Ever since I was a young kid, I've had a weird fascination with this album. I remember watching the video for Paradise City (mostly black and white footage edited together for optimal effect)
and thinking how much fun it looked to preform at a show that large. These guys were cool, no doubt about it. I liked Warrant back then as well, but realized quickly that they were posers compared to the awesomeness that was G-n-R.
Even the art work on the cover held some strange grip over me. My dad had been disappointed in me when he saw my purple Ozzy Osborne velcro wallet. He said Ozzy was devil worshiper music and Dungens-n-Dragons was devil worship as well. Some how this made the taboo of the cover art for Appetite for Destruction that much more hightened. MTV had done a story on how contraversial the art inside the sleeve had been. I never had the chance to buy my own copy but I remember when I finally had a chance to see the inside art. It was violent, sexual, and held me in a trance for a very long time.
Today, I found this cassette at work, lying on the floor discarded by a freelancer that used to work here. I leafed through the sleeve, and marveled at the absurity of the photographes and graphic art work. I went through some tough times growing up, but some how this silly album by a band written off many years ago, has washed away all those painful memories and left only the good feelings I get when looking at it. Memories are great that way, all the crap fades with time, leaving the best parts for us to charish.
