Use Your Illusion I & II released 25 years ago today (Sep 16 & 17, 1991)

[jarmo]

I remember buying the LPs after getting out of class that Monday afternoon in 1991... A month after my first ever GN'R show.

How about you? What's your release day memory? Or when did you get the albums?



/jarmo

[Voodoochild]

My dad's wife bought the UYI 1 some days after the release. It was my first compact disc laser experience.

I spent at least a couple years before buying it for myself. And I bought the UYI II too.

[gnrrock]

I was too young to buy them (parental advisory), however my cousin worked at a record store. You know those stores that existed before iTunes? Anyway, he allowed me to buy Illusions II on cassette tape which was great. I borrowed Illuisons I from my babysitter. Those albums played a big role in my life. To this day their on my regular rotation. My brother and I debate all the time which album was the best. I'm a II guy and he always chose Illusions I. Good times. Thanks GNR for the music.

[Factory Girl]

Rolling Stone just posted this:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/inside-guns-n-roses-history-making-use-your-illusion-lps-w439521

I got the tapes from my dad and I remember listening over and over again, especially UYI1.

[TheBaconman]

I was in JR high

Bought UYI 1, after the success of the Don't Cry video...

In school we would play this cd all the time in gym class.  Early 90s was great time for music, at least I remember it that way

I never owned UYI 2 for many years....   I bought it in highshool, when the Estranged music video came out.  

[sky dog]

I bought them at Tower Records in Atlanta....stood in line until Midnight....went home and listened to them until I had to go to work at 8am.  

[nick6sic6]

I remember copying both albums in a small local record store(Illegal bootleging,i know...)
I also recall asking if I could fit both cd's in a 90 minute cassette,on each side,to pay for 1 instead of 2 ! 

In 93 then i bought the original cassettes and later the other formats.
And to this day I am amazed with the album's cover paintings where i still sometimes stare to and the variety of music styles.
Also,the best Slash's solos in his career.

[sandman]

I was a junior in high school. My dad picked it up for me on his way home from work at Sam Goody at the Roosevelt Mall in NE Philly. The thing I remember most was that the demand was so high, you had to put your name on a list during the weeks leading up to the release date to reserve a copy. My dad did that one night so he had to pick it up since it was his name on the list. Not sure if they had extra copies and the list was just to play it safe, but either way, the demand was high. A couple friends picked them up late afternoon and called me to tell me about some of the songs. it was killing me waiting until 6:30 or so to listen to it. we cranked the album and I listened to it while eating dinner with my family. good fuckin times.  

[Walapino]

They didnt release de record in Peru when it came out, so a friend ordered it from the US and then copied UYI 2 on tape for me, then a couple of months later an aunt bought the cds for me and listened to them non stop after school!! 

[Six Strings]

My brother (10 years older) bought UYI 2 shortly after the release. I bought myself the UYI1 about an year later. Perhaps the hugest impact of music in my life ever since. Still listening to at least a song or two from these albums on daily basis. Funny thing is that my brother never got into these albums or even into a similar kind of music. He sticks to some folklore crap to this day.

[MJ23]

I bought UYI I & II the day they were released. Skipped school and went to the record store and picked them up on cassette.
When the tape got worn out I bought the cd versions. Needless to say that it happened pretty fast

[dmathski]

I remember going down to the mall and buying the both CDs. Back then CDs, at least here in the US, were sold in this big card board holder. I believe it was Pearl Jam that changed that by campaigning that it was a waste of paper and they got rid of it. Anyway by buying both CDs they gave with it a Guns N Roses patch. Still have it to this day.

[ice cream sand pig]

I was really young so i dont remember, but my sister was born near the release and when they were playing ycbm for the first time on the radio my dad had to turn it off and run into the hospital because she was being born right then. I remember seeing the lald video as a youngster. I apparently really liked guns as a small kid and my dad used to trip people out by getting me to sing my michelle.  He also taught me the definition of cameltoe and used to ask me to say the definition in front of people. I still remember it... the dimension between the exterior lips of the vulva... something like that.
 

[westcoast_junkie]

The sound of growing up. Good times, bad times, bright times, sad times. Remember waiting for the afternoon music show on TV every day, hoping for a Guns video. That was around 94-95, when I was 10. My first UY was a cassete. Here's for 25, and for all future, for these records will last forever. 

[Bridge]

http://radio.com/2016/09/16/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-izzy-stradlin/

This was on yahoo.  It focuses mostly on Izzy's contributions.

[TheBaconman]

http://radio.com/2016/09/16/guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-izzy-stradlin/

This was on yahoo.  It focuses mostly on Izzy's contributions.

That was a real cool read   Except I really like the song pretty tied up. 

Izzy brought the rough factor that made a lot of these songs great

I am pretty sick of hearing interviews where band members say "izzy this and izzy that".  You know izzy.  Izzy does what izzy does.   Hahaha.  Like any of the fan base has a clue

He is pretty much the Brian Wilson of guns n roses

[Bridge]

That was a real cool read   Except I really like the song pretty tied up. 

Yeah, I don't know what the hell their problem was with that song.   

[tim_m]

I believe i bought them separate. I think i bought UYI II first then went back and bought UYI I a day later.

[Johnnyblood]

It was my second year in college. Milwaukee. Got em at midnight. Had classes the next morning but went back to my apartment, it was about 12:45, and listened to both albums front to back, over two and a half hours. Early standouts were Estranged, Locomotive, Yesterdays, The Garden. People talk about CD, but even UYI was a long wait. So I was really hungry to hear the songs and didn't listen to anything else for about a month.

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

Always a great topic.  Obviously a monumental moment for all of us old enough to live it. 

Last year, similar thread with fun stories...

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=66440.0