When it comes to Guns N’ Roses, rock fans are frankly divided – either they love Axel Rose’s band or they can’t stand them. However, one thing cannot be disputed by anyone – they are the authors of one of the greatest rock ballads – “November Rain”.
And now it’s even debatable whether this isn’t the greatest rock ballad ever discovered. Because there is proof that it is certainly the most listened to.
New data from YouTube shows that the video for “November Rain” is the first rock song to pass the 2 billion mark on the platform.
The feat comes just over 13 years since the song’s original 1992 video was uploaded to the video streaming service on Christmas Day 2009.
Of course, this success is helped not only by the impressive song, but also by the music video for it, which, according to many, is one of the best of the entire decade. It stars Axel Rose and his then half, the supermodel Stephanie Seymour, and the video recreates the tragic love between them.
An iconic scene from the clip is when Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash walks out of the church where Axel and Stefani are getting married to perform one of the most memorable guitar solos in rock history.
While many music videos have already managed to cross the 2 billion YouTube views mark, “November Rain” becomes the first such video in the pure rock genre to do so.
Pop-rock band Imagine Dragons’ “Believer” already has about 2.3 billion views, and Coldplay and The Chainsmokers’ collaboration “Something Just Like This” has reached 2.1 billion views. However, both songs are considered a combination of pop and rock, writes Consequence.
Still atop the list of most viewed music videos is Luis Fonsi and Daddy Yankee’s “Despacito,” which has an impressive 8 billion views.
As for the heavier genres, the closest to November Rain are Linkin Park’s “Numb” and Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” with 1.9 billion views and 1.6 billion views, respectively.
The track “November Rain” is part of Guns N’ Roses’ third studio album – “Use Your Illusion I”, and its author is Axel Rose.
Its original album version clocked in at just over 9 minutes, but in his autobiography guitarist Slash claims that in 1986 the band recorded an 18-minute version of the song with Nazareth guitarist Manny Charlton.
This was before the band began recording their debut album Appetite for Destruction.
A curious point about the song is that it is a particular favorite of former US President Donald Trump, who is known to have made the clip mandatory for people in his administration to watch.
He has even publicly stated on more than one occasion that “November Rain” has “the greatest music video of all time”. Paradoxically, the singer of Guns N’ Roses has repeatedly expressed his contempt for Trump.
