--- ---  # See Early Photos of Guns N' Roses in Action  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 15, 2016 12:00 PM UTC  Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Axl Rose, Steven Adler and Slash of Guns n' Roses pose for a portrait in a booth at Canter's Deli adjacent to the Kibitz Room bar in June 1985 in Los Angeles. Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Axl Rose, Steven Adler and Slash of Guns n' Roses pose for a portrait in a booth at Canter's Deli adjacent to the Kibitz Room bar in June 1985 in Los Angeles.Jack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Apr 15, 2016 12:00 PM UTC **Correction appended, April 18, 2016** More than two decades had elapsed since Slash and Axl Rose last played together when Guns N’ Roses first [reunited](http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/six-questions-we-still-have-about-guns-n-roses-reunion-20160404) earlier this month—a reunion that will be celebrated on Saturday, as they [headline](https://www.instagram.com/p/BAJAFZWEsqB/) the Coachella music festival. The reunion has been an occasion for eager fans to look back at the decade or so during which the band dominated rock, between their start in 1985 and their sort-of end in 1993, when the band didn’t exactly break up but essentially stopped being able to tolerate one another long enough to make a significant amount of music. [_Get your history fix in one place: sign up for the weekly TIME History newsletter_](http://time.com/newsletter) But their internal disputes weren’t the only source of Guns N’ Roses controversy. Their lyrics and image roiled non-fans—but it also helped make them what they were, as TIME explained in 1991: --- > “” --- But when these images from 1985 and 1986 were taken, they’d barely started down that rocky road toward controversy, fame, disputes and reunions. The band at that time was on the brink of fame, just signing to [Geffen Records ](http://time.com/vault/issue/1988-12-12/page/98/)and starting to amass fans (and [freak out parents)](http://time.com/vault/issue/1989-06-12/page/88/) all across America. **_Read the 1991 profile of Guns N’ Roses, here in the TIME Vault:_** [Misfit Metalheads](http://time.com/vault/issue/1991-09-30/page/108/) **Correction**: The original version of this gallery incorrectly credited several of the photographs. They were taken by Jack Lue.  Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Axl Rose, Steven Adler and Slash of Guns n' Roses pose for a portrait in a booth at Canter's Deli adjacent to the Kibitz Room bar in June 1985 in Los Angeles. Jack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Steven Adler, Axl Rose and Slash of Guns n' Roses perform for a very small crowd at Madame Wong's East on July 4, 1985 in Los Angeles Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Axl Rose and Slash of the Guns n' Roses perform at Radio City on Oct. 31, 1985 in Anaheim, Calif. Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Slash, Steven Adler, Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin of Guns n' Roses perform at the Troubadour where they played 'Rocket Queen' for the first time on Sept. 20, 1985 in Los Angeles Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Axl Rose and Slash of Guns n' Roses perform at the Roxy Theatre on Mar. 25, 1986 in Los Angeles Jack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan, Axl Rose, Slash and Steven Adler of Guns n' Roses perform at The Music Machine on Dec. 20, 1985 in Los Angeles Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Izzy Stradlin, Slash, Axl Rose and Steven Adler of Guns n' Roses perform at The Whisky-a-Go-Go on Aug. 23,1986 in Los Angeles Jack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images  Guitarist Slash of Guns n' Roses performs at The Arlington Theater on Oct. 23,1986 in Santa Barbara, Calif. Jack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images Guns N' Roses Reunite: See Early Photos of a Band in Action ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4284202/guns-n-roses-photos-coachella/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4284202/guns-n-roses-photos-coachella/"},"headline":"See Early Photos of Guns N' Roses in Action","datePublished":"2016-04-15T12:00:16.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:46:40.363Z","description":"The rockers will reunite at Coachella on Saturday","url":"https://time.com/4284202/guns-n-roses-photos-coachella/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Music","photography"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4585a967d5b07568/69888e018e06018030465535/160406-guns-and-roses-1980s-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lily Rothman","jobTitle":"Rothman is managing editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4585a967d5b07568/69888e018e06018030465535/160406-guns-and-roses-1980s-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Guns n' Roses 1985","caption":"Guns n' Roses At Canter's Deli 1985","creditText":"Jack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4284202/guns-n-roses-photos-coachella/","name":"See Early Photos of Guns N' Roses in Action"}}]}] ```