The Explanation Behind Two of GnR's Signature Songs

In the hard rock department, few bands have been as underrated as Guns'n'Roses. Formed in Los Angeles in 1985 with the remains of two local bands, LA Guns and Hollywood Rose, the band released their debut album in 1987, Appetite for Destruction. The album was a massive success and yielded two of their most well-known hits today.
Guns N' Roses

Welcome to the Jungle

 Their breakout hit and arguably their most-known one. The "jungle," refers to Los Angeles - in particular the south central area. In their early days, the band members rented a home along Sunset Boulevard which was filled with alcoholism, drugs, and even groupies!

The line "you're in the jugle, you're gonna die," came from a homeless man Axl Rose encountered in New York City. The title itself came  from a truck driver who drove Axl from Seattle (where the song was written). Upon arrival, the driver said to Rose, "Welcome to the Jungle."

VH1 named Jungle the greatest heavy metal song of all time.The song was most noteably used in 2004 as one of the songs in the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, as well as in the advertisement. In fact, Rose lends his voice to one of the radio stations in the game folks!

Sweet Child O'Mine

 Even though Slash did not initially take kindly to this song ("calling it a string-skipping exercise)," the riff became memorable and yielded another hit for GnR. It all started in their Sunset Strip living room where Slash was playing the circus-y riff and drummer Steve Adler was making faces; however, the whole band (less Rose) came together and worked out the instrumental to which Rose came up with lyrics that night. The song is based around Rose's girlfriend and is regarded as a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd (Skynyrd having just about started back up again in 1987 following the fatal 1977 plane crash).

Unable to come up with a bridge, Rose began singing "Where do we go? Where do we go now?" and that became the song's bridge.

Overall, Apetite for Destruction sold about 30 million copies worldwide become one of the best sellers. It topped the US Bilboard 200 and is regarded as the top debut album of all time as well as the 11th best seller in the US. A remastered edition was also issued in 2017.

It is also interesting to note that for Apetite, Axl Rose was the only founding member. Tracil Guns had left the previous year.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Legacy of Davorin Popovich and Indexi

Image
In the former Yugoslavia, there were many successful artists, but one of the most important, and even overlooked sometimes, was a popular band called Indexi (The Indeces). They had an awesome lead singer. The late, great Davorin Popovich today is remembered for has raspy, tenor voice - to me, a bit comparable to Burton Cummings of The Guess Who fame. Over the years, he has earned various nicknames such as Dacho and Pimpek. They were the seeds for other bands. Formed back in 1962, Indexi set the stage for what is now known as the Sarajevo School of Pop Rock - a movement that would live for the next three decades (a la before the Yugoslav wars). Their name, by the way, is the plural of Index - a student's gradebook. Each student was expected to record and maintain their own grades. The core  members, aside from Popovich, consisted of late guitarist Slobodan Bodo Kavachevich and bass player Fadil Redzich (pronounce "dz," like "s" in "risotto)."
Read more

Jimmy Stokley and Exile

Image
  Although of minor significance, today is 35 years since we lostJimmy Stokley of Exile. A little known Kentucky band, Exile is perhaps only known for their 1978 hit Kiss You All Over . In the 80s, the band shifted to more of a country sound, and has not made any noteable chart hits since. A Jagger-like frontman Born James Carr Stokley on October 18, 1943, Stokley joined The Fascinations in 1963, who then became Jimmy Stokley and The Exiles, featuring future Exile guiarist J.P. Penington  Jimmy Stokley and The Exiles, were, towards the end of the decade, shortened to simply The Exiles, before the plural form was dropped in the mid 70s, becoming Exile. Interestingly, Stokley's attire and attitude on stage led to many calling him the American Mick Jagger. One hitters In 1978, Exile issued their LP Mixed Emotions  through Warner Bros. records. The record features the disco-ey hit Kiss You All Over , written by producer Mike Chapman (also notorious for working with Blondie). Despite co
Read more

Bijelo Dugme - Former Yugoslavia's Greatest Rock Band

Image
In today's blog post, we will examine perhaps one of the GREATEST rock bands of the former Yugoslavia. Bijelo Dugme (The White Button), which by sound is largely influenced by the heavy metal likes of Deep Purple, Zeppelin, and Sabbath; however in culture, they were most simillar to the Beatles. In fact, there was a Dugmeania in the former Yugoslavia in the late 70s akin to Beatlemania in the US in the 60s. The brainchild of the band was a young man named Goran Bregovich, aka Brega. He was born on 3, 22, 1950 in Sarajevo to a Serbian mother and a Croatian father. At some point, his mother enrolled him into a music school with violin as a chosen instrument, but around twelve he was expelled showing lack of interest. Consequently, his mother bought him a guitar in his early teenage years. Brega's first bands were high school bands. He played bass guitar for Beshtije (The Beasts). At a  br in 1969, Bregovich met Zeljko Bebek who was part of a band called Kodeksi (The Codexes)
Read more