#233: Guns N' Roses - Appetite for Destruction (1987)

Zack: Like most adolescent males, I went through a Guns N’ Roses phase sometime that coincided with puberty. My dad had their greatest hits and, as seems to be a running theme to this blog, I raided his CD collection one day and found it. As such, I’m pretty familiar with all the major GNR songs. Tragically, my favorite GNR song isn’t on this album. Which is a shame since anytime is November Rain time. Neither is my second favorite GNR tune, Civil War. But Appetite for Destruction does have Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Paradise City, so it’s not all bad. Those three songs are basically pillars in the temple of hard rock, and they’re spaced pretty far apart in the album. Which is great, since they all rock you like an air-guitar inducing hurricane and you need a few songs in between to help recover. The other songs ranged from pretty good to meh, but none of them really stood out to me. Although I’m sure they sound great in  head-to-head comparison against Chinese Democracy.

Favorite Tracks: Welcome to the Jungle; Sweet Child O’ Mine; Paradise City

Emily: I listened to this album last night and didn't have much to say. So I decided to sleep on it, maybe give it another spin, and see if the thoughts came pouring out. Surprise: that didn't happen. This album just didn't make much of an impression on me. The two main singles, Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child O' Mine (of course), are great examples of '80s hair metal done right. The rest of it, however, is pretty forgettable. Not bad, but just not that exciting. Guns N' Roses are definitely on the better end of hard rock bands from this era, but to me it wasn't worth it to look past the singles.
Favorite Tracks: Welcome to the Jungle; Sweet Child O’ Mine; Paradise City