station to station: Guns 'n Roses-Appetite For Destruction (JHO .

Guns 'n Roses-Appetite For Destruction (JHO Hall Of Fame)

Let's put by the play that has happened since Guns 'n Roses released the the best-selling debut album of all-time worldwide. The whole Axl Rose is a control freak whose demeanor on stage equaled that of a 5 year old when his toys are taken away (That's Rock 'n Roll!). The whole demotion of Izzy Stradlin.

The terrible cover album The Spaghetti Incident? and the overwrought melodrama of Use Your Illusions I & II. The long awaited "The Chinese Democracy" album which after its release vanished into the nighttime like a passing thunderstorm. Let's for a moment go backwards to where this band who cruised the Sunset Strip bars in the eighties released a classic hard rock album with twelve really good songs and by the end of that decade became arguably the biggest band in the earth for a little time. And they did it by merely playing filthy rock 'n roll.

For music listeners weened out on the light hair metal pop that quickly became the herald in popularity at the end of the decade, "Appetite For Death" was like a brutal sidekick to the ribs. In the summer of '88, hearing the opening guitar salvo by Slash on "Sweet Child O' Mine" roar through the speakers from your top 40 radio post was an adrenalin rush. It was a smart, vulnerable ballad that never pandered to sappiness. Rose's vocals along with Slash's guitar solo was miles above anything else going in hard rock at the time. And for a generation who got their data on music from MTV, seeing the circle in the picture for the call just built the fact that these guys were really more bad-ass than say.Poison or Winger or whoever was dominating the pop metal charts at the time. "Sweet Child O' Mine" went on to be a bit one individual and the follow up singles "Welcome To The Jungle" and "Paradise City" had everyone and their uncles buying "Appetite For Destruction." It was the pledge of its time.

"Appetite" is essentially broken down into two parts. Songs about partying hard and keep life in the metropolis and songs about relationships, good and bad, sex and still love (Izzy Stradlin's sweet "Think About You"). The coarse thread is the seedy sense of nihilism and L.A. sleaze that never surrenders any of its rollicking energy. It's the voice of a new band being effortless. No over thinking here, write a call in 3 hours and put to it.

The "life in the city" songs encompassed the 1st half of the album. "Welcome To The Jungle" was the best song introducing an unknowing subject to the shabbiness of the city since Stevie Wonder's "Living In The City", the television for "Jungle" pretty much summed up the subject matter to a T. "Night Train" rumbles along like a locomotive to an ode of the band's favorite beverage at the time. The course "I used to do a short but a little wouldn't do so the little got more and more" anchors the heroin ode of "Mr. Brownstone". And the wax out assault of "Paradise City" which has the most accessible chorus on "Appetite" turns into one monster jam in its final two minute plus ending.

The "relationship" songs that inhabit the 2nd half of the album range from brutally honest dedications ("My Michelle") to light hearted and vulnerable love songs ("Think About You" and "Sweet Child O' Mine") to square up songs about sex ("Anything Goes" and the overdub of actual sex in the studio on "Rocket Queen"). And the former three songs I didn't mention "It's So Easy", "Out Ta Get Me" and the overcharged "You're Crazy".well they're all pretty good too. And the subject matter wouldn't receive worked if Rose didn't have such talent behind the music as Slash and Stradlin trading edgy guitar licks naturally and bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler proved to be a rhythm section to be reckoned with.

It would be a bit foolish to provide "Appetite For Destruction" out of the JHO Hall Of Fame. Not that it was a life changing album or that I possess any gigantic attachment to it, but I'd be re-missed if it didn't do up in any conversation of my favorite albums of all time. It's simply too hard of an attempt to deny, a TKO in the 1st round. It's too bad the band quickly disintegrated afterward because for a magic moment, they could do no wrong.