I so wanted to hate G N' R. I told the story in here where I (yet again) refused to see "some dumb LA hair metal band" when I was in NYC and my buddy said there was this new band playing at the Ritz which is supposed to be pretty good. Yeah, it was the show MTV broadcast which led to them breaking nationally.
But I seriously wanted to hate them. I couldn't. They hit some pre-punk obsessed Aerosmith/Led Zeppelin hard rock 70's gene which was wired into my DNA back in junior high, and no amount of alternative "I don't listen to bands who ride around in limos" punk ethos was going to overcome that.
I remember my buddy (the same one who wanted to go to the Ritz show in NYC) buying Appetite a few weeks later, when we were on our annual week of debauchery down the Cape. We popped it in the tape player and by the time the second song came on, I looked at him and said "Oh shit. This is really, really good." I don't think we listened to anything else the rest of the week.
I remember when
Appetite exploded in late '87. And it absolutely exploded. Like the best of punk, funk, soul, r&b, rock n' roll, jazz, classical, folk, blues, etc. it was
REAL. As real as a band from LA in the late 80s could be, anyway.
By then I was in my mid 20s. As with the PIstols, I responded immediately.
In the PBS documentary
Rock & Roll referenced previously, I believe it was the Bowie/Iggy/Lou Reed/punk episode (sic), the line from one of the main actors was, approximately, "This was real. So hungry were they for something real." (I think it was Richard Hell of Television. You know, "the Blank Generation.")
Axl is a jerk, but in the past, a talented jerk. Slash is one of my very favorite guitar players. He can do it all. One of the most melodic guitarists to grace pop music. God bless him.
Believe I mentioned I saw G N'R at the Centrum in '91. Izzy was still in the band, though monster Matt Sorum had replaced the unfortunately addled Steven Adler. (Thank Axl for that. "All the cool groups are on dope." Then, kicked his ass to the curb upon addiction. Axl.
(Slash once described Rose as the kind of guy who would get his teeth mangled, and electrocuted besides, using an electric toothbrush.
(He appears to attract trouble.
(Ever check his wiki? It reads like a forty one volume rap sheet. Jesus Christ,
(
Axl Rose - Wikipedia)
Wonder how his "residency" with AC/DC went. Bit surprised that Slash would bother per upcoming tour. Duff, not so much. Wonder too what Steven Adler is up to these days.
