34 Years Ago Today: ‘90s Rockers Released One of the Most Expensive Music Videos Ever Made

Nothing lasts forever…except the power of Guns N' Roses' "November Rain."

On this day, 34 years ago, the ‘90s rock band debuted the music video for one of their biggest hits on MTV's Headbanger's Ball.

While the "November Rain" video made history at the time as one of the most expensive music videos ever made, it has continued to break records in recent years, as fans rewatch or discover it on YouTube.

The Iconic Music Video

"November Rain" was just one of the many songs on Guns N' Roses' third studio album, "Use Your Illusion I," which was released the same day as "Use Your Illusion II" in September 1991. The track wasn't released as a single until February 18, 1992, before the music video debuted on June 6, 1992.

The nearly 9-minute visual was directed by Andy Morahan, the man behind most of Wham! and George Michael's videos, as well as videos for Van Halen, Billy Joel, Mariah Carey, and Paul McCartney. Morohan also worked on GNR's "Yesterdays," "Estranged," and the live "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" video.

"November Rain" starts with Axl Rose taking pills before going to bed. Then, it flashes back to a grand wedding, where Rose marries his then-girlfriend Stephanie Seymour as his bandmates all watch. After presenting the couple with their rings, Slash then exits the venue, before he plays an epic guitar solo outside a church in the middle of a desert.

While the couple's wedding reception gets off to a great start, it all falls apart when the rain starts to pour down on the festivities. Things take an even more tragic turn when the video then cuts to a shot of Seymour in a coffin, having died somehow offscreen. As she's seen throwing her bouquet, it lands on her burial plot, as Rose is haunted by her death.

The video was reportedly inspired by Del James' short story "Without You," about a rocker whose girlfriend dies by suicide. At the time, its $1.5 million price tag made it one of the most expensive videos ever made.

The Legacy of ‘November Rain'

While the video was all over MTV and the song was a bona fide hit for the band at the time, it only peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 list. When it reached that spot, it was positioned firmly behind "End of the Road" by Boyz II Men and TLC's "Baby-Baby-Baby." The song is Guns N' Roses' second-highest-charting release, following "Sweet Child O'Mine," which hit the No. 1 spot in 1988.

Clocking in at 8 minutes and 57 seconds, the song was also the longest to ever crack the Billboard Hot 100, until it was dethroned by Taylor Swift's 10-minute version of "All Too Well" in 2021.

The video, meanwhile, won an MTV Music Video Award for Best Cinematography, and Rolling Stone has named it the 9th-best music video of all time. It broke records on YouTube as well, becoming the first music video released before the platform launched to reach 1 billion views. In 2023, it then became the first pre-YouTube music video to reach 2 billion views. Today, it sits at 2.4 billion lifetime views.

It's also, apparently, a favorite of President Donald Trump's, as his former press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders wrote in her memoir that he called it "the greatest music video of all time," and "made us watch it to prove his point, even though neither of us had disagreed."

This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 6, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

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This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 7:00 AM.