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February 6th, 1962 - W. Axl Rose (real name William Bailey) is born in Lafayette, Indiana. His stepfather's surname is Bailey, but when he discovers that his real father's surname is Rose, William changes his to Rose. Axl was a band he used to sing in.
April 8th, 1962 - Izzy Stradlin (real name Jeff Isbell) is born in Lafayette, Indiana.
June 18th, 1963 - Dizzy Reed (Darren Arthur Reed) is born in Hinsdale, Illinois.
February 5th, 1964 - Duff McKagan (real name Michael) is born in Seattle, Washington.
January 22nd, 1965 - Steven Adler is born in Cleveland, Ohio
July 23rd, 1965 - Slash (real name Saul Hudson) is born in Stoke-On-Trent, England.
March 25th, 1966 - Frank Ferrer is born in New York City, NY.
November 17th, 1966 - Richard Fortus is born in St.Louis, MO.
1972 - Steven moves to Los Angeles.
1976 - Slash moves to LA with his mother.
September 3rd, 1976 - Duff attends the Aerosmith show in Seattle, WA. With Jeff Beck opening the show. In 1992, Duff gets to play with Steven Tyler, Joe Perry and Jeff Beck at rehearsals for the Paris show.
1979 - Duff is in one of his first bands in Seattle, WA called the Thankless Dogs.
April 8th, 1979 - Slash attends the California World Music Festival at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, to see Aerosmith for the first time.
1980 - Izzy moves to Los Angeles. He joins a punk band called Naughty Women as their drummer. Later he plays with the Atoms (drums) and Shire (bass).

At the age of 16, Duff becomes The Fastbacks' second drummer. Before joining The Fastbacks, he had played in the Vains and the Living (with Greg Gilmore). Duff had lived in San Francisco when he was in the hardcore band Silly Killers (drummer). He moved back to Seattle and joined Cannibal (guitar). He also played in the last version of the Fartz.

1980 - Vains release their You May Not Believe In Vains But You Cannot Deny Terror 7" featuring Duff McKagan on bass (credited as Nico Teen). The single consists of three songs School Jerks, The Fake (the first song written by, and featuring vocals by Duff) and The Loser.
May 2nd, 1980 - Duff plays his first ever show as a member of the Vains at Washington Hall in Seattle, WA. They are opening for Black Flag. After Vains, he plays guitar and sings in a band called Cleavage.
December 5th, 1980 - Duff plays his first show as the Fastbacks' drummer at the Gorilla Room in Seattle, WA.
1981 - Slash plays in his first band called Tidus Sloan.
January, 1981 - Duff records two songs with the Fastbacks at Triangle Studios during the month of January. The single features It's Your Birthday on side A and You Can't Be Happy as the B-side. Duff plays drums on the 7".
January 20th, 1981 - The Fastbacks, with Duff on drums, entered Triangle studios for their first real recording session.

They recorded four songs: Someone Else's Room, Was Late, It's Your Birthday and You Can't Be Happy.

March 6th, 1981 - The Fastbacks open a show for Joan Jett.
July 24th, 1981 - Duff plays his last show as the drummer in the Fastbacks at the Gorilla Room in Seattle, WA.
September, 1981 - A Seattle concert venue called The Gorilla Room was shut down by the Liquor Board because of repeated violations. Underage musicians were getting in to play, which was legal under certain restrictions, but they were getting their underage friends and siblings in, which wasn't legal. One of the under-21s caught on the premises was Duff.
November 13th, 1981 - Duff and the rest of The Living have a show at the Harvard Exit, a cinema located in Seattle, WA.
1982 - Duff plays guitar in The Living in Seattle, WA. Other band members were Greg Gilmore (drums), John Conte (vocals) and Todd Fleischman (bass). The band records some songs that eventually get released in 2021. They also play shows around the area.
July 30th, 1982 - Duff and The Living play their last show in Seattle, WA.
December 4th, 1982 - Axl goes to see Aerosmith, with Pat Travers and Rose Tattoo opening, at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, IN.
December 19th, 1982 - Axl leaves Lafayette for good. He and his girlfriend moves into some shit hole at 1921 Whitley Avenue in Hollywood.
1983 - In 1983 The Fartz changed their name to 10 Minute Warning when bassist Steve Fart quit. The remaining members (Blaine Cook, Duff McKagan and Paul Solger) concentrated on what Duff called "tunes for groovin', not tunes for anti-this or anti-that". Solger recalls the band as "melding punk rock with more psychedelic 60s stuff; not so much heavy metal yet, except for early Black Sabbath".

