Estranged | |||||
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by Guns N' Roses | |||||
Album | Use Your Illusion II | ||||
Released | (Album) September 17, 1991 (Single) January 17, 1994 | ||||
Recorded | 1991 | ||||
Genre | Hard rock | ||||
Length | 9:24 | ||||
Writers | Axl Rose | ||||
Label | Geffen Records | ||||
Producer | Mike Clink, Guns N' Roses | ||||
Use Your Illusion II chronology | |||||
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Estranged is a single by Guns N' Roses. It appears on the Use Your Illusion II album. It is one of Guns N' Roses most progressive songs.
Live[]
"Estranged" was performed live very frequently on the early legs of the Use Your Illusion tour in 1991 and 1992. It made it's debut at Rock in Rio II on January 20th, 1991, and was played for the last time on the tour in Munich, Germany on June 26th, 1993. Footage from this concert was eventually used for the official "Estranged" music video.
"Estranged" usually appeared very late in the setlist, mostly as the encore before the closer "Paradise City". Despite it's length and complexity, the song was featured at almost every show until being phased out before the Skin n' Bones phase of the tour. It resurfaced briefly at a few shows in 1993. Estranged is documented as being performed over 70 times. When the song was played live in the months before the release of the album the crowds were largely unfamiliar with the song. At several of these early concerts, Axl introduced Estranged as "his baby" of the songs on the upcoming albums.
Notable performances include the Tokyo show on February 22nd, 1992, which was officially released on home video. This version was also used on Live Era, but with most of the vocal track noticeably re-recorded. Axl introduces the song before the Tokyo version with "Tonight's happy song, kinda like a walk in the park... Sun coming through your window in the morning, and it's a beautiful day, and you've got nothing better to do than commit hara-kari, so..." referring to the Japanese tradition of honorable suicide, which is an ironic reflection on the dark nature of the song. Another notable version was from Oklahoma on April 6th, 1992, where Axl quickly quips "I doubt it!" after the line "Maybe I'll get it right next time" perhaps reflecting the pessimism and negative emotions that Axl felt when he wrote the song.
In the web-chats of 2008, Axl mentioned that he would like to play it again someday. Bumblefoot snuck a "teaser" of the song into his solos during the 2009 shows by playing a short riff from the song. However, "Estranged" remained off the setlist until 2011, when it was played at Rock in Rio IV. The performance was praised by many fans and media outlets as one of the few high points of an otherwise underwhelming show.
Since the band got back together in 2016, "Estranged" has been frequently performed throughout the Not In This Lifetime tour.