Guns N Roses Influence on Rock n Roll and I

This semester, we covered many rock artists that were crucially influential to the genre. I definitely struggled keeping focus during the early parts of the class. Reading about all these super old artists of rock n roll just didn’t hold my attention as much as it did when we reached the 70’s. The 70’s is when I was able to really get engaged because I recognized all of these artists because my dad played 70’s music almost everywhere we went. However, I still wasn’t as engaged because sure, I recognized the artists but they weren’t artists that I usually would listen to regularly. The 80’s kicked it up a notch because Guns n Roses were one of the heavily featured artists of the 80’s portion of the reading. Their “Bad Boy” attitude, their wild hair, and their costumes just SCREAMED 80’s.

Guns n Roses is special to me because they were one of, if not my number one guitar inspirations. Green Day is just as influential to me but Guns N Roses literally planted the seed into my guitar taste to this day. The first ever guitar riff I learned by Guns N Roses is from probably their most known song; “Sweet Child O’ Mine” which I STILL play to this day. Even though “Sweet Child O’ Mine” is their most influential song, and my first Guns N Roses song ever learned, it’s still not my favorite to play. Don’t get me wrong, it’s catchy and addictive to play, but the first and main guitar solo from “November Rain” is downright genius. It’s emotional, like a yearning for a connection that was once strong. It’s build up still sends chills down my spine, and when Slash finally belts out that series of bends and eventually into a climbing scale up the neck, just to sail back down like a wave. Even when you think it’s over, Axl does a break where he repeats “Don’t you know you need some time all alone” and then back to the solo we go. Even more emotional than the first half, Slash plays in a higher register that feels like his guitar is constantly reaching, just like Axl’s lyrics. We finally resolve with a string section, and we reach what I like to call the third act of the song, where the music ramps up, Slash belts out this incredible solo that’s more akin to Guns N Roses rock style. Slash repeats the start of his solo while changing it up with every verse to give it diversity. I truly feel like that third act is almost like a final effort to try and rise up and go for that connection again.

Guns N Roses was born in the era of what is known as “Glam Rock”. Glam Rock is essentially big hair, high vocals, and a bad attitude. Guns N Roses absolutely killed it during that era, becoming a staple, if not THE Glam Rock band. 80’s rock had such a unique sound. It was punchy, catchy, and many times, sexual. But that’s was made it stand out from other eras of music. The 80’s was a time for being iconic, and standing out in a way that made you appear like that was what made you set apart from the rest. Even though there was a lot of bad blood behind the scenes of the band, with Axl being very controlling and arrogant during the bands peak, and Slash having conflicting ideals for what we wants to do with the band which caused him to leave and join a band called Velvet Revolver, their influence on the Era was unlike any that i’ve seen. Maybe I’m biased but they were THE definitive 80’s band.