BACK IN THE DAY: GUNS N ROSES "APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION"

I've heard a lot of people arguing that Guns N Roses is getting into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame based on one LP, 1987's Appetite For Destruction.  Normally I'd agree, that no band should get in based on one LP.  I'm cool with it.  I don't really have a problem with The Sex Pistols as Hall of Famers (even if they do), and they only had one album.  (But as Larry Flick rightfully points out, Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols kicked off a movement in a way that Appetite didn't).

That said, I think AC/DC could have been inducted just for Back In Black*, and the only other hard rock album with the impact of that classic is Appetite For Destruction**.

I remember the first song I heard by Guns was "Welcome To The Jungle," and I'm pretty sure I first experienced it on MTV's Headbanger's Ball.  At the time I was in a very "death to false metal" mode.  There were the cool bands, like Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Suicidal Tendencies and Megadeth. And then there were the lame (hair) metal bands, Poison, Warrant, Motley Crue, etc***.  Guns seemed to fall somewhere in between. They certainly weren't thrash.  They had a lot more of a Stonesy groove than the thrash bands (or the metal legends like Maiden and Priest) that I loved.  But they also seemed to have a little in common with the pop metal scene. I wasn't hugely into punk rock at the time, but I knew they had a punk influence going on.  They didn't sound totally original per se, but they definitely sounded different.  I got Appetite right after that Headbanger's Ball episode.

I was BLOWN AWAY. I could not believe how badass this album was.  The guitars were amazing, but never annoying like the shredders who were all the rage at the time. The bass was funky and cool. The drums swung (even though the drummer looked like he could fit into Ratt). And the singer: I'd never heard anything like this guy.

Most of the songs were like a fist to the face.  But then there was "Sweet Child O' Mine."  It was tender, but not wimpy, and had one of the coolest riffs I'd ever heard.  The only song I didn't like was "Paradise City," with it's synthesizers and chorus that kind of sounded like something Bon Jovi would do. To this day, I don't really dig that one, but I can tolerate it, and it doesn't ruin the album.

I don't listen to Guns as much these days, I don't know why.  I think Axl has lowered their status in my eyes, by turning the band into his solo project.  I don't mind when Trent Reznor does that with Nine Inch Nails, because that group was always Trent's project.  But I think Guns without Slash and Duff McKagan just isn't Guns.  I was OK with Gilby Clarke replacing Izzy Stradlin', and totally OK with Matt Sorum replacing Steven Adler. But no Slash and no Duff?  That's a dealbreaker.  I wouldn't buy into Guns without Axl either, of course. I know Axl's current version of Guns is touring and playing all of the Appetite songs, but I just can't imagine it sounds nearly as good as it would the original guys.

Anyway, I'm listening to the album as I write this, and it is still incredible.  Even, I must admit, "Paradise City." If you haven't heard it in a while, check it out.

* That said, I prefer Bon Scott-era AC/DC to Brian Johnson's era, but you just can't deny Back In Black.
**By the way, I'd argue that Guns did have a good handful of classics from after Appetite: certainly "Patience" from Lies, and "Dust N Bones," "Bad Obsession," "Civil War," "14 Years" and especially "You Could Be Mine" from the Use Your Illusion albums.
*** I've mellowed a bit on the hair metal thing.  I don't own any of their records, but I can definitely acknowledge that most of the hair metal bands had some good songs.  And, full disclosure, I wrote liner notes for some Warrant reissues, the younger me would have considered that a major "sell out."

GUNS N ROSES - A BEGINNER'S GUIDE

In the next few weeks and months, I hope to have a number of guest bloggers give their testimonials about Guns N Roses. Earlier this week, Guitar World Senior Editor Rich Beinstock wrote about his hopes that the band's original lineup will reunite for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

I've heard people complain a bit about Guns because (a) they are getting in before other hard rock bands who have been eligible for years, like KISS and Motorhead and (b) they are essentially getting in for one album, Appetite For Destruction.

I think many of the guys in the band might agree with (a).  As for (b), my beginner's guide to GNR is this:

Get Appetite For Destruction.

It's just one of the greatest albums ever.

After that, you're probably in good shape with Greatest Hits, which includes the best songs from the Lies EP, the Use Your Illusion LPs , with a few of their later covers thrown in. Lies itself is pretty good (minus the hateful lyrics of "One In A Million" and "I Used To Love Her") and the Illusion LPs have a lot of good songs.

