Use Your Illusion II is the fourth studio album by Guns N’ Roses. The album was released on September 17, 1991, the same day as its counterpart Use Your Illusion I. Both albums were released in conjunction with the Use Your Illusion Tour. Bolstered by the lead single “You Could Be Mine”, Use Your Illusion II was the slightly more popular of the two albums, selling a record 770,000 copies its first week and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, ahead of Use Your Illusion I‘s first-week sales of 685,000.
It is the last Guns N’ Roses studio album to credit rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. It also includes “Civil War”, the last track to feature drummer Steven Adler in any capacity. This album, along with Use Your Illusion I, was the last Guns N’ Roses album to feature new original material until 2008’s album Chinese Democracy.
The Use Your Illusion albums were a stylistic turning point for Guns N’ Roses (see Use Your Illusion I). In addition, Use Your Illusion II is more political than most of their previous work, with songs like “Civil War”, a cover of Bob Dylan‘s “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, and “Get in the Ring” dealing respectively with the topics of violence, law enforcement and media bias.
The thematic material deals less with drug use than previous Guns N’ Roses albums. Use Your Illusion I featured several songs pre-Appetite for Destruction while Use Your Illusion II featured more tracks written during and after Appetite for Destruction.
The band’s cover of “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” had been released almost a year earlier on the Days of Thunder soundtrack, while “Civil War” debuted at the 1990 Farm Aid concert. That concert also featured Guns N’ Roses playing a cover of the U.K. Subs song “Down on the Farm”, a studio version of which would later appear on the band’s 1993 release of cover songs, “The Spaghetti Incident?”. “Civil War” was released as a B-side to “You Could Be Mine”. The song had also been released on the charity album Nobody’s Child: Romanian Angel Appeal, a fund-raising compilation for Romanian orphans.
“You Could Be Mine” was released in June 1991 and is featured in the film Terminator 2: Judgment Day. The song was not released on the actual soundtrack. The band also filmed a video featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in character as the Terminator, with a loose plot featuring Axl Rose as its “target”. However, he is saved from termination as he is deemed a “waste of ammo” by the T-800’s lock-on system. The original subject matter of the song dealt with Izzy Stradlin‘s failed relationship with ex-girlfriend Angela Nicoletti.
As of 2010, Use Your Illusion II has sold 5,587,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Both albums have since been certified 7× Platinum by the (RIAA). It was also No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for a single week.
Tracklist:
Side One
- Civil War (Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan)
- 14 Years (Rose, Izzy Stradlin)
- Yesterdays (Rose, West Arkeen, Del James, Billy McCloud)
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (Bob Dylan cover)
Side Two
- Get in the Ring (Rose, Slash, McKagan)
- Shotgun Blues (Rose)
- Breakdown (Rose)
Side Three
- Pretty Tied Up (“The Perils of Rock n’ Roll Decadence”)(Stradlin)
- Locomotive (Complicity) (Rose, Slash)
- So Fine (McKagan)
Side Four
- Estranged (Rose)
- You Could Be Mine (Rose, Stradlin)
- Don’t Cry (Alternate Lyrics) (Rose, Stradlin)
- My World (Rose)
Guns N’ Roses
W. Axl Rose: lead vocals, piano, whistling, backing vocals, rhythm guitar on “Shotgun Blues”, synthesizer, drum machine
Slash: lead guitar, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, backing vocals on “Shotgun Blues”
Izzy Stradlin: rhythm guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on “14 Years”, acoustic guitar, coral sitar on “Pretty Tied Up”, lead guitar
Duff McKagan: bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on “So Fine”, co-lead vocals on “Get In The Ring”, percussion
Matt Sorum: drums, percussion, backing vocals
Dizzy Reed: keyboards, backing vocals
Additional musicians
Steven Adler: drums on “Civil War”
Johann Langlie: drums, keyboards and sound effects on “My World”
Isabella and Carmela Lento: backing vocals on “Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door”
Howard Teman: piano on “So Fine”
Shannon Hoon: co-lead vocals on “Don’t Cry”
Production
Mike Clink: production, engineering
Jim Mitchell: additional engineering
Bill Price: mixing
George Marino: mastering
Kevin Reagan: art direction, graphic design
Mark Kostabi: artwork
Robert John: photography
Allen Abrahamson: assistant engineer
Buzz Burrowes: assistant engineer
Chris Puram: assistant engineer
Craig Portelis: assistant engineer
Ed Goodreau: assistant engineer
Jason Roberts: assistant engineer
John Aguto: assistant engineer
L. Stu Young: assistant engineer
Leon Granados: assistant engineer
Mike Douglass: assistant engineer
Talley Sherwood: assistant engineer
Shannon Hoon (September 26, 1967 – October 21, 1995)
