Liner Notes · No. 003
"Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses: the B-side
Quick hall pass: the song MTV played once in the middle of the night ended up in Guitar Hero, in a courtroom and in a cellist's hands. Here's the B-side.
📰 FAST FACTS
- At that 2016 Coachella throne show, AC/DC’s Angus Young also sat in. Axl was the one sitting down. Angus, as usual, was not. (mxdwn)
- The Postmodern Jukebox version lives on a 2015 album called Top Hat On Fleek. Somewhere, Slash’s hat felt seen. (Uproxx)
- Carrie and Axl had already swapped guest spots in 2022: Axl at her Stagecoach set, Carrie at his Tottenham Hotspur Stadium show. A country star, a soccer stadium in London, a song about the jungle. Geography is a suggestion. (Rolling Stone)
- In the chart week after Thor: Love and Thunder opened, the song streamed 3.2 million times in the US. Thirty-five years old, and a thunder god put it back to work. (uDiscover Music)
On this record
TRACK 1
Axl sued Guitar Hero over Slash. Axl lost.
Axl sued Activision for $20 million over a digital Slash, and lost. Years earlier, a pre-fame Jim Carrey lip-synced it in The Dead Pool.
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Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock (2007) made "Welcome to the Jungle" a playable song and put a digital Slash in the game, top hat and all. Axl sued Activision for $20 million. His argument: he licensed the song on the condition that Slash would not appear. Slash was, at the time, not his favorite person.
Axl lost. A judge tossed the fraud claims in August 2012 for being filed too late, then threw out the rest in February 2013, finding Activision never agreed to keep Slash out. Three years later, Axl and Slash were back on stage together. Nobody sued anybody. Growth.
Hollywood found it first. In Clint Eastwood's The Dead Pool (1988), the long-haired rock star lip-syncing "Welcome to the Jungle" is Johnny Squares, played by a then-unknown Jim Carrey. Six years before Ace Ventura. Before the face did the thing.
After that, it kept spreading: the radio in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas (2004), Thor: Love and Thunder (2022), which pushed it back onto Billboard's Hot Hard Rock Songs chart at #3, and the 2024 reveal trailer for EA Sports' College Football 25. One NFL team liked it so much they basically adopted it.
Which NFL team treats "Welcome to the Jungle" as its unofficial anthem?
No Googling. We'll know.
That's Side A. Flip the tape.
Side B is where it gets weird:
- The night MTV taped them at the Ritz, and the reunion that started in a small LA club.
- Two cellists, a vintage-style cover and Carrie Underwood, all taking a swing.
- Where the band is now: two new songs and a new drummer.
Free, every Tuesday. One song, the story you never heard, and a 10-minute hall pass from the doomscroll. Already subscribed? Enter your email to unlock.
▶ SIDE B
TRACK 2
From the Ritz to Download
Peak band at the Ritz in 1988, a surprise reunion at the Troubadour in 2016, Axl on a borrowed throne, and a nearly three-hour Download set.
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February 2, 1988: the original five played the Ritz in New York, a show taped for MTV and later released as Live at the Ritz. It's widely treated as the band at its peak, before everything got complicated.
April 1, 2016: the first show with Axl, Slash and Duff together since the early 90s was a surprise gig at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. "Welcome to the Jungle" came fourth. The date was April Fools' Day, and it still wasn't a joke.
That same month at Coachella, Axl played the whole headline set from a throne because of a broken foot. It was the same throne Dave Grohl had used after breaking his leg, and Axl thanked him for the loan. Rock and roll: a sport with a surprising amount of shared furniture.
June 13, 2026: they headlined Download Festival in the UK with a 27-song, nearly three-hour set. One review called it their sharpest in years. Another called it bloated. Both reviewers needed a nap.
TRACK 3
Cellos, a harp and a country star
Two cellists, a candlelit harp version and Carrie Underwood, who eventually got Axl himself to sing it with her.
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- 2011 · 2CELLOS. Two Croatian cellists, Luka Šulić and Stjepan Hauser, made it their second single and later played it to a sold-out Arena di Verona. Turns out the riff does not need electricity. Just very aggressive bowing.
- 2015 · Postmodern Jukebox, featuring Daniela Andrade. A vintage orchestral version with harp, cello and a soft vocal. "Welcome to the Jungle," but make it a candlelit dinner.
- 2022 · Carrie Underwood. She closed the first encore of her Denim & Rhinestones tour with it nearly every night. Country radio did not see that coming.
- 2023 · Carrie Underwood and Axl Rose. On March 13, 2023, in Los Angeles, Axl walked out and sang it with her. The guy from the electric-chair scene, duetting with an American Idol winner. 1987 would not believe you.
▶ WATCH THE CONTENDERS
Battle of the versions: which "Welcome to the Jungle" wins?
Cast your vote. Results in the next issue. Choose carefully: we're judging you.
TRACK 4
Where Guns N' Roses are now
Axl, Slash and Duff are still the core: new drummer, two new songs, no album, and three-hour sets at 64.
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Axl, Slash and Duff are still the core. Drummer Frank Ferrer left in March 2025 after 19 years, and Isaac Carpenter took over.
On December 2, 2025, they released two new songs, "Nothin'" and "Atlas," their first new music in two years. No album has been announced. Guns N' Roses albums arrive on geological time.
Their 2026 world tour opened in Monterrey, Mexico, on March 28 and was booked through a September 19 finale at Truist Park in Atlanta, with a Rose Bowl date along the way. The kid with the piece of wheat in his mouth is 64 now, and still doing three-hour sets.
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