Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band who formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The classic lineup as signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. Today, Axl Rose is the only remaining original member, in a lineup that comprises Use Your Illusion–era keyboardist Dizzy Reed, lead guitarists DJ Ashba and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, lead and rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Frank Ferrer and keyboardist Chris Pitman. The band released six studio albums, accumulating sales of more than 100 million albums worldwide,^[9] including shipments of 45 million in the United States.^[10]

A year after its release, Guns N' Roses' debut album Appetite for Destruction (1987) reached No. 1 on the Billboard 200, on the strength of the hit "Sweet Child o' Mine", their only single to reach No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.^[11] The album has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide,^[12] including 18 million units sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S.^[13] The success of their debut was followed by the eight-song album G N' R Lies (1988). The twin albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II (1991) debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 35 million copies worldwide,^[14] including 14 million units sold in the United States alone.^[13] The cover album "The Spaghetti Incident?" (1993) was the band's last studio album to feature Slash and McKagan. After more than a decade of work and many lineup changes, Guns N' Roses released the long-awaited album Chinese Democracy (2008) which, at an estimated fourteen million dollars in production costs, made it the most expensive album to ever be produced in music history.^[15][16][17] It debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 but underwhelmed industry expectations, despite mostly positive critical reception.^[18]

Guns N' Roses have been credited with reviving the mainstream popularity of rock music, at a time when popular music was dominated by dance music and pop metal.^[18] Their late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described as the period in which they brought forth a "hedonistic rebelliousness" reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones,^[19] a reputation that had earned them the nickname "The Most Dangerous Band in the World".^[20] The band's classic lineup, along with later members Reed and drummer Matt Sorum, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012, their first year of eligibility.^[21]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_N%27_Roses

"Sweet Child O' Mine" is a power ballad by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and the third from their 1987 debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction. Released on August 17, 1988, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart,^[1] becoming the band's first and only number-one single in the U.S. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, when re-released in 1989.^[2]

^***

Lead guitarist Slash has been quoted as having a disdain for the song due to its roots as simply a "string skipping" exercise and a joke at the time.^[3] In a VH1 special, it was stated that Slash played the riff in a jam session as a joke.^[3] Drummer Steven Adler and Slash were warming up and Slash began to play a "circus" melody while making faces at Steven. Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin asked Slash to play it again. Meanwhile lead singer Axl Rose was upstairs in his room and heard the 'jam session' going on downstairs and couldn't help but write lyrics. He based it on his girlfriend Erin Everly. With Steven's added drum part, Izzy's chords and Duff McKagan's bassline the harmony became the core of the song. Originally, there was a third verse to the song. However, this verse was later cut from recording as the band's producer, Mike Clink, felt the song would carry on for too long. The final dramatic breakdown was not added until Clink suggested the band add one. They agreed, but weren't sure what to do. Axl started saying to himself, "Where do we go? Where do we go now?" Clink suggested that he sing that, and "Sweet Child o' Mine" was born. In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1988, Duff McKagan noted:

The thing about 'Sweet Child o' Mine,' it was written in five minutes. It was one of those songs, only three chords. You know that guitar lick Slash does at the beginning? It was kinda like a joke because we thought, 'What is this song? It's gonna be nothing, it'll be filler on the record.' And except that vocal-wise, it's very sweet and sincere, Slash was just fuckin' around when he first wrote that lick.^[3]

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The song is composed in the key of D♭ (D-Flat)/C♯ (C-sharp) mixolydian, which is the same as G♭/F♯ major. At the start of the guitar solo it changes to the relative minor key or aeolian mode of G♭/F♯ major, or E♭/D♯ minor. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Child_o%27_Mine

Comment: Even the most cynical of us  sometimes fall prey to romantic memories; what might've beens; beautiful fantasies; the pure first loves of youth. Before the repressed world of the psychopathological & coercive superego works its perversions & fractures on us. There is a way to resist. Its a struggle. What isn't in this life? I've said this before: love, art & positive action are three of the ways I see as resisting civilization & its discontents.

Time & space are large for the child. The younger version of ourselves thinks in terms of time lived rather trhan time left.  What saves among the slings & arrows of outrageous fortune? The beloved works magic. Often without realizing just how important they are. How vital they are for us to keep on living with the promise of joy. Contentment is good enough for me. But there are episodes of transcendant happiness that have been & hopefully will be pleasantly surprising. Gifts of Life & Love.

Sweet Child O' Mine

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky
Now and then when I see her face
She takes me away to that
special place
And if I stared too long
I'd probably break down and cry

Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine

She's got eyes of the bluest skies
As if they thought of rain
I hate to look into those eyes
And see an ounce of pain
Her hair reminds me
of a warm safe place
Where as a child I'd hide
And pray for the thunder
And the rain
To quietly pass me by

Sweet child o' mine
Sweet love of mine

Where do we go
Where do we go now
Where do we go
Sweet child o' mine

--song written by  Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Steven Adler