Part 1: intro

B: “When I look into your eyes, I can see the love restrained.”

Girl: “What the f*** does that mean?”

B: “Well, uh, I was just trying to be romantic.”

Girl: “Romantic? I just asked if you wanted a gift receipt or not.”

B: “No thanks.”

Girl: “Then please get out of the Barnes n’ Noble.”

So that line didn’t work on the girl at the Barnes n’ Noble, but it did work for the guys in the Guns n’ Roses back in 1992, as the lengthy, artsy video for the song “November Rain” received almost non-stop play on MTV.

(insert “Back in my day MTV actually played music videos!” joke here)

Along with “Don’t Cry” and “Estranged,” the video is unofficially part of a trilogy of weird, expensive, pretentious videos from the band. At the time they were awesome. In hindsight they are still awesome, but kind of in the real way and kind of in the fake way. Also in hindsight they represent the end of pure rock n’ roll in the public consciousness, but that last comment is as pretentious as a rock star swimming with dolphins, so it’s probably best ignored.

Join me won’t you, as I take you on an illustrated journey through one of the best known music videos of all time.