Guns n´ Roses

- Obal EX. Deska M.

Appetite for Destruction is the debut studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released in July 21, 1987 on Geffen Records. It was well received by critics and topped the American Billboard 200 chart. As of September 2008, the album has been certified 18 times Platinum by the RIAA,[5] accumulating worldwide sales in excess of 30 million.The album is featured in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Axl Rose stated that many of the songs featured on the album had been written while the band had been performing on the Los Angeles club circuit, and a number of songs that would be featured on later Guns N' Roses albums were considered for Appetite for Destruction, such as "Back Off Bitch", "You Could Be Mine", "November Rain" and "Don't Cry". It is said that the reason for not putting "November Rain" was because they had already agreed to put "Sweet Child 'O Mine" and thus already had a ballad on the album (however, both Use Your Illusion albums would contain more than one ballad).

While Kiss' Paul Stanley was considered for producing the album, he was rejected after insisting on changes to Steven Adler's drum setup and the songs. Robert John "Mutt" Lange was also considered, but he proved too expensive to hire. Mike Clink, who had produced several Triumph records, was eventually chosen instead.[10] After some weeks of rehearsal, the band entered Daryl Dragon's Rumbo Recorders in January 1987. Two weeks were spent laying down basic tracks, with Clink splicing together the best takes with his razor blade. Clink worked eighteen-hour days for the next month, with Slash overdubbing in the afternoon and evening, and Rose cutting vocals until the sun came up. Slash struggled to find a guitar sound before coming up with a Gibson Les Paul copy plugged into a Marshall amplifier. He spent hours with Clink paring down and structuring his solos. The total budget for the album was about $370,000.

Many of the songs on Appetite For Destruction began as solo tracks that individual band members wrote separate from the band, only to be completed later. These songs include "It's So Easy" (Duff McKagan) and "Think About You" (Izzy Stradlin). "Rocket Queen" was an unfinished Slash/McKagan/Adler song that was written from their earlier band Road Crew, whereas "Anything Goes", written by Hollywood Rose and included in their compilation album The Roots of Guns N' Roses, was later re-written for Appetite.

Most of the songs on the album reflect the band's personal experiences and daily life, such as "Welcome to the Jungle", some of the lyrics of which Rose wrote after he encountered a man near the highways of Manhattan in 1980 shortly after arriving there from Indiana,[11] and "Mr. Brownstone", which is about the band's problems with heroin. Lyrics to some of the songs focus on the band members' younger years, like "Out ta Get Me", which focuses on lead singer Axl Rose's constant trouble with the law as a youth in Indiana.[12] The band also based song lyrics on some of their female friends, reflected in the songs "Sweet Child o' Mine", "My Michelle, "You're Crazy", and "Rocket Queen".
Song information
"Welcome to the Jungle"
Main article: Welcome to the Jungle

It was released as the band's second single on October 3, 1987 and reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number sixty-seven on the UK Singles Chart. In the United Kingdom, "Welcome to the Jungle" was backed with a live cover of AC/DC's "Whole Lotta Rosie", while in the United States the B-side was "Mr. Brownstone" from Appetite for Destruction. In 2009 it was named the greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1.
"Nightrain"

This song refears to a brand of cheap wine that some Guns N' Roses members had pretty much abused at a time.
"Out ta Get Me"

Its lyrics focus on lead singer Axl Rose's constant trouble with the law as a youth in Indiana. Slash describes it as being written even more quickly than "Welcome to the Jungle", which means it was written in under three hours.
"Paradise City"
Main article: Paradise City

Slash states in his autobiography that the song was written in the back of a rental van as they were on their way back from playing a gig in San Francisco with the band Rock N Riders. He states that the band was in the back of the van, drinking and playing acoustic guitars when he came up with the intro. Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin started playing along. Slash started humming a melody when Axl Rose sang, "Take me down to the Paradise City", where Slash then chimed in with "Where the girls are fat and have big titties." Axl didn't like these lyrics, as he wanted the song to be radio-friendly. The rest of the band agreed and the line was changed to "Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty."
"My Michelle"
Main article: My Michelle

The song is about a friend of the band, a girl named Michelle Young who is thanked in the 'Appetite For Destruction' cover sleeve. According to Axl, he and Young were in a car together when "Your Song" by Elton John came on the radio and Young 'happened' to mention that she had always wanted someone to write a song about her. The song is brutally honest, which Slash thought she would hate, but she liked the song.
"Sweet Child O' Mine"
Main article: Sweet Child O' Mine

Ninth track on the album and third single. Released on August 18, 1988, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first and only number-one single in the U.S. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart.

