Slash on the creation of ‘Appetite for Destruction’: “A lot of craziness and partying”
Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash has enjoyed many notable moments with the band, providing an array of scintillating performances that confirm why he is such a revered performer.
From ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ to ‘Slither’, Slash’s riffs remain some of the most distinctive in the history of rock music and the pinnacle of achievement for budding guitarists worldwide. Although Slash has continued to show his brilliance beyond Guns N’ Roses, for most fans, it is with the band that his work is the most meaningful. Fusing the influence of classic rock, punk, and 1980s metal when the group peaked, this formula proved effective and produced a meteoric rise.
While the band would enjoy the height of their success for several years after they burst onto the scene, their 1987 debut album Appetite for Destruction universally takes the crown as their finest effort. Brimming with classic hits, the record remains the most distilled version of Slash and the group’s work.
Fuelled by sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll and a band that was mostly unaffected by the machinations of the music industry, Slash also looks back on the group’s debut album fondly. He might have been homeless during the recording of the project, but it was an exciting time when Guns N’ Roses were on the edge of reaching their ultimate goal: success. Doing everything the way they wanted to create such an iconic body of work, according to him, it was “totally cool” living during that period.
He told Guitar One in 2002: “It was the first extended studio effort that we’d done collectively, so that in itself was a gas. At the same time, there was so much else going on—I was staying out till four in the morning, getting to the studio at least by noon. And I wasn’t living anywhere, so I was a complete vagabond during the making of Appetite.”
Slash continued: “There was a lot of craziness and partying going on—all of the stuff that comes with being a rock ‘n’ roll band that has no idea where it’s going. We did everything we wanted to do and got away with whatever it was we could get away with. So looking back on it now, it’s like, yeah, that was totally cool; I wouldn’t have missed a minute of it.”
Listen to Appetite for Destruction below.
