GENE SIMMONS Says GUNS N' ROSES' 'Appetite For Destruction' 'Had An Honesty That Rock And Roll Had Been Missing'

March 7, 2015

KISS bassist/vocalist Gene Simmons recently selected GUNS N' ROSES' debut album, 1987's "Appetite For Destruction", as one of his thirteen favorite LPs of all time. Speaking to The Quietus about the effort, Gene said: "The thing about that record is that it had an honesty that rock and roll had been missing. The '80s were a terrible time when guitars didn't sound like guitars and there were drum machines, but then all of a sudden here comes this group, GUNS N' ROSES, who plug in their guitars and just didn't mess around with any fancy stuff. And the songs were undeniable!"

He continued: "'Welcome To The Jungle' is an undeniable song in the same way that [THE ROLLINGS STONES'] 'Satisfaction' has that great riff with the lyrics on top of it. Great lyrics, great imagery, and as soon as you heard that high-pitched voice that harkened back to a Robert Plant-ish approach to singing, which hadn't been heard in quite a while… Well, it still works today. That's got to be coming up to 30 years old, but you put that on today if it was a brand new band, I would say, 'Who's that?' That intro is almost symphonic, and it just defined the band. You hear that song, and then the rest of the album follows through. 'Welcome To The Jungle' is head, hands and feet above the other material."

Gene added: "Bands have a few songs that just stand up, you know? You think THIN LIZZY, you think 'The Boys Are Back In Town'. You think THE STONES, you think 'Satisfaction'. You think LED ZEPPELIN, you think 'Stairway To Heaven'. There are just certain songs that, either because of the melody or lyric or the sound of the song, intrinsically say, 'This is what that is.' The only band who doesn't have that thing, just because they have so many god damn good songs, is THE BEATLES."

You can see Gene's entire list of his favorite albums and read his comments on each one at this location.

Find more on Guns n' roses

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).