Appetite for Destruction is the 1987 debut album from Los Angeles-based hard rock band Guns N' Roses, which combined elements of heavy metal, hard rock, and blues-rock. The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200, and is certified 15x platinum by the RIAA. Worldwide sales are more than 30 million. This album is ranked the fourth best-selling debut album in the United States
While the songwriting credits are indiscriminately credited to all five band members, many of the songs began as solo tracks that individual band members wrote in the pre-Guns N' Roses era, only to be completed by the band. These songs include "It's So Easy" and "Nightrain" (McKagan), "Mr. Brownstone", "Anything Goes", and "Think About You" (Stradlin). "Paradise City" and "Rocket Queen" were unfinished Rose/McKagan and Rose/Stradlin demos respectively that the band wrote in their early career.
Other songs on the album reflect the band's reaction to the debauchery of the L.A. rock and roll underground, such as "Welcome to the Jungle" (ironically, Rose wrote the lyrics while in Seattle) and "Out ta Get Me", as well as their assorted female companions, reflected in the songs "Sweet Child o' Mine","Think About You", "My Michelle", "You're Crazy" and "Rocket Queen".
Axl Rose – lead vocals/synthesizer
Slash – lead guitar, acoustic guitar
Izzy Stradlin – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
Duff McKagan – bass, backing vocals
Steven Adler – drums, percussion
Mike Clink – producer
Michael Barbiero – mixing
Steve Thompson – mixing
George Marino – mastering
Victor Deyglio – assistant engineer
Dave Reitzas – assistant engineer
Micajah Ryan – assistant engineer
Julian Stoll – assistant engineer
Andy Udoff – assistant engineer
Jeff Poe – assistant engineer
Released July 21, 1987
Recorded Rumbo Studios, Canoga Park, California; Take One Studio, Burbank, California; Can Am Studio, Tarzana, California
Genre Hard rock
Length 53:43
Label Geffen
Producer Mike Clink