Review Summary: Not the classic it's supposed to be, but enjoyable nonetheless. Not Guns N Roses best either, but worth a buy in the unlikely event that you don't already own it.
Guns N Roses famous debut album,
Appetite For Destruction certainly caused a stir in the music world.
Welcome To The Jungle and
Sweet Child O' Mine were both massive hits, and today this album is almost universally regarded as a classic. This is probably because of its impact rather than it's actual content, however. Metallica's self titled album and AC/DCs
Back In Black were both hard rock/metal classics, with
Back In Black being on the hard rock end, and Metallica (unsurprisingly) on the more metal side of things. Appetite For Destruction lies somewhere between these two, but when put up against them, it falls considerably flat.
I won't deny the quality of two big hits.
Welcome To The Jungle is a perfect hard rock song, with one of the most famous intros in the entire genre. Axl Roses vocals are probably his best on the album, even if they do sound directly ripped from Brian Johnson of AC/DC. His falsetto screams fit the lyrics well, which could easily be interpreted as descriptions of the city life through the metaphor of 'the jungle'. The rhythm section is also at it's best here, with the height being great backing during the verse. The guitar and bass chug away with a simple yet effective drum beat confirming Guns N Roses position as a hard rock band. Slash's solos are pleasing, even if they don't completely fit the song, and it all comes to an almost tribal bridge section of tom beats and eerie guitar. Axl Rose screams 'You know where you are? You're in the jungle baby! You're gonna die!' before the bliss is over and it climaxes in a fairly predictable key change for the final chorus.
Sweet Child O' Mine comes as probably my second favourite song on the album, just behind
Welcome To The Jungle. Another famous guitar intro hits, leading the song into the verse. Great bass work and almost sung falsetto vocals by Axl are accompanied by some quiet arpeggios from Slash in the verse, and the choruses have Slash's lead guitar work to support them. The small solos are just perfect, but the famous main solo is the highlight. It may not quite sound like it was written for the song (big understatement), but it's undeniably great.
In terms of classic material, however, that's it.
Paradise City's intro is, as usual, the highlight of the song, but the vocals ruin it. Slightly odd vocal effects and group singing throughout do not mask the poor parts themselves, and the song never really manages to get going. It's still pretty good, but that's all.
My Michelle has an aggressive guitar riff, basic drumming and Axl Roses usual vocal delivery and lyrical topics (sex and city life). Again, it's good, but no more. So what about the album as a whole? Is there more to it than that?
Guns N Roses were a band with many tensions between them, and this album really shows it. The band is divided into 3 parts during the course of the album- The rhythm section, Slash, and Axl Rose.
Welcome To The Jungle is probably the only song on the album that doesn't really show that divide, hence why it's my favourite song. The rhythm section consists of decent bass, which sometimes really stands out. However, it's pretty monotonal throughout, and even when it tries to compete with the lead guitar riff in
Sweet Child O' Mine, it still sounds like part of the rhythm section. The drums are almost all very basic beats and fills, the only exception being in (you guessed it)
Welcome To The Jungle where they get strangely tribal in the chorus. Steven Adler was by no means a bad drummer, but he rarely showed it. Izzy's guitar seems to always have the same distorted tone, with samey yet fairly nice riffs providing a good backing. He never managed to come into his own, however. The whole rhythm section is very basic and similar throughout, really. Power chord riffs, decent bass and average drums.
The vocals are mostly dominated by Axl Rose, but he does like giving the others some room to help him. His falsetto screams, as stated earlier, are direct rip-offs of those from Judas Priest and AC/DC in particular, but he doesn't have the same vocal talent as either frontman. Brian Johnson could be a great frontman, his screams were fantastic, and his singing ability was also great. Axl Rose lags behind on all of those, particularly singing. His screams are very monotonal, his attempts to act like a diva fall flat on their face, and his singing is awful. In
It's So Easy, the verses are delivered very unenthusiastically by Axl (and possibly Slash as well?), with Axl double layering his voice in order to sing like a diva of the top of his spoken/sung main part. It doesn't work at all. He does the same thing for nearly every song, much like the rhythm section.
Slash is easily the most talented member of the band, but he doesn't feel like part of it. Where Axl almost sounds like he's on the same page as the backing band, Slash just goes for it on his own. He obviously gets on better with the rhythm section than Axl, as he often just sounds like he's trying to drown him out. His mind boggling solos are present in every song, often alongside (or rather against) Axl's vocals, and unlike the rest of the band, he varies his style well. He taps, shreds, picks, bends and whammies his way to stardom in every song, without ever managing to sound recycled, and just for that he gets a clear head above the rest. Slash is the main reason to listen to the album, so if you're a guitarist, you'll definitely be pleased.
It never manages to be really bad, although it comes close with
It's So Easy,
Anything Goes and the absolutely terrible vocals in
Mr. Brownstone. The good parts range from good to amazing, and the bad parts range from bad to really bad. Despite this, the album is fairly consistent, since most of the songs contain all of these moments. Is it the classic it's made out to be? No. Is it a bad album? No.
Use Your Illusion is a marked improvement on this, but it's all downhill from there.
If you like hard rock, this is probably worth a look (though you probably own it already), but otherwise, stick to the recommended tracks. No classic, but still good.
Must buys:
Welcome To The Jungle
Sweet Child O' Mine
Other recommended tracks:
My Michelle
Paradise City
Rocket Queen
