Asif Khan Inc.

Appetite for Destruction – Guns N’ Roses

Not many bands would have the notoriety to have sparked off a riot while performing to a live audience. Nor would any have had a bigger debut album released till date. An album which has notched sales in excess of 18 millions units since the time of its release, a feat unsurpassed till now, and in probability unbeatable in future as well. Rising through the sultry heat of July in ’87, there was a snarl fuelled with the drug addled, sex laden, and raucous debauchery of five lives coming together. Axl Rose, Slash, McKagan, Stradlin, and Adler – despite their wayward pursuits into a downward spiral of drugs and alcohol ridden haze, the group which called themselves a relatively unknown Guns N’ Roses at that time, put together a record which contained within itself the energy to unleash turbulence on an entire planet. “Appetite for Destruction” couldn’t have found a better name for itself. Smeared with grime from the underbelly of the street of LA, the album has become a statement for rebellion. Feelings of deeply seated insecurity found amongst the unsettling souls of youth found a way for themselves on “Sweet Child o’ Mine”. With a guitar intro arguably one of the most instantly recognizable, the song highlighted the softer side of the band. Twin guitars played to dexterous perfection by Slash and Stradlin and the reverberating bass of McKagan personified some of the edgiest work to have scraped their way through amps during that era. Found in ample abundance on places like the intro of “Paradise City” and “Mr. Brownstone”, each strum of the guitar was a lesson in pure abandon. Adler (whose name could well be a pun on ‘addled’ for his perpetual fascination with the syringe) played a perfect mate to the string work of his buddies, by laying a foundation of solid concrete built on rumbling hard hitting thumps with his sticks. The rest was layered to perfection by the growls, shrieks, grunts and hisses of a possessed voice which slithered with oozing sexuality. Axl Rose had a voice which defied conventionality. Not exactly a vocalist’s vocalist, he used his voice to produce a range which was as low straddled on “Its So Easy” to a falsetto with the highest recall on most of the other tracks. And who could forget the sounds of love making which he recorded into the guitar interlude on “Rocket Queen”, the very song which triggered the riot in St. Louis. A classic meant for generations to endure, this is spite dished out in as gritty a flavor as can be.