1001 Albums Summary

You can see why we needed grunge to come along at this time. I remember this album being huge off the back of the ‘Janie’s Got A Gun’ film clip which was everywhere at the time, and although i was probably the target demographic at the time (15-16 yo white adolescent) it really wasn’t my thing then and not really my thing now. That said, apart from the occasional Spinal Tap moment (that spoken intro to ‘Love in an Elevator’…cringe) and losing track of how many instruments they threw at this ( I think I started losing track or was going nuts when I started hearing didgeridoo and piano accordion…) I didn’t mind this album for what it was. As long as you don’t listen to the puerile lyrics too closely (did I really hear “Masturbating with a goose” on one track?) at least it is all over quickly, and they do have a bit of Led Zep power blues about them that makes this more enjoyable than some of the worse Hair Metal crimes of the 80’s, and in Aerosmith’s favour they did do quite a good turn in Wayne’s World 2….

Interesting to listen to this straight after Aerosmith…and I think I prefer Aerosmith. I am betraying my demographic here, but I’ve never liked Guns and Roses. It might be that I really have never liked Axl Rose’s vocals, despite enjoying the music. I think this album just overstays it welcome for me….I mean ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ is great and ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ is terrific and earns it’s place in the Gen X Book of Standards, but why not just finish there? Three tracks of filler to finish off, couldn’t wait for it to finish. One star for ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ and one star for ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’.