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Not since the Sex Pistols, has a band generated more grist for gossip column mills than Guns N' Roses. The sexual exploits of the band's members and their persistent problems with drugs have led to relentless badgering from the music press. As with the Pistols, it is difficult to objectively comment on the merits of GN'R's music, because of the tower of hype obscuring it from view. Suffice it to say that the 1987 album Appetite for Destruction is a benchmark against which few albums in the genre of Heavy Metal (including subsequent GN'R records) can be measured and not deemed inferior. Axl Rose's vitriolic songwriting electrified a generation, and the enigmatic Slash will no doubt continue to be the subject of fawning guitar magazine profiles for decades to come. Though they've taken a beating over the course of their career, few would write off at least the possibility for Guns N' Roses to rise, phoenix-like, from the ashes and reassert their claim to the Heavy Metal throne.
- Chad Driscoll
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC.