1001 Albums Summary

I don't have a lot of genre expertise on which to base this impression, but I will say that from a single listen, I don't doubt this album's status as a classic. But ultimately this style of right-down-the-middle, lyrically-focussed rap isn't immediately appealing to me (even when it's as good as Illmatic), so not necessarily something I'll be picking up to revisit.

I'm of a generation where Gn'R were a constant presence in my musical life, at least from my tweens to early twenties. Never listened to an album, though, and on the evidence of a first Appetite listen, I don't think I ever will again. I don't know if it ever sounded like more than a hundred pale imitators and cover bands, but that's what most of it sounds like in 2026. A few shining examples of iconic songwriting aside, it's mostly just a plodding, expired mess of screech and blues rock

I guess it's a little unfair to give my first five stars to an album with which I was already familiar, but hey. It's In Utero

Goofy, but sounds oh so very good