In 1987, Madonna dominated the music charts with Open Your Heart and Who’s That Girl, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar scored his 36,000th NBA point and Fatal Attraction took box offices by storm on both sides of the Atlantic. Meanwhile, on July 21, the album that launched Guns n Roses on the road to becoming arguably California’s greatest ever band was released to minimal fanfare.
Appetite for Destruction received little attention at the time and sold few copies. Reviewers neither slated nor lauded it, but were largely ambivalent. It was not till the following year that sales started to gather momentum after the success of singles Welcome to the Jungle, Sweet Child of Mine and Paradise City.
A 35 year retrospective
The rest, of course, is history. Appetite for Destruction went on to sell more than 30 million copies, making it the best selling debut album of all time. 35 years on, writer Jason Porath and photographer Marc Canter have teamed up to present a photo exhibition commemorating the album’s release.
The one-off event will take place at the Bourbon Room in Hollywood on July 21, with tickets costing $20. It will also be covered on Canter and Porath’s podcast, The First 50 Gigs: Guns n Roses and the Making of Appetite for Destruction.
The project has been in development for years, and Porath paid tribute to Cantor’s “massive and one of a kind” archive that has made it possible for fans to see what those early days were like. He has described Cantor’s skill as “like catching lightning in a bottle.”
A band like no other
Massive and one of a kind would also be an accurate description of Guns n Roses themselves. The band has sold more than 100 million albums in total and was described by music legend Steve Erle as “what every L.A. band pretends to be.” In 2012, they were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Guns n Roses have received less conventional honors, too. The band is one of only a handful to have been immortalized with its own casino game. An instant hit among those who like to gamble online USA and indeed in the rest of the world, due to its high RTP of almost 97%, the game was released in 2006 and is now as much of a classic in its own field as Appetite for Destruction.
No signs of slowing
Axl and Slash have had their spats over the years, but it could be that Guns n Roses is bigger than both of them. Their Not in This Lifetime tour of 2017-19 was named after Rose’s response to a 2012 interview question on when the band would reunite. Now, they are once again on the road, currently touring Europe, with dates scheduled across the globe for the rest of the year.
Slash has also confirmed several times that a new album is on the way and should be released by the end of the year. The band is more active right now than it has been in years, and shows no sign of slowing.
