‘Appetite For Destruction’: Every Song Ranked

Guns N' Roses' game-changing Appetite For Destruction was released on July 21, 1987. When you're the best-selling debut album of all time, your stats tend to be pretty impressive.

Top to bottom, there's not a filler track in the bunch. Decades after its release, it sounds as vicious as ever. Here is every song on Appetite For Destruction ranked.

When it comes to Appetite, most might point to "Sweet Child O' Mine" as the prime example of GN'R showing their softer side, but people shouldn't sleep on "Think About You." It may not have been a massive hit single like "Sweet Child..." but it's just as sweet.

"Anything Goes" isn't going to win points for subtlety or romance, unless you think lyrics like "Panties round your knees/With your ass in debris" are romantic. (If you do, no judgement.) Where it does win points is for being a straightforward, gritty, unapologetic hard rock song. Nothing fancy, just badass.

"You're Crazy" is an incredibly strong track, but there are so many iconic tracks on Appetite that it can almost just lost in the shuffle. And if we're being honest, the acoustic version on GN'R Lies is the definitive version.

Few individuals can make paranoia sound badass quite like Axl Rose. Who knows what he's being accused of, but by the end of the song, it's hard not to side with Axl in being "f-cking innocent."

Music history is littered with beautiful songs that feature women's names in the title, but this one is far from a warm, fuzzy ode. The real-life influence for this track was Michelle Young, a classmate of Slash and Steven Adler. Michelle said in passing to Axl Rose while in the car with him, how she wished someone wrote a song about her after hearing Elton John's "Your Song" on the radio. So, this wasn't really what she'd envisioned. On the plus side, Michelle would go on to live a pleasant life.

Mixing raunch and tenderness, "Rocket Queen" brings Appetite to a unique and very memorable ending. Its lyrics are surprisingly loving, but then there's the infamous bridge with the...ahem...actual sounds of love making between Axl and Adriana Smith, the then-girlfriend of Steven Adler, in the recording studio. However, once the sounds of GN'R (and the moaning) bring the album to a close, you realize that you heard one of the greatest albums of all time.

"I used to do a little, but a little wouldn't do, so the little got more and more. I just keep trying to get a little better, said a little better than before." With lyrics like those and the title itself, the only other song in rock history that's more obvious about being about heroin is the Velvet Underground's "Heroin." Despite its grizzly subject matter, "Mr. Brownstone" remains one of the strongest songs in GN'R's entire catalog.

As far as songs about cheap wine go, "Nightrain" is definitely the most badass and, for sure, has the best hook. Also, it features easily one of the best uses of a cowbell ever. (No one tell Gene Frankel/Will Ferrell.)

This song could just be Duff McKagan's opening bass riff, and it would still be incredible. Of course, everyone is firing on all cylinders, especially Axl, who ends this hard rock gem with some of the best screeching in recorded history.

The only thing more stunning than the thought of an actual Paradise City (where the grass is green and the girls are pretty) is the fact that this nearly seven-minute banger doesn't seem that long at all, AND it still gets played on the radio today in its entirety. Aside from "Sweet Child o' Mine," "Paradise City" is easily the most accessible track on Appetite for Destruction, proving that hard rock can be for everyone. If you need further proof, check out a group of 1,000 musicians performing "Paradise City" at the same time.

For those who aren't hard rock fans and don't really know a lot about Guns N' Roses, they likely at least know "Sweet Child o' Mine." Slash, of course, shines on this classic from his instantly recognizable intro riff to his massive solo. And let's face it: most of us at point or another have thrown on a headband and done that swaying dance Axl Rose does in the video while lip syncing the song in the mirror. (Don't make that face. Yes, you did! No one likes a liar!)

What can really be said about "Welcome to the Jungle" that hasn't already been said? One of the best, if not THE best opening track on a debut album ever? Yes. A warning shot to sub-par hair bands taking up too much space on the Sunset Strip? Undoubtedly.

In the passing years, "Welcome to the Jungle" has become a magical tune that's a staple on Active Rock and now Classic Rock radio. Sure, the song may fall under the Classic Rock label based on its age, but "Welcome to the Jungle" still sounds as fresh as ever. It's the timeless statement that every rock band dreams of writing. This will likely be so until the sun finally explodes and the world ends, or climate change finally gets us. Whichever comes first!