"Use Your Illusion II" is the fourth studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It was released on September 17, 1991, alongside its counterpart Use Your Illusion I. Both albums were issued to coincide with the Use Your Illusion Tour. Bolstered by the lead single "You Could Be Mine," Use Your Illusion II was slightly more popular than its sibling, selling a record 770,000 copies in its first week and debuting at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, ahead of Use Your Illusion I's first-week sales of 685,000. As of 2010, Use Your Illusion II had sold 5,587,000 units in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Both albums have since been certified 7× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album also reached No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart for one week.
Use Your Illusion II is the last Guns N' Roses studio album to credit rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. It includes "Civil War," the final track to feature drummer Steven Adler in any capacity. Along with Use Your Illusion I, it was the last Guns N' Roses album to feature new original material until the release of Chinese Democracy in 2008.
Both Use Your Illusion albums feature covers by Estonian-American artist Mark Kostabi. The covers are based on a detail from Raphael's painting The School of Athens. The figure highlighted in the artwork, unlike many others in the painting, is not identified with any specific philosopher. The primary difference between the two covers is their color scheme: Use Your Illusion I uses a red and gold palette, while Use Your Illusion II employs blue and purple.
The original painting was titled by Paul Kostabi as Use Your Illusion, which became the title of both albums. The liner notes of both Use Your Illusion albums include the message "Fuck You, St. Louis!" among the thank you notes. This message references the Riverport Riot, which occurred near St. Louis at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre in July 1991 during the Use Your Illusion Tour.
