#ThrowbackThursday: “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses

By Sean Smith

This week marks a very important milestone for iconic rock group Guns N’ Roses. The legendary group released their debut album Appetite for Destruction exactly 30 years ago this Friday.

It was recently announced that in order to properly celebrate the occasion, Guns N’ Roses has teamed up with satellite radio juggernaut SiriusXM. The partnership has resulted in a special opportunity that will be given to some lucky SiriusXM subscribers. For the first time ever, Guns N’ Roses will be playing a show at the world famous Apollo Theater Thursday, July 20.. The show’s audience will be made up exclusively of SiriusXM customers who are lucky enough to be invited in. However, even if you are not one of those lucky invitees, you can still experience the special show. It will be carried live on Howard Stern’s SiriusXM Howard 101 channel. A Guns N’ Roses channel on SiriusXM was also launched on July 13 to help celebrate the Appetite for Destruction anniversary. The channel features the band’s classic hits as well as some rare and live tracks. It also plays some artists that have been an inspiration to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees over the years.

If you are not a SiriusXM subscriber, and will miss the show entirely, you can still get your live Guns N’ Roses fix. The band is set to embark on their North American leg of their 2017 tour next week. The tour kicks off in St. Louis on Thursday, July 27, and will conclude on November 25 in Los Angeles. A full list of dates and venues can be found on the band’s website.

Appetite for Destruction was released on July 21, 1987. The debut album debuted on the Billboard 200 album chart at number 182, and didn’t reach number one until August of 1988. The eventual success of the now legendary album was spurred on by the success of its promotional singles. There were five official singles released in support of the album. In order, they were “It’s So Easy,” “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Sweet Child o’ Mine,” “Paradise City” and “Nighttrain.”

For this week’s edition of #tbt here on Clizbeats, we want to take a moment to remember the album’s second single “Welcome to the Jungle.”

It was during a trip to Seattle to visit a friend that Axl Rose got the idea for the lyrics and title of the song. It was leaving the expansive Los Angeles and arriving in the smaller city of Seattle that spawned the idea behind writing a song that essentially warns non-LA based folks about what living in LA was like. What pitfalls may be awaiting those who move to the home of Hollywood to pursue their dreams of fame and stardom.

“Welcome to the Jungle” performed well for Guns N’ Roses commercially speaking. As a single, the track reached as high as the seventh spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the success of this single helped the Appetite for Destruction album to sell over 30 million copies to date.

A music video produced for “Welcome to the Jungle” also helped garner the band and it’s breakout single attention. The video shows Axl getting off a bus in LA, and immediately comes face to face with some of the temptations found in the streets of the jungle. It is interspersed with scenes of Guns N’ roses performing live. The video originally only received early morning airplay on MTV, but after viewers responded well it soon received heavy airplay throughout the programming day.

So with Guns N’ Roses debut album Appetite for Destruction turning 30 years old tomorrow, this week we take the time to remember the second single from that album “Welcome to the Jungle.” Enjoy.

Guns N’ Roses

“Welcome to the Jungle”

From: Appetite for Destruction

Geffen Records