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Class 6(66)

Guns N' Roses: Appetite for destruction

14/07/09  ||  GardensTale

Introduction

Love it or hate it, there’s no denying the impact Guns N’ Roses had when its debut album hit the shelves. The archetypal rock ‘n roll guitarist Slash combined with the absolutely vicious vocals of Axl Rose created a dirty, nasty album, straddling the line between hard rock, heavy metal and rock ‘n roll. This was one of my first original albums, and I had no idea what I was getting into back then.

I’ve later come to appreciate the album on its own terms instead of the 12 year old going “Oh my god mom, it has so much guitars!”. “Appetite for Penis” (that was just too easy!) was basically an answer to all those glam metal bands that were popping up around that time, even though both glam and the Guns stem pretty much directly from the then popular mix of hard rock and rock ‘n roll. The difference here is ‘playing it safe’, which is what nearly all glam metal bands did, and ‘going fucking overboard and not giving a screaming fuck’ like Guns N’ Roses did on this disc. If you played glam metal in a Christian woman’s house, she’d shake her head and say there was too much sex in the lyrics. Put this vicious fucker on and she’d jump out of the window screaming something about exorcism.

Songwriting

9. While it’s not absolute perfection, it gets fucking close at times. “Welcome to the jungle” is stuff of legends; “Paradise City” is one of the great anthems of the 20th century; and it’s looking long and hard for a more vicious song than “My Michelle”. The band managed to keep a perfect balance across the album, with faster and slower songs, some more sincere, some more towards the epic, although they never did stray too far from their honest down-to-earth sound on this disc. It’s a shame they didn’t manage to keep this up, as any sort of balance was completely destroyed on the “Use your illusion” albums as a direct result of Axl’s megalomaniacal fuckery. Here, though, Guns N’ Roses was still one unit, operating in friendship and harmony, spewing gall and bile across L.A.‘s club circuit.

There’s two songs that are slightly forgetful on here: “Think about you” and “Anything goes”. There’s nothing wrong with “Think about you”, though; being one of the more uplifting songs on the album (there’s even handclapping in there) it sports great, fast guitarwork and a very “I fucking love this shit!” kind of attitude. “Anything goes” is all in all a bit awkward though, and could’ve been left out entirely.

Production

9. Thank the Gods for the fact that the producer realized the power of “Appetite for Destruction” came from its viciousness. While all the instruments are very audible, the guitars and vocals get that nasty edge that makes it a fucking spearpoint attacking your ear canal.

Sidestepping here for a moment, I think that really defines the difference between a good production and a great production. This falls under the ‘great’ production; realizing the strength of your sound and purpose of the production, what do you want to show with your music? Too many bands smack their music into a wall of ProTools and call it good production. Well, maybe it is from a technical viewpoint, but if it adds absolutely fuck all to the music or even detracts from it, you can go hang yourself with razorwire all the same. With the best productions, you generally don’t think “Wow, what a good production!” until you actually focus on it, solely due to the fact that it fits naturally, like a lubricated virgin vagina around a medium-sized, fully erect cock. You don’t think of it as separate entities anymore: it’s porn. To your ears.

Guitars

10. It’s fucking Slash, what the fuck do you expect?! This guy single-handedly brought the natural yet sharp guitar sound to its climax. Later on he’d do that fantastic wailing solo on “November rain”, but just listen to “Paradise city” and tell me he wasn’t already at his fucking top here!

The key to the guitars here is that they don’t sound like it’s ‘just’ guitars playing. They sound fucking alive and especially when the real good solos are bust out, it sounds like a separate entity, a god of rock ‘n roll humming a tune that turns organic and epic solely by itself. Then it speeds up again and you feel like moshing. Seriously moshing.

The rhythm guitars do a great job of supporting this monster, and on “Think about you” it’s Izzy that busts out the very enjoyable solo, but it’s hard not to get snowed under when you’ve got Slash standing next to you. Izzy manages, though, and puts his own stamp on the album.

Vocals

9,5. There’s a lot of things that are called “love it or hate it” while me or other people I know are pretty much impassive to it. Axl Rose’s vocal style isn’t one of them. Maybe there are people who shrug when asked how they like his singing, but there can’t be a lot of them. His nasal scream is the biggest Guns N’ Roses signature besides Slash’s guitar sound, and personally, I fucking love it. It conveys the trashed out rockstar feel perfectly. He does show he can do more than scream wildly, though: the deep vocals on “Mr. Brownstone” and “It’s so easy” have their very own attraction to them, and he shows his emotional side on “Rocket queen” and “Sweet child o’mine”, and does so perfectly.

Bass

8. Often underrated in Guns N’ Roses, the bass does more than just support the other instruments, it weaves its own little melodies, giving off a more vibrant sound. Thankfully it hasn’t been produced out, as it’s more integrated in their sound than most people realize.

Drums

7. The drums are the only thing I don’t consider anything special on here. It’s competent, driving drumming, but between Slash’s solos and Axl’s wailing, it doesn’t stand out.

Lyrics

9.
Your daddy works in porno
Now that mommy’s not around
She used to love her heroin
But now she’s underground
So you stay out late at night
And you do your coke for free
Drivin’ your friends crazy
With your life’s insanity

The lyrics are another major strength here. It’s dirty, but it’s also fucking honest. The band was at the time doing clubs in L.A. but in contrast to their contemporaries, they didn’t see any enjoyment in the pigsty that is the city of angels. Some are fairly blatant about this (“Welcome to the jungle”), while some go at it more subtly (“Paradise city” and “Mr. Brownstone”). It’s here rock and roll turned gritty and landed with its feet down on earth. To close off this section, here’s another good example of the gritty lyrics.

Wake up late
Honey put on your clothes
Take your credit card
to the liquor store
That’s one for you and
two for me by tonight
I’ll be loaded like a freight train
Flyin’ like an aeroplane
Feelin’ like a space brain
One more time tonight

Cover art

7. A cross with the band’s skulls. Simple but effective.

Logo

5. Here it’s just the band’s name on a banner in a common font. Not really anything special, and I prefer their logo with the actual roses and revolvers.

Booklet

9. And that’s for this picture alone, which was supposed to have been the original cover. The rest is just basic lyrics and pictures.

Overall and ending rant

9. Love it or leave it, Guns N’ Roses never was much for compromises. While fading into unbalanced albums with spots of genius, and now to redundant outdated retrorock, this album will always stand as their early pinnacle and as one of the best albums to grace the late 80’s.

  • Information
  • Released: 1987
  • Label: Geffen
  • Website: www.gunsnroses.com
  • Band
  • Axl Rose: lead vocals, backing vocals, synthesizers, percussion
  • Slash: lead and acoustic guitars
  • Duff McKagan: bass, backing vocals
  • Izzy Stradlin: rhythm guitars, backing vocals, percussion
  • Steven Adler: drums
  • Tracklist
  • 01. Welcome to the jungle
  • 02. It’s so easy
  • 03. Nightrain
  • 04. Out ta get me
  • 05. Mr. Brownstone
  • 06. Paradise city
  • 07. My Michelle
  • 08. Think about you
  • 09. Sweet child o’mine
  • 10. You’re crazy
  • 11. Anything goes
  • 12. Rocket queen

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