BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 256: Listen to Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction”

The heavy metal band Guns N’ Roses was in its heyday when I was a youngster, and by the time I became a teenager and became interested in music, the band seemed somewhat outdated for my tastes. For that reason, I never really got into Guns N’ Roses (like I did with Nirvana and Pearl Jam), even though I knew who they were and had heard a few of their songs.

A few years ago, I ran across a best-of list compiled by Rolling Stone magazine called the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time,” and I noticed that Rolling Stone had ranked Guns N’ Roses’ debut album, “Appetite for Destruction,” at No. 62 on this prestigious list. It somewhat irked me that I couldn’t say that I’d ever listened to this album, so I added it to my bucket list a few years ago. 

I found a copy of the album on Friday and officially listened to it from start to finish. In fact, I’ve listened to it several times, from start to finish, since then. I can now appreciate when it's so highly regarded.

For those of you unfamiliar with “Appetite for Destruction,” it was recorded in March and April of 1987 and was officially released on July 21, 1987. The album went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time and is now considered to be one of the greatest albums of all time, which is why you find it on best-of lists like Rolling Stone’s greatest albums list.

The album is a few seconds shy of being 54 minutes long and consists of 12 songs. Well known songs on the album include “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine.” Other songs on the album are “It’s So Easy,” “Nightrain,” “Out ta Get Me,” “Mr. Brownstone,” “My Michelle,” “Think About You,” “You’re Crazy” and “Rocket Queen.” “Paradise City” is the longest song with a run time of six minutes and 46 seconds, and “It’s So Easy” is the shortest, coming in a three minutes and 21 seconds.

Now that I’ve listened to “Appetite for Destruction,” I’m left wanting to listened to some of Guns N’ Roses’ other albums. A little research showed me that, counting “Appetite for Destruction,” the band produced six albums between 1987 and 2008. Those albums include “Appetite for Destruction” (1987), “G N’ R Lies” (1988), “Use Your Illusion I” (1991), “Use Your Illusion II” (1991), “The Spaghetti Incident?” (1993) and “Chinese Democracy” (2008). Interestingly, “Appetite for Destruction” is the only of these albums that made the cut for Rolling Stone’s list of “500 Greatest Albums.”

I’m also left with the strange desire to buy a T-shirt with the iconic logo from “Appetite for Destruction” on the front. I’ve seen these shirts before, back when you could buy them in stores, but nowadays I would imagine that you’d have to order one from somewhere online.

In the end, how many of you have listened to Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite for Destruction”? What did you think about it? What other albums would you recommend listening to? Let us know in the comments section below.