As for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony: my prediction is that W. Axl Rose will perform with his current lineup of Guns N Roses, while Slash and Duff McKagan put together a band that will probably include Izzy Stradlin' or Gilby Clarke (or both), Steven Adler or Matt Sorum (or both) and a singer (perhaps Myles Kennedy from Slash's band). And the Slash/Duff band will perform as well.  But of course Axl/Slash/Duff/Izzy/Steven would just rule.

GUEST POST: RICHARD BIENSTOCK ON GUNS N ROSES AND THE ROCK AND ROLL HALLL OF FAME

I was Richard Beinstock's counselor at sleep away camp a million years ago. Imagine my surprise when I bumped into him at a screening of a Cheap Trick concert DVD and realized that he is Senior Editor of Guitar World magazine! I asked him what he thought about Guns N Roses' upcoming induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.  Here's what he said.


I can’t say that I followed the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot too closely this time around; like any Annual Big Music Event from the Grammys on down, its impact and sense of import in the music world seems only to cool year over year, beyond any bands/managers/label people/media/music geeks/etc. who might have a stake in the whole deal. But come on—Guns N’ Roses! Whether or not you care about this kind of thing at all, who doesn’t want to see this go down?

So Gn’R—while at the end of the day their glory run was relatively short, and their catalog of output relatively slim, the question of whether the band would make the cut was always a no-brainer. Because fuck it, they made what very well might be the greatest hard rock album ever. Top 5 at least, IMO, and the beauty here is that millions of others likely feel the same. So case closed.

So now they’re in, and thus begins the real speculation. Because as much as a Rock Hall induction is considered an honor, in this case it also comes off as something of a dare. Everybody wants this reunion. Everybody’s talked about this reunion. Everybody in the band has been asked about this reunion for something like 15 years now. So it stands to reason that whoever snags this reunion is the proverbial shit. Even if they didn’t deserve inclusion, if I were Jann I’d throw ‘em in just for the potential glory of being the Dude That Made It Happen.

Which bears asking: Beyond all the wondering about Will They Or Won’t They, maybe the question is, Why Would They Do It For, Of All Places, The Rock Hall? No amount of guarantee, no promises of bazillion-dollar tour grosses, no mega-manager muscle, has been able to bring the five originals to the table all these years. So how does the Hall of Fame turn out to be the big man with enough pull to make it happen?

First, some history…or, actually, not. Without delving into the filthy minutiae, let’s just agree that a reunion comes down to Axl Rose  capitulating to stand onstage next to Slash, the man he’s pinned as a cancer and more or less blamed for every bad thing that’s ever happened to him. There may likely be no love lost in the opposite direction, but Slash is, at least outwardly, a fairly reasonable and relaxed adult, and would likely take the plunge. As for the others, Steven Adler’s been praying for this day to come since he wrapped up his drum tracks on “Civil War”; Duff McKagan, like Slash, is a sensible man and still has a relationship, if somewhat tenuous, with Rose; Izzy Stradlin', for all his time spent laying low, releasing killer, Keef-y albums without bothering to tell anyone, and doing whatever other cool-ass things Izzy does, has still managed to find the time to jam with Slash on his 2010 solo disc and pop up beside Axl at a few Guns gigs. So the connections are there. But if the promises of renewed fame and fortune haven’t led them to pull the trigger, why should jamming awkwardly through a few old tunes in front of a stuffy room of suits do it? The answer is it shouldn’t. But the weird thing about the Hall of Fame is that it often does. Hell if I know why.

So assuming Axl does indeed play ball, who’s on that stage with him? Duff and Slash for sure. Izzy (or at least a “Where’s Izzy? sign), a hesitant yes. Gilby Clarke? 30/70. Any latter day exes? No. Dizzy Reed? 80/20. Fortus/Bumble/Ferrer/Stinson/Ashba/Pitman? No …unless Axl works in some weird stipulation whereby the current Guns incarnation has to get airtime as well.

That leaves the drum chair, where the likely scenario is a split, with Adler and Matt Sorum each taking a spin for their own songs. Which, while fanwise, everyone loves the former and is lukewarm about the latter, is probably as it should be. The interesting thing there will be what happens the proverbial day after, when the contracts are signed and tour announcements are made. Adler would be the hopeful choice, though the more stable Sorum the likely winner. Only time will tell whether it would be harder for Adler to survive a reunion tour or the prospect of being left out of a reunion tour. Either way, I’m pulling for him, the band and the Rock Hall to make Cleveland for, at least one night, every music fans’ Paradise City.

