20 years ago, American rock group Guns N' Roses released the albums Use Your Illusion I and II. It was on UYI I where the song November Rain can be found. Contrary to popular belief, GNR did not release the single in November 1991. It was released nearly eight months later, in June 1992, at the time when grunge was starting to dominate rock radio. The song was about nine minutes long and contains an orchestral arrangement, Axl Rose's pianos, and Slash's lengthy guitar solos.
What struck the song, however, was its music video, which costs nearly $2 million in pre-inflation numbers. The video features not only the band (and the orchestra) playing in front of an audience, but also scenes of Axl and his storyline fiancee about to be engaged, then married, before the bride was presumed killed after a rain poured heavily and chaos erupted during the reception. The final scenes of the video include a funeral for Axl's wife and his dream sequence where his wife threw a bouquet of roses before it landed into her casket in front of Axl crying in the rain. In between, Slash played his guitar solo in front of an abandoned church in the New Mexican desert, which helicopter shots of him in between.
20 years later, I still played the song on occasion whenever rain falls in November, simply because the song carries a lot of poignant messages regarding the loss of one's love in a rather somber manner and the difficulties of moving on from it. Sometimes it makes me cry whenever I play the song. Regardless, 'November Rain' is considered one of the best breakup songs today, and one of the most poignant.
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