10 Best Hard Rock Intros
1. Sweet Child O' Mine - Guns N Roses
In the late '80s, Guns N' Roses may have won the title of the most down to Earth rock band on the planet. As opposed to the artificial songs that were coming out of the Sunset Strip at the time, these bunch of street rats fought their way to the top by being more authentic than any of their counterparts. Even when the band was just messing around in the studio, they turned in one of the greatest beginnings in hard rock history.
The band were already known for their guitar-driven intros, from the delayed picking of Welcome to the Jungle to the clean tone on Paradise City, but Sweet Child o Mine was something much different. As opposed to the standard hard-edged songs in their catalog, this melodic high note run served as a nice little centerpiece for one of the band's most heartfelt songs.
Given its classic status, the actual composition of the intro was actually a joke by Slash, as he tried his best to play something that resembled a circus melody. Rather than just discarding it, that riff ended up becoming one of the first major smashes for Guns, with countless guitar players still trying to piece it together. Slash might not have intended to write a classic when goofing around, but sometimes an artist just needs to be in the right place at the right time to work their magic.