What song got you into gnr / your first impression?

[matt88]

Paradise City

Then i downloaded welcome to the jungle, then bought AFD and then Lies then Illusions 1 and 2 then Spaghetti.

[Voodoochild]

Around '89, when I listened to SCOM. Then my dad's wife bought AFD and Lies, and I started to listen to them. Mr. Brownstone hook me up because it was too fast and furious... But then, I listened to Rocket Queen. I thought "wow, is that a girl having sex?".  

[axl_rose_700]

Sweet Child of Mine and November Rain, seeing them on Kerrang! in the UK around 2001 got me hooked and then seeing them live at Leeds fest!

[Ignatius]

Mine was SCOM back in 88. I posted the story a couple of times, but I don't mind doing it again. A friend of mine had just gone to Ireland to spend the summer and brought back AFD ( with he original cover) We were not really into heavy music then ( shit, I was 12) so all we'd listen was from Geroge Michael, to Jacko or Inxs.

I have almost the same experience as you.  And you already know about my old habits of listening to pop music  

In '89, my older cousin showed me the AFD cassette and told me how awesomely bad-ass Axl & Slash were.  Then I heard WTTJ, SCOM, and all the rest.  I was only 10 so I didnt get the lyrics.  But I did sing along to Paradise City.  Ahh, the memories.

Hey Chinasky, do you remember what you thought when you first saw the original rape cover?  At that time I didnt even know what rape meant, so I just wondered why the girl was lying there with her underwear around her ankles.  I thought the robot was really cool.  

To be quite honest, the only thing we kept thinking about was the girls boobs. I know it's disgusting to even think about that, but what the hell? she had perfect tits ( Yeah I like I was an expert then and I was 12!!!

Now that I'm looking at the cover, I love the mini-red sperm shaped creatures coming out of the bigger robot.

That cover concept is fucked up

[RitzWalker8]

WTTJ was the song that started it all for me.  I am 27 years old and I have loved GNR since the day they came out.  However, my Bad Obession with GNR started the first time I heard Estranged.  I remeber very well.  I was lying on the floor next to my boom box listening to the song and I began to drift.  Then it ended and I sort of came back to reality.  And all I could think is I gotta hear that again.  I hit the back button on the cd player and I have never been the same since.  And that is not a stupid saying or something cute.  I have never been the same since.  Honest truth.  

[pilferk]

Back in the day, my Uncle lived out in LA.  In early '87, he sent me a cassette boot of Live Like a Suicide (which, FYI, I still own, though it sounds like crap). He used to do stuff like that all the time, because we had very similar tastes in music. I was completely blown away.  It wasn't any one song, but all 4, with Move to the City being my favorite, if I had to choose.  I wouldn't say I was quite hooked yet, but I was damn close.

The first song I heard off Appetite was My Michelle.  THAT'S what hooked me.  That song is still a nostalgic favorite.

[SINSHINE]

I remember my friends talking about this song called Sweet Child O'Mine during a Museum visit with my school. I recognized the chorus but didn't care much for the song at the time. A little while later I had my first taste of Paradise City (saw the video on MTV) and was like..."Whoa! Now this is real Rock N' Roll. This is some RADICAL shit!" (Yes, I'm sure I used the word 'radical'   ). It wasn't until a few weeks after that that I realized SCOM and PC were both GN'R songs.

Never the less, I still hadn't bought the album.

Then I remember the trailer for The Dead Pool and Welcome to the Jungle being played in the background. I remember thinking this could possibly be even better than PC.

Still...no album.

I must have been asleep when Patience came out (vaguley remember it on the radio/MTV). It wasn't until my friend called me up and was like "Dude, you gotta come over. I just taped this video off of MTV and it has all these cool scenes from Terminator 2!" (this was just before the movie came out and we *my friends and I* were chomping at the bit to see it). As soon as I saw the video I knew it was the final straw. Another awesome GN'R song. I had to go out and pick it up ASAP! Although the T2 soundtrack was released, I bought it without carefully reading the tracks on it. Needless to say...no YCBM on it...it was all instrumental. A week or two later I found YCBM on single (with Civil War as the B-Side). I wore the damn tape out by the end of that summer (and saw T2 three times in the theaters).

September came around and it was back to school and when the Use Your Illusion 1 & 2 came out, I immediately picked up the 2 (as it had YCBM and Civil War on it). Next came Appetite For Destruction, then UI1, then Lies.

So...a short answer to your question   ... I guess I'd have to say YCBM because it was the song that finally made me go out and start buying their music. As for the first song that I was 'turned onto'...that would have to be Paradise City  

[Mutherfunker]

Ahhhh, the good old days.

The first GNR song I heard was Paradise City when I was about 9. I saw the video on tv and thought the band and the song were the coolest thing I'd ever seen/heard. My main memory was the riff, the chorus, and Axl in all white with those shades.

Unfortunately I couldn't go out and buy albums/etc at that age so the whole AFD thing passed me by untill I met this girl when I was 11. Man, she was so fucking fit and she was a huge Guns fan and always seemed to be wearing a bandana and GNR t-shirts. She looked great. The second CD I ever bought was AFD because of her, after that I was hooked.... and the rest, as they say, is history.....

