The 1987 Guns N’ Roses song that features real sex: “It wasn’t really romantic”
When any rock band starts to make its way into the studio, it becomes a virtual playground behind the glass. As long as there’s a competent producer to record some of the material, artists are free to be themselves in the studio, running songs as often as they want to while experimenting with different pieces that would have never worked live.
Although Guns N’ Roses had their music ingrained into their DNA, making their debut album, Appetite for Destruction, would not be a walk in the park.
Throughout the process, Slash became endlessly frustrated trying to get the right guitar sound for every song, never really thinking that his sound did justice to how they performed live. Manager Allen Niven remembered everything getting out of hand when he visited the studio, telling Rock Icons, “I showed up at the studio and said ‘Oh, hello’, because there was an SG rammed neck-first through the windscreen of the rental van.”
After Slash was lent a copy of a Gibson Les Paul, though, everything started to fall into place, laying down one take after another of soon-to-be classic songs like ‘Paradise City’ and ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’. For all of the great music laid down on tape, the album’s finale, ‘Rocket Queen’, was not quite coming together.
Part of what made Appetite for Destruction feel so dangerous upon release was how authentically chaotic the band actually were behind the scenes. Unlike many hard rock groups whose rebellious image was carefully manufactured by labels and management, Guns N’ Roses genuinely lived the excess and volatility reflected in their music.
That unpredictability translated directly onto the record, giving songs a loose, combustible energy that separated the band from the increasingly polished glam metal scene dominating the Sunset Strip during the mid-1980s.
The story behind ‘Rocket Queen’ also captures the blurred line between creativity and recklessness that defined Guns N’ Roses at their peak. For the band, almost everything became material for the music, regardless of how outrageous or uncomfortable it might appear from the outside.
While moments like this contributed heavily to their notorious reputation, they also reinforced the sense that Appetite for Destruction was documenting a real lifestyle rather than presenting a sanitised rock fantasy, which remains part of the album’s enduring appeal decades later.
Around the same time, drummer Steven Adler was having his ups and downs with his girlfriend, Adriana Smith, who had stormed out of his house after an argument and ended up at the studio. While hanging out with the rest of the band, Axl Rose decided that he needed something in the background of the mid-section of ‘Rocket Queen’, as the rest of the band slipped into a jam before the second half of the song started.
With morals not being a top priority at the time, Rose had the idea of him having sex with Smith on the studio floor as the tape rolled. As Smith remembers, “It wasn’t really romantic, passionate or hot. It was kinda contrived, but they got some good stuff out of it.”
The last piece of the puzzle was completed in just under a half hour, with Smith being audible in the final mix as she had sex with Rose. While Guns N’ Roses were no strangers to a bit of smut in their music, this was just the tip of the iceberg for some of their sinister behaviour. Once they took to the road, Guns N’ Roses approached the rock scene like feral dogs being let loose, with shows occasionally getting out of hand because of just how much of a frenzy Rose would cause onstage.
Despite ‘Rocket Queen’ being a fixture of their setlist, the vocal effects from the final recording were never used, only replaced with Slash grandstanding in its place with some of the most chaotic solos he could muster. There was no set apology to Adler, who would soon be kicked out of the band while recording their double album Use Your Illusion due to his dependence on drugs.
While Guns has earned the reputation as the ‘World’s Most Dangerous Band’ on more than a few occasions, their penchant for the dirty side of rock and roll cannot be overstated. Here’s hoping that Smith got some share of album royalties for her troubles.
