The Los Angeles hard rock band Guns N’ Roses released just six albums during a contentious decades-long run marked by infighting, drug abuse, and concert riots. They also managed to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide, and release the highest-selling debut album in United States history.

All of that added up to induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the band’s first year of eligibility. It was a well-earned honor, even if the band members themselves claimed not to want it.

Guns N’ Roses have had six top ten hits, including their sole #1 with today’s SOTD, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine.’ That song, along with ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and ‘Paradise City,’ appeared on their 1987 debut, Appetite for Destruction. Appetite sold 18 million copies in the U.S., a record for a first album.

A rushed follow-up, G N’ R Lies (1988), produced just one hit single in ‘Patience’ and still moved 5 million units. Their next effort was more ambitious. Split across two albums, Use Your Illusion parts I and II featured the hit ballad ‘November Rain’ as well as popular covers of ‘Live and Let Die’ and ‘Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.’ Both discs had massive success.

It was mostly downhill from there. A covers album wasn’t well-received, and a sixth album titled Chinese Democracy was delayed for more than a decade before coming out in 2008 to mixed reviews and tepid sales.

Still, the band remained a potent force, selling out arenas every time they embarked on tour (even as some of those shows were marked by crowd violence). Their videos for ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ and ‘November Rain’ are the most-streamed of the 80s and 90s, respectively, on YouTube.

The undeniable excellence of Axl Rose’s vocals and Slash’s guitar (supported by Izzy Stradlin on rhythm guitar, Duff McKagan on bass, and Steven Adler on drums) make Guns N’ Roses one of the great post-70s rock bands, and an easy candidate for the Hall of Fame.