Use Your Illusion I & II released 25 years ago today (Sep 16 & 17, 1991)

[jarmo]

I remember buying the LPs after getting out of class that Monday afternoon in 1991... A month after my first ever GN'R show.

How about you? What's your release day memory? Or when did you get the albums?



/jarmo

[Voodoochild]

My dad's wife bought the UYI 1 some days after the release. It was my first compact disc laser experience.

I spent at least a couple years before buying it for myself. And I bought the UYI II too.

[gnrrock]

I was too young to buy them (parental advisory), however my cousin worked at a record store. You know those stores that existed before iTunes? Anyway, he allowed me to buy Illusions II on cassette tape which was great. I borrowed Illuisons I from my babysitter. Those albums played a big role in my life. To this day their on my regular rotation. My brother and I debate all the time which album was the best. I'm a II guy and he always chose Illusions I. Good times. Thanks GNR for the music.

[Factory Girl]

Rolling Stone just posted this:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/inside-guns-n-roses-history-making-use-your-illusion-lps-w439521

I got the tapes from my dad and I remember listening over and over again, especially UYI1.

[TheBaconman]

I was in JR high

Bought UYI 1, after the success of the Don't Cry video...

In school we would play this cd all the time in gym class.  Early 90s was great time for music, at least I remember it that way

I never owned UYI 2 for many years....   I bought it in highshool, when the Estranged music video came out.  

[sky dog]

I bought them at Tower Records in Atlanta....stood in line until Midnight....went home and listened to them until I had to go to work at 8am.  

[nick6sic6]

I remember copying both albums in a small local record store(Illegal bootleging,i know...)
I also recall asking if I could fit both cd's in a 90 minute cassette,on each side,to pay for 1 instead of 2 ! 

In 93 then i bought the original cassettes and later the other formats.
And to this day I am amazed with the album's cover paintings where i still sometimes stare to and the variety of music styles.
Also,the best Slash's solos in his career.

[sandman]

I was a junior in high school. My dad picked it up for me on his way home from work at Sam Goody at the Roosevelt Mall in NE Philly. The thing I remember most was that the demand was so high, you had to put your name on a list during the weeks leading up to the release date to reserve a copy. My dad did that one night so he had to pick it up since it was his name on the list. Not sure if they had extra copies and the list was just to play it safe, but either way, the demand was high. A couple friends picked them up late afternoon and called me to tell me about some of the songs. it was killing me waiting until 6:30 or so to listen to it. we cranked the album and I listened to it while eating dinner with my family. good fuckin times.  

[Walapino]

They didnt release de record in Peru when it came out, so a friend ordered it from the US and then copied UYI 2 on tape for me, then a couple of months later an aunt bought the cds for me and listened to them non stop after school!! 

[Six Strings]

My brother (10 years older) bought UYI 2 shortly after the release. I bought myself the UYI1 about an year later. Perhaps the hugest impact of music in my life ever since. Still listening to at least a song or two from these albums on daily basis. Funny thing is that my brother never got into these albums or even into a similar kind of music. He sticks to some folklore crap to this day.

[MJ23]

I bought UYI I & II the day they were released. Skipped school and went to the record store and picked them up on cassette.
When the tape got worn out I bought the cd versions. Needless to say that it happened pretty fast

[dmathski]

I remember going down to the mall and buying the both CDs. Back then CDs, at least here in the US, were sold in this big card board holder. I believe it was Pearl Jam that changed that by campaigning that it was a waste of paper and they got rid of it. Anyway by buying both CDs they gave with it a Guns N Roses patch. Still have it to this day.

[ice cream sand pig]

I was really young so i dont remember, but my sister was born near the release and when they were playing ycbm for the first time on the radio my dad had to turn it off and run into the hospital because she was being born right then. I remember seeing the lald video as a youngster. I apparently really liked guns as a small kid and my dad used to trip people out by getting me to sing my michelle.  He also taught me the definition of cameltoe and used to ask me to say the definition in front of people. I still remember it... the dimension between the exterior lips of the vulva... something like that.
 

[westcoast_junkie]

The sound of growing up. Good times, bad times, bright times, sad times. Remember waiting for the afternoon music show on TV every day, hoping for a Guns video. That was around 94-95, when I was 10. My first UY was a cassete. Here's for 25, and for all future, for these records will last forever. 

[Bridge]

http://radio.com/2016/09/16/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-izzy-stradlin/

This was on yahoo.  It focuses mostly on Izzy's contributions.

[TheBaconman]

http://radio.com/2016/09/16/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-izzy-stradlin/

This was on yahoo.  It focuses mostly on Izzy's contributions.

That was a real cool read   Except I really like the song pretty tied up. 

Izzy brought the rough factor that made a lot of these songs great

I am pretty sick of hearing interviews where band members say "izzy this and izzy that".  You know izzy.  Izzy does what izzy does.   Hahaha.  Like any of the fan base has a clue

He is pretty much the Brian Wilson of guns n roses

[Bridge]

That was a real cool read   Except I really like the song pretty tied up. 

