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Highest selling debut rock album to this day in the U.S. if it’s a joke, then it’s the best one I’ve heard in 36 years.

Definitely not a joke . One of the best debut albums of all time in my opinion

It's almost criminal reacting to the radio edit and not the album version!

I'm pretty sure in the Slash book he said the riff was just a practice riff then the band started playing the chords behind him. Axl is in the other room listening and quickly wrote most of the lyrics.

Two things. Thing the first, I feel like this was going to go into full roast mode until Sean weighed in on the merits and then suddenly it was a low-key back-peddle appreciation. I've never heard of this song being a joke, so it was an interesting dynamic to watch. Thing Two: I'm biased as this is in my karaoke rep and it kills every time.

I know GnR isn’t everyone’s cup of tea; they certainly aren’t mine. But I had no idea thought of them or their music as a joke.

I think a lot of pros just forget that their training is oriented towards a goal of making good music. If there is good music that breaks their rules, that doesn’t mean it’s a joke it means their music theory like all theories is incomplete.

as a bassist I might be biased, but Duff made this song for me

I am so confused. 😂 I thought this was just one of the best rock songs of all time, full stop. When was this ever a joke? I mean, having grown up with classic rock, punk, post punk/New Wave, synth pop & hair metal, this was the *new sound* that everybody paid attention to, even if it wasn't your jam. There might have been a variety of reactions, but nobody took them as a joke. And this was at a time when being a joke got you half way to a #1 record. 😂

I feel like Jack and Ryan were trying to shit on this song a little bit too much. Yeah, the song ain't a music theory master class but give it the respect it deserves.

This is an excellent example of the difference between musical artists and just musicians. One creates, while the other just studies and tries to replicate.

I just want to make a question, very humble, very simple: as soon as the guns and roses video starts, does anyone not think "damn, these guys are cool"?!

Rock n roll doesnt have to be technically right in terms of notes. It just has to feel right.

😂 We are so technical and great at song writing let's laugh at everything. How many records have you guys sold?

I would take an hour of GNR over one minute of Billie Eilish any day. All day.

I would like a full breakdown of Pink Floyd's "Echoes", please.

Jesus, professional musicians who cannot listen a 7 or 10 minutes long song? WTF?

That solo, while not the most "impressive" is one of my most favourite ever - it's got melody you can sing, great phrasing, enough chops to keep us guitarists interested, the tone is great, wah makes it magic - to this day it impresses me every time I get to hear it. I don't care if Slash is "good" or "average", over or underrated. He wrote this iconic bit I keep enjoying.

The first half is the nice set up. The second half "where do we go now" is what makes this song legendary.

I think this episode should be called "Professional Musicians Are Jealous". It's a great song. The sales, airplay and amount of people who have covered it speaks volumes. You can sit on your high horses because you went to music school, but ultimately, you're annoyed because they're making millions and selling out stadiums and you're not.

Lyrics...A+ Solo...A++ Rhythm A+ Soul touching A+++ Make you want to be in a bandA++ RAW. AND NOT OVER PRODUCED....GREATEST ALBUM EVER MADE!!! Axles voice and sound are Everything you want in a rock voice. The greatest thing about music is not perfection...it's the imperfections that touch the soul and make it so much more real. I hate overproduction. Give me a more human...more real experience. My favorite album by most bands is thier first low budget album

I would have liked to see some talk about their other songs. The full appreciation for GNR is they could do a little bit of everything really well. Seems they are being judged for being immature, but then also have songs that are much deeper lyrically and musically. Cool watch though! Glad Duff got some appreciation in there. SCOM is well crafted by everyone in the band. Might be simple but maybe the overthinking is what has cost us from seeing another GNR today.

Slash is one of my favorite guitarists for this reason: he plays the “right” notes. There was so much virtuosic guitar diddling with no sense of phrasing or even any clear destinations. Slash is a virtuoso, but one that knew what the music needed. As I went through music school, I realized the greatness of this thing that I felt as an 11-12 year old. Amusingly enough, I ended up a bassist (double bass mostly) and never really noticed how amazing Duff was until I listened back later in life…

I think slash has one of the best bends and vibratos in rock guitar ever. Combined with a lot of blues and some nice minor scale runs up and down (harmonic too) just makes his playing sound sweet melodic and tasteful imo

I feel like this was half an hour of musicians lowkey roasting guns and roses

You say it sounds sloppy, I say it sounds like people.

