Top 10 Best Songs by Guns N’ Roses

Everything about November Rain is grand: the piano, the orchestra, the drums, and the ambition. It's about the fear that love, like a candle flame in the rain, cannot burn eternally. The guitar solo by Slash - which sounds as if he's playing on a mountaintop in the wind - is of an otherworldly beauty. The epic final section leaves you crushed.

That opening riff... perhaps the most famous in rock history. Slash played it as a joke, but it became world-famous. The song radiates an innocence and warmth that is unique for the band. Axl's voice is here loving and protective. The breakdown "Where do we go now?" builds the tension perfectly toward the finale. A perfect rock song.

The most complex and personal song Axl Rose ever wrote. Nine minutes long takes you into his depression and loneliness after a divorce. There is no traditional chorus; it's an emotional journey with piano and wailing guitars. The melodies are of heartbreaking beauty. You feel the emptiness of a big house where no one lives anymore. A masterpiece of sadness.

THE stadium song par excellence. It starts grand and vast with the synthesizer and the famous whistle, as if the sun is rising over a festival. The riff is brave and catchy. But the real fireworks are at the end: the tempo doubles and the band goes into overdrive. It's pure chaos and ecstasy, meant to go completely wild in the moshpit.

Bob Dylan wrote it, but Guns N' Roses made it completely theirs. They transformed a small folk song into a stadium anthem with gospel influences. The emotion in Slash's guitar solos is unparalleled; his guitar literally cries. The background choir gives the song an almost religious charge. It sounds like a final greeting to fallen friends, grand and gripping.

It begins with a sample from Cool Hand Luke and a whispering intro, but grows into an epic protest song. The groove is heavy and drags. Axl sings fiercely against the senselessness of war and the lies of those in power. The transitions between quiet piano sections and hard rock refrains create enormous dynamics. A song with a message that still resonates.

Here the amplifiers go out and acoustic guitars come in. The whistling at the beginning immediately sets a relaxed, intimate tone. Axl sings here not with his usual scream, but with a low, warm "croon". It's about the patience needed to make love work. It feels like the band is taking a breath around a campfire, away from the madness.

A powerballad that shows even the toughest rockers have broken hearts. The melancholy in the intro is immediately felt. What makes this song special is the duet between Axl and Shannon Hoon (of Blind Melon). Their voices weave around each other in a sad dance. It's not goodbye from anger, but from powerlessness. A comforting song for dark days.

Known from Terminator 2, and it sounds like it too: like a machine coming at you. The drums of Matt Sorum thunder like cannon shots. Axl Rose spits out the lyrics with toxic fierceness. The guitar riffs are angular and aggressive. It's a song that doesn't ask, but demands. The perfect soundtrack for speed and chaos.

The ultimate opening track. The slowed echo on the guitar and the swelling sirens warn you: you are entering dangerous territory. It's the sound of the big city that wants to eat you. Axl's scream "Do you know where you are?" is iconic. The song bursts with dirty energy and the hunger of a young band that wants to conquer the world.