One last game-changing scenario:
Axl shows up really, really late…meaning not at all. The four original instrumentalists are on site, and Rose is the lone hold out under the assumption that, hey, Guns N’ Roses still exists, and if you wanna see the band perform, then the band, as it is now, performs. This is where the Rock Hall can still use its muscle to make true magic happen. I’m talking “Welcome to the Jungle” … featuring Mick Jagger! “Paradise City”…. guest vox Bono! “You’re Crazy” … with Bruce! “One in a Million” … sung by Adele!

Let’s just hope the pairings don’t go so well that they decide to wring a whole album’s worth of material out of the thing…

GUITAR WORLD'S 100 GREATEST (MY ADJUSTMENTS) (part 1)

Guitar World magazine's new issue features their list of the "100 Greatest Classic Rock Guitar Songs."  I think they put together a great list, with some great choices that, sadly, don't get played on what is known on "classic rock" radio, including Bill Haley & The Comets' "Rock Around The Clock, Elvis Presley's "Jailhouse Rock," Prince & The Revolution's "Purple Rain" and the #1 song, Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode."

As I often do, I create my own iPod mix to go along with the feature, with my own adjustments.   In some cases I switched one band's song with another (like with Led Zeppelin: I know "Stairway To Heaven" is, like, the most played song ever on classic rock radio or something, but I'm tired of it and I prefer "The Rain Song").  In other cases, I replaced some bands for others, creating my ideal classic rock lineup.  Not to be a snob, but on my planet, James Brown, The Stooges and The Clash are classic rock, whereas Kansas and Journey are not.  So, here's my list:

1. Chuck Berry - "Johnny B. Goode" Yeah, it's such an obvious choice (I prefer "Brown Eyed Handsome Man"... read the lyrics and replace "eyed" with "skinned" and it's a pretty radical song for the era).  But it's such an important song.  Not just in rock and roll, but in American culture.

2. Led Zeppelin - "The Rain Song" As I mentioned above, GW used "Stairway To Heaven," but, as much as I enjoy J.R.R. Tolkien's lore, which inspired the lyrics, it's sort of an overplayed song. "The Rain Song" resonates with me much more.  "Upon us all a little rain must fall." This song is as much about John Paul Jones' string arrangements as Jimmy Page's guitar though. But still, it's powerful and beautiful.

3. Jimi Hendrix - "I Don't Live Today" replacing "Purple Haze." I love "Haze," but it's another one that "classic rock" radio has driven into the ground.  "I Don't Live Today" is just as rockin', and is from the same album, Are You Experienced?

4. Guns N' Roses - "Sweet Child O' Mine" Overplayed? Hell yeah.  But when this jam came out in '87, you couldn't get enough of it.  Slash's riff was unbelievable, and he and Izzy Stradlin' were just such a great team. "Welcome To The Jungle" also made GW's list, but I kept Guns (and most other bands) to just one song.

5. Metallica - "For Whom The Bell Tolls" replacing "Enter Sandman." I love "Sandman," and I know it's where a lot of people discovered Metallica. I discovered them on a radio show called "Metal Shop," and "For Whom The Bell Tolls" was the song. I've never gotten tired of it. I have always loved James Hetfield's muscular rhythm playing.

TOMORROW ON OUT: FACE-MELTING GUITAR

For those of you who are new to No Expiration, every Wednesday morning at 9 am ET I go on the SIRIUS XM channel OutQ. I am a weekly contributor to The Morning Jolt with Larry Flick. This week, I'll be talking about some of the greatest guitarists of rock and roll, including the man who may just be the best. But their music isn't about guitar wankery, it's about great songs that feature amazing guitar. This isn't music (just) for musos. 

First up is Jimi Hendrix, who I meant to talk about weeks ago, and then I missed a day at work due to snow. I'll be talking about Jimi's catalog, which has recently been relaunched by Sony Legacy, and a new collection that they put out called Valleys Of Neptune. I think lawsuits between opposing forces laying claim to Jimi's legacy have, sadly, lowered his "stock." I'm not talking about his influence, I'm talking about, when a "new" Jimi release comes out, people don't care as much: they have the real albums, and there's been so many crappy other releases. But I've been listening to the new Axis: Bold As Love and it sounds great. As for Valleys Of Neptune, it's cool and the title track is awesome.

