Back in 1987. Rock N Roll? We had U2. But they don t ROCK in a traditional way. Rock N Roll imagery needed something grittier, dirtier and less polite than BONO & the guys (which I praise, anyway!). You could say we had MOTHLEY CRUE and RATT, but they were glam freaks, dressed for excess. Too many clothes and imagery and nothing of that so-much needed MUSIC! One last try - AC/DC, AEROSMITH, ROLLING STONES, METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN and VAN HALEN. They Rocked! They had great musicians! Great songs! Hordes of fans! Glory! Fame! Fortune! But...
AC/DC, AEROSMITH, ROLLING STONES were on their downward spiral. Their most recent records were pale shadows of their golden days. METALLICA was truly underground and viscerally not accessible. You won t see that guys carving a ballad (at that time) and Rock N Roll need ballads! IRON MAIDEN...their Dungeons-and-Dragons-mixed-with-History tunes were too cartoonish to many. VAN HALEN? They were too funny to be taken seriously (not that being bad, I love them)! Rock N Roll needed something genuine, hard-hitting, menacing, gritty, full of back-on-the-streets imagery...but yet ACCESSIBLE. Punkish but lovely.
Then we have...GUNS N ROSES! Everything in its right place.
GUNS N ROSES were no revolutionaries. They made traditional, tried-and-true elements from Hard Rock sound fresh again. They gave 'bad boys' imagery in Rock N Roll new life when MTV and BILLBOARD were full of pretty faces with fashionable hairs, mellow ballads, saccharine lyrics and no grit, no power. HARD ROCK hasn t seen so much energy in a record since VAN HALEN s debut in 1978. And, approximately since that time, no Hard Rock record contained so many great songs all in a row. That s why their debut, APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION, took the charts by storm when released. More than 17 million copies sold, best-selling debut album ever. They had everything for everyone: great solos, great bluesy riffs, a great frontman with distinctive voice, pounding drums, Punk backgrounds (bass player Duff McKeagan was proud at that time to have stolen 133 cars before recording APPETITE!), mellow-but-driving ballads, energy, menacing lyrics, press scandals, good lookings, great videos, crystal-clear production by MIKE CLINK...AXL ROSE wails from the smoothest to the huskiest. SLASH carves great guitar solos and exchanges great lines with his partner (great) hitmaker IZZY STRADLIN. DUFF MCKEAGAN on bass and STEVEN ADLER on drums kept the rhythm loose and steady, between Punk and Hard Rock. Add provocative lyrics and the outcome is explosive Rock, shocking, thrilling, almost theatrical.
So, let s take a look on the tracks and see how they helped change the musical landscapes of the 80 s:
WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE -> Everything a great Hard Rock anthem needs, it s here. A great opening riff. Another great main riff. A huge guitar solo. An infective chorus. Marked drums and bass lines. Deservedly a classic.
IT S SO EASY -> Mean, cruel and dirty. From the beginning (with a simple but captive bass line and thunderous drums) to the end, you may sink between AXL malevolent vocals and SLASH & IZZY fast riffing. Something unheard since the New York Dolls! Hard-Punk Rock at its best.
NIGHTRAIN -> Another masterful intro, this time much more melodic than in WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE. IZZY carries the song through the moods of AXL and SLASH occasionally plugs to deliver harsh power chords. AXL is the highlight here - incorporating all best Rock N Roll 'bad boy' stereotypes. A major track!
OUT TA GET ME -> Savage beauty. Freewheeling, undeterred, wild and genuine (AXL shall have lived all this lyrics to deliver such an interpretation)! A great, thrilling Hard Rock track with impeccable instrumental performances. Maybe THE BEST page of Guns N Roses canon!
MR.BROWNSTONE -> Another superb track in APPETITE s winning streak. A rhythm so groovy (built on GUITARS, not on bass as usual in Funk Rock) that is almost danceable (if only this track s impressive lyrics didn t deal with Heroin addiction...).
PARADISE CITY -> The first epic track. Another good intro. Another great amount of soloing (more than any other track here). Another killer main riff. Another fatal chorus. Another...classic!
MY MICHELLE -> Sliding out of one of HARD ROCK s most astonishing streaks in an album, GUNS N ROSES try something between AEROSMITH s SEASON OF THE WITHER and Punk Rock. A nocturnal ballad, highly energized, just it s not as good as the previous tracks.
THINK ABOUT YOU -> Dense rhythm, thick guitar lines, no-holds-barred decadence on record. AXL distills all his excesses on this one. A good track, although not a peer of WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE and the others.
SWEET CHILD O MINE -> GUNS N ROSES rises again! APPETITE s biggest hit and one of HARD ROCK s best ballads ever. You will want to listen to SLASH s INTRO several times before hearing the remaining minutes, one of the best EVER in Rock! Then, AXL in his most vulnerable and sensitive (the same guy that sang IT S SO EASY!), melodic guitar lines, a killer of a solo...this is what I call MASTERPIECE!
YOU RE CRAZY -> If you mix THINK ABOUT YOU and IT S SO EASY you will have YOU RE CRAZY. Dirty, mean, fast, freewheeling Rock N Roll decadence on four instruments alongside AXL s venomous voice. Good track.
ANYTHING GOES -> Another time, GUNS mixes previous tracks. You mix NIGHTRAIN and THINK ABOUT YOU this time...Crisp melodies. Someway it ends being better than YOU RE CRAZY. Resembles NAZARETH and early AEROSMITH.
ROCKET QUEEN -> The jam of the record and the second epic track. SLASH and IZZY spit out fat, almost Funky dueling grooves. AXL varies his vocals to reach a lower, more subtle and cinematic tone. The feeling is of a night ride across a desert. Obscure lyrics. Good track, it would be a highlight of many other Hard Rock outfits, simply here we have too many classics to deal with!
Having saved Hard Rock, after this album GUNS N ROSES would go for Fame, Fortune, extensive touring, scandals of the most proeminent on Rock N Roll...with honors.
