"Don't Cry" predates Guns N' Roses. It was written by Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin before Guns N' Roses formed after they both fell for the same girl. She couldn't decide between the two of them. One night on a park bench she told Rose "Don't cry Bill" (Rose's given name) which is where the title came from.
It was released on the 1991
Use Your Illusion I
and
II
albums. It was released on
Use Your Illusion II
with alternate lyrics.
"Don't Cry" made it to #10 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.
Rose commented on the difficulty of filming the video and how certain scenes inspired by his relationship with Erin Everly affected him emotionally:
With our video for "Don't Cry," and the fight that
Stephanie Seymour
, (Axl's then-current girlfriend) and I had over the gun, you don't necessarily know what's going on. But in real life that happened with
Erin Everly
(Axl's ex-wife) and myself. I was going to shoot myself. We fought over the gun and I finally let her win. I was kind of mentally crippled after that. Before shooting our documentary, I said, "This seems really hard, 'cause it really happened." And the night we wrote the scene, my friend Josh said, "Okay, how are you going to play that?" He wanted to rehearse and I was like, "Look, leave me alone." But he kept pushing until, finally, I stood up. I had this cigarette lighter that looked like a real gun and I said, "Look, I'm gonna do it like this." And I just went over and slammed around in the hallway a bit and threw the gun and said, "Is that good enough for you?"
Guns N' Roses "Don't Cry" 1991