Here Today... Gone To Hell!

GENE SIMMONS Says GUNS N' ROSES' 'Appetite For Destruction' 'Had An Honesty That Rock And Roll Had Been Missing'

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KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recently selected GUNS N' ROSES' debut album, 1987's "Appetite For Destruction", as one of his thirteen favorite LPs of all time. Speaking to The Quietus about the effort, Gene said: "The thing about that record is that it had an honesty that rock and roll had been missing. The '80s were a terrible time when guitars didn't sound like guitars and there were drum machines, but then all of a sudden here comes this group, GUNS N' ROSES, who plug in their guitars and just didn't mess around with any fancy stuff. And the songs were undeniable!"

He continued: "'Welcome To The Jungle' is an undeniable song in the same way that [THE ROLLINGS STONES'] 'Satisfaction' has that great riff with the lyrics on top of it. Great lyrics, great imagery, and as soon as you heard that high-pitched voice that harkened back to a Robert Plant-ish approach to singing, which hadn't been heard in quite a while? Well, it still works today. That's got to be coming up to 30 years old, but you put that on today if it was a brand new band, I would say, 'Who's that?' That intro is almost symphonic, and it just defined the band. You hear that song, and then the rest of the album follows through. 'Welcome To The Jungle' is head, hands and feet above the other material."

Gene added: "Bands have a few songs that just stand up, you know? You think THIN LIZZY, you think 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. You think THE STONES, you think 'Satisfaction'. You think LED ZEPPELIN, you think 'Stairway To Heaven'. There are just certain songs that, either because of the melody or lyric or the sound of the song, intrinsically say, 'This is what that is.' The only band who doesn't have that thing, just because they have so many god damn good songs, is THE BEATLES."

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He's right on the money with the description of the record. The rawness of both the music and the lyrics that GN'R brought to the scene at that time was desperately needed.

The music was good, and they would probably have hit it quite big anyways, but I think they came in at the exact right time in order for them to hit super-stardom.

I personally feel that it's one of the most important Rock albums of all time. As much as grunge gets credit for killing hair metal, I think AFD helped plant the seeds for the destruction of it. It was honest, raw and everything that was missing from the mainstream at the time. I was going into High school when that album came out so in terms of influences it had a huge influence on my life.
It inspired me to pick up a guitar, to write down my feelings. The world could use another album like that right now.

The question is, what ingredients must such an album have today? An album exactly like Appetite would probably not have the same impact in today's environment. I guess it's harder to break through in the same fashion as back then, both because music in general has been through a lot of changes and the world have already seen many 'extreme' sides of it, and since music is more easily available I think it's easier to get drowned out in the sea of sheer quantity.

I always laugh at the "raw" description as the record sounds immaculate...vocals, instruments and execution all flawless...no warts. Honest? Yes. Raw? No.

Yeah. It's almost like people think it was recorded in a garage in one take. ;)



/jarmo

Haha, it is very perfect- I think some people confuse "real" with "raw", very different terms. :peace:

I disagree about the real/raw distinction. It's both in my opinion.

It's a raw sound compared to the glam metal that dominated the scene at the time. Yes the record sounds perfect, but I attribute that to the band playing at a very high level. It's not very polished in the post-production. They don't use much effects and it's a raw sound that pretty much capture the sound of hearing them live. The sound is much more "in your face" than say the "stadium rock sound" with lots of reverb that was pretty much the norm in those days.

The lyrics, very raw. No filter there.. You could say it's real as well.



Edited to add: Of course it's not raw to the point of sounding like a garage band.  :hihi:

How about that old "over produced" phrase?

I'm surprised nobody said Appetite is "over produced" to sound less produced.... ;)



/jarmo

I have no problems with it being called 'raw'. Compare Appetite to what GN'R's contemporaries were producing at the time, Crazy Nights, Look What the Cat Dragged In, Hysteria, even the Metallica albums. Rock bands were employing slick gigantic digitized drum sounds and keyboards. Rock bands had technical shred with all manner of sophisticated FX pedals. GN'R went back to basics. Also, Appetite was recorded in thirty days. Metallica for instance were spending twice that recording their albums during a similar time frame.

Ha, ha.  True.

Hard to argue with Gene's premise.  I think the cassette (that's right...cassette) that I got right before this one was 'Open Up And Say...Ahh' by Poison.  Not that 11 year old me didn't dig it, but it didn't really prepare me for AFD.

I skipped Poison, Kiss, Bon Jovi and all that crap. Straight to the raw sounds of GN'R.




/jarmo

Remember WTJ was written in 3 hours. I think that's pretty raw.

