#OTD 1987: Want to feel old? This thing is turning 35 - As ubiquitous an album as there ever has been in my lifetime. I am not at all in the mood to listen to Guns N’ Roses these days - in more of a Bach and Mozart mood - but they were a juggernaut. Even now - with Slash and Duff having reunited with Axl Rose some years back - they are one of the bigger touring acts in the world, their back catalog continues to sell in big numbers, and their music is seemingly everywhere. While the ‘90s produced many huge rock acts - and not so much since then - there simply has not been a band that was quite as big as Guns N’ Roses were in the late ‘80s and into the early ‘90s. Purely in terms of popularity, U2 and Metallica about equaled them, and Pearl Jam came very close for a couple of years, but nobody was bigger (of course, I’m talking specifically about bands that were contemporaries of Guns N’ Roses, not including earlier acts that even now remain huge, i.e. the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, etc. But even on that count, GNR compares very favorably to anybody at all.) It could be argued that, for all intents and purposes, GNR were the last of the seriously decadent, over-the-top rock and roll bands before the genre was watered down and rap/hip-hop largely replaced it as the music of rebellious youth. And they played the part of decadent rock gods all too well; all of that crap is well-documented in countless forums, I’m not going to present any history of Guns N’ Roses here. The fact that all of the relevant players are still alive is just a wonder. So, no actual review - I’ve already spent enough time just coming up with this paragraph, and I’m busy - but you all know it and love it: it’s Appetite for Destruction, the most important rock and roll album of the 1980s.
GRADE: A+
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