I loved Appetite for Destruction and still know every lyric for every song even though my college era CD is long gone. I didn’t at all like the GNR Lies follow up album at all, and GNR began to piss me off with their arrogant attitude towards their fans.
I have never owned either of the Use Your Illusion albums although I’m sure I know some of the songs from many hours of listening to rock radio stations in the 1990s. Amazon has Use Your Illusion II on sale for a $5 download and I guess if I like that I can pick up Use Your Illusion I for $7.99
Just my humble opinion but Use Your Illusion II is recommended by me for the following songs:
Civil War
14 Years
Get in the Ring
Breakdown
Locomotive
Estranged
Don’t Cry (alt lyrics- better than the original IMHO)
My World
Use Your Illusion I is not as strong but has the classics like November Rain. Both worth it at that price. But consume nothing further that claims to be Guns 'N Roses after these albums.
Dude, it’s been 22 years, I’m reasonably certain you’ve successfully avoided the big rush. Yes you should pick it up, both of them.
IMO Use Your Illusion I is actually the superior of the two. It does have lower lows; “Bad Obsession” and “Back Off Bitch” are among, if not the, worst songs GnR ever produced, but every other song is good.
II OTOH is almost entirely filler, but the epic songs i.e. “Civil War,” “Locomotive,” and “Estranged” make it worthwhile. I do like “Pretty Tied Up” as well, and possibly “Breakdown,” but I could easily do without the rest.
If you liked “Appetite” then by all means get them both - doesn’t matter who thinks which one is better, what songs are filler, etc etc, what does matter is that both albums show the maturity of the band and the vast improvements in song writing. Slash kills it on every track, and Duff’s bass playing is miles above the first record, but the MVP (IMHO) of both records is Izzy Stradlin. Seriously thick rhythm guitar - great grooves.
Although I have and like *Lies *it was just an EP that got rushed out quickly after *Appetite *hit big time in order to satiate fans. But the Use Your Illusion albums are masterpieces. And I don’t care what anybody tries to tell you about any different, recurring ‘themes’ that applied to I versus II, it was just a double album that was sold individually so that the young fans didn’t have to shell out $35 bucks for a double CD. I remember seeing Slash on MTV saying he expected kids to buy one and have their friend buy the other and just copy them (onto cassettes back then!)
I much prefer I to II, but perhaps that’s just me. While most people ignore it, I love Don’t Damn Me (great riff) and Coma (even if it is quite self-indulgent), in addition to the standard ‘good tracks’ from I. Frankly, I never listened to II all that much. When I was a 7th grader (when these came out), I loved Get in the Ring, mainly due to the rant in the middle, which I just thought was so ‘cool.’ Now, it doesn’t have that same effect as an adult, and the song has lost a lot of its value to me.
Yes you should pick it up, both of them.