An album that changed the world of rock music for ever (Appetite For Destruction - Guns n' Roses)

Member Name: rabidbadger

Product:	Appetite For Destruction - Guns n' Roses
Date:	31/08/09 (32 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A fantastic album that has stood the test of time

Disadvantages: None

In August of 1987, something seismic happened in the world of rock music and the cause was an album called Appetite For Destruction by the then unknown Los Angeles band Guns n Roses. Formed in a merger between groups Hollywood Rose and LA Guns, the band managed, in one fail swoop, to do what the likes of Aerosmith and The Rolling Stones had been doing for years - but do it so much better. In a time when pop music and electro were all the rage and hip-hop was the emerging new style, Appetite For Destruction put the rock genre back on the "cool for kids" map. Falling somewhere between the boundaries of metal, punk and glam-rock, the album struck a perfect balance of parent-shocking lyrics and well-written rock songs that were performed with no compromise in quality.

From the first bar of the first track - the group's flagship song Welcome To The Jungle - the listener was plunged into the ugly side of the LA music industry with an energy that rock music was sadly lacking at that time. The lyrics warn of the dangers of fame and rock-and-roll excess, while the melody coursed through your veins like a drug. It was a winning formula that saw the album sell in its millions.

This was never going to be an album that utilised the programming features of the newly fashionable CD players of the day. You did not have to pick-and-choose tracks to play because you knew you were going to play them all.

After the head-rush of the opening track, the album slows down a little for It's So Easy. Again, the lyrics are unpleasant - in fact laced with expletives in this case - but when mixed with the mercurial guitars and drums, take on an ugly-glamour all their own.

Nightrain, the third track, takes the listener further into an alcohol-soaked world of sleaze and addiction. Presumably named after cheap "Night Train Express" wine, it is the strength of Axl Rose's voice that really impresses here, another indicator of the band's versatility.

If there is a low-point to the album, Out Ta Get Me and Anything Goes would, in my opinion, be the tracks that provided it. These would certainly rank 11 and 12 if I had to list the songs in order of preference but I am still never tempted to skip them.

Mr Brownstone is a mildly-disguised euphamism for a tale of drug addiction that provides one of the catchiest tunes on the album and My Michelle doesn't even bother to disguise the subject matter, starting as it does with the unforgettable words "Your daddy works in porno now that mommy's not around. She used to love her heroin but now she's underground".

Paradise City will become a classic song and people will still be playing it 20 years from now. It combines the sleazy lyrics of the other eleven songs with a feel-good "Sweet Home Alabama" type melody that you know will always sound best when played from an open-top car on a summer's day. It has quality written all over it. The closing bars of the song give a breathtaking demonstration of the dexterity of the musicians when they up the tempo for the finale.

While Think About You and You're Crazy are memorable for their own reasons, Rocket Queen and especially Sweet Child O' Mine give the album the emotional side that completes the package. Superlatively well written and delivered with one of the most easily recognisable guitar riffs anywhere in the world, Sweet Child was undoubtedly the song that sold the album to the more moderate masses. It departs from the seedy underworld far enough to add diversity to the album but belts the rhythm at you with as much force as Welcome To The Jungle and provides a moment to pause for thought as the album sadly starts its final descent towards the last track.

Summary: Back in 1987, if you were a rock fan, you had to buy this album. Now it has global appeal