Sometimes you can't over-analyze what is just simply great

I have never been aware of this song being a joke? This song was pivotal to many young fans of rock back in the day. I am generally a fan of this channel, but this episode feels a bit different than prior ones. They have typically done such a good job of examining songs in the context of the era and state of the industry. This episode is ignoring all of that.

I started taking guitar lessons this summer (at 57-years-old, yeah.) Like the third lesson my teacher gave me was that guitar lick because it is essentially a practice exercise Slash used to do. He just took it and turned it into the song. It's good practice because you're skipping strings, keeping tempo, playing legato, and I'm playing it way down at the bottom of the neck, so there's a lot o' movement. I'm still trying to get it right.

You have to remember the musical landscape of the time. It was all synth pop and new wave, and then the blistering opening riff of Welcome to the Jungle hits, and it signified that mainstream rock was back.

Bit confused by this one. There were remarks about it being like it was written by high schoolers but didn’t really elaborate on what that actually means. Was it structure? Was it naivety in the parts? I’d love to know.

It's insane how GnR pulled that off. They were raw, agressive and true. Yet they went with that one, even Slash didn't really like it, he thought it didn't represent Guns. Typical cheesy up tempo ballad. Well even that risky, naive thing: it ends up being iconic and cool. Also, it flows with the great GREAT Appetite album. Good for them if they had a single for the masses, I don't care for Sweet Child by itself, it's just another cool part of Appetite, a freaking masterpiece of 5 futur rock stars living and breathing music 110%.

So satisfying. That album is just so so good.

I've been listening to this song since I was a baby... It's in my bones. And there's a reason my profile picture is Slash lmao. There's something about his solos that is just emotionally right. The vocal quality is there. Love that you did this one, and Sean was an awesome guest.

You can hear Jack’s pure disdain for Guns n Roses here. I think he can’t believe that people genuinely like the song.

ha. Slash was 20 to 22 when he wrote some of the most iconic hard rock riffs and solos. Slash never played with -checks notes- john legend and alicia keys tho🤭

Appetite for destruction has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide and it’s also the highest selling debut album in history, Guns N Roses have also sold more than 100 million albums and are one of the most influential and successful rock bands in history! Even today they are still selling out stadiums around the globe so it’s very clear they’re far from a joke! Furthermore Slash was just 19 when he wrote a lot of those songs on Appetite, what had any of you accomplished at that age? Now let’s see what you guys can write, go ahead and see if any of you can write just one hit song! Put up or shut up!

Another interesting factoid is that every vocal line on this album was its own take. Axl wanted the vocals to be at full power all the time. This meant that even back then they could seldom perform songs from Appetite as well live as the songs don't have enough time between lines for the breathing required.

I honestly don't get what the joke is here or why they spend so much time laughing at the song. I love a wide range of rock, metal, punk from 60s to today and IMO this track is one of the all time classics. This is up there with the best rock songs of all time. So, what am I missing here?

Probably best concert I've ever been to! They had to cut it just when they started "Welcome to the Jungle" because of a thunderstorm, we did not know if they'd continue, everyone was brought to shelter except for us handicapped people, we've basically been left out in the rain. Then they came back. Just rocking out, everyone having fun. Soaking wet. It took us forever to get back home, I think it was 6am the next morning. Loved it! ❤️ And I cherish my totally overpriced logo tote bag with all my heart. 😊

This is such a confusing take. I've never considered GnR to be the "butt of jokes". Great band in their peak with fantastic musicianship and iconic songs. 'Sweet Child O Mine' isn't front loaded at all. Sure, they were considered by many hard rock fans (especially in the context of their Metallica rivalry in the 90's) to be a pop band, and both 'Spaghetti Incident' and 'Chinese Democracy' are best forgotten, but I'm left a little taken aback by the mockery in this video. Oh well, opinions eh!

Dude! When Sean talks about that wah! When this record came out I sat for hours trying to figure out how to get that sound on the solo. I had NO idea what a wah pedal was at the time. I was about to ask for a Les Paul (which isn't even a Les Paul in this case) for Christmas because I thought it was something to do with THAT kind of guitar. LMAO! Too funny that other people were having the same experience.

I love the background knowledge you usually have on the songs you review. Apart from Sean, that was lacking here. 30 minutes watching some interview footage with the band would've given this better direction.

I saw them open for The Cult, who were touring their album Electric at the time. No one had heard of them in Canada. Their first album hadn’t been released yet. But they were incredible live & I wasn’t surprised the album became such a huge hit.

