Hollywood Rose

Hollywood Rose was an American hard rock group formed in 1983 and is best known as the precursor group for what would eventually become Guns N' Roses. The group was founded by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin and Chris Weber while they were aided during live shows by Rick Mars, Johnny Kreis, Steve Darrow and Andre Troxx. Rose, Stradlin and Weber, along with Kreis, recorded a five-song demo in 1984. However after a number of lineup changes, which includes Weber and Kreis being replaced by Slash and Steven Adler (both then of Road Crew) respectively as well the departure of Stradlin, the group disbanded the same year.

Hollywood Rose reunited briefly in 1985 with Rose, Stradlin, Weber and Darrow returning and adding former L.A. Guns drummer Rob Gardner to the group. L.A. Guns founder Tracii Guns eventually replaced Weber. They changed their name to Guns N' Roses (combining the names of L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose) with L.A. Guns bassist Ole Beich replacing Darrow. Eventually Guns, Gardner and Beich were replaced by former Hollywood Rose members Slash, Adler and their former Road Crew band mate Duff McKagan with this lineup becoming known as the "classic lineup" of Guns N' Roses.

The five-song demo, recorded in 1984, was released in 2004 with the title The Roots of Guns N' Roses. A number of Hollywood Rose material were included on the albums Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide (1986), Appetite for Destruction (1987), Live from the Jungle (1987) and G N' R Lies (1988) released by Guns N' Roses.