Ultimate Album Collection #1: Guns n’ Roses “Appetite For Destruction” [VIDEO]

I thought I'd put together a series of blogs on albums that you HAVE TO HAVE in your collection.  This particular one wouldn't even make my personal top ten, but it is none the less absolutely essential. I have a very good reason for making this the debut album for this feature,  check it out after the jump.

The reason I chose "Appetite for Destruction" to kick off this feature is that it is a straight up rock record. It's not alternative, metal, grunge or whatever.  Slash once said that all he ever wanted Guns n' Roses to be was "a louder version of the Rolling Stones" and this album captures that perfectly.  In my opinion Guns n' Roses had a much to do with the death of hair metal as Nirvana.  It made rock dirty, fun and sleazy all over again.  The album featured monster hits "Welcome To The Jungle", "Paradise City", "Sweet Child Of Mine" and lesser known but still kick ass tracks like "It's So Easy" and "Night Train".

The beautiful thing about the album to me is everything sounds expressive and thought out and not just playing a million notes per minute for the heck of it.  It sounds like a brand new train with the wheels about to come off of it. It's like they busted their buns for years and years and then finally said, 'we don't care anymore, we just want to rock'.

I'm going to put a few videos form the album below, but I'd like your throughts on THIS album (we'll get around to some of your favorites later).  So, what did this album mean to you the first time you heard it?  Do you remember where you were and what you were doing?  Do you grow to love or grow to hate the band?  Or do you just want to put "Got it" under here to signify you're on your way to the "Ultimate Album Collection".