Mr. Brownstone

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Mr. Brownstone"

Cover for Appetite for Destruction
Song by Guns N' Roses
from the album Appetite for Destruction
Released	July 21, 1987
Recorded	Rumbo Studios, Canoga Park, California; Take One Studio, Burbank, California; Can Am Studio, Tarzana, California
Genre	Hard Rock
Length	3:48
Label	Geffen Records
Writer(s)	Slash Izzy Stradlin Steven Adler
Producer(s)	Mike Clink
Appetite for Destruction track listing
"Out Ta Get Me" (4)	"Mr. Brownstone" (5)	"Paradise City" (6)

"Mr. Brownstone" is a song performed by Guns N' Roses from the 1980s. It appears on their 1987 album Appetite for Destruction. The song's lyrics were written by Izzy Stradlin, while the music was composed by Izzy and Slash. The song is all about the effects of heroin, for which brownstone is a slang term; this is clearly reflected in the lyrics:

We've been dancin' with Mr. Brownstone

He's been knockin', he won't leave me alone

"Dancin' with Mr. Brownstone" would obviously imply heroin use, with the latter phrase "He won't leave me alone" likely referring to increased use or dependence. This is even more clearly supported by another passage from the chorus:

I used to do a little but the little wouldn't do, so the little got more and more.

Mr. Brownstone was the first ever Guns N' Roses single in the UK, appearing as a double A-Side, alongside It's So Easy. To the dismay of many, neither were included on the Greatest Hits compilation of 2004.

No one in the band has commented on the fact that there was a senior executive at Geffen Records named Alfred Brownstone.

It has also been rumored that while in high school, band members Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin used to buy heroin from residents of the Brownstone Apartments, located in West Lafayette, Indiana on the campus of Purdue University. Both Rose and Stradlin grew up a few miles away in Lafayette, Indiana.^{[citation needed]}

v • d • e Guns N' Roses

Axl Rose • Dizzy Reed • Robin Finck • Tommy Stinson • Chris Pitman • Bryan Mantia • Richard Fortus • Bumblefoot • Frank Ferrer

Ole Beich • Rob Gardner • Tracii Guns • Steven Adler • Izzy Stradlin • Gilby Clarke • Slash • Matt Sorum • Duff McKagan • Josh Freese • Paul Tobias • Buckethead