- Appetite for Destruction
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For other uses, see Appetite for Destruction (disambiguation).
Appetite for Destruction 
Studio album by Guns N' Roses Released July 21, 1987 Recorded Rumbo Studios, Canoga Park; Take One Studio, Burbank; Can Am Studio, Tarzana, California Genre Heavy metal, hard rock Length 53:48 Label Geffen Producer Mike Clink Guns N' Roses chronology Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide
(1986)Appetite for Destruction
(1987)Live from the Jungle
(1988)Singles from Appetite for Destruction - "It's So Easy"
Released: June 15, 1987 - "Welcome to the Jungle"
Released: October 3, 1987 - "Sweet Child o' Mine"
Released: August 18, 1988 - "Paradise City"
Released: November 30, 1988 - "Nightrain"
Released: July 29, 1989
Professional ratings Review scores Source Rating Allmusic 
[1]Sputnikmusic 
[2]Robert Christgau (B-) [3] Rolling Stone [4]Appetite for Destruction is the debut studio album by American rock band Guns N' Roses, released in July 1987 on Geffen Records. It was well-received by critics and topped the American Billboard 200 chart. As of September 2008, the album has been certified 18 times platinum by the RIAA,[5] accumulating worldwide sales in excess of 28 million as of October 2008.[6]
Contents
Origins
Axl Rose stated in 1988 that many of the songs featured on the album had been written while the band had been performing on the Los Angeles club circuit, and a number of songs that would be featured on later Guns N' Roses albums were considered for Appetite for Destruction, such as "Back Off Bitch", "You Could Be Mine", "November Rain" and "Don't Cry". It is said that the reason for not putting "November Rain" was because they had already agreed to put "Sweet Child 'O Mine" and thus already had a ballad on the album (however, both Use Your Illusion albums would contain more than one ballad).[7]
While the songwriting credits are credited to all five band members, many of the songs began as solo tracks that individual band members wrote separate from the band, only to be completed later. These songs include "It's So Easy" (Duff McKagan) and "Think About You" (Izzy Stradlin). "Rocket Queen" was an unfinished Slash/Adler song that was written from their earlier band Road Crew, whereas "Anything Goes", written by Hollywood Rose and included in their compilation album The Roots of Guns N' Roses, was later re-written for Appetite.
Other songs on the album reflect the band's reaction to the debauchery of the L.A. rock and roll underground, such as "Welcome to the Jungle" the lyrics of which Rose wrote after he encountered a man near the highways of Manhattan in 1980 shortly after arriving there from Indiana.[8] Lyrics to some of the songs focus on the band members' younger years, like "Out ta Get Me", which focuses on lead singer Axl Rose's constant trouble with the law as a youth in Indiana.[9] The band also based song lyrics on their assorted female companions, reflected in the songs "Sweet Child o' Mine", "My Michelle", "You're Crazy", and "Rocket Queen", but not "Think About You", which actually talks about heroin.
Song information
"Welcome to the Jungle"
It was released as the band's second single on October 3, 1987 and reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number sixty-seven on the UK Singles Chart. In the United Kingdom, "Welcome to the Jungle" was backed with a live cover of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie", while in the United States the B-side was "Mr. Brownstone" from Appetite for Destruction. In 2009 it was named the greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.
"Out ta Get Me"
Its lyrics focus on lead singer Axl Rose's constant trouble with the law as a youth in Indiana. Slash describes it as being written even more quickly than "Welcome to the Jungle", which means it was written in under three hours.[9]
"Paradise City"
Slash states in his autobiography that the song was written in the back of a rental van as they were on their way back from playing a gig in San Francisco with the band Rock N Riders. He states that the band was in the back of the van, drinking and playing acoustic guitars when he came up with the intro. Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin started playing along. Slash started humming a melody when Axl Rose sang, "Take me down to the Paradise City." Slash chimed in with "Where the girls are fat and they have big titties."
"My Michelle"
The song is about a friend of the band, a girl named Michelle Young who is thanked in the 'Appetite For Destruction' cover sleeve. According to Axl, he and Young were in a car together when "Your Song" by Elton John came on the radio and Young 'happened' to mention that she had always wanted someone to write a song about her. The song is brutally honest, which Axl thought she would hate, but she liked the song.
"Sweet Child o' Mine"
Ninth track on the album and third single. Released on August 18, 1988, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first and only number-one single in the U.S. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart.
The lyrics of the song are written about Axl's girlfriend (at the time) Erin Everly. The guitar lick at the beginning was a coincidence, as Slash warmed up by playing a circus sounding tune as a joke, but the rest of the band took notice.
"You're Crazy"
It was originally written as an acoustic song, but was revamped for Appetite for Destruction[10] (this version is one of the fastest songs in the band's catalog). The slower, acoustic version was later recorded for G N' R Lies; this version has also been performed live with electric guitars (as heard on their live album).