The lyrics of the song are written about Axl's girlfriend (at the time) Erin Everly. The famous guitar lick at the beginning of the song was simply one of Slash's warm-up routines, as he stated in his autobiography. Though he didn't see it as anything special, the other members of the band did. As they jammed to it one night, Axl was upstairs in a bedroom writing lyrics to fit it. Shortly after that night, Rose brought the lyrics to the rest of the band and it was turned into a full song.
"You're Crazy"

It was originally written as an acoustic song, but was revamped for Appetite for Destruction[14] (this version is one of the fastest songs in the band's catalog). The slower, acoustic version was later recorded for G N' R Lies; this version has also been performed live with electric guitars (as heard on their live album).

A working title for the song was "Fucking Crazy".
"Anything Goes"

It was one of the earliest-written songs by the band, having been written in 1981 and had been performed in an earlier incarnation with Hollywood Rose. It was originally named "My Way, Your Way".

The album's original cover art, based on Robert Williams' painting "Appetite for Destruction", depicted a robotic rapist about to be punished by a metal avenger. After several music retailers refused to stock the album, the label compromised and put the controversial cover art inside, replacing it with an image depicting a cross and skulls of the five band members (designed by Billy White Jr., originally as a tattoo), each skull representing one member of the band: Izzy Stradlin, top skull; Steven Adler, left skull; Axl Rose, center skull; Duff McKagan, right skull; and Slash, bottom skull. The photographs used for the back of the album and liner notes were taken by Robert John, Marc Canter, Jack Lue, Leonard McCardie, and Greg Freeman. The original cover was supposed to be on the 2008 re-pressing of the vinyl, though the record label replaced it with the "Skulls" art at the last minute.[16] The re-pressing of the vinyl, though, is the first Guns N' Roses release to have the Parental Advisory label printed on the artwork; previously, like on the CD, this was a sticker on the cellophane wrap and later (on the CD and cassette releases) on the case itself.

In albums which were issued on double sided media (vinyl records and audio cassettes) the two sides were not conventionally labeled "A" and "B", but "G" and "R". Tracks 1-6 which compose side "G" all deal with drugs and hard life in the big city ("Guns" side). The remaining tracks, which compose side "R", all deal with love, sex and relationships ("Roses" side).

In an interview with That Metal Show in 2011, Axl stated his original idea for the cover art was to be the photo of the Space Shuttle Challenger exploding, which was on the cover of Time Magazine in 1986, but Geffen refused it saying it was "in bad taste".
Track listing

All songs credited to Guns N' Roses; actual writers listed below.

No.  Title  Writer(s)  Length 
1.  "Welcome to the Jungle"    Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan 4:34
2.  "It's So Easy"    McKagan, West Arkeen  3:23
3.  "Nightrain"    Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Slash, McKagan  4:29
4.  "Out ta Get Me"    Rose, Stradlin, Slash  4:25
5.  "Mr. Brownstone"    Stradlin, Slash 3:49
6.  "Paradise City"    Rose, Slash, Stradlin, McKagan 6:46
7.  "My Michelle"    Rose, Stradlin 3:40
8.  "Think About You"    Stradlin 3:52
9.  "Sweet Child o' Mine"    Rose, Slash, Stradlin 5:55
10.  "You're Crazy"    Rose, Stradlin, Slash  3:17
11.  "Anything Goes"    Stradlin, Chris Weber  3:26
12.  "Rocket Queen"    Rose, Slash, McKagan  6:13