Use Your Illusion I & II - released 24 years ago

[jarmo]

Today marks the 24th anniversary of the (European) release of these albums.

It was a Monday, in 1991, and the albums were released on LP, cassette and that kinda new format CD!

So why not have a little flashback? What's your story regarding these albums? When did you get them? What formats? Were you a fan already or was it the first GN'R release you bought? Did you get both at once or one or the other? Favorite songs? First impressions?

Feel free to share your stories! 



My story is that I'd seen the band live for the first time a month earlier, so some of the songs I had already heard. I also had heard Civil War in the summer of 1990 when it was released on the Nobody's Child compilation. You Could Be Mine was already out when the album was released and you saw it pretty much every day on MTV (Europe).

I remember walking down to the record store after school to pick up the vinyls. Listened straight through all of them, which took a few hours. Some of the songs I recognized as something they played in Stockholm a month earlier, and other songs were completely new.

A few years later I actually got these albums on CD.



/jarmo

[Ericnor]

24 years... A whole generation gone by... Doesnt feel that long ago. I remember getting them on Friday a few days before the official release. Got them on cassette and cd in the morning from the local record store. Actually skipped first class that day to be sure to get them  After hearing the rio bootleg a few months earlier, and the early demos of nov rain and dont cry, quite a few of the songs were familiar. Still, awesome to hear the studio versions! I remember loving nov rain, dont cry alt lyr, estranged, and actually perfect crime and breakdown stood out. That whole afternoon and evening was quite surreal. Almost like an overkill, with that many songs to digest. Still, x-mas and b-day at once. The fact that gnr had dropped Oslo the previous month and ruined my first gnr concert experience was now forgiven 

-Eirik

[HBK]

Beatiful I Remember, Me Cassettes

 

[jak0lantern01]

I was a senior in high school, had to cut school that day.   

[Ow-So7411501]

I remember it taking a few listens for it to grow on me. I was 17 at the time and was a HUGE fan of AFD. The albums were a departure from Appetite but ultimately has some of their greatest tracks. Standouts for me are Estranged, 14 years, Dust and bones, Double Talkin Jive and Don't cry.

[jbuch]

I was in college and remember being at the record store at midnight.  My roommate bought both these albums and I bought Ozzy's No More Tears album which came out the same night.

[C0ma]

So for me it was 24 years tomorrow. It had been released at midnight and a friends older brother (I was in Junior High) bought it on cassette at midnight. By homeroom the next day (after staying up all night) he had dubbed a copy on to a set of TDK Blank Tapes. We listened every opportunity we could during that day trying to get to the songs we hadn't heard yet from bootlegs, Farm Aid and MTV. The year or so prior we heard some new music in dribs and drabs because we had a place down the road called 'The Dead Shed' that started years prior selling Grateful Dead concert recordings then branched out from there. As soon as the day ended I head right for the local 'Strawberries Records' and bought it (them) on CD and Cassette. I still own both but neither format is playable.

[fozzie10]

I saw them in my local woolworths way back then,i was a year married with kids on the way but what the hell i bought the pair of them anyways on cd's went home and played them,and frankly was a little underwhelmed by them if im honest sure some fantastic songs stretched across both albums but not enough to call it a classic album if im honest AFD was a classic one of the best rock albums ever made,these 2 were merly good album,i often wonder if it was more to do with the record company than the band to release them the way they did,it reeked of a cash grab in '91 and still does if im honest.

Dont get me wrong i love the albums but back then as i still do count Lies as a better album the UYI duo with AFD out on its own of course,for my money  would have much preferred to have seen it as one killer and classic album with the other one with what was left over released during the following couple of yearsgiven that insane tour they went on it would haave sated fans desire for new music.

Still 24 years is a frighteningly long time and of course its hard to think as those albums came out music was about to change with Nirvana in particular leading a vanguard of new music (and while a bit shamboic a hell of a live band too),its all gone too fast if im honest.

[LIGuns]

Remember it like "Yesterday(s)"...Already had studio versions o' Civil War, You Could Be Mine, Don't Cry (the single had both versions and a demo), saw them live in June and had a few live UYI shows on VHS bootleg..The local record store, Record Stop, were getting the deliveries on Friday..I left school, freshman at community college, and waited on line for my pre-ordered copies..The owner loaded up my car with a bunch of copies, along with some Ozzy No More Tears, to bring to his other store..I remember sitting in the parking lot anxiously debating on which one to listen to..I opted to go in order..Got home tore through the booklets, digested the lyrics and listened countless times..After several calls I relinquished and went to see the latest Nightmare on Elm Street movie with some friends..I ran into another friend and told him how great the albums were,where to get them and about a new song,Locomotive, that was incredible where Axl almost sounded like Ozzy..For years every time I went into a music storesI looked at the UYI albums to reminisce and appreciate the fact that they were finally released...