A working title for the song was "Fucking Crazy".[10]
"Anything Goes"
It was one of the earliest-written songs by the band, having been written in 1981. It was originally named "My Way, Your Way".[11]
Packaging
The original cover art for the album, based on the Robert Williams' painting "Appetite for Destruction", depicted a robotic rapist about to be punished by a metal avenger. This caused controversy, prompting its replacement with the album's current cover.
The album's original cover art, based on the Robert Williams' painting "Appetite for Destruction", depicted a robotic rapist about to be punished by a metal avenger. After several music retailers refused to stock the album, the label compromised and put the controversial cover art inside, replacing it with an image depicting a cross and skulls of the five band members (designed by Billy White Jr., originally as a tattoo), each skull representing one member of the band: Izzy Stradlin, top skull; Steven Adler, left skull; Axl Rose, center skull; Duff McKagan, right skull; and Slash, bottom skull. The photographs used for the back of the album and liner notes were taken by Robert John, Marc Canter and Jack Lue. The original cover was supposed to be on the 2008 re-pressing of the vinyl, though the record label replaced it with the "Skulls" art at the last minute.[12] The re-pressing of the vinyl, though, is the first Guns N' Roses release to have the Parental Advisory label printed on the artwork; previously, like on the CD, this was a sticker on the cellophane wrap and later (on the CD and cassette releases) on the case itself.
In albums which were issued on double sided media (i.e., vinyl records and audio cassettes) the two sides were not conventionally labeled "A" and "B", but "G" and "R". Tracks 1-6 which comprise side "G" all deal with drugs and hard life in the big city ("Guns" side). The remaining tracks, which comprise side "R", all deal with love, sex and relationships ("Roses" side).
Legacy and achievements
Appetite for Destruction debuted at position 182 on the Billboard 200 on August 29, 1987.[13] The album reached number one on the chart on September 24, 1988, 50 weeks after its first appearance.[14] It spent four weeks at the top of the chart,[15] and a total of 147 weeks on the Billboard 200.[13]
- In 1989 Rolling Stone ranked Appetite for Destruction as the 27th best album of the 1980s. [16]
- The same magazine later ranked it at sixty-one on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[17]
- In 2001, Q magazine named Appetite for Destruction as one of the 50 Heaviest Albums of All Time.[18]
- In 2004, Q magazine also named Appetite for Destruction as one of the greatest Classic rock Albums Ever.[19]
- In 2003, VH1 named Appetite for Destruction the 42nd Greatest Album of All Time.[20]
- In 2002, Pitchfork Media ranked Appetite for Destruction 59th on their Top 100 Albums of the 1980s.[21]
- It was ranked 18 in Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Albums, 1985-2005".[22]
- In 2006, Kerrang! ranked the album #1 on the list of best rock albums.[23]
- The album was ranked 32 on Rock Hall of Fame's 'definitive 200' album list, developed by the NARM, the National Association of Recording Merchandisers.[24]
- In 2006, Q magazine placed the album at #10 in its list of "40 Best Albums of the '80s".[25]
- In 2006, the album was placed No. 2 on Guitar World magazine's list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Albums of All Time.[26]
- Music critic Piero Scaruffi includes Appetite for Destruction at number 4, just after Kyuss' Blues for the Red Sun and before Jane's Addiction's Nothing's Shocking, in his classification of the best metal albums of all times.[27]
- In 2011, Australian radio station Triple M listed Appetite For Destruction #1 in their list of the 250 most life changing albums.
Track listing
All songs credited to Guns N' Roses; "It's So Easy" co-credited to West Arkeen and "Anything Goes" co-credited to Chris Weber.[1] Actual writers and composers listed.
No. Title Lyrics Music Length 1. "Welcome to the Jungle" Axl Rose Slash, Rose 4:34 2. "It's So Easy" Duff McKagan, West Arkeen McKagan, Arkeen 3:23 3. "Nightrain" Rose Izzy Stradlin, Slash, McKagan 4:29 4. "Out ta Get Me" Rose Stradlin, Slash 4:25 5. "Mr. Brownstone" Stradlin, Slash[28][29][30] Stradlin, Slash 3:49 6. "Paradise City" Rose Slash, Rose, Stradlin, McKagan 6:46 7. "My Michelle" Rose Stradlin, Rose 3:40 8. "Think About You" Stradlin Stradlin 3:52 9. "Sweet Child o' Mine" Rose Slash, Rose, Stradlin[31][32][33] 5:55 10. "You're Crazy" Rose Stradlin, Slash 3:17 11. "Anything Goes" Rose Stradlin, Chris Weber 3:26 12. "Rocket Queen" Rose Slash, Rose, McKagan 6:13 Personnel
Categories:- 1987 albums
- Albums produced by Mike Clink
- Debut albums
- English-language albums
- Geffen Records albums
- Guns N' Roses albums
- Recording Industry Association of America Diamond Award albums
- "It's So Easy"
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