Rocktober First Tracks Song #9: "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N' Roses

With our second Hair Band Friday of this Rocktober, the choice was pretty simple.  It would be a sin if a Rocktober dedicated to first tracks off of debut albums didn't include the first track off of the best-selling debut album of all-time.

I'm not going to delve into what a phenomenal album Appetite for Destruction by Guns N' Roses is, but if you were to argue that this is the best album released in my lifetime, I don't know that I would dispute that.  Top to bottom, it's one of the best rock and roll records ever made.

"Welcome to the Jungle" has become ubiquitous over the years, but try to remember a time when it wasn't, when you were hearing it for the first time with a fresh, innocent pair of ears and blown away.  Written about the harsh realities of small-town kids (like Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin) coming to the big city (LA), it's like a dinner bell that summons you to the table for the 12 tracks that make up Appetite -- only the meal is cocaine, heroin, Night Train, and sex.  Gritty and brash, the song opens up with Slash's echoey, crunchy guitar riff, then Axl howls in the background as the song kicks into the main riff and you're taken to the streets of Hollywood in the mid '80s.  Needless to say, it's a classic, and it's pretty amazing how tight the song and whole album were for a band making their first record.