Guns N' Roses - 'Appetite For Destruction' (1987)

 
I guess it's no surprise that this top polls around the globe - the statistics since its release are pretty impressive with over 28 million sales worldwide. Despite its massive success it really was a slow burner, not hitting the top of the charts until over a year after its release and there was even talk of them being dropped after poor sales and bad attitude on tour.

Ultimately, the hits came and, all these years later, it has become a stock album for anyone with a passing interest in rock and metal.

The massive hits in 'Welcome To The Jungle', 'Paradise City' and 'Sweet Child O'Mine' may get overplayed for many but these were the tracks that crossed over into non rock fans' CD racks and made it become the behemoth it is. This album is the very reason people still wish the original band would get back together and relive it. Personally I hope they don't - it'll be a corporate, stadium sponsored world tour of epic proportions that goes against everything this album stood for.

This album was made to be played in a dark, dingy club where you can feel the sweat, feel the emotion and feel the energy that they created. They may have gone on to record the 'Use Your Illusion' albums but that vision and sound was not made by the same drug fuelled, angry and hungry young men that made 'Appetite For Destruction'. The fact that no other GnR album even got a single vote in this poll tells you something about what they became.

With the advent of the iPod and the pick -and-choose nature of iTunes, the youth of today may lose out on those non hit single tracks that ultimately are the golden nuggets within the album.
'Rocket Queen', 'My Michelle', 'Anything Goes' and 'Out Ta Get Me' are all classics that really need to be heard in the context of the whole package that is 'Appetite For Destruction' (robot rape cover version.....obviously) and let's not forget 'Mr Brownstone', 'It's So Easy', 'You're Crazy', 'Think About You' and 'Nightrain'. All seriously great tracks that deserve to be part of the number one voted album.

Forget Steven Adler's Appetite band, forget Velvet Revolver, forget Duff's Loaded, forget Izzy's sometimes excellent solo CDs, forget Slash's Snakepit and forget Axl's 'Chinese Democracy' - 'Appetite For Destruction' is the one and only reason we love Guns N' Roses.

Yowzers.