In praise of Appetite for Destruction, a timeless album

imalrightjack

Funny you say that, @Stuckfast - when listening to the isolated tracks (Mr Brownstone, in particular), you can tell Slash was listening to thrash. But, no, they were never meant to be extreme - but they were a huge great of fresh air in the hard rock world. 

Creed_Clicks

Roddy Bottum of FNM doesn't paint a very good picture of GnR in his book....

FelineGuitars

I was 21 when it came out . I had already bought "Live like a suicide"- from Shades records in London no less, partly because it had a great cover of Aerosmith's "Mama Kin" and was given some positive write-up in Kerrang.

They did seem to channel 2 of my favourite bands: Aerosmith and Hanoi Rocks, both of whom were favourites of theirs it turns out.

I was slightly surprised that they chose It's so Easy as the first single though and was hanging out with my friends in Andys Guitar workshop in Denmark Street (I was at London College of Furniture at the time) when Slash's tech brought in a Les Paul he had just bought and would play later that night at The Marquee club  that he wanted a pickup swap in.

The album was really solid - Instantly I knew SCOM was going to be the standout but they delayed releasing it till the next year (a bit like Extreme delaying the release of More Than Words till after Decadence Dance and Get the Funk Out had been released). But Jungle, NightTrain, Paradise City  and Mr Brownstone were instant ear candy and I loved My Michelle.

I think it was one of those albums that seems good from start to finish like Back in Black or Rocks by Aerosmith (or Under lock and Key by Dokken in my opinion)

I didn't see them at the Marquee as I was skint, but did see them at Hammersmith a few months later with Faster Pussycat and Quireboys (with Ginger still in the lineup). Think Slash was wearing a Metallica shirt so I guess thrash was something he liked. It wasn't a bad gig at all but 

I saw them again at that fateful Donnington MOR gig in 88 where sadly 2 people died (way too many people in there ).

By that time the hype machine was in overload, and it kind of put me off following them as I hate media hype when it comes to bands, but OMG the level of fan obsession was huge 

Philly_Q

FelineGuitars said:

I think it was one of those albums that seems good from start to finish like Back in Black or Rocks by Aerosmith (or Under lock and Key by Dokken in my opinion)

You're not wrong there.

Moloch

Creed_Clicks said:

Roddy Bottum of FNM doesn't paint a very good picture of GnR in his book....

I haven't read the book, but I'm not surprised by that, given FNM were the support when Axl Rose started a riot after James Hetfield got his arm incinerated on-stage and there was a whole bunch of shit going on between them, Axl and the G'n'R management.

imalrightjack

The Mick Wall books doesn’t shine a great light on them but it’s a decent read. 

hollywoodrox

Live like a suicide/Lies is a huge fave of mine too