Soundtrack of My Life

Song: Sweet Child O' Mine
Artist: Guns N Roses
Album: Appetite for Destruction (1987)

Thank the ridiculous number of ads I've seen for the long-overdue and very underwhelming arrival of Chinese Democracy for reminding me about how goddamn awesome Guns `N Roses used to be back before W. Axl Rose went all wacko.

And if you're going to talk about GNR, you're going to talk about Appetite for Destruction, the album that single-handedly ended the lives of countless craptacular pop acts that were ruling the charts in the late 80. Steve Winwood's Roll With It replaced it at the top of the charts. Steve Winwood...

For me, no song encapsulates the greatness that was Guns N Roses and this album better than Sweet Child O' Mine.

Easily one of the most memorable opening riffs from my lifetime of music.
Lyrics you still remember to this day.
The Axl Slither.

Hell, a bunch of you could still probably tell me the name of the supermodel Axl was dating who inspired this song.

This track encompassed everything that was potentially awesome about Guns N Roses and as a kid who was heavily into the craptacular pop music that was dominating the charts before Appetite's arrival (I had that Steve Winwood cassette...) that is really saying something.

While loads of people loved the loud, raw energy or the taboo topics and curse words that drove their parents crazy, I was starting to become a musicality guy then and this song had everything which is why it stands up so well today.

Guns N Roses have become a joke over the years since Lose Your Illusion I & II, if not before that. I mean, they employed a guy who wore a KFC bucket on his head for a while for chrissakes!

Still, Appetite is one of the Top 20 Albums ever and this song will always get cranked up to 11 whenever I hear it.

Besides, me, Jeff Sanislo (Axl), Joel Richardson (Slash) and Jason Morris (Steven Adler) rocked a killer air band of Sweet Child O' Mine in Grade 7 (I was Duff) and I'll never forget it. We may not of had an Izzy, but we ripped it up anyway!