‘Appetite For Destruction’ Turns 30: Guns N’ Roses Debut Almost Had Exploding Challenger Shuttle On Cover
Appetite for Destruction is turning the big 3-0. The breakthrough Guns N’ Roses album that changed the landscape of the late ’80s glam rock glut was released on July 21, 1987, according to Ultimate Classic Rock. G N’R’s debut single, “Welcome to the Jungle,” took MTV by storm, and the rest is history. The album, which featured heavy rotation favorites like “Sweet Child O’ Mine” and “Paradise City,” went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time.
The album catapulted Guns N’ Roses bandmates Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler into real-life rock star life, winning them the 1988 MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in a Video. G N’R beat out unlikely competition Swing Out Sister, Buster Poindexter, and Jody Watley for the newcomer award.
While Appetite for Destruction is a near-perfect rock album, it could have gone another way. Controversy hovered over the album early on when lead singer Axl Rose wanted to use a photo of the doomed Challenger space shuttle — the one that exploded during takeoff the year before, killing school teacher Christa McAuliffe and six other crew members — as the cover artwork for Appetite. Rose told VH1’s That Metal Show that he saw the photo on the cover of Time and thought it was a striking image. Geffen Records advised the band it would be in poor taste to use the exploding space shuttle on the cover, and the design idea was dropped, according to Rolling Stone.
Guns N’ Roses went with another controversial idea with a gruesome original cover image that depicted a woman being sexually assaulted by a robot, but amid retailer backlash, they quickly switched to a cross-and-skulls design by Billy White Jr.
'They were raw. They had the songs': 30 years ago Guns N' Roses had an 'Appetite' for Alabama https://t.co/9BHsUyINPh pic.twitter.com/Uk6Wm5pSRO
— AL.com (@aldotcom) July 20, 2017
Appetite for Destruction went on to massive success with more than 30 million copies sold, and the music clearly reached a diverse audience. While several big name artists have gone on to cover songs from the classic album, without Appetite, you would never have Pat Boone’s rendition of “Paradise City.” The clean-cut crooner included the song on his 1997 covers album, In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy.
Here’s the original “Paradise City” below.
Guns N’ Roses will celebrate the 30th anniversary of their Appetite for Destruction debut with an invitation-only show at the Apollo Theater. The show will air exclusively on SiriusXM’s Howard 101.
[Featured Image by Kevork Djansezian/AP Images]
