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Though it seems like a distant memory now, and to those in their teens maybe even a myth, once upon a time Guns 'n' Roses were not only the most dangerous band on the planet, but they made what is easily one of the best rock albums ever produced, the seminal Appetite For Destruction.
At the time, rock music's rising stars included the likes of Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, Cinderella and a whole host of other bands whose main priority was to look good and play good time rock and roll music, in that order. To be in these bands the main criteria was that you could apply your eyeliner correctly and tease your hair just so. If you could play your instrument well (or at all in some cases) and sing then so much the better, but it wasn't the most essential quality needed.
Towards the end of 1986, however, Kerrang! magazine began to run small pieces about an LA band (weren't they all in those days?) who were taking the Sunset Strip by storm, selling out gigs and shifting copies of their debut EP Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide like there was no tomorrow. Unusually though, these were no pretty boys, they actually looked like they came from the street (which as it happens they really did, living together in a squat in Hollywood) and even more unusually they played their instruments like they knew what they were doing. The icing on the cake was their singer, W Axl Rose, whose vocals ricocheted from low growls to high pitched screams that Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson would have been proud of, all with the greatest of ease and with an authoritative tone that was missing from the rest of the pack.
After teasing the UK rock audience by releasing It's So Easy in June of 1987, and following it up with three nights at the Marquee (accompanied by the Star's claims that "a rock band even nastier than the Beastie Boys is heading to the UK"), the band's debut album Appetite For Destruction hit the shelves and thus began four years in which the rock world belonged to Guns 'n' Roses. But was it THAT good, really? Let's take a look.
Kicking off with Welcome To The Jungle, the LA quintet effectively laid out their stall for the next 60 minutes, asking us "You know where you are?" before informing us that "You're in the jungle, baby. You're gonna die." The staccato main riff conjours up the atmosphere of 1986 Los Angeles perfectly, and even before the world had become accustomed to the accompanying video, it was easy to image the boys swaggering down the Strip, whiskey bottles in hand, fags hanging from lips and groupies in tow.
It's So Easy's opening bassline, played by the bastard son of Sid Vicious, Duff McKagen, heralds one of the great attitude songs, all punk sensibilities and razor sharp observations. This, in short is the song that Nikki Sixx would love to have written, but would never have gotten away with with Vince Neil's crybaby vocals. In what might have been a foreshadowing of the perfectionism that would later tear the band apart, Axl tells us that "Nothin' seems to please me", and then delivers one of the great rock lyrics of our time, "I see you standing there, you think you're so cool, why don't you just, fuck off!". Couldn't have put it better myself.
Nightrain follows, borrowing heavily from Slash's surrogate father, Joe Perry of Aerosmith fame, and speeding along like, well, a night train. Guns' ode to chemicals contains more imaginative soloing that a whole rack of Poison albums and left many an air guitarist out of breath on the dancefloor back in the day.
The best way to describe Out To Get Me is to imagine an ACDC album played at 45rpm. (For those of you who don't know what a "45rpm" is, go ask your dad about those 12" black circular things he's got stashed in the attic.) "Some people got a chip on their shoulder, and some would say it was me", sings Axl, and never a truer word was committed to vinyl (amazingly this album is that old it came out before the advent of CD!).
Mr Brownstone is up next, all swagger and attitude. Those of you old enough might imagine the Hoffmeister bear
shuffling down the street to the sounds of Mr Brownstone. This is one of those songs that if you hear it in a club and it doesn't get your hips and shoulders moving then you're probably dead. Another ode to pharmaceutical stimulation, it seems ironic looking back now that Axl eventually threw Steven Adler out of the band for drug abuse when their whole image was originally based on being the pinnacle of the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle.
The next track needs no introduction, and has graced everything from rock festivals to weddings in the 17 (count 'em!) years since it was released. Paradise City, along with Sweet Child O'Mine will remain Guns legacy to the world. Both were songs that while they fit firmly into the hard rock mould, had enough about them to cross over into the mainstream, and send Appetite into the stratospheric record sales company of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. Back in the days before CDs when you had to turn the record over after the end of side one, this was exactly the kind of track that drew the first half to a satisfying close, yet left you wanting more.
My Michelle. A classic stop start guitar riff that segues into a fast and furious chorus. If there was a filler track on Appetite (and there isn't) then this would be it. On any other album of the era this would have been a standout track, but measured against the rest of Appetite, this is definitely the runt of the litter. That said, it's still a belter of a track, forcing itself out of the speakers with a nasty attitude, and in many ways the perfect start to side two of your old vinyl album. It's good, but just wait until you hear the rest of this side.
