Guns N' Roses

One of the most important and influential records of the 1980s. The sleaze rock menace that was GNR's specialty had gone the way of the dinosaur until Appetite came out and the band flattened America like a steamroller. Years later, the album still rocks harder than anything else on the radio.

It's a mug's game to deny the technical facility claimed by one-upping crits and young victims of testosterone poisoning--not only does Axl cruise where other "hard rock" singers strive, but he has a knack for believability, which in this genre is the most technical matter of all. When he melds scream and croon on the big-beat ballad, you understand why some confused young thing in an uplift bra is sure it's love sweet love. But Axl is a sucker for dark romantic abstractions--he doesn't love Night Train, he loves alcoholism. And once that sweet child o' his proves her devotion by sucking his cock for the portacam, the evil slut is ready for "See me hit you you fall down." (Grade - B-)