Finally rock, nice. Do something about RHCP please. Or Radioead. Thanks

The F is from the blues scale. It’s the minor third, or the from the perspective of the minor blues, it’s a the 5th, or the ♭5 of the minor pentatonic. If you listen to slash’s solo, you’ll also hear a minor 6th added, which would be the raised 7th from the relative harmonic minor. It’s not out of key though.

great job highlighting some of the hooks and texture layers, but you whiffed on structure. Solo kicks off a key change. Song starts in D. Pivots to G using the minor version (Em). Em - C - B - Am. Slash exploits this gear change to max effect by turning the C into a diminished and the B into an augmented. Both chords possess an ability to pick your ear like a nose.

A joke? No they were bloody awesome mate!

I mean, youre three "modern" males taking shots at a band that had more grit and balls than the three of you could ever even conceive of put together.

"It sounds like a song written by a middle-schooler" Yeah, let's hear what songs you've written that 100s of millions of people have loved.... No takers? They are professional musicians. Jack is merely a sad hipster with an crappy band (the epitome of derivative hipster BS, a Portlandia-level joke with Portlandia-level audience) and a side-gig as a middleman to actual creative persons... As artistic as my accountant... Mocking Axl's delivery of "blue skies", when his "singer" wife is unsufferable (And I'm not into GnR, I'd rather listen to Tom Waits, Willy DeVille, and the like, I just don't appreciate the BS contempt from a much worse musician)

Absolute genius. On Sweet Child, just the intro before Axl starts singing, while Slash is doing his thing listen to the bass runs and counter-runs. Listen to the accents on the cymbals and drums. They could have easily done the mid-80s 'play 8 notes on the key and repeat' bass playing and the drummer just keeping a beat a la Poison or Warrant but thankfully they didn't.

Oh dear. I discovered you guys today and this is the fourth video of yours I've watched. I have already posted you are a perfect find following on from Rick Beato. But then this. Why? So mean spirited. Why? This is an iconic song and Appetite for Destruction is an iconic album. I am older than you guys - the Kinks was the first album I bought, Led Zeppelin one of the first concerts I went to, followed music changes over the years and love all kinds of music. Played rhythm guitar in a covers band. For all your training, do you actually get the range and variety of rock music? So mean spirited. :(

DUDE, what Sean talks about (and how he talks about it) is what every GNR fan always pays attention to when listening to any track by them. They had a totally unique sound and so "signature", as they were in my opinion the best combination of influences of music for how this type of rock should sound. They put me in the very center of the passion for music and made me pick up a guitar with purpouse. Considering where I'm from (Ecuador), and my age: thank God I found them.

I love GnR. Just wanted to make a note of a couple things. One, about his vocal style/sound: while GnR exploded out of LA, Axl was actually a country boy who hitchhiked there. "That's a true story, it ain't no lie", as he would say. I've watched countless professional reaction videos and nobody ever seems to know or mention this. Two, the significance behind the love interest "child". Three contributions to this are, one, his "country" background; child being a common means to address a person of young age and/or maturity level, two, society in general during the era he began seriously writing, and lastly impaired mental stability from his own childhood abuse. In other words, he was delayed in maturity at the time he wrote the song. Axl essentially was a "middle/high schooler" writing a poem about a young love interest. Poetically speaking, it makes sense that a person of western/country origin would use the term child and that it would be repetitious coming from a young individual, but, I think the ultimate question was; how do you make the song flow using anything synonymous and it deliver as successfully as it did? "Little girl/sister..youngster..baby..love"? When the lyrics are taken as a whole, there are so many things much weirder or confusing about what the alternative may have been and sounded like. "Love" is probably the most suitable alternative, but, there was *everything* wrong with using such an expression back then. There's a good reason Saul (Slash) trolled the guys in practice with those licks before it inevitably turned contagious. Although SCoM is a masterpiece, in theory - the song shouldn't have ever happened. It went against the image GnR needed to uphold (so at least 1 member thought) to keep traction and momentum in the scene. For that reason, they could hint at it, talk about the inner workings of it, even do a little Mr Brownstone off its back end if they wanted..but not directly drop the L word. I mean, think about it: how does one really pitch the word "love" between a song about drugs, a song about prostitutses, and then a song about prostitutes on drugs, without saying outright, "I love drugs and prostitutes"? Ya know, that's a bizarre way to tell someone you care about them.. lol

Professional musicians who have played with bands nowhere near as big as the band they are shitting on

Totally agree with Sean's point about the "where do we go" part being the good part, it's the climax of the song 😁

Cmon gnr is great I can’t stand the hate towards them in the music community. Slash is such a great player

I was in junior high the summer this album came out and I agree with Sean. We were tired of copies of copies of Motley Crue and glam rock in general had hit a wall. Most of us listen(ed) to metal as well but GNR was what we didn't know we were waiting for on the more mainstream end...Metallica after 4 or 5 albums was not on Mtv yet. Grunge and more specifically Nirvana was then the next paradigm shift after the musical limbo of the early 90s. EDIT: As a musical layman I do appreciate when you post the definitions on the screen. TY

Funny how calling a love interest in a pop song 'Child' can be seen as weird, but 'Baby' is fine.