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

The single most memorable record purchase of my life.  Just started freshman year in high school.  Run off the bus, get on my bike, ride to Sam Goody.  Pick up the cds which I had pre-ordered, see my buddy walking out as I got there (bastard beat me!).  Got home, popped both disc into my Sony 5 disc changer, and listened straight through while reading the liner notes.  Great day. 

[Bridge]

I can't remember if I got them on THE day they came out.... but I bought them both on cassette.  I replaced the cassettes with the CDs sometime around 1995.  I still have the same CDs.

[JAEBALL]

I was first introduced to GNR a year after Illusions came out. I was 12. My friend, Colin, who I will always credit for introducing to me this life long fandom/obsession brought them over and we listened to them in my room, but with the volume down so my parents wouldn't hear. He ended up moving on to Nirvana and crap like that and I stayed with GNR ever since.

So really I knew nothing of AFD until after I knew about Illusions. My friend went to Giants Stadium with his cousin to see 'em with Metallica, but my parents wouldn't let me go. I've never forgiven them.

So... seeing Axl, Slash and Duff and to a lesser extent Izzy (not because he wasn't as important) on stage together one time in person... would be very special for me.

For me... two is far superior to one... Estranged, Civil War, Pretty Tied Up and YCBM alone make it for me.

[Drew]

I'm not sure if this link about the anniversary has been posted or not. There is a reference to a HTGTH interview.

http://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-i-ii-album-anniversary/

[LIGuns]

The single most memorable record purchase of my life.  Just started freshman year in high school.  Run off the bus, get on my bike, ride to Sam Goody.  Pick up the cds which I had pre-ordered, see my buddy walking out as I got there (bastard beat me!).  Got home, popped both disc into my Sony 5 disc changer, and listened straight through while reading the liner notes.  Great day. 

Well put...,,

[EmilyGNR]

I'm not sure if this link about the anniversary has been posted or not. There is a reference to a HTGTH interview.

http://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-i-ii-album-anniversary/

Thanks for that link

I got UYI 1and 2 at the midnight record store sales, could not wait for the next day 

[C0ma]

I'm not sure if this link about the anniversary has been posted or not. There is a reference to a HTGTH interview.

http://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-i-ii-album-anniversary/

The funny thing is thinking back to this time frame, what an album release like this meant, what MTV meant to how that album would do... the role of the video, etc...

I remember after the tour for this album wound down waiting for the follow up, and happily accepting the first few crumbs we got in TSI and Sympathy...

Also living in a world where the information was not so readily available from social media and 24 hour internet news sources... I would stop into record stores to have them check their binder (filled with paper) to see if a new release was on the up coming schedule... pouring through Circus Magazine and the like... Unfortunately for me, we all know how long that wait was, but honestly it was sort of fun and what lead my from the newsgroups and mailing lists to this very site where I have posted and lurked for the better part of 17 years or so.

[Nytunz]

I remember when the illusions came out.. that was the exact time that i became a fan.. i have been listening to music since i was 5-6 years old. Remember i had Alphaville, Bonny Tyler and Springsteen cassettes from my mother, that i was listening to before i knew GNR.  Haha! I have two older brothers that started listening to Alice Cooper, Scorpions, Europe, AC/DC and a norwegian hardrock band called Return. I remember listening to these cassettes while they were at school etc.  And then they got more into GNR right around the time the illusions came out. Then i was totally sold. i listened to GNR all the time. Lies was the first cassette i bought, the other albums (illusions and Appetite) i recorded over with an old taperecorder. Not the best quality but it was good enough for me! My brothers also recorded everything GNR related from MTV! I remember the GNR Weekends. Good times! i Ended up as the biggest GNR fan u can imagine at an age of 7 - 8 years old, and have been ever since..

[draguns]

I had saw my first concert June 1991 at the Nassau Coliseum. I was 14. Axl talked about the new record at the show. I couldn't wait. When that day came, I had to wait again. My parents didn't allow me to go to the midnight selling of UYI. I went the day and loved hearing it.

[Gunsguy]

lined up at midnight and skipped school to hear the albums for the first time.  I had only heard YCBM and was dying to hear the rest, obviously for me these albums did not disappoint one bit.

Can't believe how long its been!

[jazjme]

I had gotten both the cassettes and CD's  2 weeks before release from a Mom and Pop record store near my HS(Record Stop, for anyone on LI) the place still exist though at a different location, I was just out of college when these came out. I couldn't wait, jumped in my car, put in the cassettes, and drove for hrs, all around Long Island. I had to get the cassettes also cause that's what was in my car, and I didn't want to drive back to Nassau County just to get to my CD player! I had heard Civil War(demo) a few times on a pirate radio station, about a yr prior. And I had already seen GNR at the Nassau Coliseum in the June before , so I was familiar with alot of the material. Record Stop was, still is great for bootlegs and rare stuff, demo stuff; I had so much GNR stuff from 88' from that store my senior year in HS.