MAKING OF THE ALBUM: Guns N’ Roses – Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide
Published on September 10, 2011 by Christian Sellers · No Comments
Guns N’ Roses had first emerged on the Los Angeles live circuit in early 1985, formed from the remnants of local groups Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns. They slowly built a reputation for themselves through constant gigging around clubs like The Roxy and the Troubadour, before eventually attracting the attention of several major labels. Upon meeting Tom Zutaut and Therea Ensenat from Geffen Records they had already made up their minds and, in March 1986, joined the same label as rock icons Aerosmith, who were gradually forging their comeback. Guns N’ Roses had gained a loyal following during their brief time on the local scene and the label wanted to capitalise on this, using the group’s street cred and word-of-mouth to generate further interest being allowing them to commence recording a full length album.
In an effort to both prepare the band for working in a professional studio and also keep fan interest strong, Zutaut suggested that they record a live EP, in an attempt to capture their raw and energetic stage presence. But to actually record a live album was costly, as both the band and audience had to be captured clearly on tape, whilst also having to pay a road crew to set up the stage and equipment. And on many occasions the vocals were often re-recorded professionally in a studio, which then added additional costs to the budget, something that would be unnecessary for what was only intended as a stopgap until the label had confidence that Guns N’ Roses were ready to record an album. Instead it was suggested that the songs be recorded in a studio and the crowd noise be added during post-production. This type of cheating disappointed the band but they had confidence that the company knew best in how to market their new product.
To handle the production the label brought in Spencer Proffer, who had previously overseen the recording of W.A.S.P.‘s The Last Command and had performed guitar on Tina Turner’s second album Acid Queen. More recently, he had both produced and contributed writing to Quiet Riot‘s third album QR III, which was released during the summer of 1986. Proffer had formed his own label and studio, the Pasha Music House, in 1978 and this would be the location chosen for Guns N’ Roses to record their so-called live EP. Five songs would be selected for the three-day recording sessions; Shadow of Your Love, Reckless Life, Move to the City (all three of which had been in their set since the early days of Hollywood Rose), a cover of Nice Boys by Rose Tattoo and Mama Kin by Aerosmith, originally released on their 1973 self-titled debut. Despite being recorded in the studio, Geffen knew that the performance had to sound authentic and so the decision was made that the band should record all the instruments at the same time, instead of one-by-one, as was common practice. More time would be spent on the singing, however, with Rose contributing backing vocals to the songs during post-production.
As the crowd noise during Mama Kin faded in sounds can be heard in the background which were fireworks, creating by lighting them in the studio under a bucket and then placing microphones beside it to capture the dramatic sound. The crowd noises that were also added after the sessions had come to an end were sampled from concert recordings of Quiet Riot and Dio, with each song fading in and out to give the illusion that they were taken from a much larger show. Image for a band such as Guns N’ Roses was everything and so the way that the mini-album was to be presented to the public was very important. With this in mind, an independent label was formed called Uzi Suicide, financed by Geffen but created to give the illusion that the group had produced and distributed the EP independently. In an effort to portray the band as a rags-to-riches band that had paid their dues and thus earned their major record deal, the contract with Geffen was kept a secret until they were set to begin work on their full length album, while Guns N’ Roses were credited as producers on the inlay sleeve, instead of Proffer, and with no mention of Pasha. Four of the five songs recorded would be chosen for the EP, with Shadow of Your Love being cut out at the last moment.
Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide was released unofficially through Geffen in late 1986, with the pressing restricted to just 10,000 copies, making it an immediate collector’s item for fans. The following year Move to the City was included on the soundtrack to the Michael Dudikoff action sequel American Ninja 2: The Confrontation, although the movie would fail to generate the same kind of attention as its predecessor. The four tracks from Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide were later included on the 1988 EP GN’R Lies, which also featured a selection of unreleased acoustic songs. Although the inlay sleeve featured a woman with bare breasts, for the later CD release the nudity would be obscured by a black bar.
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