David Garriques joined on bass. He was succeeded by Daniel House.

Soon Cook, who was the last original Fartz member, quit. His replacement as the new singer was Steve Verwolf. This line-up recorded tracks for an unreleased EP in early 1984.

When drummer Greg Gilmore joined, Duff switched to guitar. While House and Verwolf were in the band, 10 Minute Warning evolved further from hardcore toward a semi-improvisational gothic feel that Henry Rollins compared to a punk version of Hawkwind.

This lineup recorded an album's worth of material, unreleased, before they split at the beginning of 1985. Their last official gig was at Lincoln Arts.

While living in Seattle Duff had been asked to join an English band called Angelic Upstarts. But by joining the band he'd have to move to England, so he declined the offer.

Axl plays in a band called Rapidfire in 1983. In May 1983 they record a demo with the songs Ready To Rumble, All Night Long, The Prowler and On The Run.

Chris Weber met Izzy through Tracii Guns. Izzy introduced Axl to Chris and together they started a band called Rose (which was first called A.X.L.).

Other members in Rose were Chris Weber (guitar) and Johnny Kreiss (aka Johnny Christ) (drums). Johnny was found through an ad in The Recycler. On bass they had Rick Mars and later Andre Roxx.

Later they changed the name to Hollywood Rose.

The band's first show was at the Orphanage. They also played venues such as the Troubadour, the Country Club and Madam Wong's East.

They played shows with bands such as Mondo Cain, Bitch, The Mercenaries and Candy.

While Axl and Izzy were in Rose they wrote a song called "My Way - Your Way". It turned up as "Anything Goes" on "Appetite For Destruction". Other songs from that period are "Shadow Of Your Love" and "Wreckless" (later renamed to "Reckless Life").

Slash plays in Tidus Sloan with Ron Schneider (bass) and Adam Greenberg (drums). Later on, he starts Road Crew.

February 25th, 1983 - Duff McKagan has a show with 10 Minute Warning at the at Showbox in Seattle, WA. The band is opening for D.O.A. and the Fastbacks.
March 12th, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning havw a show at the Crossroads Center in Seattle, WA.
April 2nd, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning open for The Accüsed at the Washington Hall in Seattle, WA.
April 22nd, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning play a show at The Hippodrome in Seattle, WA. Other acts on the bill are the Dead Kennedys and Mr. Epp & the Calculations.
April 26th, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning are opening for the Dead Kennedys at La Bamba's in Portland, OR.
May 13th, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning, along with the U-Men, Malfunkshun and Poison Idea, play a show at ACME Records in Bainbridge Island, WA.
August 7th, 1983 - Duff's band 10 Minute Warning open a show for Black Flag at the Eagle's Nest in Seattle, WA.
September 1st, 1983 - Slash decides to change Tidus Sloan's name to Roadcrew.
November 12th, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning and the U-Men play at The Metropolis in Seattle, WA.
November 19th, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning and Cannibal have a show in Seattle, WA at the Graven Image.
November 30th, 1983 - Ten Minute Warning, with Duff, open a show for The Replacements at The Metropolis in Seattle, WA.
December 16th, 1983 - 10 Minute Warning, Deranged Diction and the Butthole Surfers have a show at The Metropolis in Seattle, WA.
December 31st, 1983 - Ten Minute Warning play a New Year's Eve show at the Graven Image in Seattle, WA.
December 31st, 1983 - Warrant, Pyrrhus and Road Crew with Slash play a show at Curly Joe's. The show was booked by Slash and featured his band (Road Crew) and Tracii Guns' band Pyrrhus.
1984 - Rose/Hollywood Rose plays shows in the Los Angeles area.

Slash plays in Road Crew (with Steven) and London.

January, 1984 - The Fastbacks' first tour. Duff was their first roadie.

Hollywood Rose (Axl, Izzy, Chris Weber and Johnny Kreis) record a demo featuring the tracks "Killing Time", "Anything Goes", "Rocker", "Shadow Of Your Love" and "Reckless Life".

