Appetite for Destruction was more than just the title of Guns N’ Roses’ 1987 debut album. It spoke to the California hard rock band’s overall ethos. The classic Guns N’ Roses lineup of lead vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler enjoyed immense success with songs like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine.” Behind dressing room doors, however, substance use issues and interpersonal chaos reigned. On this day in 1989, frontman Axl Rose made the band’s private issues quite public.

Axl Rose Spontaneously Announces Guns N’ Roses’ Final Show

Riding high from the success of their first two albums, Appetite for Destruction and G N’ R Lies, the band was seemingly at the top of their game when they joined the Rolling Stones onstage at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. However, Guns N’ Roses hadn’t yet played a single note before Axl Rose’s first outburst.

After vehemently defending controversial lyrics from the band’s 1988 song “One in a Million,” Rose had another bone to pick—this one with his own bandmates.

“I hate to do this onstage,” he began. “But I’ve tried every other f—ing way. And unless certain people in this band start getting their s— together, these are going to be the last Guns N’ Roses shows you’ll f—ing ever see.”

“Because I’m tired,” he continued, “of too many people in this organization dancing with Mr. godd–n Brownstone.” This was a reference to the band’s 1987 song of the same name, written about h*roin use.

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Slash Never Forgave Him

Axl Rose would later apologize for his remarks, returning to the stage with Guns N’ Roses the next day. “I just didn’t want to see my friends slip away,” the contentious frontman told the Los Angeles Times.

That didn’t quite cut it for one bandmate, however. “I know it was directed at me because I was all strung out at the time,” Slash said in a 2004 VH1 Behind the Music documentary about the band. “That was one of the things that probably made me hate Axl more than anything, something I probably never ever forgave him for, without really even thinking about it.”

Featured image by Jeffrey Mayer/WireImage