1998.10.19 - Press Release - Welcome To The Videos

WELCOME TO THE VIDEOS
[press release]
Geffen
October 19, 1998

Guns N' Roses' "Welcome To The Videos" provides one-stop shopping for some of the most popular clips ever broadcast

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 19, 1998 - With "Welcome to the Videos," 13 of Guns N' Roses' videos broadcast on MTV are now available in one collection. The 70-minute compilation, releasing Oct. 27, 1998, boasts some of the most popular and acclaimed clips ever aired, from 1987's landmark "Welcome to the Jungle" through 1992's heart-wrenching "November Rain" to 1993's spectacular "Estranged." These videos have helped push Guns N' Roses to worldwide sales figures of more than 67 million albums.

Six of the visual presentations gracing "Welcome to the Videos" (Geffen Home Video) were created to accompany songs that later became Top 10 hits; four are gold-certified singles. Whether composed of performance footage, behind-the-scenes snippets or narratives touching on birth, marriage, survival and death, Guns N' Roses music videos have been among the most emotionally provocative ever made.

One of only a handful of winners of the prestigious MTV Video Vanguard Award, the band enjoys a much-honored video history, beginning with the 1988 MTV Video Music Award (VMA) for Best New Artist for "Welcome to the Jungle" (a #7 Billboard chart hit). The following year, "Sweet Child O' Mine" (a gold single and the group's only #1 chart entry) won for Best Metal/Hard Rock Video. Both clips, as well as the next two, "Paradise City" (1988, a #5 hit) and "Patience" (1989, #4 and gold), were directed by video pioneer Nigel Dick.

In 1991 Guns N' Roses expanded their repertoire with more ambitious videos directed by multiple VMA winner Andy Morahan. For "Don't Cry" (#10 and gold), the story centered on a rooftop performance (featuring the late Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon). After the band's cover of Paul and Linda McCartney's "Live and Let Die" (1991, a Top 40 hit) was captured live in concert by director Josh Richman, the quintet returned to Morahan for "November Rain" (#3 and gold). Summer of 1992 saw "November Rain" become the #1-most-requested video on MTV's Top 20 Countdown. At the VMAs that year, the lush, dramatic clip won three awards, for Best Cinematography, Best Special Effects and Best Editing. Most important, though, was the Video Vanguard Award, which recognized Guns' entire body of work in the medium.

Morahan went on to direct 1992's "Yesterdays" and "Garden of Eden" (with its bizarre rolling-lyrics visual effect) and 1993's "Estranged." A massive undertaking, "Estranged" was shot all over the world - at a live performance in Munich, Germany, on a supertanker in the Gulf of Mexico, on the Sunset Strip, and off the coast of the Bahamas among dolphins. Also released in 1993 were "The Garden," directed by longtime Guns N' Roses associate Del James - it's notable for being the only GNR video in which the band is not shown performing - and "Dead Horse," directed by the group with Louis Marciano. The most recent GNR video was 1994's devilishly fun, Sante D'Orazio-helmed clip for "Since I Don't Have You," a cover of the Skyliners' 1958 hit.

The band debuted on home video in 1992 with "Use Your Illusion World Tour - 1992 in Tokyo," packaged in two volumes. "Use Your Illusion World Tour - 1992 in Tokyo I" was subsequently certified gold. Three other successful home video releases followed in 1993: "Makin' F@*!ing Videos Part I: 'Don't Cry,'" "Makin' F@*!ing Videos Part II: 'November Rain,'" and "The Making of 'Estranged': Part IV of the Trilogy!!!" Only "Welcome to the Videos," however, displays the full breadth and depth of Guns N' Roses' compelling video vision.

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