GUNS N’ ROSES
APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION
ALBUM REVIEW
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July 21,1987 marked the beginning of the GUNS N’ ROSES era of L.A. metal with APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION, the scorching debut album chock full of enough sleaze, swagger, and excess to put the boys in Motley Crue to shame.
Released July 21 1987
Recorded Jan – June 1987
Label Geffen
Producer Mike Clink
W. Axl Rose:
Lead Vocals, Backing Vocals, Synthesizer on "Paradise City", Percussion
Slash:
Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar, Slide Guitar, Talk Box
Izzy Stradlin:
Rhythm Guitar, Lead Guitar, Backing Vocals, Percussion
Duff "Rose" McKagan:
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals
Steven Adler:
Drums
TRACKS
'G' side
1 Welcome to the Jungle
2 It's So Easy
3 Nightrain
4 Out ta Get Me
5 Mr. Brownstone
6 Paradise City
'R' side
1 My Michelle
2 Think About You
3 Sweet Child o' Mine
4 You're Crazy
5 Anything Goes
6 Rocket Queen
If Slayer were the 80’s answer to 70’s Sabbath, then it’s not a stretch to say that G’N’R were the 80’s answer to 70’s Aerosmith, with a loudness that falls right in that “in between” phase of hard rock and heavy metal. Technically, “it’s not metal, but it kind of is…in a way”.
Discover “the worst part about getting older”, realize why overalls always translates to “good barbecue”, hear “the stoner thought of the day” and find out if “girls can tell the difference” when you JOIN US as we soak up some classic late 80’s decadence and debauchery with GUNS N’ ROSES and APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION.
Welcome to the Jungle
starts out with arena rock vibes right outta the gate. A heavy, ugly, Aerosmith vibe, loaded with sleaze and groove…and cowbell (don’t forget the cowbell).
“When you’re high you never, ever wanna come down…”
Hair metal was never like this, and neither was anything else. It’s ugly and beautiful at the same time. Period. It just sounds like something you’d hear at an arena rock show, say as the opening band for Motley Crue back in 1987 at The Omni in Atlanta, Georgia.
It's So Easy has a very heavy, ugly, punk rock vibe to open things up. The clean part at 1:03 just screams vintage Aerosmith.
1:31 “Why don’t you just…FUCK OFF!” was SO much fun to play loud as fuck back in the day. That clean breakdown part sounds like something off of Get Your Wings.
Nightrain
feels like it’s a decade out of time, like something the bad boys from Boston should have written about 13 years earlier. It wasn’t as obvious back then, but listening to it now, it’s clear that Guns N’ Roses were massive Aerosmith disciples.
In a weird way, this sounds like it could have been on some 80’s movie soundtrack, but then, all music from the 80’s sort of sounds like that.
Out Ta Get Me
is just a balls out rocker. That guitar sound is sick, nasty, and heavy. And the single greatest thing about G’n’R back in the day (especially in 1987) was the liberal usage of profanity, especially FUCK and all of its iterations.
Just hooky, L.A. metal infused hard rock that was dirty and sleazy and maybe even a bit more Crue than Motley Crue. Raw, unapologetic, and relentless…THAT is what Guns N’ Roses is on this record…no holes barred.
“So you can SUCK me!”
Mr. Brownstone
is exactly about what you think it’s about. Probably about addiction in general, but given the title and the lyrics, more than likely this is about heroin addiction, something that the band battled with.
“But that old man he’s a real mother fucker, gonna kick him on down the line…”
(They’re literally not hiding anything…at ALL! If anything, Appetite For Destruction is a glaring warning to stay the fuck away from heroin, no matter what you do!).
“Yowza…”
Paradise City
(sigh) Here we go…one of the most overplayed songs on this album. Yeah, it’s catchy, and yeah, it’s got a hooky melody, but after hearing it 500 quadrillion times, it’s a little over done.
And WTF is up with those keyboards!? Did G’n’R have an “official” keyboard player!? Are they prog rock now!? And was that a whistle or a scream!? The verse riff is kinda heavy in the Aerosmith vein, but it’s been played so much, my tender middle-aged ears just can’t take it anymore.
