This Friday (July 21), Guns
N’ Roses’ debut album, ‘Appetite
For Destruction,’ will be turning 30. Featuring such iconic songs as “Welcome
To The Jungle,” “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City,” it has become one of
the most influential rock albums of all time. Over the last three decades, it
has earned the titles of best-selling debut album of all time, and 11th
best-selling album of all-time, period.
‘Appetite For Destruction’ changed the expectations for what
popular rock could sound like. At a time when hair metal bands were everywhere,
Guns N’ Roses came out of the gate with a raw sound that combined punk ethos
with hard rock. It wasn’t glitzy or clean, but it was direct and down-to-earth.
To celebrate ‘Appetite For Destruction’s’ milestone
anniversary, Vinyl Bay 777, Long Island’s music outlet, is taking a look
back at the making of the album. Here are
seven facts about ‘Appetite For Destruction,’ it’s recording, release and
response.
1.
It wasn’t originally a hit: The way people refer
to it now, you would think that ‘Appetite For Destruction’ was one of the
biggest albums right out of the gate. But it actually took nearly a year for
the album to catch on. The situation was so dire that their label, Geffen,
wanted the band to stop promoting the album and start work on the next one. It
wasn’t until MTV started playing the video for “Welcome To The Jungle” that the
album went from selling 250,000 units in the US its first year to selling more
than 18 million in the US as of 2008.
2.
MTV wouldn’t play “Welcome To The Jungle”: As
stated above, MTV wouldn’t play the video for “Welcome To The Jungle,” which
severely hindered the album’s ability to reach more listeners. Tom Zutaut, the
A&R rep that signed Guns N’ Roses to Geffen, told Loudwire
last year that the reason for this was that MTV feared they would be thrown off
local cable channels if they played it. MTV wasn’t even 10 years old when the
video came out, so it was a legitimate fear, but when the channel did air it (its
debut was at 5 AM on a Sunday), they got enough positive responses to put it
into their rotation.
3.
It originally had a different cover: Decency
laws were a big thing in the 1980s, especially because of the Parents Music
Resource Center (PRMC). Such is why Guns N’ Roses had to change the cover of “Appetite
For Destruction.” The original cover was based on a painting by Robert Williams
of the same name that featured a robot raping a woman and a ravenous metal angel
getting ready to take revenge on him. Many
stores refused to sell the album with this cover, so Geffen decided to scrap
that cover and the iconic cross and skulls cover was created.
4.
The album has a light side and a dark side: If
the breakdown of the vinyl album’s sides seems a bit light and dark, that was
actually done on purpose. Instead of doing the traditional side A and side B,
the band made the tracklist themed. Side G, which stands for “guns,” contains
songs about violence. Side R, which stands for “roses,” on the other hand, is
filled with love songs.
5.
There is actual sex on the album: In the same
Loudwire article, Zutaut mentions an incident where Axl Rose wanted authentic
sex sounds on the song “Rocket Queen.” To do this, Rose decided to ask drummer
Steven Adler’s girlfriend to have sex with him (Rose) in the studio. No word on
what this did to Rose and Adler’s friendship.
6.
“November Rain” was considered for ‘Appetite’: While ‘Appetite For Destruction’ features a plethora of hits,
there is another hit that nearly made it onto the album. Rumor has it that “November
Rain” was in the running to be on the album, but didn’t make the cut because
they already had “Sweet Child O’ Mine” on it and didn’t want to add another
ballad. The song is one of the band’s oldest, supposedly written as early as
1983. The ballad ended up being released on 1991’s ‘Use Your Illusion I’
instead.
7.
Many of the songs were written before the album
was even a thought: A lot of bands when first starting out will have some sort
of repository of tracks that they had been playing out with. Such is the case
with Guns N’ Roses. Much of ‘Appetite For Destruction’ was written either while
the members were in different bands or way before they were signed and thinking
about recording. According to the Loudwire article, “It’s So Easy” and “Anything
Goes” were written while many of the members were still in Hollywood Rose,
while “Rocket Queen” was started while Slash, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler
were in Road Crew. And as for the songs that the band did write while recording
the album, those came together really quickly. The most extreme stories of this
were the three hours it took Axl Rose to write “Welcome To The Jungle.”
Over the last three decades, Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, ‘Appetite
For Destruction,’ has become one of the most revered and best-selling rock
albums of all time. Once it caught on, its sound changed the face of popular
rock, proving it didn’t have to be overly polished to be good. As the iconic album celebrates its 30th
anniversary this week, it continues to be an influential piece of work for generations
of musicians and fans alike.
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Find iconic rock albums from the likes of Guns N’ Roses and
more at Long Island’s top new independent record shop, Vinyl Bay 777. Our wide
selection of new and used vinyl records, CDs, cassettes and music DVDs include
thousands of titles in a vast array of genres. Stop by our Plainview store or
shop online at vinylbay777.com to see what’s new. With more titles being added
all the time, you never know what you’ll find at Vinyl Bay 777.
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