At the time, I was getting more and more into thrash, speed metal, death metal, and all of that, but I respected Guns N' Roses for what they were. I never use this word in anyway, but if there was a 1987 interpretation of what "swag" represented, it was Guns N' Roses. Motley Crue were becoming what Kiss became, and that was too shiny and glossy for their own good. As much as people wanted to hate on the L.A. music scene, you could not deny that they were different from the rest.

As I look back at the time, there were those who made better albums. Y&T's CONTAGIOUS is incredible, Tesla's first, Faster Pussycat's first, the self-titled Whitesnake album, The Cult's ELECTRIC. If anything, they all pushed one another, and it was that balls out hard rock and heavy metal that has proven to be successful. Def Leppard's HYSTERIA, I loved the album too even though now I see and hear it as something ultra-slick and very different from what they did with PYROMANIA and HIGH'N'DRY, yet you hear elements of both (and their debut) on HYSTERIA. For me, I'll take any of these albums over APPETITE any day. GN'R's music hasn't aged well, and maybe that's because their songs have been overplayed. I will say that I still love when "Paradise City" stirs up in the second half, and I will always have in my head, the image of Axl holding the mic stand and rocking out in that part of the song. To me, that's what GN'R represented, a return to sounding "not pussified" but still wanting pussy and not being afraid to say so.

It has been too long since I listened to USE YOUR ILLUSION I & II, I had both on vinyl but... back then it came off like WU-TANG FOREVER: greatness that just became too much. I think the time away from it would make me listen to it.

Bottom line, APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION was good for its time, but as dated as some thrash and speed metal albums can sound, it still sounds as vibrant as it did when I first heard them 25 years ago. Maybe in this decade I'll choose to hear APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION again, but I'm not in a hurry. Give me The Cult's ELECTRIC first.



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