The Turnaround Twelve
A music magazine
from England called Kerrang used to write reviews about all different hard rock
and metal bands.Some famous bands.Some not so famous bands.Maybe they still do....
But in late 1986,Kerrang wrote a review for an EP called
Live!?! Like A Suicide by a band called Guns N' Roses. A small black and white
pic of the band next to the review. That was the first I had ever known of Guns
N' Roses. A 4 out of 5 'K' review. My interest in this band solidified. I
somehow manage to get a cassette copy of this now rare EP. It's has the same 4
songs on each side of the tape. It's a raw,guitar driven,upbeat tempo band.
With a singer who sounds like nobody else. And they looked like they sounded.
Real.
When the Guns N'Roses album Appetite For Destruction was
released in the summer of 1987,I bought the cassette on the first week it was
out. 2 weeks after that,I got my drivers license. AFD was the soundtrack in my
car at all times. But at that time,GNR wasn't famous.Nobody knew who they were.
Yet...
By February 1988, GNR was starting to build a major music industry
buzz. A show was booked at the Ritz in NYC with Great White. I bought tickets
not knowing that MTV was filming the gig.
It was a cold,rainy night for the Ritz gig. The smell inside
the Ritz was an amalgam of cigarette smoke,stale beer,hairspray,perfume,and wet
leather. Great White played first. Not bad. GNR came on and... Well,you'll just
have to see it on Youtube. The mayhem in the crowd that night wasn't quite
captured by the MTV cameras. That show rocked balls. I still have the t shirt I
bought that night.
I was lucky enough to see the original GNR two more times.
Once headlining over Zodiac Mindwarp at the Felt Forum. Then as an opening band
to Aerosmith and Deep Purple at Giants Stadium. The color portion of the
Paradise City video is from the Giants Stadium show. I was on the floor/field
for that gig. If you were really there on the floor,you would know a special
fact: There was a nude dude crowd surfer. Nasty shit.
By the time of the Giants Stadium show,GNR was becoming the
biggest band in the world. Their music was being played everywhere.Musicians in other bands started copying the GNR sound
and style. Guys liked the music.Girls liked the music. GNR changed the musical
and cultural rock scene in a major way. Not since the 1960's had a rock act
been so influential on so many levels. Hence,the title of this blog: The
Turnaround Twelve. That's a reference to the 12 tracks on Appetite For Destruction-the
best rock album ever created.
Word has it that the original GNR are reforming for 2016
tour. I hope the band plays for the right reasons-the music and the fans. The $
and chicks and dope will be there for them.But it's the tunes and attitude that
will the real attraction for everybody. The GNR magic wasn't quite there during
the Use Your Illusion and every tour forward from that. GNR will always be Axl
Rose,Slash,Izzy Stradlin,Duff Mckagan,and Steven Adler. The greatest rock band
the USA ever produced.
Long live Rock N' Roll!
KK
@kapn_krude
Tags:
krude experience