Rock of Ages: Guns N Roses - "Welcome to the Jungle" (1987)

I know by now a lot of you are noticing that the 80's are zipping by. For me, the 80's was a weird transitional era, but it could be that I haven't given the era it's due research or effort past all the cheesey songs and the obvious important acts like the ones I have posted about so far. Well, I apologize for that as the 70's and 90's are getting/will get the most attention. That said, there are some extremely awesome and important acts from this era. Guns N Roses is undeniably one of them. The hair metal movement of the 80's was littered with so much trash that it's hard to count it as anything but a strange phenomenon that VH1 is still hung up about. However, out of this Sunset Strip scene came the behemoth Guns N Roses. What set them apart was their insanely amazing band of musicians backing up their mad genius front man, Axel Rose. On Appetite for Destruction, easily one of the most kick ass records of the 80's, they muscled their way to the top, especially with the mega rocekr "Welcome to the Jungle." That opening riff care of Slash tirckles down with distortion and reverb and slowly builds into this amazing rocker that is filled with fantastic ryhthm work and the wailing words of Rose.

What Guns N Roses did differently then say, Poison or Winger, was show that they could outlive the end of their decadance and not fall into the black hole of nostalgia only. Although they looked like any other douchers from any other hair band, what they did was craft rock songs that could surpass the demise of their glammed out egos. "Welcome to the Jungle" is loved by fans of many genres. Hell, my mother and father like Guns N Roses. It's just a song that crosses over into epic brilliance. You can't not blast it, change the station when it comes on and you definitely will be screaming "D'you know where you are! You're in the Jungle, Baby! YOU'RE GONNA DIIIIIIIIIIE!" before you can think about not doing it. Guns N Roses only lived a little bit longer into the 90's during the grunge and alt rock years, but their music is timeless and has aged better than their counterparts. Appetite for Destruction is still a raging rocker and many of it's songs, especially "Welcome to the Jungle" are still blasted out of convertibles driving through the streets today.



Up Next: Sonic Youth's youth anthem