The mix on this album really does sound like the concert mix at a rock concert in the late 80’s (kudos to Mike Clink for his production wizardry). It’s a little repetitive, but for “pop music”, that’s exactly what you want.
The fadeout should have started around 4:18, but NO…WAIT, there’s more! From 4:40 until the end…let’s have a completely unnecessary outro with a lot of filler. STFU! Save that for the live show…don’t put that on an album…it’s gratuitous and dull.
My Michelle
has a darker tone to it, maybe even sinister to a degree. That opening riff is super dark, and the lyrics that follow are even darker:
“She used to love her heroin, but now she’s underground…”
The weird, dissonant Slayer-esque harmonies definitely make it even darker than you’d think from a Sunset Strip L.A. metal band. It’s not glam per se, as it’s much darker, uglier, sleazier, and rawer than your average Los Angeles metal band in the 80’s.
Think About You
has all the things you’d never expect from an 80’s L.A. metal act: including a shit load of cowbell and an extremely thinly veiled reference to drugs (NOTE: the best ballads are ALWAYS a perfect parallel to the love songs that addicts sing to their drug(s) of choice).
That acoustic guitar on the chorus is outstanding 80’s perfection. And let’s be real: the handclaps during the guitar solo add a nice touch.
Really, there’s enough cowbell on just this song alone that producer Bruce Dickinson (IYKYK) would be happy as a clam until Blue Oyster Cult decides to launch their reunion tour and promises to open AND close the show with (Don’t Fear) The Reaper.
Sweet Child O’ Mine
is a tough one. Yeah, it’s great. Yeah, we ALL learned how to play it on guitar back in the day because that’s just what you did (especially if you wanted poon). It’s actually a sweet ballad…but HFS it’s been played so many times that now when you hear the real version of this song, you almost feel like you’re being mocked by whoever is controlling the jukebox and/or Spotify playlist.
Just grab some relaxers, swallow them down with some whiskey, and see if you can talk her into slipping off those acid-washed jeans so you can do your best to make her entertainment center come alive.
Again…a 2+ minute outro featuring the guitar handiwork of Slash. It’s nice…but it kinda goes on forever and ever. Then again, that was the 80’s…on and on and on and on…with lots and lots and lots of excess.
“Where do we go? Where do we go now? Where do we go?”
You’re Crazy
is a bit more uptempo and crazy sounding…unhinged and coked up. The maniacal Axl laugh definitely sets the tone. The change to the chorus around 1:11 sounds like something right out of the 70’s…sort of funky. And the guitar interplay, back and forth (use those headphones) is a nice treat, clearly showing the talent of both Izzy and Slash.
You can almost smell the arena when listening to this: the smell of beer, weed, and Marlboro reds…and the occasional wafting of a moist entertainment center (aka: a “rose”) ready to receive some input (aka: a “gun”) after the show.
(Or hell, even AT the show! If that dude can give himself a hand-solo at a KoRn concert, then really, why can’t a couple enjoy a little sexy time at a Guns N’ Roses concert?).
Anything Goes
has that weird percussion thing going on (it’s called a guiro). The beginning riff is kinda dark…definitely darker than your typical L.A. metal. And that first verse riff is first class Aerosmith worship, no doubt.
G’n’R is the modern-day metal answer to Aerosmith, and the talk box is a nice homage to Peter Frampton.
Rocket Queen
doesn’t really sound like the rest of the record as it’s a bit more sophisticated and stylized. It probably would have been a better fit on Use Your Illusion (not really sure what the difference was between the Orange album and the Blue album, but it would have worked better over there). It’s a heavy yet funky riff…like a heavier, funkier, Aerosmith.
Bring on the sex noises at the breakdown starting around 2:13…yes, those are REAL sex noises…apparently Axl was pounding his microphone into her input jack (if you know what I mean…).
And then the big arena rock finish at 3:28 that doesn’t seem to fit AT ALL with the rest of the song…but then, once you’ve come your brains out into a young lady in a recording booth, nothing much makes any sense at all.
Listening to this makes me miss how hard I used to get at 15…like in an instant, on demand!
Even though getting old still sucks, thanks to Guns N’ Roses, we can listen whenever we want and imagine being a teenager again, discovering all the great pleasures that rock and metal had to offer at such a tender youthful age.
