Guns N' Roses: Appetite for Destruction [GEFFEN]

Why you'll love it

Appetite for Destruction is the best-selling debut album in US history, certified 18 times platinum, and "Sweet Child o' Mine" went to No. 1 on the Hot 100. Twelve songs, zero filler.

This edition

• Geffen pressing
• Produced by Mike Clink

About the album

Here's a fun bit of trivia: when Appetite for Destruction came out in the summer of 1987, almost nobody noticed. It took the better part of a year, a lot of touring and one very persistent MTV push for "Welcome to the Jungle" before the record caught fire, but when it did, it burned down everything in its path, eventually spending four weeks at No. 1 and selling tens of millions of copies.

It's easy to hear why. Axl Rose's banshee wail, Slash's Les Paul tone, Izzy Stradlin's sleazy rhythm guitar and the rumbling Duff McKagan / Steven Adler rhythm section made the hair-metal pack sound like dress rehearsal. "Paradise City," "Nightrain" and "Mr. Brownstone" are pure Sunset Strip grit, "Rocket Queen" is a sprawling epic, and "Sweet Child o' Mine" (built on a riff Slash supposedly came up with as a warm-up exercise) is the one everybody's mom knows. Nearly four decades on, it's still the gold standard for loud, snotty, dangerous rock 'n' roll.

Also at Kops: more Guns N' Roses on vinyl · browse Rock

Tracklist

Listen

On Geffen, a reissue of the 1987 album.