January 3rd, 1984 - Rose, with Axl and Izzy, play a show at the Orphanage in North Hollywood, CA.
January 17th, 1984 - Rose plays at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
February 18th, 1984 - Duff plays a show with 10 Minute Warning in their hometown Seattle, WA at The Metropolis.
March 16th, 1984 - Hollywood Rose plays at Madame Wong's East in Los Angeles, CA.
April 1st, 1984 - Announcing Hollywood Rose says the flyer promoting a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA by the band called Hollywood Rose.
April 21st, 1984 - 10 Minute Warning show in Seattle, WA at the Graven Image.
June 16th, 1984 - The New Hollywood Rose plays at Madame Wong's West. The line-up for this gig is Axl, Slash, Steven Darrow and Steven Adler. It was the first time Axl played a show with Slash and Steven.
June 28th, 1984 - Hollywood Rose (with Slash on guitar) plays at Madam Wong's East in Hollywood, CA.
July 10th, 1984 - The New Hollywood Rose plays at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
July 20th, 1984 - Hollywood Rose has a show at Madame Wong's West. Songs played include titles such as "Reckless", "Anything Goes", "Rock N' Roll Survivor", "Back Off Bitch", "Nice Boys", "Rock N' Roll Rose" and a cover of Nazareth's "Hair Of The Dog" to end the show.
August 29th, 1984 - The New Hollywood Rose plays at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. The band has replaced Steve Darrow on bass with a guy named Snake.
August 31st, 1984 - Hollywood Rose plays a "After Hours Party" show at the Shamrock Studios on Santa Monica Boulevard at 2:00AM.

During 1984 Hollywood Rose also opens for the band Stryper at the Music Machine. Also on the bill is Slash's band at the time called Black Sheep. Hollywood Rose breaks up after this show.

Izzy joins a band called London while Axl sings in LA Guns with Ole Beich on bass and Rob Gardner on drums.

September, 1984 - In September 1984 Duff and his friend, Greg Gilmore, moved down to LA. They started to answer ads and attending auditions together.

Duff decided to start playing the bass instead of guitar.

Through one ad, in the Recycler, Duff met Slash and Steve Adler. They started a band called Road Crew . While in Road Crew Slash came up with a riff that later turned up in a song called "Paradise City".

Greg Gilmore attended a few of their practices, but he decided to move back to Seattle (later he played in Mother Love Bone, which also included Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, both are now members of Pearl Jam).

September, 1984 - After playing in Hollywood Rose, Slash auditions for Poison.
September 8th, 1984 - 10 Minute Warning show at the Lincoln Arts Center in Seattle, WA.
October 5th, 1984 - L.A. Guns, with Axl on vocals, has a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. Also on the bill is London (possibly with Izzy on guitar). L.A. Guns performs the songs "Bloodshot Eyes", "Shadow Of Your Love", "Nice Boys", "If You Don't Love Me", "Stick To Your Guns", "Anything Goes" and "Heartbreak Hotel". Tracii Guns is on guitar, Rob Gardner on drums and Ole Beich on bass.
October 13th, 1984 - Axl, now singing in L.A. Guns, have a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
December 31st, 1984 - Hollywood Rose reunites for a New Year's Eve show at the Dancing Waters.

Rob Gardner is on drums and Steve Darrow on bass.

Chris Weber was later replaced by Tracii Guns.

March 24th, 1985 - Guns N' Roses gets interviewed on KPFK, a radio station in Los Angeles. Axl and Izzy mentions that they have a new bass player named Duff. Izzy also mentions he had just written a song with Axl called Don't Cry Tonight, and the station plays part of the song. The band says they're gonna release an EP with four songs (Heartbreak Hotel (by Elvis Presley), Don't Cry Tonight, I Think About You and Anything Goes.
March 26th, 1985 - The first Guns N' Roses show. A flyer for a show at The Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA says "L.A Guns and Hollywood Rose presents the band Guns N' Roses". The band's line-up is: Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (guitar), Tracii Guns (guitar), Duff McKagan (?) or Ole Beich (bass) and Rob Gardner (drums).

The band calls themselves Guns N' Roses (they rejected the names Heads Of Amazon and AIDS).

April 11th, 1985 - Guns N' Roses plays at Radio City in Anaheim, CA. This is the first (?) show with Duff McKagan on bass.
April 24th, 1985 - The flyer for GN'R show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA says Forget The Bullshit Here's Guns N' Roses. The line-up of GN'R looked like this: Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (guitar), Tracii Guns (guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Rob Gardner (?) (drums).
April 25th, 1985 - Show at the Dancing Waters in San Pedro, CA.
April 26th, 1985 - Axl makes a guest appearance at the Shark Island show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. He joins the band, along with Tracii Guns, to perform a cover of Rock and Roll by Led Zeppelin.
April 27th, 1985 - GN'R plays a show at the Timbers Club in Glendora, CA.
May 11th, 1985 - Show at Timbers Ballroom in Glendora, CA.
May 12th, 1985 - GN'R plays a show at Joshua's Parlor, in Westminster, CA.
May 31st, 1985 - Black Sheep, with Slash on guitar, plays at the Country Club in Los Angeles, CA.
June 6th, 1985 - The GN'R lineup of:

