"Estranged" | ||||||||
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Single by Guns N' Roses | ||||||||
from the album Use Your Illusion II | ||||||||
A-side | "Estranged" (LP version) | |||||||
B-side | "The Garden" (LP version) | |||||||
Released | January 17, 1994 | |||||||
Format | CD single | |||||||
Recorded | 1991 | |||||||
Genre | Hard rock, progressive rock, blues rock, heavy metal | |||||||
Length | 9:23 | |||||||
Label | Geffen | |||||||
Writer(s) | Axl Rose | |||||||
Producer(s) | Mike Clink, Guns N' Roses | |||||||
Guns N' Roses singles chronology | ||||||||
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"Estranged" is a power ballad and music video by the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It is from the second part of their two-part Use Your Illusion album, Use Your Illusion II. The song reached #16 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart in early 1994.
At over nine minutes long, "Estranged", also known for its music video, is the longest song on Use Your Illusion II and Guns N' Roses' second longest song overall (after "Coma" from Use Your Illusion I). It has many verses, no set chorus, and several distinguished guitar and piano solos. Use Your Illusion II's liner notes thank lead guitarist Slash for "the killer guitar melodies", which captured Axl Rose's vision. Slash has specifically stated that recording the guitar parts for this song was very intensive for him; he recorded it using a Les Paul Gold Top, using the rhythm pickup with the tone turned all the way down.
According to Slash, the song was written while the band was rehearsing for an extended period of time in Chicago. Axl revealed that he wrote the song during a more "bummed out" time in his life when his marriage with Erin Everly was annulled.
Released in December 1993, the official music video (directed by Andy Morahan) is the third part of an unofficial Del James series of videos (preceded by "Don't Cry" and "November Rain") from the Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II albums. The estimated budget was US$4 million. The video is similar in style to the previous two in the trilogy.