For my album review, I chose to listen to Guns N’ Roses Appetite For Destruction. Guns N’ Roses is a rock band that came together in 1985 in Los Angeles, California. The lead singer of the band was Axl Rose. He is the only original member of the band that is still a part of the band today. Another well-known member of the band was Slash, who later became part of another band, Velvet Revolver, and started to do some solo work as well. Appetite for Destruction consists of some of the most well-known Guns N’ Roses songs, as well as some songs that are not more commonly known to those who are not very familiar with the band. The song list is made up of the following songs: Welcome to the Jungle, It’s So Easy, Nightrain, Out Ta Get Me, Mr. Brownstone, Paradise City, My Michelle, Think About You, Sweet Child O’ Mine, You’re Crazy, Anything Goes, and Rocket Queen. The album was released on July 21, 1987. I chose to listen to Guns N’ Roses because they have been one of my favorite bands for the past year and I thought it would be interesting to take a closer look at one of their albums.
When I began to listen to this album, I started to listen to it focusing on the lyrics more closely to see if I had missed anything when I had previously listened to the songs. I wanted to pay attention to what Rose meant by what he was saying in the songs as well. I believe this is the most well known album that Guns N’ Roses has released. I think it is their album that has the most universally known songs on it. Since I had previously heard some of the songs on the album, I had very high expectations for this album. I expected to absolutely love this album.
I really enjoyed Appetite for Destruction. My favorite aspect of the album as a whole was that it showed the growth and progression of Guns N’ Roses as a band. Welcome to the Jungle was used to illustrate the bands arrival in Los Angeles. They use imagery to show what a crazy and unpredictable town Los Angeles is, especially as musicians. As the album goes on, the band expresses things that have gone on in their lives as they were thriving together as a band. It shows that events of what the band went through it the two-year span that they had been together until the release of Appetite for Destruction. I really enjoyed this because I believe a lot of being a true fan of a band is getting to know the band’s history. Through this album, you get to take a look at the journey of Guns N’ Roses.
I love the way Axl Rose sings on this entire album. He has so much control over his voice. He is a remarkable singer. I enjoy that he has a way of making his voice go from a normal singing voice to his signature, raspy voice that he uses within most of Guns N’ Roses’ songs. Although their use of profanity was a bit over the top, I enjoyed the lyrics of the songs. The band uses detailed imagery within their lyrics when describing certain places and people. The quality of the music was very good as well. The guitar riffs and solos within the songs are all very easily to recall and easy to sway along with when listening to the songs. Overall, the only real criticisms I have for this album is the excessive use of profanity. The setup of the album, the vocals, and the music were all put together exceptionally well.
Guns N’ Roses Appetite for Destruction is a very enjoyable album. I believe it would appeal to those who are fans of other early hard rock/metal bands. I would not recommend this to children, however. The language and some of the other lyrical and musical content of the songs are not appropriate for children under the age of 16. This album is meant for more of a young adult and adult audience. Appetite for Destruction reached the top of the Billboard 200 following its release in 1987. If you choose to listen to Appetite for Destruction and enjoy it, I would encourage you to look at other songs released by Guns N’ Roses as well.