Chock full of unsavory subject matter and explicit lyrics, etc., etc, etc…so don’t say we didn’t warn you
This
1993 album is
Guns N’ Roses’ most interesting record, if not their best. It was poorly received (
hair bands were out of style after the ascendancy of
grunge) and the band was disintegrating – this was GNR’s last album.
The title is an
in-joke that the band might never have revealed. (
graceness tells me that during an interview,
Slash let slip that the title was an allusion to a lawsuit against them, but didn't elaborate. ) The album is a
cover album of (almost) all old
punk songs, not exactly a move of shrewd
marketing genius for a band that was once the most popular
hard rock band in the world, and alienating to fans of the more
ballad-like
radio-friendly tunes of
Use Your Illusion.
When it first came out, I loved it. Even if
Axl Rose didn’t completely capture the spirit and the rage of the originals, I could still feel the power and the energy of those songs. It was for many people their first real exposure to
punk. Heady stuff for an
undergraduate gradually exploring music that never comes near the radio.
In another brilliant
public relations move, one of the tracks was a song penned by
Charles Manson. In the sixties, Manson was a
songwriter in search of a
record deal. The
Beach Boys even used a Manson song, but that was in his pre-
psycho days, of course. The song, "Look At Your Game, Girl" is a
hidden track at the end of the album, unlisted and uncredited in the album notes. When the
family values set got wind of this,
Guns N’ Roses once again became a target of
ritual condemnation from the
conservative media.
1.
Since I Don't Have You (The
Skyliners) - 4:18
2.
New Rose (
The Damned) - 2:38
3.
Down on the Farm (The
UK Subs) - 3:23
4.
Human Being (The
New York Dolls) - 4:32
5.
Raw Power (The
Stooges) - 3:10
6.
Ain't It Fun (The
Dead Boys) - 4:59
7.
Buick MacKane (
T. Rex) - 2:37
8.
Hair of the Dog (
Nazareth) - 3:57
9.
Attitude (
The Misfits) - 1:29
10.
Black Leather (
Steve Jones and the
Sex Pistols) - 3:45
11.
You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Memory (
Johnny Thunders) - 3:34
12.
I Don't Care About You (
Fear) - 2:03
13.
Look At Your Game, Girl – hidden track