2018.05.04 - Ultimate Classic Rock - Guns N’ Roses Release ‘Shadow of Your Love’ Single (& related articles)

Guns N’ Roses Release ‘Shadow of Your Love’ Single

Guns N' Roses are spotlighting "Shadow of Your Love" to promote the new expanded and "Locked N' Loaded" editions of their groundbreaking album Appetite for Destruction. A snippet of this outtake from the original sessions provides a tease for the reissues on their new GNR.FM website, after twice surfacing as a B-side.

"Shadow of Your Love" actually pre-dates Guns N' Roses. Written by Axl Rose and his childhood friend Paul Tobias, the song stemmed from Rose's days in the band Hollywood Rose; they even made a video for it. [...]

Although the song didn't make the cut for Appetite, it first surfaced on the 12" version of "It's So Easy," the lead single from the album. Guns n' Roses also considered it for G N' R Lies, but gave it even greater exposure as the B-side for their hit cover of Wings' "Live and Let Die."

Arriving June 29, the deluxe edition of Appetite for Destruction consists of 73 songs, 49 of which have never been released, on four compact discs. The "Locked N' Loaded" super-deluxe edition adds all the music on vinyl and digital formats, a hard-bound book with rare photographs, artwork, a handmade 3D cross and more. It comes in an embossed faux-leather and wood cabinet.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-shadow-of-your-love-single/

Billboard/Blabbermouth, May 11, 2018:
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Guns N' Roses Makes First 'Mainstream Rock Songs' Chart Appearance In Nearly A Decade

Guns N' Roses' "Shadow Of Your Love" has landed at position No. 31 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock Songs chart after being released earlier in the month to promote the upcoming reissue of the band's debut studio album, 1987's "Appetite For Destruction". The song, written by singer Axl Rose and friend Paul Tobias, was originally recorded by Axl's pre-Guns N' Roses band Hollywood Rose. It then ended up being the first track GN'R ever rehearsed together for "Appetite" producer Mike Clink during studio sessions circa 1986. [...]

The newly released version of "Shadow Of Your Love" earned 1.1 million audience impressions in three days of airplay across all rock radio formats in the U.S. in the week ending May 7, according to Nielsen Music. "Shadow" is GN'R's first track to crack Mainstream Rock Songs in nearly a decade and its 22nd entry overall.

The "Locked N' Loaded" deluxe boxed set of "Appetite For Destruction" will arrive on June 29 and include 73 songs — including 49 tracks that never before been released — spread out across four CDs and seven 12-inch 180-gram vinyl LPs. A super deluxe version will also include a 96-page book with unreleased photos from Axl's personal archive, new lithographs and a plethora of memorabilia.

Guns N' Roses will return to the road in June for a seven-week European jaunt, continuing the semi-reunion tour that started in April 2016 and features Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan.

Adler and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who both played on "Appetite", have not been part of the reunion trek, although Adler did play drums on two songs at a handful of stops on the tour.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-makes-first-mainstream-rock-songs-chart-appearance-in-nearly-a-decade

Billboard/Blabbermouth, May 18, 2018:
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Guns N' Roses' 'Greatest Hits' Back On Billboard 200 Chart

According to Billboard, Guns N' Roses' "Greatest Hits" collection, which was originally released in March of 2004, has returned to the Billboard 200 albums chart (dated May 19) at No. 113 with a big 105 percent gain in equivalent album units earned. The set moved 6,000 units in the week ending May 10.

The Billboard 200 chart ranks the week's most popular albums based on their overall consumption. That overall unit figure combines pure album sales, track equivalent albums (TEA) and streaming equivalent albums (SEA).

As of January 2018, "Greatest Hits" had surpassed 6 million in total U.S. sales.

Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan tried to block the release of "Greatest Hits" with a lawsuit, claiming that the record label had assembled the CD without their input. The band's label, Geffen Records, insisted that it was forced to put out a greatest-hits album since Axl Rose had failed to deliver the long-delayed new Guns album, "Chinese Democracy".

"Greatest Hits" debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 chart dated April 10, 2004 and has spent more than four hundred weeks on the list.

https://blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-greatest-hits-back-on-billboard-200-chart

Steven and his brother Jamie Adler claimed that the 2018 version of Shadow of Your Love was partially re-recorded. Facebook, May 15, 2018:

A few days earlier (May 5), Slash's girlfriend Meegan Hodges responded on Instagram: