Guns N' Roses drop hard-rocking new single, Hard Skool

After Slash teased a brand-new song in a TikTok video of a Guns N' Roses soundcheck last week, the rock 'n' roll greats have revealed all, sharing new single, Hard Skool.

Like previous single Absurd – their first new cut since 2008, released last month – the new track was written for the band's 2008 album Chinese Democracy under the working title Jackie Chan, but was axed from its tracklist prior to its release.

A quintessential GNR cut, Hard Skool leads with a brooding bassline from Duff McKagan, before guitarists Slash and Richard Fortus enter the fray with a bountiful supply of high-gain electric guitar riffs and true-to-form soaring leads.

Rumors of Hard Skool's release began circulating last week when frontman Axl Rose reportedly told a fan that a new song would be released “soon”.

Though GNR have soundchecked the new track several times before – including before their show at the Hollywood Palladium in 2019 – they have yet to perform it live. 

But given that the band are currently embarking on a mammoth US tour right now – with Wolfgang Van Halen-fronted Mammoth WVH, actually – we'd wager it'll work its way onto the setlist.

Guns N' Roses have performed to hundred of thousands of fans on the trek thus far, but it hasn't been without the occasional mishap. Earlier this month, during their September 4 show at the BottleRock Music Festival in Napa Valley, the band had their set cut short when they played over the event's pre-planned curfew.

Halfway through Appetite for Destruction mega-hit Paradise City – for which the band recruited Foo Fighters leader Dave Grohl – event organizers pulled the plug, though in typical rebellious rock 'n' roll fashion, they carried on and finished the track anyway – and ultimately released pro-shot footage of what the performance should have sounded like.