by Dave Franklin

Created on: March 04, 2007   Last Updated: May 09, 2007

Whatever self parody Guns N` Roses ended up becoming amongst the law suits, tantrums and rock and roll excesses, it must be remembered that there was a time when they were the cutting edge of hard rock. They certainly looked and acted the part, but underneath the sleazy theatrics and rock and roll clichs were a bunch of musicians who knew how to write fantastic songs and their debut album Appetite for Destruction stands as testament to this.

Through out the early eighties the various members who were to gel into one of the finest street rock bands of its time paid their dues with the struggling musicians of its time. Some of these bands came and went without troubling the music press too much, such as Hollywood Rose, the band that first through singer Axl Rose and guitarist Izzy Stradlin, and Road Crew the band that saw the other three members of the band united. Other bands such as LA Guns, which temporarily featured Axl Rose on vocals, went on to success, but this melting pot of wannabees eventually threw together the original line up of Guns N` Roses and in 1987 the debut album was released to critical acclaim. Fusing a street rock attitude with a hard rock sound G N`R managed to create a unique identity that set them apart from the other contenders. Add to that a lyrical input that was at once close to the bone, but representative of the world they had fought their way through and you have the heart of G N`R. These are not songs of love and romance that other west coast bands were putting out at the time, this is music of the back streets, played by people who knew those territories well.

What was to become one of their most famous songs kick-starts the album, a guitars razor riff spirals in to Axls screams and it is Welcome To The Jungle. Guitar riffs and lead breaks fire off left right and centre as the singer introduces us to the bad side of LA were the band came together. Its a driving song with a solid backbone, almost AC/DC like in places but still with their own American west coast identity. And as that song leaves you a solidary bass riff starts up, drums kick in and your off again with Its So Easy. There are 12 songs on this album, all solid rock songs all classics and all very original and I don't need to give you a track by track breakdown, listening to the album will do a better job of that anyway, but certain songs do highlight what is great about this album. Mr Brownstone, a song about the pitfalls of heroin, has a different groove to it than

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