“AFTER 40 YEARS, GUNS N’ ROSES FANS ARE FINALLY HEARING IT.” 🤯🎸🔥 — A PREVIOUSLY UNHEARD 1986 REHEARSAL TAPE HAS SURFACED ONLINE A never-before-heard Guns N’ Roses rehearsal tape from 1986 has emerged, giving fans a rare glimpse into the band’s earliest days before they became rock legends. The recording features raw, unfinished versions of classics including Nightrain, Rocket Queen, My Michelle, and Out Ta Get Me, capturing the unmistakable energy that would soon shape Appetite for Destruction. For longtime fans, it’s an extraordinary piece of rock history—offering a chance to hear these iconic songs long before they reached the studio.

Previously unheard 40-year-old Guns N’ Roses rehearsal tape surfaces online

Guns N' Roses backstage in March 1986
Guns N’ Roses backstage at Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, March 1986 (Image credit: Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

A previously unheard tape of an early Guns N’ Roses rehearsal has surfaced online. The 40-year-old recording contains early – often significantly different – versions of several songs that featured on the band’s debut album, Appetite For Destruction, including Nightrain, My Michelle, Out Ta Get Me and Rocket Queen, as well as Move To The City, which appeared on the band’s debut EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide.

“Here is a completely unreleased rehearsal tape from 1986 of Guns N’ Roses,” says uploader Red’s GNR Videos! “Some of the recordings are incomplete, unfortunately. Once again, this tape has been hoarded for a long time by select members of the GNR community who believe hoarding these rarities for no good reason is better than letting the community hear them. For the love of God! Please release the rarities!”

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It’s not clear when the recording was made. The cassette is dated January 1, 1986, but the writing has been crossed out, suggesting that the songs may have been taped on another date. However, it’s likely they were recorded at the Gardner Studio, a rehearsal space behind the Sunset Grill on Hollywood Boulevard, where Guns N’ Roses spent several months working on their songs in late 1985 and early 1986.

“We stole wood, we built a loft and slept above the equipment,” frontman Axl Rose told Hit Parader in late 1986. “But, you know, we almost miss it. Every weekend, the biggest party in LA was down in our place. We’d have 500 people packed in an alley and our old roadie was selling beers for a buck out of his trunk. It was like a bar and everyone had their whiskey. We could get away with whatever we wanted, except when the cops came.”

Guns N’ Roses signed to Geffen Records in March 1986, and Appetite For Destruction emerged in July 1987.

SOURCE: LOUDERSOUND