Greatest Hits (Guns N' Roses album)

Greatest Hits
Greatest hits by Guns N' Roses
Released	March 23, 2004
Recorded	1986–1994
Genre	Hard rock, heavy metal
Length	79:18
Label	Geffen
Producer	Guns N' Roses, Mike Clink, Bill Levenson
Professional reviews
Allmusic link Pitchfork Media (3.9/10) link Stylus (D+) Mar 17, 2004 NME link
Guns N' Roses chronology
Live Era: '87-'93 (1999) Greatest Hits (2004) Chinese Democracy (2008)

Greatest Hits is a compilation album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on March 23, 2004. The album reached number one on the UK Albums Chart^[1] and number three on the Billboard 200 chart.^[2] Despite some criticisms towards the track listing by fans, and by Axl Rose and ex-Guns N' Roses members, who filed a joint lawsuit to try to prevent the release of the album,^[3] the album has proven a popular seller, selling 4.5 million copies in the United States to date. Greatest Hits became Guns N' Roses' second-longest charting album in their homeland (after Appetite for Destruction), finally dropping out of the chart in November 2006 following a 138-week stay but re-entered at 132 on the billboard 200 chart on dec 4 of 2009.^[4] Universal Records' response to Rose's opposition to the record was that he had been given adequate time to supply them with a record but had failed to do so, and so they had produced their own Guns N' Roses record instead.

Contents 1 Track listing 1.1 Notes 1.2 Reception and Lawsuit 2 Personnel

Track listing

Credits listed below are from the original US sleeve of the album, though they don't coincide with credits from other GN'R albums.

#	Title	Writer(s)	Original album	Length
1.	"Welcome to the Jungle"	Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Slash, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler	Appetite for Destruction	4:32
2.	"Sweet Child o' Mine"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan, Adler	Appetite for Destruction	5:55
3.	"Patience"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan, Adler	G N' R Lies	5:56
4.	"Paradise City"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan, Adler	Appetite for Destruction	6:47
5.	"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan cover)	Bob Dylan	Use Your Illusion II	5:36
6.	"Civil War"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan	Use Your Illusion II	7:42
7.	"You Could Be Mine"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan	Use Your Illusion II	5:44
8.	"Don't Cry" (original version)	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan	Use Your Illusion I	4:51
9.	"November Rain"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan	Use Your Illusion I	8:57
10.	"Live and Let Die" (Wings cover)	Paul McCartney, Linda McCartney	Use Your Illusion I	3:02
11.	"Yesterdays"	Rose, Stradlin, Slash, McKagan, West Arkeen, Del James, Billy McCloud	Use Your Illusion II	3:18
12.	"Ain't It Fun" (The Dead Boys cover)	Cheetah Chrome, Peter Laughner	"The Spaghetti Incident?"	5:10
13.	"Since I Don't Have You" (The Skyliners cover)	Joseph Rock, James Beaumont and The Skyliners	"The Spaghetti Incident?"	4:18
14.	"Sympathy for the Devil" (The Rolling Stones cover)	Mick Jagger, Keith Richards	Interview with the Vampire	7:36

Notes

• "Ain't It Fun" was censored for the compilation: "Ain't it fun when you tell her she's just a cunt" became "Ain't it fun when you tell her she's just a–", with guitar notes at 3:36 instead of the final word in the line. This version had never been officially released before, but had been broadcast by most radio stations when it was released as a single in 1993. Nonetheless, other profanity on the compilation remains unedited (the word "bitch" remains on "You Could Be Mine", and "fuck" remains on "Since I Don't Have You"; notably, the latter song's original version did not have said profanity).

Reception and Lawsuit

Although the album received mainly positive reviews and sold well, fans criticized the track listing citing lack of some popular songs and too many covers, as reason for complaint. Axl Rose immediately tried to block the release by suing Geffen, saying it would ruin his focus on Chinese Democracy and if he were to get the album finished and released sooner, The Greatest Hits album would be selling more, leaving the album unnoticed. Former bandmates Slash and Duff McKagan helped Rose file the lawsuit against Geffen, although they did not speak to each other in person. This failed and the album was released under Geffen Record's rights.

Personnel

• W. Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano, keyboards
• Slash – lead guitar
• Izzy Stradlin – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (on tracks 1–11)
• Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals
• Steven Adler – drums, percussion (on tracks 1–4, 6)
• Matt Sorum – drums, percussion, backing vocals (on tracks 5, 7–14)
• Dizzy Reed – piano, keyboards (on tracks 5–14)
• Gilby Clarke – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (on track 13)
• Paul Tobias – rhythm guitar, backing vocals (on track 14)