It's also helpful to remember the time period Guns n Roses made this. They weren't making music for techie nerds worth billions of dollars from silvery spoon backgrounds, they were making this for 1980s kids.

Been a Pomplamoose and Scary Pockets fan for years and I just discovered this channel. I'm surprised that Jack is the CEO of Patreon.. 🤯 Been learning a lot from this channel..keep it up..

Page referred to Zeppelin as "loose but tight." As an aficianado of that era, this was a tremendous breath of fresh air after crap like punk, new wave and glam metal. Excellent hard rock, modern and updated. Steven, Izzy and Duff were nothing legendary but they were solid and good. I have to admit that I do not know why I like Axl's voice but I do - I guess because the energy/passion is not faked, it's really there. Slash brought a welcome return of the Les Paul/Crybaby/Marshall roar. But the biggest thing is that his solos are musical with great phrasing, unlike the shredders of that time and since then. PLAYING AN EXOTIC SCALE OVER A WEIRD CHORD PROGRESSION IN A BIZARRE TIME SIGNATURE AT A ZILLION BPM DOES NOT MAKE SOMEBODY A MUSICIAN OR A SONGWRITER!

How a song makes you feel is the most important thing for me - that's the 'magic'. The maths can be interesting, but it's just maths.

14:50, when you're talking about everyone singing that song.... Guitar Hero. That's how it got back into the mainstream.

The opinions in this video really fascinate me. Glad to see so many people in the comments are pushing back. To me, the structure is not front-loaded, back-loaded, etc. It's brilliant and perfect. Indelible, singable mixolydian up front, with a solid A/B/A/B, then a fabulous shift in tone for one of the absolute greatest solos ever recorded (in my top 10 for sure) and a raucous back half that follows the solo so naturally--the balance is perfect. It's a perfect song. Genius, genius, genius.

I'm not a G&R guy but the song is quite iconic. As far as naming a song with a hook in every section, ( you guys already mentioned it) I'd have to say that "Carry on Wayward Son" fits the bill - the resulting comparison seems almost ridiculous. Kansas was a monster where musicianship, performance and lyrical content merged...their songs never seem "played." I find that I have heard "Sweet Child.." too many times. I still like Slash, though.

When you're over exposed to music which has been over commercialised you're going to get fatigued and annoyed especially when you try to get friends to listen to something which they haven't heard before that's great music they close their ears and just want to listen to the same things we've all been listening to for decades

Sean gets it, but not impressed with Jack and Ryan’s dismissive attitude and lack of respect for the genre……not very pro.

Loving this channel, every week's video is great!!

A vulfpeck breakdown with someone from Vulfpeck like Theo would be incredibleeeeeee

"Shifting away from these giant anthemic choruses"....then shows 2 songs with gaint anthemic choruses? Lol I love the series (and everything you guys do), but I feel like that point could have been made a bit better. I think it's true as well: it wasn't a jump straight from hairband to grunge. There's a huge influence of punk rock happening as well and GnR was the beginning of the "punkifying" of the LA club scene. They kept the raucous choruses and giant guitar solos, but were sloppier in terms of songwriting and execution, as well as in appearance and aesthetic (all on purpose)

I’m so glad Sean mentioned The Night Game. Been listening to them for a few years now and I had no idea he played bass on this last record. There are some truly AMAZING bass lines on that record!

The riff was just Slash playing scales and Rose was like YES SIR WHOAAA. "Where do we go now" was Rose in the booth asking what to do for the bridge lyrics and just went with it.

WTH John Mayer's bassist and the Pomplamoose dude, who ALSO happens to be CEO of friggin PATREON? And they're talking about AFD?!?! Why have I been living under a rock?!

