"Estranged" is a song by American

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

, included on their 1991 album '' Use Your Illusion II''. Described as a ballad, the song was released as a single in December 1993.

Background

At over nine minutes long, "Estranged", also known for its music video, is the longest song on ''Use Your Illusion II'' and Guns N' Roses' second longest song overall (after "

Coma A coma is a deep state of prolonged unconsciousness in which a person cannot be awakened, fails to Nociception, respond normally to Pain, painful stimuli, light, or sound, lacks a normal Circadian rhythm, sleep-wake cycle and does not initiate ...

" from '' Use Your Illusion I''). It has many verses, no set chorus, and several distinguished

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

and

piano solo The piano is often used to provide harmonic accompaniment to a voice or other instrument. However, solo Solo or SOLO may refer to: Arts and entertainment Characters * Han Solo, a ''Star Wars'' character * Jacen Solo, a Jedi in the non-canoni ...

s. ''Use Your Illusion IIs liner notes thank lead guitarist

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash th ...

for "the killer guitar melodies", which captured

Axl Rose W. Axl Rose ( ; born William Bruce Rose Jr., February 6, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and lyricist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and has been the band's sole constant member since its inception in ...

's vision. Slash has specifically stated that recording the guitar parts for this song was very intensive for him; he recorded it using a

Les Paul Lester William Polsfuss (June 9, 1915 – August 12, 2009), known as Les Paul, was an American jazz guitarist, jazz, country guitarist, country, and blues guitarist, songwriter, luthier, and inventor. He was one of the pioneers of the solid body ...

Gold Top, using the rhythm pickup with the tone turned all the way down. According to Slash, the song was written while the band was rehearsing for an extended period of time in Chicago. Axl revealed that he wrote the song during a more "bummed out" time in his life when his marriage with Erin Everly was annulled.

Meaning

Of the song, Axl in the early '90s said, “

November Rain "November Rain" is a song by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Written by the band's lead vocalist Axl Rose, the power ballad was released in February 1992 as the third single from the band's third studio album, '' Use Your Illusion I'' ( ...

is a song about not wanting to be in a state of having to deal with

unrequited love Unrequited love or one-sided love is love that is not openly reciprocated or understood as such by the beloved. The beloved may not be aware of the admirer's deep affection, or may consciously reject it knowing that the admirer admires them. Me ...

. Estranged is acknowledging it, and being there, and having to figure out what the f*** to do. It’s like being catapulted out into the universe and having no choice about it, and having to figure out 'What the f*** are you gonna do?' Because the things you wanted and worked for just cannot happen, and there’s nothing you can f***ing do about it.”

Music video

Released in December 1993, the official

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

(directed by

Andy Morahan Andrew Douglas Morahan (born 11 August 1958) is a British commercial, film and music video director. He is the son of director Christopher Morahan and the half-brother of actress Hattie Morahan. Married to Joanna Lewis, he has two children. ...

) is the third part of an unofficial

Del James Adalberto James Miranda (born February 5, 1964), known professionally as Del James, is an American musician, writer, journalist and artist best known for writing the short story that reportedly inspired the " November Rain" video by hard rock b ...

series of videos (preceded by "

Don't Cry "Don't Cry" is a song by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, two versions of which were released simultaneously on different albums. The version with the original lyrics is the fourth track on '' Use Your Illusion I'' (1991), while the versio ...

" and "November Rain") from the '' Use Your Illusion I'' and '' Use Your Illusion II'' albums. The estimated budget was $4 million. The video is similar in style to the previous two in the trilogy. Its live scenes were shot at Olympiastadion in

Munich, Germany Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

Description

The video is the third and final chapter in Guns N' Roses' massively popular "''November Rain'' music video trilogy" (preceded by "Don't Cry" and "November Rain"). It was directed by Andy Morahan and written by frontman Axl Rose himself. While "Don't Cry" and "November Rain" have a strong similarity (they both stage a sort of motion picture film told in vignettes and following the story of a romantic relationship), "Estranged" has very little connection to the story of the two previous videos. This is mainly because Axl Rose's then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour (who played the vocalist's girlfriend in "Don't Cry" and "November Rain") had broken up with Rose before shooting the video, forcing him and the director to abandon the original plans for the shooting of "Estranged", thus leading to a thematic disconnection with the first two. However, this does not mean that the cinematic style was also lost, since "Estranged" has visuals that evoke the first two videos. The video shows Axl Rose being arrested by a group of special police officers, then taken to a mental health clinic, as definitions of various emotional disorders are seen on the screen. The protagonist (Rose) talks to the therapists about his emotional problems, a topic that was depicted in the video for "Don't Cry." In the end, the protagonist is released from the clinic and heads to an abandoned ship at sea, where the story reaches its climax: Rose jumps into the water and swims with a pod of dolphins, gaining inner peace by doing so.

Reception

"Estranged" is widely considered to be one of the band's best songs. In 2017, '' Paste'' ranked the song number two on their list of the 15 greatest Guns N' Roses songs, and in 2020, ''

Kerrang ''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...

'' ranked the song number four on their list of the 20 greatest Guns N' Roses songs.

Live performances

"Estranged" was played live very frequently during the

Use Your Illusion Tour The Use Your Illusion Tour was a concert tour by American rock band Guns N' Roses which ran from January 20, 1991, to July 17, 1993. It was not only the band's longest tour, but one of the longest concert tours in rock history, consisting of 19 ...

from 1991 to 1993. During performances of this song, Dizzy Reed would play piano instead of

. A live version of this song can be heard on '' Live Era: '87-'93''. During the Chinese Democracy Tour, a riff from the song was sometimes included in Ron Thal's solo interpretation of the Pink Panther Theme. In December 2008, Axl spoke of his desire to bring "Estranged" back into the live set. The song was featured with regularity on the tour from 2011 to 2014. A recording was issued on the '' Appetite for Democracy 3D'' video. It was played at almost every show on the Not in This Lifetime... Tour. Examples of live performances: * The Ritz in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on May 16, 1991 *

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

on May 29, 1991 *

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

on February 22, 1992 *

Oklahoma Oklahoma ( ; Choctaw language, Choctaw: , ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Texas to the south and west, Kansas to the north, Missouri to the northea ...

on April 6, 1992 *

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

on September 8, 2022 *

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

on June 30, 2023 at Hyde Park during the BST Series.

Track listing

Personnel

* W. Axl Rose – lead vocals, piano *

– lead guitar *

Izzy Stradlin Jeffrey Dean Isbell (born April 8, 1962), known professionally as Izzy Stradlin, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was a co-founder, rhythm guitarist, and backing vocalist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he re ...

– rhythm guitar, additional lead guitar *

Duff McKagan Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan (born February 5, 1964) is an American musician. He was the bassist of hard rock band Guns N' Roses for twelve years, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. McKagan rejoined the b ...

– bass *

Matt Sorum Matthew William Sorum (born November 19, 1960) is an American drummer. He is best known as both a former member of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he recorded three studio albums, and as a member of the supergroup Velvet Revolver. ...

– drums

Charts

References

External links

"Estranged" -- a music video retrospective
{{Authority control 1991 songs 1993 singles 1990s ballads Geffen Records singles Guns N' Roses songs Music videos directed by Andy Morahan Rock ballads Song recordings produced by Mike Clink Songs written by Axl Rose American progressive rock songs