Guns N' Roses

Guns N' Roses (sometimes abbreviated as G N' R or GnR) is an American hard rock band. The band formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California in 1985. Led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, the band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album while going through numerous line-up changes and controversies since its formation. Rose is the only consistent original member of Guns N' Roses.

The band has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide, including shipments of 43.5 million in the United States. The band's 1987 major label debut album, Appetite for Destruction, has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and is also the highest selling debut album of all time both in the US and worldwide. In addition, the album charted three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Sweet Child o' Mine" which reached No. 1. The 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone and 35 million worldwide. After over a decade of work and many lineup changes, the band released their follow-up album, Chinese Democracy, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in the United States.

The current lineup comprises lead vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarists Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman and drummer Frank Ferrer.

Guns N' Roses' mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described by individuals in the music industry as the period in which "they brought forth a hedonistic rebelliousness and revived the punk attitude-driven hard rock scene, reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones.

Alter Bridge

Alter Bridge is an American rock band that was formed in 2004 in Orlando, Florida by then-former Creed members Mark Tremonti (lead guitar), Brian Marshall (bass), and Scott Phillips (drums). Lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Myles Kennedy, formerly of The Mayfield Four and the touring frontman of Slash's current solo project, joined shortly after the band's formation. Tremonti named the group after an actual bridge that used to be located in Detroit, Michigan near his former home on Alter Road. The bridge led to an unsafe area, and the neighborhood children, who saw the other side of the bridge as the unknown, were forbidden to cross it. According to Tremonti, the name of the band symbolizes choice and looking to the future.

Despite Creed's multi-platinum success, Alter Bridge arose with only gold status with their first album, One Day Remains, which was released on Wind-up Records in August 2004 to generally negative reviews. Selling 750,000 copies, it peaked at #5 on the Billboard 200 and remained at that spot for fourteen weeks. In October 2007, after signing to Universal Republic, the band released Blackbird, which received mostly positive reviews and peaked at #13 on the Billboard 200 and at #4 on Billboard's Rock Albums chart. After touring extensively and working on other projects over the next three years, Alter Bridge reconvened to work on their third album. Released in October 2010 on Roadrunner Records, and later self-released via EMI in North America in November 2010, AB III was met with critical acclaim and debuted at #17 on the Billboard 200 and more successfully on other charts. In January 2011, the band released their first live album and concert film, Live from Amsterdam. Originally released in August 2009 exclusively on Amazon, it was met with two years of delays before being released in stores.

Alter Bridge was faced with criticism for sounding like Creed in the early part of its career. However, the band has since made several notable critical achievements and has been met with generally very positive reception in recent years, despite relatively low mainstream success and label support for the majority of its career. The individual band members are also known for their involvement with many notable side projects, including solo and session work, Creed, and Kennedy's collaborations with Slash and former members of Led Zeppelin. In 2009, Ultimate Guitar Archive named Alter Bridge the 36th greatest band of the decade.