During those times here in Brazil rock was not a big thing among adults (even tho there were some big national rock bands, but it was not like a hard rock thing with guitar solos and etc), so my parents grew listening only to MPB (música popular brasileira = popular brazilian music) or sertanejo (which is our version of country music, but singing about the brazilian country man life and, of course, songs about love). Sweet Child o Mine was so big and relevant that adults and old people can sing along, even if people couldn't say who they really are! The first look saying "oh, he can actually play something" my father gave to me was when I came up playing this intro. This is really huge!

One of the reasons I love this channel is because I thought you guys were celebrating music here. Don't get me wrong, critiques are fine and yours aren't entirely unfair, but every other video from you guys felt like it had joy in it. I legitimately don't care for GnR either, but the whole first part was uncharacteristically mean spirited. Thumbs down on this.

They filled a void. There was pop and there was hair metal. With them you had the attitude, generally better songs than Hair metal songs. It combined 70s rock attitude and sound with the more modern feel. Image played a big part but they also had the songs and musician ship. Slash was different from the Malmsteens, Gilberts, etcetera but still had the chops for guitar lovers to love it.

And here you have the difference between intuitive virtuoso and analytical "experts". Stay present and stay beginner mindset

Dos melhores canais do RU-vid, por favor continuem que eu já sou completamente viciado

I’m not a huge Guns n Roses fan but this song has my favorite guitar solo of all time.

Noticing a trend with your reactions: only the first part of any song gets reviewed. This is particularly unfortunate in a song like this which morphs half-way through into the "where do we go now?" section and then again into the the huge solo and rave-up, ending with that truly bad ass final guitar note from Izzy. Too bad none of that got any attention from you.

I never cared for GR's, but now that means nothing because music is very subjective. GR's were obviously good at what they did, just like Brittany Spears was/is successful, I cannot name, even one of her songs but still there are many who could probably name them all. So, I never criticize musicians or others' taste in music, I just know what I like to listen to.

“Who haven’t you played with??” Hahaha.. these guys are A joke

GnR wouldn't lose a minute of sleep about what two musical snobs think of, arguably, one of the greatest rock songs of all time. Especially after the songs suggested at the start of the video 🤣

Not a joke Axl is a genius as well as the other guys

Don’t forget this song made it into a constantly watched scene in the movie “Step Brothers.” 😊

Listening to you guys trying to figure out why this song was the immense hit that it was only confirms to me why not one of you is (or was) a rock star. Like you're trying to explain what an apple tastes like to somebody who's never had one. Guns n Roses was THE last rock and roll band that had that global success. Good songs, and those guys lived that lifestyle. They certainly didn't give a shit about the nerdy things non-rock stars on RU-vid discuss.

To start a debut album with the intro to “Welcome to the Jungle” really laid down a mark! That “Sweet Child ‘O Mine” was considered the weakest song in the album at the time is just a reflection of what an amazing album it really was. And I’m listening to it right now. “Night train” baby!

There are 2 kinds of people in the world. Loosers and winners. Most loosers mock winners.

Ooh, been waiting for a long episode! 💛 If you can, please make it L O N G E R. Much love from Turkey.

Beware, envy is corrosive...😂😂😂

This video tells me all I need to know about why most music today sucks. The bashing that it doesn’t fit whatever formula shows the complete lack of imagination now in music.

This series is so great. So a note on the lyrics... I distinctly remember when I first heard grunge rock I felt it was a distinct shift in lyrics from petty placeholder hair band lyrics of the 80s to something more thought-out and (attempt to be) poetic. I didn't know what any of it meant, but it was definitely "deeper" than the hair band lyrics.

You're F'N kidding me right? GNR is one of the BEST rock bands EVER! They were dirty, gritty, absolutely F'N RAW, no BS, no over edited crap that exists in what people call music now... GNR ROCKS!!! ALWAYS HAS, ALWAYS WILL!!!

35 years, and Slash STILL has an awesome hat. EDIT - and yeah, this is the one song I'm willing to sing in Rockaoke - ie, Karaoke, but with a live cover band backing you up.

It would be awesome if you guys reacted to Jungle - "Keep Moving", "Casio", "Busy Earnin" Amazing band, amazing production

Thanks you dropping that clip in the beginning! Otherwise i might have wasted more time. trying to talk smack about one of the greatest rock bands (in their prime) ever. I know who the real jokers are.

I can’t take this guy seriously until he admits that Pamplemouse is a work.

Radiohead’s “Weird Fishes” pretty pleaseeee

I was a little young when this album came out. I remember watching MTV with my older cousin and not understanding why she loved Guns n Roses so much 😂. Now, I miss music like this. The music I hear on the radio now just feels empty.