02APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION GUNS N’ ROSES

(1987)

Mid-80s Los Angeles had two kinds of guitarist: shredders with amazing technique but no feel, and posers with none of either. Into this void came Slash, reinventing classic rock guitar on Guns N’ Roses’ debut record Appetite for destruction.

Other bands talked tough, but singer Axl Rose actually sounded ready to jump off the stage and mess you up, and Slash’s solos had the attitude to back it up. After Axl yells “why don’t you just... f**k off?” in It’s so easy, Slash’s grinding two-string bend repeats the invitation. When Axl threatens “I wanna watch you bleed!” in Welcometothe Jungle, Slash delivers double stops tough enough to make it happen.

Equally important was rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin. He and Slash proved themselves easily the best riff writers since AC/DC, and the interplay between their parts was essential to Appetite’s magic. Judas Priest bashed out identical riffs in unison, and Def Leppard orchestrated unique parts for each guitarist. Slash and Izzy found another way, each of them often playing his own interpretation of the same riff. This created a dynamic push and pull between the parts. 80s records could sound mechanical, but Appetite was deeply human, as the accelerating outro to Paradisec ity showed.

Appetite also sounded honest. Some 80s ballads sounded like the result of a board meeting to produce a hit single, whereas Sweet childo’ mine was naturally melodic. Slash’s ear for melody produced hooks you could whistle, giving Paradise city, Sweet childo’ Mine and Welcome to the jungle some of the decade’s most memorable single-note riffs.

Slash’s solos showed the influence of Michael Schenker, Angus Young and Jimmy Page, but he had the speed to impress in the decade of Vai and Yngwie. He never sounded like a shredder, though. He had controlled sloppiness like Keith Richards and Joe Perry that just sounded cool. He was also more rhythmically interesting than the shredders delivering hails of unbroken 16th notes or sextuplets. Even Slash’s breakneck licks in Nightrain and Paradise city use a variety of note lengths and articulations.

As with Van Halen’s first album, Appetite’s guitar tone is shrouded in myth and legend because the rented modified Marshall Slash used was later stolen. But the important thing was that it sounded like a guitar amp, rather than a signal that had been fed through so many digital processors it barely resembled the original source. Mix engineers Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero wisely left the guitars raw, and this helped Appetite to stay relevant even through the 90s, when most 80s records sounded painfully dated.

In hindsight, Appetite started paving the way for the 90s even as it embodied 80s excess. It spearheaded a return to live sounds and Les Pauls and away from day-glo pointy headstocks. Guns N’ Roses represented authenticity, a love of music, and real emotion at a time of cynicism, and their debut is a testament to the life-affirming powers of rock’n’roll.