Back in '86/'87, Guns N' Roses was considered to be just another no-talent glam-metal band, often referred to as "Guns N' Posers." Then, seemingly overnight, they hit the scene in a BIG way, and suddenly it became "cool" to like them. Just as suddenly, all these GNR fans came out of the closet, people who really liked their music but would never admit it! (I myself kept a cassette of Appetite for Destruction hidden in my car, which I listened to as a guilty pleasure.)

"Appetite for Destruction"

1. "Welcome to the Jungle" (4:31)
2. "It's so Easy" (3:21)
3. "Nightrain" (4:26)
4. "Out ta Get Me" (4:20)
5. "Mr. Brownstone" (3:46)
6. "Paradise City" (6:46)
7. "My Michelle" (3:39)
8. "Think About You" (3:50)
9. "Sweet Child O' Mine" (5:55)
10. "You're Crazy" (3:17)
11. "Anything Goes" (3:25)
12. "Rocket Queen" (6:13)

Listening to this one, over 10 years after it was released, it's amazing how badly it's aged. "Mr. Brownstone" and "Rocket Queen" remain solid rockers, but "Welcome to the Jungle" is but a shadow of its snarling self, and "Paradise City" has been overplayed so damn much, I cringe every time I hear it (to say nothing of the awful version Pat Boone did on his "metal" album....) As for "Sweet Child O' Mine" and "My Michelle", I never liked those songs to begin with...

Still, I gotta quote my friend's review from when this album first came out: "They say FUCK in every song!"

"G N'R Lies"

1. "Reckless Life"--live (3:20)
2. "Nice Boys"--live (3:02)
3. "Move to the City"--live (3:42)
4. "Mama Kin"--live (3:54)
5. "Patience" (5:53)
6. "Used to Love Her" (3:10)
7. "You're Crazy"--alternate version (4:08)
8. "One in a Million" (6:08)

This disc hardly EVER turns up used, so it took a long while to fill in the final hole in my collection. The four live songs come from their super-rare "Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide" EP, recorded a year prior to Appetite...the studio tracks (3 new songs and one "remake") were recorded specifically for this EP. The song "One in a Million" stirred up a ton of controversy for Axl bagging on "faggots and niggers"; hey, some people gotta lighten up, is all I can say...

"Mama Kin" is an Aerosmith cover.

"Use Your Illusion I"

1. "Right Next Door to Hell" (2:58)
2. "Dust n' Bones" (4:55)
3. "Live and Let Die" (2:59)
4. "Don't Cry (original)" (4:42)
5. "Perfect Crime" (2:22)
6. "You Ain't the First" (2:32)
7. "Bad Obsession" (5:26)
8. "Back off Bitch" (5:01)
9. "Double Talkin' Jive" (3:19)
10. "November Rain" (8:53)
11. "The Garden" (5:17)
12. "Garden of Eden" (2:36)
13. "Don't Damn Me" (5:15)
14. "Bad Apples" (4:25)
15. "Dead Horse" (4:17)
16. "Coma" (10:08)

A great album, although Use Your Illusion II is the better one. It's been a long time since this album came out, so I'm tired of most of the music here, except for the epic songs "November Rain" and "Coma" which I still find fantastic. And for $4.99, you can't beat the price! "Right Next Door to Hell" was based on a highly publicized confrontation between Axl Rose and his psychotic next-door neighbor (I think he hit her with a champagne bottle, or was it the other way around?) "Live and Let Die", of course, is a cover of the Paul McCartney & Wings song from that James Bond movie.

"Use Your Illusion II"

1. "Civil War" (7:36)
2. "14 Years" (4:17)
3. "Yesterdays" (3:13)
4. "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" (5:36)
5. "Get in the Ring" (5:29)
6. "Shotgun Blues" (3:23)
7. "Breakdown" (6:58)
8. "Pretty Tied Up" (4:46)
9. "Locomotive" (8:42)
10. "So Fine" (4:09)
11. "Estranged" (9:20)
12. "You Could Be Mine" (5:48)
13. "Don't Cry"--alt. lyrics (4:42)
14. "My World" (1:22)

...Or "Rise of the South Part Two", as a friend called it. :-) True, the Southern-rock influence is highly apparent here, although the only real protest song is "Civil War" (which was released some years back on a compilation album that I've forgotten the name of.) Overall, I prefer this album over U.Y.I. I (which was released at the same time, did I mention that?) with "Breakdown" and "Locomotive" being my favorite tracks. "You Could Be Mine" was featured in the movie Terminator II, and "Get in the Ring" caused a major controversy as Axl Rose told just about everyone in the music industry to FUCK OFF and SUCK MY MOTHER FUCKING DICK!! I heard that Don King was actually interested in promoting a fight between Axl and Bob Guccione Jr. (who was actually going to get Billy Idol, of all people, to champion for him) but nothing ever came of it, as far as I know. Would have been cool, though!

"The Spaghetti Incident?"

1. "Since I Don't Have You" (4:18)
2. "New Rose" (2:38)
3. "Down on the Farm" (3:28)
4. "Human Being" (6:48)
5. "Raw Power" (3:11)
6. "Ain't it Fun" (5:05)
7. "Buick Makane/Big Dumb Sex" (2:39)
8. "Hair of the Dog" (3:54)
9. "Attitude" (1:26)
10. "Black Leather" (4:08)
11. "You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory" (3:35)
12. "I Don't Care About You" (2:17)
13. "Look at Your Game, Girl"--unlisted (2:34)

A collection of punk songs and whatnot, pretty good except for the first song, a 50's ballad which SUCKS! Duff McKagan (the bassist) does most of the vocals here. My favorites are the Nazareth song ("Hair of the Dog") and the tiny bit of Soundgarden's "Big Dumb Sex". There's a Sex Pistols song here too, I think. This CD was supposed to be a "teaser" for their upcoming album, but it's been YEARS now, did the band break up, or what??

...and I can't *believe* I didn't even LIST the Charlie Manson song tacked-on at the end, and didn't even notice until five years later!! (My only excuse is it's not mentioned anywhere, so I must've been lazy and just copied the track list...just noticed the time lengths were way off, too.) All I gotta say is, controversial as it was, at least GNR had the balls to actually do it. And does Charlie get royalties???

"Live Era '87-'93"

I *still* have no idea what's up with the band these days...I know they did a song called "O My God" for a recent soundtrack (can't remember which one), and the vocals on that song totally SUCK! I doubt it was Axl singing, but if it was, that means he's totally blown his voice out, and no WONDER we haven't heard a studio album from them in over nine years...

As for this live set...well, I wasn't going to give it a second look, but since they included a cover of Black Sabbath's "It's Alright", buying it sorta became a priority. You know how that goes. Well, to be honest, this live set really isn't that bad -- GNR really was a killer live band, back in the day. I especially like the extended piano intro to "November Rain", and Axl's urging the audience to "step back from the stage" because people in front were getting crushed. Come to think...what REALLY would be cool is putting out a live CD containing all the moments when Axl threw a childish temper tantrum and stormed offstage!! I'd line up to pay for that one!

Previous Band Back to Index Next Band