AFD was a game changer

It brought back old values to music. The 80s were an evolution of the 70s rather than an influence of the 70s. Bands like Guns gave people a periscope to overlook a lot of 80s music, and look back properly at earlier music of the 70s, and possibly the late 60s, and bring back a rawness not seen for a few years at the point of release. As much I like Aerosmith's 80s version of Walk This Way, in it's own way, the band had given into the music of the day, and this needed to be addressed.

Yeah. Doesn't it seem like a bunch of music fans make this connection: Never Mind The Bollocks (1977) - > Nevermind (1991) instead of Never Mind The Bollocks (1977) - > Appetite For Destruction (1987) -> Nevermind (1991) ?




/jarmo

I think GNR lost a lot of popularity with the unwashed masses in the early 90s.  When every dbag was wearing something checkered and Dr martins.    Me included, but I was very young.   And still love Dr Martins

I saw a switch in the early 2000s where a lot more Los was shown for the gnr back cataloge.

As time goes on more and more people will start to realize just how great this band was in its prime   

Afd was my first ever tape    My mom bought it for me.  Along with prince, cream and iron maiden seven sons of a seventh son.   Pretty cool mom

I listened to afd on my Sony walkman for countless hours.   Constantly rewinding certain songs.   That gosh, had swear words!!!   So I don't care what anyone says about dirty music affecting kids.  I was very young listening to this music.  And now as a old 35 year old.  I can't even think of the last time I cursed.   Just something I don't do

Except when I read certain posts by certain people on here!   Hahaha

Haha, good choice! Wish I had never had the misfortunate experience of hearing Poison, Bonjovi, Warrant, Trixter or Firehouse. :hihi:

I agree with all the bands u mentioned.   But Poison?

In there prime there were a very fun bsnd.   No legs to make it as a all time great band.  Bf durring there time.   Well I really liked them.  Mind u i was in grade 7.  Haha.   

Oh I heard them. And all the other bands that were from that mid- to late 80s scene. A bunch of people got into all these bands at the same time, but the reason I got into GN'R alone is because they were different.

Others would make mixtapes with GN'R, Faster Pussycat, Poison, Motley Crue and so on.




/jarmo

Exactly.  Not sure I'm buying this supposed musical snobbery some were allegedly possessing in 6th and 7th grade. 

Sure sound like some revisionist history, to this reporter.

Sounds like somebody can't accept that not everybody shared his crappy taste in music.  :P

I do remember getting an Europe tape. But it didn't do anything. Didn't make me want to find out more about the band. It was like background music.
Other kids were into Metallica, Anthrax and all that.

Then came Appetite, and it made me start reading about music. Paying attention to things like lyrics. Wanting to find out more.
I think the only other band I listened to a bit from that era was Skid Row. Ironically, they opened for GN'R when I first saw them.




/jarmo

Skid Row gets a bad rap.

Yes, it was hair metal.  But far harder than most of their genre contemporaries.

I didn't get into Guns until the early 90s, 1991 I think. I also listened to Bon Jovi, Metallica and RHCP at the time. GNR quickly became my favorite band, but I still listened to those other bands.

Those other bands didn't really have the staying power with me.  I mean, I still have some Poison and Warrant on the ol' iPod, but I can't say they get played terribly often. 

Even in the 90s when I got more into Pearl Jam, Nirvana, etc, I still listened to GNR regularly.  But not as much Cinderella.

I still listen to Metallica and RHCP from time to time. I think they have good songs. Bon Jovi, not all that much.

That said, I have started listening to other bands from that era, much later in life.

I have listended to Metallica, AC/DC, Mot?rhead and Sex Pistols before I have listened to GN'R. UYI I and II were my first albums of the band after watching some live performances on youtoube from 1991-1993 and 2001-2002.

Use Your Illusion II was actually my first GNR album. Mostly because it was the album coming out at the time I got into the band. Went back and bought Appetite soon after..  :)

Before Guns, I just wasn't that into music in general.  When AFD came out, my music collection consisted of the following 4 cassettes:

 - Blondie's Greatest Hits (which wasn't even mine; a babysitter left it in the house years earlier and I kept it);
 - Van Halen, 1984
 - Miami Vice Original TV Soundtrack
 - Eddie Murphy, How Could It Be (c'mon, Party All The Time was a good song)

When AFD came out and the hits were getting major airplay, I didn't really get into the band.  Axl's voice was kind of sensory overload for me at the time.  It wasn't until Patience was released as a single that it all started for me.  I fell in love with that song, bought Lies, then AFD shortly after and then from there got into 60s/70s classic rock (Doors, Stones, Zep) and 70s/80s punk rock (Ramones, Sex Pistols).

You are hardly a reporter although you do share some unmistakable traits with shoddy, shit journalism.

Some of us were out of grade school and already into adulthood when Poison was popular.  :-*