Use Your Illusion II

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Use Your Illusion II

Studio album by Guns N' Roses
Released	September 16 & 17, 1991
Recorded	A&M Studios, Record Plant Studios, Studio 56, Image Recording, Conway Studios & Metalworks Recording Studios 1990-1991
Genre	Hard Rock
Length	75:22
Label	Geffen Records
Producer(s)	Mike Clink and Guns N' Roses
All Music Guide link Q September 1991 Rolling Stone link
Guns N' Roses chronology
Use Your Illusion I (1991)	Use Your Illusion II (1991)	The Spaghetti Incident? (1993)

Use Your Illusion II is an album by Guns N' Roses. It was the second of two albums released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour. Use Your Illusion II was the slightly more popular of the two albums, debuting at #1 on the U.S. charts (although both went on to reach 7x platinum sales). [1]

1 History
2 Track listing
3 Credits
4 Miscellaneous
5 References

[edit] History

The Use Your Illusion albums were a stylistic turning point for Guns N' Roses (see Use Your Illusion I for discussion). In addition, Use Your Illusion II is more political than most of their previous work, with songs like "Civil War", a cover of Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", and "Get in the Ring" dealing respectively with the topics of violence, law enforcement, and media bias. The thematic material deals less with drug use than previous Guns N' Roses albums.

The first single, "You Could Be Mine", was released in July 1991 and is featured in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day, however the song was not released on the actual T2 soundtrack. The band also filmed a video featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in character as the Terminator, and a loose plot featuring Axl Rose himself as its "target." The original subject matter of the song dealt with Izzy Stradlin's failed relationship with his ex-girlfriend Angela Nicoletti.

The Use Your Illusion albums can be taken as a single cohesive work, and certain elements of Use Your Illusion II underscore this intent. For instance, both albums have a version of the song "Don't Cry". Both albums also have one cover song; "Live and Let Die" by Paul McCartney (Use Your Illusion I) and "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" by Bob Dylan (Use Your Illusion II). Each of them also has at least one track sung by other members of the band: lead vocals on "So Fine" are performed by bassist Duff McKagan, lead vocals on "14 Years" are performed by Izzy Stradlin (Izzy sings "Dust N' Bones" and "You Ain't the First" on Use Your Illusion I).

"My World," the final track, was a surprise to a few members of the band. The track was essentially Axl Rose solo, and most of the members did not even know it existed until the album was released.

In addition, certain lyrics give meaning to the name of the band and the title of the albums:

From "Breakdown":

Funny how everything was roses when we held on to the guns.

From "Locomotive":

I bought me an illusion and I put it on the wall...
You can use your illusion; Let it take you where it may...
I've worked too hard for my illusions just to throw them all away...

Finally, the song "Get in the Ring" finds the band lashing out at a career's worth of critics and enemies. Among those referred to by name specifically are editors of several entertainment magazines.

[edit] Track listing

Raphael, The School of Athens (detail)

"Civil War" (Slash, Duff McKagan, Axl Rose) – 7:36
"14 Years" (Izzy Stradlin', Rose) – 4:17
"Yesterdays" (West Arkeen, Brian James, Billy McCloud, Rose) – 3:13
"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (Bob Dylan) – 5:36
"Get in the Ring" (Slash, McKagan, Rose) – 5:29
"Shotgun Blues" (Rose) – 3:23
"Breakdown" (Rose) – 6:58
"Pretty Tied Up (The Perils Of Rock N' Roll Decadence)" (Stradlin') – 4:46
"Locomotive" (Slash, Rose) – 8:42
"So Fine" (McKagan) – 4:04
"Estranged" (Rose) – 9:23
"You Could Be Mine" (Stradlin', Rose) – 5:48
"Don't Cry (Alternate Lyrics)" (Stradlin', Rose) – 4:40
"My World" (Rose) – 1:23

[edit] Credits

Axl Rose: vocals, piano, keyboards and drum machine on "My World", rhythm guitar on "Shotgun Blues"
Slash: guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo on "Breakdown"
Izzy Stradlin: guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "14 Years", sitar on "Pretty Tied Up"
Duff McKagan: bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "So Fine", percussion on "Locomotive"
Steven Adler: drums on "Civil War"
Matt Sorum: drums, percussion, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed: piano, organ, backing vocals

Also featuring:

Howard Teman: piano on "So Fine"
Shannon Hoon: vocals on "Don't Cry"
Johann Langlie: sound effects on "My World"
The Waters: backing vocals on "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"^[1]

[edit] Miscellaneous

One of the lines from the song, "You Could Be Mine", "With your bitch slap-rappin' and your cocaine tongue/You get nuthin' done" also appears in the liner notes from Appetite for Destruction.

The title of the album was the focus of a joke on an episode of the sitcom Arrested Development that aired well over a decade after the CD's release. When magician Tony Wonder (played by Ben Stiller) had to come up with a name for his home video, he decided to name it Use Your Illusion II, citing that Use Your Illusion I had already been taken, apparently unaware of the fact that Use Your Illusion II is also the name of an album. In the end, he used the title Use Your Allusion.

[edit] References

^ Use Your Illusion II. GnRsource. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.

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