Oh, and the girl....... she slipped away and I missed my chance  

@#$%Muther

[GnR_Kel_UK]

SCOM! I saw the video last year in about september and I thought the song was great! But I didn't get totally hooked till a couple of months ago when my Dad gave me his copy of AFD.

[gnr1967]

One of the earliest memories I have about GNR was on a family vacation in the late '80s.  We couldn't find anyplace to get lunch except for a KFC restaurant.  We went inside and they were blaring Paradise City on their soundsystem.  I was taken aback by how raw it sounded compared to the other music I listened to.  It wasn't long until I went out and bought AFD so I could discover what GNR was all about.  

I wish I heard more good music like that in today's restaurants!

[DRUNK]

After buying AFD out of curiosity, I put that fucker on, and was immedately blown away by Welcome To The Jungle.

But to be honest, it could have been any GNR song that could have hooked me.  WTTJ just happened to be the first.


I would say the song that gave me the confidence in Axl and what he's doing was "Oh My God".  That song made me go "Wow.  Axl's GNR is going to be huge".  It blew me away.  I had visions.  I saw deep into that song.

[Izzy]

It was either Sweet Child O'mine or Paradise City can't remember which i heard first but they were the first GNR songs i ever heard.....way back when i was 8, godamnit where does the time go......

[Midnight]

Already put my post in, but I remember the first time I heard Appetite for Destruction, the day I bought it I came home put it on and lay down on my bed cause I hadn't stopped all day.   I wasn't planning on laying there and listening to the entire album, I had a few things to do and could've got them done while it was playing but once Welcome to the Jungle kicked in...I never moved and before I knew it the album had played out and I was still laying on my bed, it had grabbed a hold of me and wasn't letting go.   I was lost in the music, it was such an impactful album.   I hit play again to start the album over and listened to it again while going about getting a few things done, but hearing it fully without distraction for the first time was something.

Later when I was ready to crash, I slipped the headphones on and took in some more!   That album got played, and played, and played for about 2 weeks...not one of my other CD's got a look in.

[gnrvrrule]

Welcome to the Jungle, then Paradise City.  About three years ago, WTTJ would always be played as I stepped on the ice for my HS hockey games.  I always thought this was a great song to start a game.  Christmas 2001, I got the Live Era CD from my friend just b/c it had Jungle on it.  Then, I would hear Paradise City on the radio.  I realized it was them, then listened to it on Live Era over and over.  Later, I got Appetite and began listening to the other songs on Live Era, bought all the albums, and being a big fan began....

[Skeletor]

SCOM! I saw the video last year in about september and I thought the song was great! But I didn't get totally hooked till a couple of months ago when my Dad gave me his copy of AFD.

It's kinda weird to think someone just recently got into the band.. GNR's been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, it's sorda always been there.

[mentalradio]

1988-89'ish. I was in high school, working part-time after school at a hardware store. One afternoon I was in a back room painting a wall. I heard a song come on the radio. Didn't know the singers voice at the time, and never really paid attention to their albums. I found out later from a friend that the song was "I Will Not Go Quietly" by Don Henley. The song is really good in its own right, but it was Axl's voice that stuck out for me in that song. It was the first time I'd ever heard him sing, and his back-up singing in that song is what turned me on to GnR. (For those who aren't aware, Axl Rose sings back-up vocals in that song.) As the old cliche goes...the rest is history.

[Butch Français]

it was in 1991, I think the song was Civil War.
my brother bought both albums, so I listened to the whole albums actually. but I think CW was the one I liked the best first time I heared it.

[Madcap]

My story really isn't all that good. I'm 16 (turning 17),and it was about 3-4 years ago that i got into Gn'R, so some here will call me a young Gunner, but Gunner I am! Anyway it started when victor (who happens to be from Brasil)came here to Canada. His dad had a whole bunch of classic rock cds, i asked if he can record some songs for me."what songs do you wanna have on it" Suprise me i said. oddly enough the last two songs on it were Civil War (first song i ever heard) and KOHD. And from then on,rether it be AFD, UYI 1 & 2, LIES,or any other,there has always been a Gn'R cd in my player.

[Annie]

I still chuckle at how I missed the whole Gnr implosion in the late 80's, but I have been in love with Axl ever since I watched the November Rain video on an Mtv rockumentary back in 1992.

[C0ma]

I feel terible for the people who got into GnR in the late 90's and even after the new band formed. You have always know this band as the disapointment they have been recently. You never got to see GnR open for a band, only to watch them totally steal the show from the headliner. I was at an Aerosmith concert, in Aerosmith's hometown and watched them completely blow Aerosmith away.

I'm not trying to tear apart the new lineup, but you have never truely known Guns N' Roses as "The Most Dangerous Band in the World." I know people like younggunner get bent out of shape when an older fan can't seem to embrace the new line up like they do the old lineup, but you can't understand what this band was from 87-93 without experiencing it. I know most of the older fans have become "Rain Man" like historians of the bands past......but a DVD of the band at the Ritz in 88' just doesn't fill you with the same emotion as seeing them live in 88'.

I feel just as bad for the new fans as I do for the poor little retarded kid who finishes 2nd in the shot put at the Special Olympics on ESPN 8 'the ocho"