Yeah, I streamed it on Myspace and you can have my free Dr. Pepper when it comes out tomorrow. I'll stick with "Appetite for Destruction;" a timeless record — one of the last to be mixed with vinyl in mind — and with some salacious stories regarding the recording.
It got me to thinking how dangerous Guns N' Roses seemed at the time. They were the one band that could match Mötley Crüe drug for drug and stripper for stripper, yet, unlike the Crüe, still garner some positive reviews for their music. Plus, Axl could start riots with an unprovoked mood swing.
So I looked for the best example of this balancing act between being a legitimate threat to the public safety and the biggest band in the world. I found it in their performance from Farm Aid in 1990. It would be the last performance with the original lineup. In typical punk sneer, they perform the UK Subs' classic "Down on the Farm." Axl prefaced the song by saying they were gonna play it "for humor's sake, since we don't mind, and if you can take a joke."
This performance was also the first time original GNR drummer Steven Adler ever heard of the song, which he related in this interview with Metal Sludge a few years back (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3).
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