Guns n Roses "Appetite For Destruction" (1987)
Gunners, formed from members of two bands: LA Guns and Hollywood Rose... should be pretty obvious from that where their new
band got its name. After a few disagreements and members quitting,
guitarist Slash and drummer Steven Adler were brought into the fold
and... well I'd say the rest was history, but the band line-up continued
to be in flux long after this.
The 'classic' GnR lineup set about recording their debut album. They
had an abundance of material, and several songs (including "Don't Cry",
"November Rain" and "You Could Be Mine") were held over until the "Use
Your Illusion" album.
The album doesn't suffer from the omissions, it's a stonking classic of a
rock album. From opener
"Welcome to the Jungle", the blues rock vibe
of
"Nightrain" to the MTV favourite, rock ballad
"Sweet Child o' Mine",
the album is a lean, mean rock monster. I'm not even a huge GnR fan,
but I enjoyed every song.
I'm not sure if this is true or 'Axl legend' but I read that the band
finished the music quite quickly, but Axl insisted on recording his
vocals one line at a time to make sure and get everything right. I'll
bet he had a glass of brown M&Ms on standby too.
The original cover (top) featuring some kind of robot john and a prostitute or something was deemed to be 'a bit much' and was replaced with the better known alternative above.
