Review

Epochal, life altering,the wake up call that changed a generation of rock music fans - Appetite For Destruction was all of these and more, and fourteen years later the superlatives are all still as applicable as the day the album was released. At a time when the music scene was dominated by electronic pop and big hair, bombastic heavy metal Guns N' Roses hit like an atom bomb, dragging listeners and fans into their world of LA's sleazy underground, the dregs of society offering up their brutal life experiences to a world crying out for their heartfelt honesty and realism.

The melting pot of punk, rock n' roll and blues influences came crashing out, driven on by Slash's emotive guitar playing and the lyrics of W. Axl Rose, his vocal delivery at times plaintive and emotional, at others howling his tales of the mean streets like a banshee. From start to finish each song grabs you in and dares you to skip it on and risk missing the musical aspect that completes your life. From the opening chime of Welcome To The Jungle to Axl's ending plea for understanding on Rocket Queen, Appetite for Destruction is an album that instantly embeds itself in legendary status while still letting you find something new and fresh on each subsequent listen - the greatest debut album of all time, a collection of songs, feelings and emotions never to be equalled, either by GNR or anyone who followed them, their own rollercoaster ride to success and self destruction after it's release making the album all the more special. Without a doubt, the greatest album of all time.

Review by Alan Hylands

The hype emanating from Geffen's Sunset Blvd. digs is oppressive:"Guns N' Roses were the missing link between the sassiness of the Stones and early Aerosmith, the trashiness of the NY Dolls, and the danger and challenge the Sex Pistols had posed," the letter says. Bullshit, says us. Also says us: Guns N' Roses rocks hard, and Guns N' Roses rocks good. Very, very good. This is pure California hard rock, which means that there are tastes of all the above-mentioned bands (and Zeppelin and Bowie and Bolan and...), but no more so than, say, Motley Crue or Poison has. What separates Guns N' Roses from the pack is simply that they're better than the others, and seem to have more long-term potential-perhaps even enough to overcome the instinct to self-parody that enveloped the Crue and Poison as they hurtled over platinum. Appetite For Destruction will undoubtedly join those two bands at the platinum plateau (most likely, more sooner than later), but unlike those two, when it's over we'll want to hear more. We already do. Top cuts: "My Michelle," "Paradise City," "Think About you," "Night Train," "Child Of Mine" and "Anything Goes."

Review from www.cdnow.com