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No one knows metal better than Lucas Aykroyd, author of 1984: The Ultimate Van Halen Trivia Book and reviewer for the Georgia Straight, Classic Rock, and Exclaim! Here he picks the five best pop-metal LPs from the decade time forgot Click to view Top 5 Eighties Heavy Metal LPs.
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Best For Attitude (GNR, Appetite for Destruction) |
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 Late-starting concerts, temper tantrums, riots, and substance abuse problems. These have always been part of the baggage Guns N' Roses(GNR) brings. But in 1987, the American hard rock quintet also made some legendary music for their debut album. |
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Guns N' Roses came together out of the shifting metal band line-ups that proliferated on the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles in 1985. Frontman W. Axl Rose (AKA Bill Bailey) set the tone for the band with his chainsaw-like, nasal vocals and rage-filled attitude. Strutting and gesticulating furiously on stage, he always seemed on the verge of getting into a fight, and in fact, by his mid-twenties, he carried a long criminal record from his formative years in Lafayette, Indiana, where he claimed to have endured a repressive religious upbringing and sexual abuse.
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 Rose's primary creative foil was lead guitarist Slash (AKA Saul Hudson), whose bluesy style owed much to Aerosmith and the Rolling Stones but also featured the technical flair of contemporary mainstream metal shredders. Slash's visual image was as noteworthy as his lead singer's, as he typically sported a top hat over his mane of black, curly hair in concert and smoked constantly. Rounding out the lineup were rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin (who co-wrote many of the classic GNR tracks), bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. |
Raw Power |
Guns N' Roses released a four-track, 14-minute EP called Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide in 1986. The raw power of this set, combined with a string of incendiary concert performances, impelled Geffen Records to sign the band. Appetite for Destruction was recorded at Rumbo Studios in Canoga Park, California and released in July 1987. Incorporating a raw, bluesy feel and punk-like energy into traditional hard rock, the 12-track LP took about a year to impact on the consciousness of the American record-buying public, but then exploded courtesy of MTV. To date, it has sold more than 25 million copies.
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 "Welcome To The Jungle" is as explosive as an opening track gets. The jagged, cascading six-string attack that starts the song continues to ignite audiences at sports events worldwide to this day. The lyrics are sung from the perspective of an antagonistic urban environment threatening a naïve newcomer, and Rose claims the idea came from encountering a homeless man in an unsavoury area of the Bronx in New York, the man allegedly screaming: "You know where you are? You're in the jungle, baby, and you're gonna die!"
After the sneering aggression of "It's So Easy" comes a tribute to cheap liquor in "Nighttrain." Swagger, boogie, and bluster define these tracks. "Out Ta Get Me" crystallises the paranoia Axl Rose would increasingly become known for (this time directed toward the police), and features some dynamic bass work from McKagan. The stuttering guitar riffs of "Mr. Brown Stone" convey the insidious nature of heroin addiction, which Rose attacks in his lyrics.
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 The epic "Paradise City" boasts the best giant sing-along chorus on the album, which probably comes closer to the celebratory feel of Bon Jovi or Van Halen than anything else Guns N' Roses ever recorded. However, the verses are much closer to the horror show of "Welcome to the Jungle," demonstrating how the band could never quite escape its darker, grittier impulses. The energy and aggression remain high on album cuts like "My Michelle," "Rocket Queen" and "Anything Goes."
That even holds true for "Sweet Child O' Mine," the chart-topping ballad Rose dedicated to his then-sweetheart, Erin Everly. The soaring opening riff by Slash is easy on the ears and the lyrics are uncharacteristically tender ("She's got a smile that it seems to me/Reminds me of childhood memories/Where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky"). But nonetheless, the finale of the song finds Rose hoarsely questioning, "Where do we go now? Where do we go?", and then screaming his lungs out on the title refrain as the band brings things to a Sturm-und-Drang conclusion.
The raw attitude of Appetite for Destruction definitely isn't easy to stomach for fans who prefer their metal with a glossy pop sheen but with those for a taste for the dark side, it's ideal. And regardless of what material Axl Rose (now the only remaining original member of GNR) releases in the future, this will remain the band's most definitive achievement. |
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