Hollywood Rose : The Roots Of Guns N' Roses

 Originally formed

 under the name

 AXL

 in 1983 

by Chris Weber,

 Izzy Stradlin, 

and 

Axl Rose,

 they later switched to

 Rose 

around 

Christmas 1983 

and added

 Johnny Kreis 

on drums 

and a bassist

 unknown

 if it's Rick Mars,

 as he still played

 in Pyrrhus 

around late 1983

 Around April 1984, 

after finding another band 

with the same name,

 they switched to

 Hollywood Rose.

Aside from Axl, 

Chris, and Izzy, 

Johnny was their only

 consistent member. 

They had a few 

different bass players;

 Andre Toxx, 

Rick Mars, 

Steve Darrow, 

and a guy named 

Snake

 that filled in a gig.

At one point 

they were a 

four-piece band 

with Izzy and Chris 

swapping the bass 

between each other

 in the studio. 

This is the way

 they recorded the

 9 demos in 

January 1984,

 5 of these demos 

have been 

officially released.

When opening for Stryper 

at the Music Machine

 in May 1984, 

Chris accidentally hit Axl 

with the headstock

 of his guitar, 

they got into an argument 

and 

Hollywood Rose

 disbanded.

A month later, 

Axl brought in Slash 

 to the group

 to pick up the

 guitar duties. 

When Slash joined

 he brought with him

 Steven Adler 

and a complete 

lineup change

 was made.

(1983) - AXL

Axl Rose - Lead vocals

Izzy Stradlin - Guitar

Chris Weber - Guitar

unknown 

if they had a drummer

 or bassist at this point.

(1984) - ROSE

Axl Rose - Lead vocals

Izzy Stradlin - Guitar

Chris Weber - Guitar

Johnny Kreis - Drums

Various bass players including 

Rick Mars, Andre Toxx, DJ, and Snake.

(Circa April 1984) - Hollywood Rose

Axl Rose - Lead vocals

Izzy Stradlin - Guitar

Chris Weber - Guitar

Johnny Kreis - Drums

Various bass players including 

Rick Mars, Andre Toxx, DJ, and Snake.

(June 1984) - The New Hollywood Rose

Axl Rose - Vocals

Slash - Guitar

Steven Adler - Drums

Steve Darrow - Bass

Izzy Stradlin - Guitar 

(tension between band members 

cause Izzy to leave 

and join London a week later)

The Roots of Guns N' Roses

 is a 

compilation album

 containing old songs

 of

 Hollywood Rose

 It was released on 

June 22, 2004, 

by Deadline Music 

(Cleopatra Records).

Background

The album was 

produced by 

Chris Weber,

 the band's

 ex-guitarist. 

Cleopatra records 

bought the five tracks 

from Weber, 

who originally paid 

for the recordings in 1984. 

It contains three sets

 of five demos: 

the first five 

are original versions, t

he following five 

have been remixed

 by former 

Guns N' Roses 

guitarist 

Gilby Clarke, 

and the last five 

have been remixed

 by 

Fred Coury, 

the drummer of

 Cinderella, 

who took part 

in a tour with 

Guns N' Roses 

when 

Steven Adler 

broke his wrist.

The

 "Shadow of Your Love" 

and

 "Reckless Life" 

remixes

 by Gilby Clarke 

were recorded with

 the first guitarist of

 Guns N' Roses, 

Tracii Guns.

The songs

 "Anything Goes" 

and

 "Reckless Life" 

were later recorded 

again by 

Guns N' Roses. 

They were released on

 the albums 

Appetite for Destruction 

and 

G N' R Lies, 

respectively.

Slash, 

Duff McKagan 

and 

Steven Adler, 

together with

 Axl Rose, 

Chris Weber 

and 

Izzy Stradlin, 

were credited as

 the composers of 

"Anything Goes", 

"Shadow of Your Love" 

and 

"Reckless Life". 

These songs were 

originally performed by

 Hollywood Rose 

and were only

 later played by 

Guns N' Roses.

 In fact, 

when Rose, 

Weber and Stradlin 

composed these songs, 

they were not yet

 in touch with 

Slash, McKagan or Adler.

On January 18, 2005,

 the Japanese version

 was released by Sony,

 together with a bonus DVD.

Before the album's release 

in June 2004, 

Rose sued the record label 

Cleopatra Records for 

"trademark infringement, 

violation of rights in his name 

and likeness, 

and for 

unfair competition", 

and filed a motion

 to block the release.

 However, 

a judge denied the motion 

and the album was released

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