Axl Rose Re-Recorded ‘Appetite for Destruction’ – What Happened?

What ever happened to Axl Rose‘s re-recorded version of Guns N’ Roses‘ Appetite for Destruction?

The vocalist confirmed in the late ’90s that he’d worked on another version of the legendary 1987 album with new musicians, but it was never released publicly. Now that Slash and Duff McKagan are back in the band, it’s doubtful that it ever will be.

But it did exist.

Why Axl Rose Re-Recorded Appetite for Destruction

In November of ’99, Guns N’ Roses released a double live album titled Live Era ’87 – ’93, which featured recordings from various performances between those years. Rose told MTV’s Kurt Loder in a 1999 interview that the live record was meant to serve as a farewell release from the old lineup to their fans.

When the singer was asked if the new Guns N’ Roses lineup would continue to play the old material, he assured they would, and added that he re-recorded all of Appetite with the exception of two songs, which they replaced with “You Could Be Mine” and “Patience.”

“Well, we had to rehearse them anyway to be able to perform them live again, and there were a lot of recording techniques and certain subtle styles and drum fills and things like that that are kind of ’80s signatures that subtly could use a little sprucing up… a little less reverb and a little less double bass and things like that,” Rose elaborated.

Only a short clip of the audio from the interview was ever shared online, which you can listen to below.

Axl Rose Interview With Kurt Loder (1999)

The Musicians on the Alternate Version of Appetite

Rose stated that Josh Freese (Nine Inch Nails), Tommy Stinson (The Replacements), Paul “Huge” Tobias and Robin Finck (Nine Inch Nails) were the musicians he re-recorded the record with.

“I don’t know what I’m going to do with it, exactly, when I would be putting that out. But you know, it has a lot of energy. Learning the old Guns songs and getting them up, you know, putting them on tape, really forced everybody to get them up to the quality that they needed to be at,” Rose added.

READ MORE: All 23 Musicians Who’ve Been in Guns N’ Roses

“Once the energy was figured out by the new guys, how much energy was needed to get the songs right, then it really helped in the writing and recording process of the new record.”

Only One of the Recordings Has Ever Been Shared Publicly

You may recall Sheryl Crow‘s cover of “Sweet Child O’ Mine” in the 1999 Adam Sandler film Big Daddy, but part of Rose’s alternate version of the song was also featured during the movie’s credits.

A live version of “Sweet Child” plays at first, then it switches over to the re-recorded rendition. It’s the only clip from the re-recorded version of Appetite that’s ever been officially shared. The alternate recording of the song starts at about 3:07. You’ll notice Rose sings the “Where do we go now?” section differently from the ’87 version.

Listen below.

Guns N’ Roses, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ (Big Daddy Credits)