Guns N' Roses fans are often reminded of the notorious 15-year wait for the 2008 album Chinese Democracy, but the band had already shown a pattern of delaying material long before that. When Use Your Illusion I and II were released simultaneously in September 1991, both albums featured different versions of the same song, "Don't Cry", whose original recording actually dated back to 1987, and whose composition was even older, making it years old by the time fans finally got an official version.

Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin have both said "Don't Cry" was the first song they wrote for the band, recorded during the Appetite for Destruction sessions but shelved because they weren't happy with how it sounded. It survived through live performances and circulating bootleg demos, one of which was picked up by Blind Melon's Shannon Hoon, a childhood friend of Rose's, who ended up singing co-lead vocals on the Use Your Illusion I version. A third version also appeared on the single release, meaning fans ultimately received three different incarnations of a track they had waited roughly six years to hear officially.