Think About You is an effective juxtaposition of loud, abrasive guitars with the first of two surprisingly tender lyrics on the album (well, tender when put against the grime and venom of much of the rest). "It was the best time I can remember, and the love we shared, is lovin' that'll last forever," Axl sings, and you actually believe him. Even urchins from the street need love and you get the feeling that this is the closest you're ever going to get to hearts and flowers from Guns.
What more can be said about the next track that hasn't already been said. This track is undoubtedly the most recognised Guns track, and a sure contender for the best loved rock track of the 80s. Sweet Child O'Mine is the song that almost never was. Slash has always maintained that he never wanted a ballad on the album, and right up to the last weeks of Appetite's gestation, this track wasn't even written. Fate intervened, however, and an impromptu jam session turned into Sweet Child, and the rest, as they say, is history. A timeless and classic intro riff that will forever define Guns 'n' Roses in the eyes of the world, but what a way to be defined.
Where to go from the triumph of Sweet Child? Well, how about the aural assault that is You're Crazy. Though redone to much better effect as an acoustic song on Lies, this was the perfect antidote to Sweet Child, rudely reminding you that Guns were a hard rock band. You want Foreigner, great. Just not here. Short, loud, abrasive. What more do you want?
My Way is more of the same, with Axl telling us "My way, your way, anything goes tonight." On the strength of this, you don't doubt him for a second. "Tied up, tied down or up against the wall," the choice is yours.
Appetite draws to a close with what can only be described as a cinematic rock experience. Rocket Queen is the kind of song that gets played over montages of debauched LA rock clubs in movies. Picture the scene. Our hero walks into the club, amid a writhing mass of scantily clad bodies. We pan past girls and boys with mascara and piercings, their faces illuminated by the pulsating light show, as this track plays, loudly. This is no throwaway song at then end of a album, this finishes off Appetite with both a bang and a final plea from Axl that "All I ever wanted was for you to know that I cared."
Classic album? Definitely. Listening to Appetite again as I write this review, it stands out as one of the few rock albums that has stood the test of time. While I still like Motley's Shout At The Devil, Ratt's Invasion Of Your Privacy, Cinderella's Night Songs and even Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, Appetite has that attitude and certain "je ne sais quoi" that many of the 80s rock albums lacked. In short, if you like you guitars loud and your rock hard, this album deserves a place in your collection..
At the time, rock music's rising stars included the likes of Motley Crue, Ratt, Poison, Cinderella and a whole host of other bands whose main priority was to look good and play good time rock and roll music, in that order. To be in these bands the main criteria was that you could apply your eyeliner correctly and tease your hair just so. If you could play your instrument well (or at all in some cases) and sing then so much the better, but it wasn't the most essential quality needed.
Towards the end of 1986, however, Kerrang! magazine began to run small pieces about an LA band (weren't they all in those days?) who were taking the Sunset Strip by storm, selling out gigs and shifting copies of their debut EP Live ?!*@ Like A Suicide like there was no tomorrow. Unusually though, these were no pretty boys, they actually looked like they came from the street (which as it happens they really did, living together in a squat in Hollywood) and even more unusually they played their instruments like they knew what they were doing. The icing on the cake was their singer, W Axl Rose, whose vocals ricocheted from low growls to high pitched screams that Iron Maiden's Bruce Dickinson would have been proud of, all with the greatest of ease and with an authoritative tone that was missing from the rest of the pack.
After teasing the UK rock audience by releasing It's So Easy in June of 1987, and following it up with three nights at the Marquee (accompanied by the Star's claims that "a rock band even nastier than the Beastie Boys is heading to the UK"), the band's debut album Appetite For Destruction hit the shelves and thus began four years in which the rock world belonged to Guns 'n' Roses. But was it THAT good, really? Let's take a look.
Kicking off with Welcome To The Jungle, the LA quintet effectively laid out their stall for the next 60 minutes, asking us "You know where you are?" before informing us that "You're in the jungle, baby. You're gonna die." The staccato main riff conjours up the atmosphere of 1986 Los Angeles perfectly, and even before the world had become accustomed to the accompanying video, it was easy to image the boys swaggering down the Strip, whiskey bottles in hand, fags hanging from lips and groupies in tow.
It's So Easy's opening bassline, played by the bastard son of Sid Vicious, Duff McKagen, heralds one of the great attitude songs, all punk sensibilities and razor sharp observations. This, in short is the song that Nikki Sixx would love to have written, but would never have gotten away with with Vince Neil's crybaby vocals. In what might have been a foreshadowing of the perfectionism that would later tear the band apart, Axl tells us that "Nothin' seems to please me", and then delivers one of the great rock lyrics of our time, "I see you standing there, you think you're so cool, why don't you just, fuck off!". Couldn't have put it better myself.
