''Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide'' is a four-track EP by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard ...

band

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

, released on December 16, 1986, on the

UZI Suicide Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band comprised vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKa ...

record label. When referred to by band members, they have simply called the EP ''Live Like a Suicide''. The record itself was reportedly limited to only 10,000 copies, released only in vinyl and cassette formats. The tracks were later re-released along with four new songs as the album '' G N' R Lies'' (1988). In 2018, they were included as bonus tracks on the reissue of ''

Appetite for Destruction ''Appetite for Destruction'' is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on July 21, 1987, by Geffen Records. The album was released to little mainstream attention in 1987. It was not until the following ...

'' and featured seamless crowd noise between the songs along with a fifth song, "

Shadow of Your Love "Shadow of Your Love" is a song by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, originally released as a B-side in 1987 and then later released in an alternate take as a single in 2018. The song entered at 31 on the Mainstream Rock chart in its Ma ...

Background

The four songs on the EP were selected from the band's demo tapes: two are cover versions and two are originals. The EP was a faux-live recording with overdubbed crowd noise, but these are in fact studio performances. According to

Steven Adler Steven Adler (born Michael Coletti; January 22, 1965) is an American musician. He was the drummer and co-songwriter of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s. Adler was fired from Guns N' Roses ...

's autobiography, ''My Appetite for Destruction: Sex & Drugs & Guns N' Roses'', the entire EP was recorded at Pasha Studios in

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

with pre-recorded audience applause and cheering in the background, as Geffen's engineers told him "it would cost too much to actually record a live record". Duff McKagan says in his autobiography, ''It's So Easy (and other Lies)'', that "the crowd noise...is from a 1970's rock festival called the

Texxas Jam Texxas Jam was the informal nickname of an annual summer rock concert called the Texxas World Music Festival (1978–1988). It was held in Dallas at the Cotton Bowl, and in Houston, at either the Astrodome or the Rice Stadium on the campus of Ri ...

. We thought it would be funny to put a ''huge'' stadium crowd in the background at a time when we were lucky to be playing to a few hundred." "Reckless Life" is the opening track on the EP. It opens with Slash shouting "Hey fuckers! Suck on Guns N' fuckin' Roses!" This song was originally written by

Hollywood Rose Hollywood Rose was an American glam metal group formed in 1983. They are best known as the precursor for what would eventually become Guns N' Roses. The group was founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber, while they were aided during li ...

, which had included all the members of Guns N' Roses except Duff McKagan at one point or another. It was included in the Hollywood Rose compilation album ''

The Roots of Guns N' Roses ''The Roots of Guns N' Roses'' is a compilation album containing old songs of Hollywood Rose. It was released on June 22, 2004, by Deadline Music (Cleopatra Records). Background The album was produced by Chris Weber, the band's ex-guitarist. C ...

''. "Nice Boys" is a cover of a song by Rose Tattoo. "Move to the City" features a horn section, and is the third track on the EP. "

Mama Kin "Mama Kin" is a song by American hard rock band Aerosmith, which appears on their 1973 self-titled debut album. The song was written by lead singer Steven Tyler. It was a staple of Aerosmith concerts and appeared on several live albums. Music a ...

" is a cover of a song by

Aerosmith Aerosmith is an American Rock music, rock band formed in Boston in 1970. The group consists of Steven Tyler (lead vocals), Joe Perry (musician), Joe Perry (guitar), Tom Hamilton (musician), Tom Hamilton (bass), Joey Kramer (drums) and Brad Whi ...

, a band Guns N' Roses has cited as one of their major influences. One song considered for this EP was "

", which never made it onto the album, and later released on the " It’s So Easy/Mr. Brownstone" 12" single and the EP '' Live from the Jungle''.

Artwork

The front cover consists of a photograph of two of the band members, Duff McKagan and Axl Rose (from left to right), with an early Guns N' Roses logo, designed by

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

, overhead. The artwork from this EP is also featured in the ''G N' R Lies'' album artwork.

Promotion

To celebrate the release of the EP Guns N' Roses had a release party at Riki Rachtman's World Famous Cathouse. That was the first live performance at the club. It was acoustic and this was before MTV had the unplugged series, so an acoustic set from a heavy metal act was rather obscure in 1986. In 2010,

claimed that Guns N' Roses got

Rodney on the ROQ Rodney Bingenheimer (born December 15, 1946) is an American radio disc jockey who is best known as the host of ''Rodney on the ROQ'', a radio program that ran on the Los Angeles rock station KROQ from 1976 to 2017. In the early 1970s, he also ma ...

KROQ-FM KROQ-FM (106.7 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Pasadena, California, serving Greater Los Angeles. Owned by Audacy, Inc., it broadcasts an alternative rock format known as "The World Famous KROQ" (pronounced "kay-rock"). The stat ...

to initially play "Reckless Life" by giving Rodney one gram of

cocaine Cocaine (from , from , ultimately from Quechuan languages, Quechua: ''kúka'') is a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant mainly recreational drug use, used recreationally for its euphoria, euphoric effects. It is primarily obtained from t ...

Track listing

Personnel

Adapted from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

. *

W. Axl Rose W. Axl Rose (born William Bruce Rose Jr.; born February 6, 1962) is an American musician. He is best known for being the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inc ...

– lead vocals, production *

– lead and rhythm guitars, backing vocals, production * Izzy Stradlin – rhythm and lead guitars, backing vocals, production *

Duff "Rose" McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964), sometimes credited as Duff "Rose" McKagan, is an American musician. He played bass for twelve years in the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late ...

– bass, backing vocals, production *

– drums, backing vocals, percussion, production

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Live Like a Suicide Guns N' Roses EPs 1986 debut EPs Demo albums