Last week, Appetite for Destruction turned 20. Wow…Has it really been 20 years since that late afternoon, hanging with friends at mom’s, waiting for MTV’s brand-new game show, Remote Control, to come on, when we saw the video clip for “Welcome to the Jungle” for the first time? Have two decades actually transpired since we sat there mesmerized, blown away, before finally uttering, “What the fuck is this?!”
Not too long after that, over at another friend’s house we sat in the living room chatting while MTV blared in the background. As some Poison video came on, one of our friend’s older brothers—and not a fan of rock music—walked in to get a bite to eat, looked at what was on the TV and chided us for watching “that crap”. We told him truthfully that we weren’t paying attention. Moments later, as he came out of the kitchen with a sandwich and a drink, the video for GnR’s “Sweet Child of Mine” was on, and in between bites he managed to bellow, “See? Now that’s music!” and left. Yes, indeed.
Appetite—like Nirvana’s Nevermind, less than half a decade later—bore all of the markings of the zeitgeist. At the time, rock of the heavy persuasion was divided in two camps: Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, etc. on the one side, with Winger, Warrant, Poison, etc on the other. Meanwhile, with Permanent Vacation, Aerosmith—who could’ve saved the day—was simultaneously beginning its meteoric commercial ascendance and a long, hard slide into irrelevance. Enter Guns ’n’ Roses.
We all know of the exploits of Axl, Mr. Brownstone and co. since then. These days, the latter leads—alongside 2 other former members of his rock and roll claim to fame—Velvet Revolver, a watered-down version of GnR on its best days. Mr. Rose, on the other hand, seems hell bent on fulfilling our prediction that his extremely delayed Chinese Democracy will see the light of day only after this particular brand of government is established in the land of our Asian brothers and sisters. But for now, let us just revisit and enjoy one of the great rock and roll records of all time, released at a time when rock and roll needed it the most. Still does, actually.
