22 GUNS N’ ROSES
Did you cop any flack for your opinion?
The band who revolutionised rock in the 80s… even if we didn’t exactly realise it at the time hese days, GN’R are the stuff of legend, so it’s no surprise they’re on this list. But when Axl and co released debut Appetite For Destruction in ’87, esteemed Hammer scribe Dave Ling wasn’t impressed. Rating it 4/10, he thought it was too derivative of 70s rock, though did concede Welcome To The Jungle was ‘magnificent’ and Paradise City was the ‘bastard son of Train Kept A-rollin’. He condemned their lyrics for being ‘content to perpetuate the basic rock’n’roll desperado themes of law-breaking, boozing and endless wimmen’. He continued, ‘Two great songs and a few decent ideas doesn’t constitute a good album.’ Oof. We asked Dave whether he’s since changed his mind.
THow much did you know about the band beforehand?
Dave Ling: “Appetite… came out in July ’87, so by then I would have seen them play a fairly mediocre gig at the Marquee Club a couple of weeks earlier, though lead-in times ensured it wouldn’t have spun my view of the album. I had read a lot about them, obviously. I was very suspicious of the level of superlatives being thrown at them.”
What led you to say it was a second-rate reheating of Hanoi Rocks?
“Beyond the tracks I raved about - Paradise City and Welcome To The Jungle - it felt it too derivative, and, honestly, not very special. It just didn’t live up to the hype.”
“Apart from Axl calling me up angrily at Hammer a couple of days after I had interviewed him – ‘And here’s another thing you failed to understand!’ – not really.”
When did you realise the band were actually getting successful?
“When the songs from Appetite… became fixtures in the nightclubs I frequented. And when I saw them headline Hammersmith Odeon three months after the album came out. They were supported by Faster Pussycat and The Quireboys. I came away thinking that GN’R were the least impressive of those three bands.”
What do you think about the album today?
“It’s become part of the rock’n’roll wallpaper, I’ve had no alternative but to grow to like it. At the time I felt it my duty to overlook the propaganda and approach it like just another record. It’s important to recall that nobody foresaw the record’s success. Yes, I got it wrong, badly wrong, but hindsight can be very overwhelming. This was 33 years ago. GN’R have said they would have been overjoyed at selling 200,000 copies. Back in ’87, had you told Axl and Slash that it would end up in 30 million homes worldwide they’d have laughed or called you insane.”
ESSENTIAL ALBUM:
Appetite For Destruction (1987)
Virginia’s pure American metallers
One of the finest bands of our time, who held their heads up high even during the toughest of circumstances. Throughout his unexpected ordeal in a Czech prison and his trial for manslaughter of a fan – for which he was acquitted – frontman Randy Blythe showed great strength, maintaining dignity in the face of hardship, squaring up to his moral duties and demonstrating his humility in the face of tragedy. Now they’re back to doing what they do best – writing their self-proclaimed Pure American Metal songs and playing show after show on the road. Their new album, simply titled Lamb Of God, cuts to the essence of what they’re about. The grooves are there, the hardcore ethos is there, and the persistence is there, as they take aim at injustice and the American dream the best way they know how. We’re lucky to have them. Check out our interview with Randy on page 36 and our album review on page 88.
Sacrament (2006)
ESSENTIAL ALBUM:
The greatest voice in all of metal
The diminutive figure with the massive voice and warm personality. Ten years on, we’re still reeling from losing such a talent, but luckily Ronnie James Dio left enough songs to keep us entertained for a good long while. From his early days in Elf, to his stint in Rainbow, to his period with Black Sabbath and his time as a solo artist, he always approached music with imagination and passion, spinning fantasy tales that were often grounded in the reality of what it means to be human. Of course, many of them are just stone-cold bangers: Rainbow In The Dark, Holy Diver and The Last In Line
to name but a few. And with his wife, Wendy Dio, managing his estate, we have even more to forward to; his biography’s being completed with the help of journalist Mick Wall, there’s a documentary in the works, and even a few unreleased songs. His voice will echo through the ages.
Turn to page 70 for more.
Holy Diver (1983)
ESSENTIAL ALBUM:
Our progressive metal overlords
The band with the most expansive minds in metal. Whether exploring past life regression therapy or immersing themselves in a world where music is made by machines, Canadian free-thinkers Dream Theater have never been afraid to take a concept and stretch it out to its conclusion. Nor of executing those concepts with the maximum level of precision and technical ability, their widdly solos and drawn-out diversions musical manna from heaven for those who love a bit of heavy prog indulgence. The departure of drummer/mastermind Mike Portnoy in 2010 was a significant bump in their career, but they managed to stay on course, even attracting their first Grammy nomination for the following year’s appropriately named A Dramatic Turn Of Events. While 2019’s Distance Over Time was their most conventional record in years, we wouldn’t count out a return to proggier excursions just yet.
Images And Words (1992)
ESSENTIAL ALBUM:
Setting new standards of extremity
Death were always ahead of the game. The brainchild of Florida’s Chuck Schuldiner, their visceral vocals, sinister riffs and urgent drumming made for an intense maelstrom, taking metal to a whole new blood-spattered level of extremity and giving rise to a genre: death metal. OK, Possessed had released their demo Death Metal in 1983, but disbanded after two albums, whereas Chuck followed through for seven. There was something undeniably exciting about what he was doing. His propensity to follow his own, singular vision led to fallouts with bandmembers, but also allowed him to push into new directions. For 1991’s Human,
he teamed up with Cynic’s Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal to produce a cutting-edge example of technical death metal, and left horror-movie gore behind for more introspective lyrics. Though Chuck tragically passed away from brain stem cancer aged 34, his music has had an enduring ripple effect.
Scream Bloody Gore (1987)
ESSENTIAL ALBUM: