On this day, (July 15), the video for Guns N’ Roses’ hit song “November Rain” reached 1 billion views on YouTube. It was the first music video from the 1990s to reach the massive streaming milestone. More short film than music video, the clip contains some of the most iconic shots in rock and roll history and boasted a bank-breaking budget.
Guns N’ Roses released “November Rain” in 1992 as the third single from Use Your Illusion. It peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was, at the time, the longest song to land on the Hot 100 at almost nine minutes long. The song’s video also boasted the highest budget in the industry at the time. It cost a whopping $1.5 million to make. However, there’s no denying they got their money’s worth from the shoot.
Guns N’ Roses Went Big for “November Rain” Video
The “November Rain” video started with a short story called “Without You,” written by Del James, a journalist who was in Guns N’ Roses’ orbit, according to the Los Angeles Times. The story was about a rockstar who partied hard and fell apart after his girlfriend’s suicide, caused by his constant cheating.
Helmed by director Andy Morahan, who did multiple videos for the band, they shot the bulk of the video at St. Brendan Church in Los Angeles. However, they traveled to a movie ranch in New Mexico for Slash’s iconic solo scene. They had to have the church moved to the location and captured the shot with a Lourna crane, a Steadicam, and a helicopter. While working on that scene, Morahan ran into another Anton Corbin, another director. “Oh, my god, is this the whole video?” Corbin asked. “No. It’s about 30 seconds,” Morahan told him. “It was bonkers,” he recalled.
They also rented out Villa del Sol d’Oro in Sierra Madre for the reception scenes, where a man dives headfirst into a massive wedding cake.
Featured Image by Ke.Mazur/WireImage
