by Monty Cliff

Created on: August 07, 2007   Last Updated: June 13, 2011

Appetite for Destruction may have just saved rock and roll's future. The amazing debut album from Guns 'N Roses came about at a time when hair-metal and synth-pop ruled the airwaves and was suffocating any true music to be released. What was to save the masses? The classic combo of sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, that's what. Right from the delay intro of "Welcome to the Jungle", GnR's sound is established: Slash and Izzy riffing away over the solid foundation laid down by Duff and Steven Adler with Axl Rose screaming his tales of LAs mean streets, sex and drug use to top it all off.

While "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child O' Mine" became rock radio staples, every track is an instant classic. "Nightrain" chugs along like a drunk the morning after, "Mr. Brownstone" has become one of the most celebrated drug-odes in history and "It's So Easy" is pure GnR: dirty, raunchy, and completely unforgettable. What is quite possibly the best track on this album, appropriately, brings the album to the close. "Rocket Queen" is a song with all the perfect Guns 'N Roses ingredients: classic riffing, sex-laden lyrics and a surprising sensitivity that comes out of nowhere.

Appetite for Destruction is one of the rare albums in rock (or music, for matter) that is perfect from top to bottom - no weak spots or dull tracks. No matter what you think of what Guns 'N Roses became, to deny this album as a masterpiece is to deny the power of rock 'n roll itself.

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