The Guns N' Roses Albums, Ranked

• Our Favorite Song: "Better"

We'll be the first to tell you that even with the No. 3 debut on the U.S. Billboard 200 and the platinum certification that 2008's Chinese Democracy remains an underrated body of work. However, there was also a lot that went on with the group in between 1993's "The Spaghetti Incident?" and this record. In fact, let's breakout the bulleted list.

• Bands go through lineup changes all the time (even once they've reached the level of Guns N' Roses), so changing members isn't really a shocker. That said, there were quite a few shifts and shakeups, including Slash's departure in 1996.
• While the members that were present recorded dozens of songs together with the intent to release them over the course of time, it didn't actually result in an album being released as said album was in development hell.
• Chinese Democracy was actually supposed to come out in 1999, but it was delayed and eventually scrapped to be re-recorded.
• With this being the most expensive rock album ever produced, you would think there would have to be an issue of budgets that came into play at some point.
• Chinese Democracy was supposed to come out in March 2007, but once again, it did not.

Now if you look solely at the numbers, you'll hear people saying that Chinese Democracy was a disappointment, and while it may not have met what was expected of it sales-wise (especially when you factor in what it cost to make the album), the sales don't indicate how much of a dime piece this album was and still is. For starters, Chinese Democracy got leaked before its release, and when you factor in the 2000s penchant for illegal music, that was pretty much the nail in the coffin. Also, technically speaking, this wasn't the Guns N' Roses that people were used to from a lineup perspective, so you had some fans that chose to not support.

Putting those elements to the side completely, Chinese Democracy is album that stands up on its own with jams like "Better," "Street of Dreams," and "Shackler's Revenge." The views for the individual songs on this record are quite high on YouTube, which means this is an album that's getting more appreciated now than what it did at the time of its release. And we love it.

• Our Favorite Song: "Since I Don't Have You"

"The Spaghetti Incident?" is an interesting album as it's composed of classic covers. While this isn't really a "thing" anymore in the music industry, it wasn't unheard of "back in the day" for artists to make entire records that consisted of covers. While some may not like the idea, we've personally always thought that the concept is interesting. What started out as a EP later turned into album full of spontaneity, and the rest is history here people. GNR took on iconic punk and rock hits such as The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You," The New York Dolls' "Human Being," Nazareth's "Hair of the Dog," and the Sex Pistols' "Black Leather."

• Our Favorite Song: "Knockin' On Heaven's Door"

It legit took us about five minutes to decide where exactly we wanted to put Use Your Illusion II on this list, and frankly, we're still not sure if we've got it right. It's not often that you can get almost three years out of an album, but Guns N' Roses did with this one as the first single "You Could Be Mine" was released on June 21, 1991, and the final single, "Estranged" was released on January 17th, 1994. Use Your Illusion II debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. charts, selling 685,000 copies it's first week.

The album is truly incredible as you had the aforementioned "You Could Be Mine" and "Estranged," and in between there was "Knockin' on Heaven's Door," "Yesterdays," and "Civil War," that was also released as singles. Aside from the singles, there were the deep cuts like "Get in the Ring," and "Breakdown." Like we said, an incredible album. One that has sold close to six million units in the United States as of 2010.

• Our Favorite Song: "Reckless Life (Live)"

There's several things we love about G N' R Lies starting with the live/faux live tracks. "Reckless Life" is the perfect opening track to get you hype, "Nice Boys" and "Move to the City" could have been singles in our opinion, and the Aerosmith cover "Mama Kin" does the original justice. The second half of the album being all-acoustic is another component that while appreciated, still doesn't get appreciated enough. All-acoustic? Come on now. That's next level. Our only complaint about G N' R Lies is that it's too short.

• Our Favorite Song: "Live and Let Die"

Use Your Illusion I is where we began to see the early makings of Guns N' Roses really experimenting with their sound. With Use Your Illusion I not only did you get the classic heavy metal sound, you also got blues, classical, and even a slight bit of R&B. Getting to see an artist evolve from the beginning of their careers is a beautiful thing, and you really see that in tracks such as  "Don't Cry " and "Perfect Crime." "Back off Bitch" is a beloved song in the GNF fan community. "Live and Let Die," is well, "Live and Let Die." And we must say the production on this album is stellar.

• Our Favorite Song: "Welcome to the Jungle"

We're just going to come right out and say it—Appetite for Destruction is one of the best debut albums ever. Like...how do you even come up with a song like "Welcome to the Jungle" on your first go-round? What even is that? Then you have "Paradise City," "Night Train," "Mr. Brownstone," "My Michelle," "Think About You"—matter of fact the whole dang album dangit! Let's take a look at the stats on this one, and yes we're going to bust out the bulleted list again.

• No. 1 on the US Billboard 200
• 30 million copies sold
• The seventh best-selling album of all time
• The best-selling debut album by an artist
• Over one million sold in the U.K.
• Certified 18x platinum by the RIAA as of September 2008

In short—the damn thing was done by Guns N' Roses. If there's any one GNR album that you should listen to in order (which we recommend doing for all), it should be this one. No cap.