It was 20 years ago today

Bon Jovi were the first band that I was "in to". I was 9 years old. Slippery When Wet rocked my world. It still does.

But then I discovered Guns.

I remember watching RAGE on a Saturday morning in early 1988 and hearing THAT guitar intro. I was hooked - I couldnt get enough of that song. This band excited me - the sound, the look, a cool bass player (I hated bass players back then for some reason - Alec John Such had this poofo moustache and I just didnt like him). Welcome To The Jungle was the next single to be released (it was originally the first single, but was re-released here after SCOM).


Back then I didnt have a lot of cash - pocket money was just a couple of bucks a week. As records were about $20, CD's about $25 and tapes about $15, all I could buy was the odd 7" record single or a cassingle - which were about $3-$5. So I relied on a network of friends and we made tapes for each other. I had a tape that id dub for them, they'd make one for me. A friend put Appetite on a BASF and gave it to me at school. I rushed home and played it on my little Sanyo tape player (one speaker model). I can still hear those little beaps on the tape!

The first track that hit me was Its So Easy - that bass intro just blew me away. And then a few seconds alter theres this wall of sound followed by:

I see your sister in her Sunday dress
She's out to please
She pouts her best
She's out to take
No need to try
She's ready to make

And I was hooked. These guys were bad ass motherfuckers and I loved it. They were cool, chicks loved 'em. I loved em. It was a great time in my musical journey.

But I was young and naive - i lived a sheltered life in beautiful Wollongong. I had no idea what GNR were singing about.

I remember hearing Nightrain and thinking that was a song about how the band got home from the studio:

Loaded like a freight train
Flyin' like an aeroplane
Feelin' like a space brain
One more time tonight

And Mr Brownstone must have been about some guy they rented an apartment off who wanted some rent money:

We been dancin' with Mr. Brownstone
He's been knockin'
He won't leave me alone
No, no ,no, he won't leave me alone




Paradise City was later released as a single. Great song, awesome intro. The groove is brilliant. But it was the video that had the greatest impact on me. It was this video that made me want to see bands live on a stage. Seeing the crowd at Giants Stadium in New Jersey rocking out was just so damn cool to see. And ive been chasing that first feeling ever since.

I didnt get to see Guns in that original lineup. They toured here in 1988 (I was 11) and again in 1993 (I was just under 16) and my parents weren't understanding of my NEED to party on with 80,000 drunk adults at a Racetrack 3 hours drive from home.

I did see Velvet Revolver twice here in Sydney in February 2005. I was lucky enought to meet Slash, Duff and Matt before the show. That was very cool.

And this June I saw the current version of Guns N Roses. Ill eventually post my thoughts on that show. I will say that it was a brilliant gig and I had a blast.