Sony Legacy also recently put out a tenth (!) anniversary edition of Santana's Supernatural. People rip on that album, but it brought Carlos back to the limelight, which was a beautiful thing. There was some great collabs - as I've said before, I ain't mad about "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas - but there were great classic songs that weren't collabs, like "Da Le Yaleo." The bonus disc has a bunch of cool songs, but the original album really holds up in my opinion.

Influenced by Jimi and also the Santana Supernatural approach is Slash's new self-titled album, which I wrote about a while back. Slash with an all-star cast of guests: Iggy, Alice, Lemmy and Ozzy. And Fergie. As these "all-star" type albums usually are, it's a bit uneven. My favorite song features Lemmy: "Doctor Alibi." I also liked "Promise" featuring Chris Cornell, "Gotten" featuring Adam Levine of Maroon 5 (for real) and "We're All Gonna Die" (featuring Iggy Pop even though the lyrics aren't great). There's a goofy new version of Guns N Roses' "Paradise City" featuing Fergie and Cypress Hill that kind of made me laugh a bit.

Finally, I'll try to get to the new live Ben Harper & Relentless 7 album, Live From The Montreal International Jazz Festival, which contains a great cover of Jimi's "Red House." Call in and tell us about your favorite guitar heroes!

WATCH: LEMMY + SLASH + GROHL "ACE OF SPADES"

This is from the Revolver Golden Gods awards ceremony that I wrote about a while back: Lemmy with Slash and Dave Grohl doing the Motorhead classic "Ace of Spades." Some things will never go out of style. By the way, the show will air on May 22 on VH1 Classic.

LEMMY + SLASH + GROHL = AWESOME

I just heard that at Revolver's Golden God Awards, Lemmy, along with Slash and Dave Grohl, will perform the Motorhead classic "Ace Of Spades." I imagine that this will, in some way, serve to promote the documentary Lemmy, which comes out soon. Both Grohl and Slash are interviewed in the doc. Lemmy and Grohl have worked together before: along with ZZ Top's Billy Gibbons they did a great cover of Chuck Berry's "Run, Run Rudolph" for the We Wish You A Metal X-Mas compilation. And Lemmy sang "Shake Your Blood" on Grohl's awesome Probot project. I think Lemmy is on Slash's upcoming solo album, and I think Grohl is also. That's pretty cool: I remember back in the day Kurt Cobain had a huge beef with Axl Rose when Nirvana refused to open on the Guns N Roses/Metallica tour. Anyway, the Golden God Awards takes place at L.A.'s Nokia Theater on April 8 and will be broadcast on VH1 Classic on May 22.

BUMMER! ERIC AVERY QUITS JANE'S ADDICTION - AGAIN

Actually, I guess technically this is the first time that Eric Avery has quit Jane's Addiction: it's just that until recently, he never participated in any of the band's reunions. I saw one of the shows on their summer tour and it was incredibly powerful.  I'd seen Jane's reunions with Flea on bass and also with Chris Chaney, and both shows were awesome, but Avery is a unique player and his style totally fit the band. Eric announced it on twitter just a few days ago. Dave Navarro seemed to indicate on his twitter feed that the band are sticking together, and there are rumors that Duff McKagan will be playing bass for them. In fact, Navarro linked to a youtube video that shows Duff and Stephen Perkins jamming together and Rolling Stone says that Slash sort of hinted that Duff was doing something with Jane's. I really liked the one Jane's album that they did without Eric, Strays, which featured Chris Chaney, but it lacked the menace of their earlier work.  I guess that's inevitable no matter who is on bass though.

DOWNLOAD TO DONATE FOR HAITI

By now, everyone knows that you can download all the performances from Friday night's Hope For Haiti telethon on iTunes. There were truly great performances by Bruce Springsteen ("We Shall Overcome" with members of The Sessions Band, all of whom were on the last E Street Band tour as well), Stevie Wonder ("A Time To Love" which went inot Simon & Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water"), Sting (The Police's "Driven To Tears"), Justin Timberlake (Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah") and Dave Matthews and Neil Young (Hank Williams' "Alone and Foresaken"). But the two best performances of the night were by Mary J. Blige ("Hard Times") and Jennifer Hudson ("Let It Be"). It also includes the collaboration between Jay-Z, Rihanna, Bono and The Edge ("Stranded") written just for the occasion.

