Guns N' Roses Reunite: See Early Photos of a Band in Action

April 15, 2016 8:00 AM EDT

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 earlier this month—a reunion that will be celebrated on Saturday, as they headline 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.

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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:

It would be unfair to attribute all, or even most, of Guns N‘ Roses‘ success to their unrelentingly sexist and uncompromisingly violent lyrics or to their forays into xenophobia, racism and sadomasochism. Rock ‘n’ roll has always been filled with sexist, violent bands, but very few of them sell 14 million copies the first time out of the chute. What sets the Gunners apart is that they are a genuinely electrifying band that neither looks nor sounds like the interchangeable Whitesnakes, Poisons and Bon Jovis that make up the drab MTV universe. What the Gunners play is very, very good. What the Gunners say is very, very bad…

Guns N‘ Roses tenaciously clings to hard rock’s tradition of being loud, mean and obvious. No one alive looks more like rock stars than Rose, 29, and guitarist Slash, 26, with their tattoos, their headgear, their emotional problems (Slash has frequently used heroin, and Rose is a manic-depressive) and their we-sold-our-soul-to-rock-‘ n’-roll attitudes. The Gunners’ success is giving the kiss of life to a moribund record industry, and has kept rock ‘n’ roll from doing what it keeps threatening to do: expire.

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 and starting to amass fans (and freak out parents) all across America.

Read the 1991 profile of Guns N’ Roses, here in the TIME Vault: Misfit Metalheads

Correction: The original version of this gallery incorrectly credited several of the photographs. They were taken by Jack Lue.

Guns n' Roses At Canter's Deli 1985 — 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

Guns n' Roses At Madame Wong's East 1985 — 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 AngelesMarc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images

Guns N'Guns N' Roses Performing in 1985 — 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

Guns n' Roses At The Troubadour 1985 — 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 AngelesMarc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images

Guns n' Roses At The Roxy 1986 — Axl Rose and Slash of Guns n' Roses perform at the Roxy Theatre on Mar. 25, 1986 in Los AngelesJack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images

Guns n' Roses Peforming 1985 — 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 AngelesMarc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images

Guns n' Roses At The Whisky 1986 — 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 AngelesJack Lue/Michael Ochs Archives—Getty Images

Guns n' Roses Performing 1986 — 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

See Early Photos of Guns N’ Roses in Action

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