Nightrain follows, borrowing heavily from Slash's surrogate father, Joe Perry of Aerosmith fame, and speeding along like, well, a night train. Guns' ode to chemicals contains more imaginative soloing that a whole rack of Poison albums and left many an air guitarist out of breath on the dancefloor back in the day.
The best way to describe Out To Get Me is to imagine an ACDC album played at 45rpm. (For those of you who don't know what a "45rpm" is, go ask your dad about those 12" black circular things he's got stashed in the attic.) "Some people got a chip on their shoulder, and some would say it was me", sings Axl, and never a truer word was committed to vinyl (amazingly this album is that old it came out before the advent of CD!).
Mr Brownstone is up next, all swagger and attitude. Those of you old enough might imagine the Hoffmeister bear
shuffling down the street to the sounds of Mr Brownstone. This is one of those songs that if you hear it in a club and it doesn't get your hips and shoulders moving then you're probably dead. Another ode to pharmaceutical stimulation, it seems ironic looking back now that Axl eventually threw Steven Adler out of the band for drug abuse when their whole image was originally based on being the pinnacle of the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll lifestyle.
The next track needs no introduction, and has graced everything from rock festivals to weddings in the 17 (count 'em!) years since it was released. Paradise City, along with Sweet Child O'Mine will remain Guns legacy to the world. Both were songs that while they fit firmly into the hard rock mould, had enough about them to cross over into the mainstream, and send Appetite into the stratospheric record sales company of Bon Jovi and Def Leppard. Back in the days before CDs when you had to turn the record over after the end of side one, this was exactly the kind of track that drew the first half to a satisfying close, yet left you wanting more.
My Michelle. A classic stop start guitar riff that segues into a fast and furious chorus. If there was a filler track on Appetite (and there isn't) then this would be it. On any other album of the era this would have been a standout track, but measured against the rest of Appetite, this is definitely the runt of the litter. That said, it's still a belter of a track, forcing itself out of the speakers with a nasty attitude, and in many ways the perfect start to side two of your old vinyl album. It's good, but just wait until you hear the rest of this side.
Think About You is an effective juxtaposition of loud, abrasive guitars with the first of two surprisingly tender lyrics on the album (well, tender when put against the grime and venom of much of the rest). "It was the best time I can remember, and the love we shared, is lovin' that'll last forever," Axl sings, and you actually believe him. Even urchins from the street need love and you get the feeling that this is the closest you're ever going to get to hearts and flowers from Guns.
What more can be said about the next track that hasn't already been said. This track is undoubtedly the most recognised Guns track, and a sure contender for the best loved rock track of the 80s. Sweet Child O'Mine is the song that almost never was. Slash has always maintained that he never wanted a ballad on the album, and right up to the last weeks of Appetite's gestation, this track wasn't even written. Fate intervened, however, and an impromptu jam session turned into Sweet Child, and the rest, as they say, is history. A timeless and classic intro riff that will forever define Guns 'n' Roses in the eyes of the world, but what a way to be defined.
Where to go from the triumph of Sweet Child? Well, how about the aural assault that is You're Crazy. Though redone to much better effect as an acoustic song on Lies, this was the perfect antidote to Sweet Child, rudely reminding you that Guns were a hard rock band. You want Foreigner, great. Just not here. Short, loud, abrasive. What more do you want?
My Way is more of the same, with Axl telling us "My way, your way, anything goes tonight." On the strength of this, you don't doubt him for a second. "Tied up, tied down or up against the wall," the choice is yours.
Appetite draws to a close with what can only be described as a cinematic rock experience. Rocket Queen is the kind of song that gets played over montages of debauched LA rock clubs in movies. Picture the scene. Our hero walks into the club, amid a writhing mass of scantily clad bodies. We pan past girls and boys with mascara and piercings, their faces illuminated by the pulsating light show, as this track plays, loudly. This is no throwaway song at then end of a album, this finishes off Appetite with both a bang and a final plea from Axl that "All I ever wanted was for you to know that I cared."
Classic album? Definitely. Listening to Appetite again as I write this review, it stands out as one of the few rock albums that has stood the test of time. While I still like Motley's Shout At The Devil, Ratt's Invasion Of Your Privacy, Cinderella's Night Songs and even Bon Jovi's Slippery When Wet, Appetite has that attitude and certain "je ne sais quoi" that many of the 80s rock albums lacked. In short, if you like you guitars loud and your rock hard, this album deserves a place in your collection..
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