I've also mentioned that you can get Eddie Vedder's cover of Bruce Springsteen's "My City Of Ruins" from The Kennedy Center Honors ceremony on iTunes which also raises money for Haiti. Rihanna performed "Redemption Song" on Oprah this week, that's also at iTunes.

There's also this online album, Download To Donate For Haiti. It features songs by Peter Gabriel (his cover of David Bowie's "Heroes" from his upcoming album Scratch My Back), a song by Slash with Beth Hart (she had a hit in 2000 with "L.A. Song," she still does her thing and has also toured as Jeff Beck's singer), The Dave Matthews Band and Alanis Morissette, as well as Linkin Park, The All-American Rejects and a few others. Find out more at Music For Relief. And you can donate more here.

FLEA PLAYING WITH BRYAN FERRY

Apparently, Flea is going to be playing on Bryan Ferry's next album, which will also include Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. Of course, Flea recently played in Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke's backing band on a few shows, and supposedly they will be working together next year on a new Thom album and tour. (Flea also plays on Slash's upcoming album.)

More than any of this stuff, I'm looking forward to a new Red Hot Chili Peppers album, which hopefully will come out next year. The Peppers are performing at the Neil Young tribute concert in January, and will probably also perform if they get into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (which they should).

I'm not a big Ferry fan, but wasn't he supposed to be doing a new album with Roxy Music? I remember reading that he took a break to do a solo album made up of Dylan covers, and then he toured for that, now he's making another solo album. I guess the Roxy Music reunion is over.

SLASH'S ALBUM SOUNDS PRETTY COOL

In September, I wrote about how Dave Grohl is playing on Slash's upcoming solo album. Also guesting on the album: Flea, Chris Cornell, most of Guns N' Roses (other than Axl, obviously), Iggy Pop, Cypress Hill, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Meat Loaf and Adam Levine of Maroon 5. And Fergie. And Nicole Scherzinger, the girl who (allegedly) actually sings for the Pussycat Dolls. This should be a cool album, Slash deserves it after having to deal with Axl and then the guy from Stone Temple Pilots.

SLASH JAMS WITH DAVE GROHL

Seventeen years ago, W. Axl Rose tried to get Nirvana to open on the Guns N Roses / Metallica tour. But Kurt Cobain wasn't having any of that, so he turned them down. It must have bummed out Dave Grohl, a longtime Metallica fan. He made amends years later, with his sort-of-fake open letter to Metallica, and he even interviewed Metallica for a syndicated radio show when Death Magnetic came out. Now, according to Slash's twitter, Grohl is playing on the guitar legend's upcoming solo album. I like it when everyone can get along. (I got the photo and story from Rolling Stone).

TOM MORELLO TAKES AXIS OF JUSTICE ON THE ROAD

The Nightwatchman, a.k.a. Tom Morello, is taking his Axis Of Justice organization (which he co-founded with System Of A Down singer Serj Tankian) on tour. Tom is doing a Nightwatchman set, and also rocking with a band that will include "special guests": in New York, the guests will include Slash, Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains, Wayne Kramer of The MC5, Joseph Arthur and Perry Farrell. I'm hoping to go to the show. Even if I didn't love the lineup, I'm mostly down with Tom's politics and I love that he puts his money and his time where his mouth is. 

NEWSFLASH: AXL ROSE HAS A SENSE OF HUMOR (AND IN UNRELATED NEWS, HIRED A NEW MANAGEMENT TEAM)

In a surprising show of humor, W. Axl Rose responded to Dr. Pepper's offer to buy everyone in America (except Slash and Buckethead) a soda if the new Guns N' Roses album comes out in 2008. He posted this on his website (which is where this picture is from)

"We are surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper with our album Chinese Democracy, as for us, this came totally out of the blue. If there is any involvement with this promotion by our record company or others, we are unaware of such at this time. And as some of Buckethead's performances are on our album, I'll share my Dr Pepper with him."

In other news, Axl has hired a new management team, so maybe he's getting ready to release the new album. Although rumors of a reunion with former members Slash and Duff McKagan are circulating, since Weiland quit the Slash/Duff/Matt Sorum band Velvet Revolver to return to his former band, Stone Temple Pilots. All I gotta say is that this situation probably sucks for the other guy in Velvet Revolver, guitarist Dave Kushner. I mean, I guess he can reunite with Mike Muir in Infectious Grooves, but they never had the success of G 'N R or STP.