Appetite For Destruction (1987)
Bridging the gap almost single-handedly between mid 80’s synth/pop and late 80’s hair bands, this album is quite an achievement. Not that it’s all so great…it has weak tracks. But this was recorded at a time when UK pop bands were dying here and hair-band “metal” was being concocted in some evil underground lair to punish human beings for allowing Duran Duran to stick around for as long as they did. They couldn’t very well separate Guns N Roses from the hair bands (after all, they did use quite a bit of makeup at first), but they could yell and scream about how GNR was the best. All the pop “metal” bands paid homage, and rightly so. This blows their sh1t right out of the water, Def Leppard excluded. So here we have it, an important and influential album that proved to be their one stab at greatness. It’s aged well…no wincing necessary. I still enjoy it. It’s worth a try, at least, don’t you think?
(“My Michelle”, “Rocket Queen”, “Welcome To The Jungle”)
Grade: A-
2010: Upped a notch for hating Winger.
Grade: A