Again…the outro could have been completely cut out, kinda like “after you’ve finished”: just call it quits and take a breather. No need to push flaccid, soft rope if you can just lay back, light up a Marlboro, and enjoy the afterglow. Remember, you WORKED for those sex noises earlier (and so did she…literally).
Show Notes:
(00:01): “We gonna do shots?” / #trafficcircle #roundabout / “That’s gonna be good barbecue…stereotypes exist for a reason…”/ “Is it #KoreanBBQ?” / “All you gotta do is just change one letter on certain words and you can completely change the meaning of it…”/ “Demons are fat…everybody’s fat in Hell, bro…”/ ***WARNING: #listenerdiscretionisadvised *** / “It’s like a peanut butter and banana sandwich…”/ “It was super appley…” / “The last time I fucked up a butt with an injection…the last time I ruined a butt…”
(06:46): ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** / “That’s the shitty thing about getting older…”/ ***GIVE US A CALL AND VOICEMAIL US AT 980-666-8182!!!*** / #PissingPostASMR / #StonerThoughtOfTheDay / #RapNerdery / “I’ll show it to you if you wanna look at it…”/ #PatreonShoutOuts ***JOIN US ON PATREON AT patreon.com/metalnerderypodcast AND GET YOUR #METALNERDERYPODCAST T-SHIRT!!!***
(13:00): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS: GUNS N’ ROSES – APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION / “It was ’87…”/ Where were YOU when you first heard this? EMAIL US and tell us about it at metalnerdery@gmail.com !!! / “It was like #Aerosmith on steroids…or more drugs…”/ The in-between point of hard rock and heavy metal / “They got so huge…when you start off that big, you can’t keep going…”/ “If you think about the name…I think we all know what they were talking about…”/ #exhausting / “That almost looks like a #BlondeAlbinoSlash in that picture…”/ #BucketsTheDrummer
(23:13): “Y’all can’t see it, but the look on his face is like a kid on Christmas morning getting everything that he never asked for from Santa…” / WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE / “There’s no guitar sound that sounds like Slash’s sound…”/ “Something in the fingers…”/ “I wonder if girls could tell the difference?” / “Remember when you were younger…and there were cuss words?” / IT’S SO EASY / “Why don’t you just…FUCK OFF!” / #profanityistruth / NIGHTRAIN / #cowbell / “Guys, there might be too much cowbell…”/ “It’s kinda like Malcom and Angus…” / “Don’t fuck it up by making it perfect…” / “Without #GunsNRoses there would be no #BuckCherry and without #Aerosmith there would be no Guns N’ Roses…”
(35:53): OUT TA GET ME / “More profanity coming…”/ “If you suck out all the distortion and subdue the guitars, you’ve got Aerosmith in the 70’s…”/ “I realize I made #KerryKing sound like a professional wrestler…”/ Imagine Black Sabbath playing the first album but with Kerry King’s guitar rig / MR. BROWNSTONE / #heroinawareness / “I’ve never noticed it without the headphones…”/ #usethoseheadphones / “If you’re 6 beers in at a party and this song comes on…”/ PARADISE CITY
(44:44): “It’s a little darker…” / #SideTwo / “The beginning is almost Slayerish…”/ MY MICHELLE / “Kinda like metal punk…almost anthemy…is that a word?” / “Sometimes the greatest ballads are all written about drugs…”/ THINK ABOUT YOU / #morecowbell / “That’s what ‘fucking them in the bathroom’ is, dude…” / SWEET CHILD O’ MINE / “Okay we’re good, alright…”/ “I have seen more tits playing Sweet Child O’ Mine…”/ #overplayed / “I didn’t even know about poon yet…”
(53:20): YOU’RE CRAZY / “It’s got like a weird 70’s vibe to it…”/ “I’ll bet we’ll know it when we hear it…”/ ANYTHING GOES / #killercloser / “The song completely changes…”/ ROCKET QUEEN / “Oh! That is real…” / #sexnoises / “I can’t believe he banged his bandmate’s girlfriend, and they recorded it…”/ #sexualrecording / “I don’t know if I remember that as a kid…” / “We made it through! It’s not metal…but it kind of is…in a way…”/ “They were probably still rockin’ some local poon…”/ #LocalPoon / THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! / #untilthenext #outroreel