Guns N’ Roses, Appetite for Destruction
Guns N' RosesAPPETITE FOR
DESTRUCTION.
Guns N' Roses made its full-length debut with a record that was dangerous, disciplined and far more carefully built than its reputation for chaos might suggest.
Album artwork shown for commentary and historical reference. Cover image source: Cover Art Archive or the linked archival source.
SEVEN THINGS
WORTH KNOWING.
Recording stories, personnel, physical details and numbers worth keeping with the record.
Appetite for Destruction was released on July 21, 1987 and contains 12 tracks.
Mike Clink produced the album after the band tested other producers and decided his approach best captured its live energy.
The recording lineup was Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler.
The album includes "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child o' Mine" and "Paradise City."
"Sweet Child o' Mine" became Guns N' Roses' first No. 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100.
The original Robert Williams cover art was replaced for the mass-market sleeve by the now-familiar cross-and-skulls design.
The album eventually became one of the best-selling debut albums in rock history.
WHY THIS
ALBUM MATTERS.
Appetite for Destruction turned the band's volatile club reputation into a remarkably focused studio record, balancing hard-rock aggression with hooks strong enough to cross into mainstream radio.
THE
NUMBERS.
TRACKS
The original album contains twelve songs.
SINGLE
Sweet Child o' Mine reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.
RELEASE
The album arrived in July 1987.
THE
PHYSICAL OBJECT.
The cross-and-skulls sleeve became inseparable from the album, but it was not the first cover prepared for the record, making the packaging history almost as famous as the music.
RESEARCH SOURCES
Facts are checked against artist archives, release databases, recording credits and established archival sources before publication.
KEEP
DIGGING.
More recording stories, strange credits, cover art, chart numbers and details hiding inside the records.