Legend – Bob Marley and the Wailers
3.    Journey’s Greatest Hits – Journey
4.    Metallica – Metallica
5.    Chronicle: The 20 Greatest Hits – Creedence Clearwater Revival
6.    Curtain Call: The Hits – Eminem
7.    Nevermind – Nirvana
8.    Greatest Hits – Guns N’ Roses
9.    Doo-Wops & Hooligans – Bruno Mars
10.    21 – Adele

https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-10-longest-charting-albums-of-all-time/






/jarmo