"Reckless Life" is a hard rock composition written by Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Slash, and Chris Weber, originating during the Hollywood Rose era before the formation of Guns N' Roses. The song was already part of the band's live repertoire by their debut performance at the Troubadour in West Hollywood on June 6, 1985, placing its composition in the early-to-mid 1980s. It first appeared on the 1986 EP Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, which was presented as a live recording but was actually tracked at Pasha Studios in Hollywood with pre-recorded crowd noise added in post-production, reportedly sourced from a 1970s Texxas Jam concert. Despite the simulated live setting, the recording captures the raw, aggressive energy that defined the band's early sound. The EP was a strategically modest release, with only 25,000 copies pressed, and the resulting revenue helped fund Guns N' Roses' first trip to the United Kingdom in 1987 for shows at the Marquee Club in London. The track was subsequently included on the 1988 compilation G N' R Lies and later appeared as a bonus track on the 2018 reissue of Appetite for Destruction. As a composition carried over from Hollywood Rose, "Reckless Life" represents the formative creative partnership between Rose, Stradlin, and Weber, and exemplifies the scrappy, street-level hard rock that characterized the band before their commercial breakthrough. The song was notably absent from live setlists for roughly three decades before Guns N' Roses revived it at a concert in Portugal in 2022.
