Guns N' Roses - Appetite For Destruction

I suppose you might say that this was inevitable, after posting many 80’s Rock bands in the past that Guns N' Roses' debut would eventually pop up here. Around the time of release in ’87 I was at a cross-road with my music consumption, part Goth, part EBM and part Rock (Punk, Hard and especially Glam). When I went out at night I was wearing a leather biker jacket, tight black leather jeans, the occasional tour t’shirt and to finish the “look” with backcombed black hair. Appetite was the long finger nails to the itch that I’d been scratching from about a year before.   
Appetite was a turning point for cock rock in the late '80s -- it was a dirty, dangerous, and mean record in a time when heavy metal meant nothing but a good time. On the surface, Guns N' Roses may appear to celebrate the same things as their peers -- namely, sex, liquor, drugs, and rock & roll -- but there is a nasty edge to their songs, since Axl Rose doesn't see much fun in the urban sprawl of L.A. and its parade of heavy metal thugs, cheap women, booze, and crime. The music is as nasty as the lyrics, wallowing in a bluesy, metallic hard rock borrowed from Aerosmith, AC/DC, and countless faceless hard rock bands of the early '80s. It's a primal, sleazy sound that adds grit to already grim tales. It also makes Rose's misogyny, fear, and anger hard to dismiss as merely an artistic statement; this is music that sounds lived-in. And that's exactly why Appetite for Destruction is such a powerful record -- not only does Rose have fears, but he also is vulnerable, particularly on the power ballad "Sweet Child O' Mine." He also has a talent for conveying the fears and horrors of the decaying inner city, whether it's on the charging "Welcome to the Jungle," the heroin ode "Mr. Brownstone," or "Paradise City," which simply wants out. But as good as Rose's lyrics and screeching vocals are, they wouldn't be nearly as effective without the twin-guitar interplay of Slash and Izzy Stradlin, who spat out riffs and solos better than any band since the Rolling Stones, and that's what makes Appetite for Destruction the best rock record of the late '80s.