Guns N’ Roses: the band Joe Perry said “revived our kind of rock”
Joe Perry has turned himself into one of the ultimate rock and roll survivors. After bursting onto the scene with Aerosmith in the early 1970s, Perry was every bit the guitar hero that he always wanted to be, taking the blues of Eric Clapton and Peter Green and turning it into something a lot more radio-friendly, complete with some of the greatest guitar riffs of the era. As the band went on, though, Perry noticed that wild abandon slipping away.
For all of the great albums that came out of the band’s first era, like Toys in the Attic, Perry had had enough by the end of the ’70s. Thinking that his wife was being disrespected, Perry abruptly quit the band after a lengthy tour, with the band left to finish their latest album, Night in the Ruts, without him.
Time apart always makes the heart grow fonder, though, and Perry eventually returned to the band after a long absence for the album Done With Mirrors and the late ’80s smash Permanent Vacation. While the band were heralded as the elder statesmen of the next generation, it wasn’t until one of the most dangerous bands on Earth came along that Perry started paying attention.
Around 1987, Perry started paying attention to Guns N’ Roses, who were just breaking on the scene with Appetite for Destruction. Whereas most bands saw another hair metal outfit, Perry saw a glimpse of his old self, recalling while talking to Rolling Stone: “Guns N’ Roses revived our kind of rock. They dug down deeper into rock’s roots. And I just remember being a little jealous because they were hitting the nail on the head.”
After years of disposable hair bands, the appeal of Guns N’ Roses was just how different they were from the mainstream. From the bluesy leads from Slash to Axl Rose’s guttural howl, no one in the band was looking to play up their looks for the camera. This was the epitome of a street gang with guitars.
One of the biggest elements of GNR’s sound was also indebted to Aerosmith. When asked about his early influences, Slash praised Aerosmith for exposing him to the heavy side of rock and roll, citing Rocks as one of his personal favourite albums.
Aerosmith would eventually bring Guns N’ Roses out on tour with them, but it wouldn’t be long before their new favourite band took the lead. Having gone through the first album of classics, the rock titans got too big too fast, with Use Your Illusion sporting some of the most lavish material to appear on a hair metal record like ‘November Rain’.
While Aerosmith would eventually take a few twists and turns of their own in the next decade, Perry sees Guns as an example of how to push rock forward, saying, “Sometimes you think, ‘how can you top anything by The Yardbirds, or Zeppelin or The Stones?’. And then you hear Guns N’ Roses, and it’s inspiring. You can think it’s all been written, but it hasn’t.”
Despite coming out of the same venues that once packed bands like Poison and Motley Crue, Guns N’ Roses were the first sign that times were about to change. Nirvana may have struck the killing blow for hair metal, but Guns N’ Roses marked the moment when the days of eight-inch heels and hairspray were officially numbered.