W. Axl Rose (vocals)
Slash (lead guitars)
Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar)
Duff McKagan (bass)
Steven Adler (drums)

plays at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA."A Rock N Roll Bash Where Everyones Smashed". Songs performed at the show: Reckless Life, Shadow of Your Love, Jumpin' Jack Flash (originally by the Rolling Stones), Think About You, Move to the City, Don't Cry, Nice Boys (originally by Rose Tattoo), Back Off Bitch, Anything Goes, Heartbreak Hotel (originally by Elvis Presley)

Duff had some connections in Seattle and booked gigs for the band. Tracii was replaced by Slash since he didn't show up for rehearsal.

Late 1985:

Guns N' Roses played LA clubs like the Whiskey A Go-Go, the Roxy, the Water Club, the Troubadour and Scream. The sets used to begin with an intro tape of "What's That Noise" by the Stormtroopers Of Death. GN'R played early versions of original songs like "Welcome To The Jungle", "Reckless Life", "It's So Easy" and "Don't Cry". By the end of 1985 the band had already written fourteen original songs.

The band had to play covers to keep the club audiences happy. They played songs by Aerosmith ("Mama Kin"), Elvis Presley ("Heartbreak Hotel") and The Rolling Stones ("Jumping Jack Flash").

June 8th, 1985 - GN'R had a show booked in Seattle with The Fastbacks. But the show didn't happen until a few days later because the band's car broke down on their way to Seattle and they ended up hitchhiking.

This is from Clark Humphrey's book "Loser The Real Seattle Music Story":

Fastbacks-Silly Killers-Vains-Fartz-10 Minute Warning vet Duff McKagan returned from L.A. to perform one show at the Omni Room. It was the first show on the first tour by his new band, first called Hollywood Rose but by then known as Guns n' Roses (the Fastbacks opened). The band hitchhiked part of the way when its van broke down on Interstate 5; the guys only received $50 of their promised $250 fee for a gig only 13 people saw.

GN'R rehearsed for a couple of days and started The Hell Tour. The trip to Seattle wasn't a success. After driving 100 miles their car broke down. They had to hitchhike and when they arrived in Seattle no one cared about them. Most of the shows had been cancelled and they only got $50 a show instead of the promised $250.

GN'R went back to Los Angeles and continued to rehearse. Their "home" on Sunset Boulevard was called The Hell House. They hadn't money so they lived on cheap wine and biscuits.

June 12th, 1985 - GN'R had a show at The Stone in San Francisco, CA with Jetboy. Unclear if the show happened on this date due to the band's car problems getting to Seattle.
June 13th, 1985 - Guns N' Roses returned home from the Hell Tour.
June 28th, 1985 - Guns N' Roses show at the Stardust Ballroom in Los Angeles, CA. GN'R's cover of "Mama Kin" was performed for the first time at this show.
July 4th, 1985 - Show at Madame Wong's East in Los Angeles, CA.
July 20th, 1985 - GN'R play at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. "Welcome To The Jungle" is played for the first time at this show.
July 21st, 1985 - Show at a frat party at UCLA in Los Angeles, CA.
July 26th, 1985 - A show at The Seance in Los Angeles, CA with a very drunk Slash on guitar.
August 30th, 1985 - Show at the Stardust Ballroom in Los Angeles, CA. The show is a special event for Jerry's Kids. GN'R performs a cover of Grand Funk Railroad's We're An American Band at his show.
August 31st, 1985 - "Diamonds In The Rough", GN'R plays at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA.
September 20th, 1985 - "Welcome To The Jungle" GN'R at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. First performance of Rocket Queen.
September 28th, 1985 - Guns N' Roses is one of the bands playing at the 8th Annual L.A. Street Scene.
October 5th, 1985 - Show in San Francisco, CA at the Stone with Jetboy.
October 10th, 1985 - "Paradise City" is performed for the first time at a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
October 18th, 1985 - Show at the the Country Club in Los Angeles.
October 31st, 1985 - Halloween Eve show at the Radio City in Anaheim, CA.
November 22nd, 1985 - Show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
December 20th, 1985 - GN'R plays at the Music Machine in Los Angeles, CA. Nightrain is performed for the first time at this show.
January 4th, 1986 - GN'R plays a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.