Yeah, I don't know what the hell their problem was with that song.   

[tim_m]

I believe i bought them separate. I think i bought UYI II first then went back and bought UYI I a day later.

[Johnnyblood]

It was my second year in college. Milwaukee. Got em at midnight. Had classes the next morning but went back to my apartment, it was about 12:45, and listened to both albums front to back, over two and a half hours. Early standouts were Estranged, Locomotive, Yesterdays, The Garden. People talk about CD, but even UYI was a long wait. So I was really hungry to hear the songs and didn't listen to anything else for about a month.

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

Always a great topic.  Obviously a monumental moment for all of us old enough to live it. 

Last year, similar thread with fun stories...

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=66440.0

[TheBaconman]

Always a great topic.  Obviously a monumental moment for all of us old enough to live it. 

Last year, similar thread with fun stories...

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=66440.0

Lol ok gues the same stories about the same albums get tired year after year. 

I can't wait to talk about the next guns music 20 years from its release!

[chilly]

I booked the day off work, waited for the store to open (woolworths for the Uk peeps) and then waited while they opened the boxes for me. Bought both vinyls and then went home and listened to both over and over devouring the lyrics. Had just watched them in Wembley, great day.

[Nikki_Sixx]

Most important album(s) in my life.  Best GNR release and probably one of the best releases ever, on every level.

I got into GNR in June '91 through the YCBM video, and UYI II was the first cd I ever owned myself.  I got it for my birthday in October '91.  UYI I followed soon.

I spent hours upon hours in the early '90's glued to my tv screen, in hope of catching anything GNR related on MTV.

[sky dog]

http://radio.com/2016/09/16/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-izzy-stradlin/

This was on yahoo.  It focuses mostly on Izzy's contributions.

That was a real cool read   Except I really like the song pretty tied up. 

Izzy brought the rough factor that made a lot of these songs great

I am pretty sick of hearing interviews where band members say "izzy this and izzy that".  You know izzy.  Izzy does what izzy does.   Hahaha.  Like any of the fan base has a clue

He is pretty much the Brian Wilson of guns n roses

What exactly do you drink that makes you hallucinate? Brian Wilson? Too funny.....I could buy Keith Richards but even that is a stretch. 

[Nikki_Sixx]

http://radio.com/2016/09/16/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-izzy-stradlin/

This was on yahoo.  It focuses mostly on Izzy's contributions.

What's up with the hate for 'Pretty Tied Up'  ??

That's a classic GNR song.  Underplayed on the UYI tour.  Loved it as an opener (Landover '91 f.e.) or coming out of the Godfather Theme.

There are no weak moments on the UYI's !  Even 'My World' is great ... as a joke that is !

[russkwtx]

My story is a bit unusual. I was too involved in real life to really notice or care about UYI back in 1991. I moved to Dallas in June 1991 for my first real job and totally missed the July 2nd incident in St. Louis and did not go to the July 9th show in Dallas, which was the first after St. Louis. I vaguely remember it being advertised but I was just too busy and had other priorities. One of those priorities was tracking the implosion of the USSR. This year is also the 25th anniversary of that event too. After the Soviet Union fell, all sorts of things happened in the economy. One of the most interesting was the emergence of underground (illegal) markets where you could buy bootlegged CDs, DVDs, computer software, you name it. These outdoor markets were enormous, literally hundreds of sellers. The prices were incredibly cheap. So my purchase of UYI was at one of these markets where I picked up both discs for about $2 each. Quality was excellent and it came with artwork. Of course, by the end of the 1990s these markets were closed down as Russia was negotiating to join the WTO and for some reason the West was upset about the violation of intellectual property rights (lol). But as late as 2000-2001 you could still find bootleg CDs that were sold in stalls in the tunnels of the metro and by individuals on the street, and I bought a bunch of those compilation discs. After that, all bootlegged material disappeared as Putin cracked down.

[PermissionToLand]

It's honestly getting ridiculous the things I hear about Izzy lately. "He wrote ALL their songs!"

Frankly, nothing in his post-GNR catalog has interested me much at all. It all sounds like the most boring stuff he contributed to Illusions; You Ain't the First, 14 Years and Dust N Bones. All very basic, by the numbers bluesy southern rock.

Now don't get me wrong, he also wrote some excellent Guns tracks; Double Talkin Jive, YCBM, Perfect Crime. But he was in no way the MAIN songwriter. Not even half of the songs on Illusions gave him a credit. The reality is that Rose, Slash, and Izzy were about three equal parts of the bulk songwriting team.

And frankly, I'll take Pawnshop Guitars over the JuJu Hounds any day. I wish we could have heard Gilby's contributions to GNR. Closest we'll get is Snakepit, and as a matter of fact, Monkey Chow was a great song, reminiscent of Perfect Crime. Dime Store Rock was an excellent tune as well.