Guns N’ Roses have released a new single, “The General.” The slow-building, guitar-led song marks the rock band’s second track of 2023 following “Perhaps,” which dropped in August.
Last month, Guns N’ Roses debuted “The General” live during their two-night stand at Los Angeles’ Hollywood Bowl. The song has been floating around for years. In 2007, Sebastian Bach spoke about the track in an interview, saying, “It’s by far the heaviest metal tune I think I’ve ever heard Axl [Rose] do, this slow, grinding riff with these high, piercing vocals, screaming vocals.”
Like “The General,” “Perhaps” dates back to the rock band’s Chinese Democracy sessions. The summer single marked Guns N’ Roses’ first “new” music since the 2021 singles “Hard Skool” and “Absurd,” another pair of Chinese Democracy-era outtakes that were updated by the band’s current, semi-reunited lineup.
Back in 2019, bassist Duff McKagan hinted that GN’R were at work on their first album together since 1993’s The Spaghetti Incident?
“Oh, it’s real, but the fun part and the cool part about Guns N’ Roses is we don’t really talk about it, and what happens next just happens,” McKagan said of a new album. “It’s never been that band that there’s a direct schedule of how we do things. I’ve heard some magnificent stuff that Axl has, really cool stuff he’s been working on. So I’m excited about the possibilities with that, of course. I don’t mean to get anybody rabid. Our day will happen when it happens, that’s for sure.”
Slash previously stated, “Axl, Duff, myself and Richard [Fortus] have all talked about [it]… there’s material and stuff going on already for a new record. It’s just, with Guns N’ Roses, you don’t go, ‘Oh, there is a plan, and it’s gonna be like this,’ because that’s not how it works. So, basically, the only real answer to give is we’re hoping to put a new record out, and we’ll just see what happens when it happens.”
Guns N’ Roses spent the summer and fall on a massive headlining tour, which included stops at Glastonbury, the Hollywood Bowl, and London’s Hyde Park. The band also performed at Power Trip in Indio, California with AC/DC and Metallica.