12 '80s Hard Rock Albums All Fans Should Own
1. Welcome To The Jungle - Guns N Roses
'Welcome To The Jungle' is the album that made GNR a household name. They'd had some success with their self-released record prior to 'Jungle', and their incendiary live shows made them the hottest ticket on the LA metal scene, but it took signing to Geffen and rotation exposure on MTV to ram home the message - this was the premier rock band of the '80s.
All great bands have several things in common: a charismatic singer, a killer guitarist and a pocket full of great songs. GNR were blessed with three strong writers in singer Axl Rose and guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin. Izzy left the band after the release of the 'Use Your Illusion' albums that followed 'Appetite', and with hindsight it appears that he was the strongest of the three writers.
Like many big '80s albums, so many songs were pulled from 'Appetite' to release as singles that it almost functions as a stop-gap greatest hits record. In an album full of classic songs, besides the obvious standouts such as 'Sweet Child O' Mine' and 'Welcome To The Jungle', tracks such as 'It's So Easy' and 'You're Crazy' show the uncompromising essence of the band.