The flyer for the show says: "Get Yourself Together, Drink Till You Drop, Forget About Tomorrow, Have Another Shot. Happy New Year! From the boys who brought you the most chaotic shows of 1985." Premiere of My Michelle.

January 18th, 1986 - GN'R plays at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, CA. The show ends with GN'R performing a song called Goodnight Tonight.
January 26th, 1986 - Guns N' Roses plays a show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA.
February 28th, 1986 - Show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. First performance of Out Ta Get Me.
March 11th, 1986 - Show at the Music Machine in Los Angeles, CA.
March 21st, 1986 - GN'R plays at Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, CA. They're opening for Johnny Thunders.
March 26th, 1986 - GN'R signs with Geffen Records. Later the band starts to record their album at Rumbo Studios, but nothing gets done. Slash is having problems with drugs. Later in the year, he pawned his Gibson Les Paul for drug money.
March 28th, 1986 - Two GN'R shows at the Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, CA.The first one was at 8:00PM and the second one at 10:00PM.
March 29th, 1986 - Show at Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach, CA. Opening for The Lords Of The New Church.
April 5th, 1986 - Show at the legendary Whisky a Go Go in West Hollywood, CA.
May 1st, 1986 - Acoustic show at the Central in West Hollywood, CA.
May 3rd, 1986 - Show at The Roxy in West Hollywood, CA.
May 13th, 1986 - GN'R, under the name Fargin Bastydges, plays at Raji's in Los Angeles, CA. First performance of You're Crazy.
May 31st, 1986 - Show at Gazzarri's in West Hollywood, CA. GN'R are billed as Fargin Bastydges.
June 5th, 1986 - Guns N' Roses records with producer Manny Charlton at Sound City studios in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, CA. The songs from these sessions are released in 2018.
July 11th, 1986 - Show at the Troubadour in West Hollywood, CA. It's labeled as a Farewell to Hollywood show.
July 21st, 1986 - GN'R plays at Bogart's in Long Beach, CA.
July 24th, 1986 - Show in Los Angeles, CA at Club Lingerie. The band used the alias Fargin Bastydges.
July 31st, 1986 - GN'R plays a show at Timbers Ballroom in Glendora, CA with The Lords Of The New Church.
August, 1986 - Alan Niven is hired as GN'R's manager. Tim Collins (Aerosmith's manager) was interested, but after the boys ordered drinks on his hotel bill, he changed his mind.

GN'R begin recording the songs that became " Appetite For Destruction".

August 15th, 1986 - Show at the Scream in Los Angeles, CA.
August 23rd, 1986 - GN'R plays at the Whisky A Go Go in West Hollywood, CA. First performance of "Sweet Child O' Mine," "Mr. Brownstone" and "Ain't Going Down".
August 28th, 1986 - Show in San Francisco, CA with Jetboy at the Stone.
August 30th, 1986 - Opening for Ted Nugent at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium.
September 13th, 1986 - Show at the Music Machine in Los Angeles, CA. Axl introduces Nightrain with "This is a song about getting drunk. We'll dedicate this to Dizzy and his hand."
September 20th, 1986 - Show at the 9th Annual L.A. Street Scene.
October 23rd, 1986 - GN'R opens for Alice Cooper at the Arlington Theatre in Santa Barbara, CA. Axl wasn't allowed into the venue because his name wasn't on the list. So the band performed without him.
October 31st, 1986 - GN'R open for the Red Hot Chili Peppers at Ackerman Hall (UCLA) in Los Angeles, CA.
November 15th, 1986 - Show in Long Beach, CA at Fender's Ballroom. With The Lords Of The Church or Dead Boys.
November 23rd, 1986 - Guns N' Roses records Shadow Of Your Love at Rumbo Recorders in Canoga Park, CA with Mike Clink producing. The track is released in 2018 as part of the Appetite For Destruction re-issue.
December, 1986 - The recording of "Appetite For Destruction" was finished and the mixing started. Geffen planned to release the record in July 1987.
December 16th, 1986 - Geffen releases a four song EP called "Live ?!'@ Like A Suicide" on GN'R's own Uzi Suicide label. 10,000 copies of the EP is released. It starts of with Slash screaming "Hey fuckers, suck on Guns and fucking Roses!".
December 21st, 1986 - GN'R opens for Cheap Trick at Fenders Ballroom in Long Beach, CA.
December 23rd, 1986 - A release party for "Live ?!'@ Like A Suicide" at the Cathouse in Hollywood, CA.
December 31st, 1986 - Guns N' Roses plays a ahow at The Glamour in Los Angeles, CA.
  

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