Talkin' Jive: Guns N' Roses, Part 2

   Welcome to the jungle, and we're in deep because this week we're taking a look at the two-disc box set known as Attitude for Destruction – not “Appetite”. “Attitude.” If you haven't heard of it, Attitude for Destruction is a collection of Guns N' Roses covers and other related songs performed by related acts as well as former members of the band. Or at least that's the closest description I can think of. It came out (or was at least manufactured) in 2007. I found it lying in a Walmart in 2012 for about $12. I picked it up out of morbid curiosity.

   I've tried doing some research on this thing – tried, since info on this bad boy was not easy to find – and it evidently has the same name and cover art as a low budget 2008 horror movie from Los Angeles, so I think it's fair to assume that this is that movie's soundtrack. The movie (which I haven't seen, by the way) is about some Sunset Strip hard rocker who's murdered but then reanimated so that he can exact his bloody revenge. (Kinda reminds me of 1994's The Crow.) The main character sings in a band called Hollywood Roses – not “Rose”. “Roses.” The guys who came up with this thing really didn't have a flair for original titles/names, did they? I don't know; maybe the band is a parody of Guns N' Roses and that's why the names are so similar, but I'm just speculating here.

   Let's talk about the packaging. Each CD comes in two jewel cases which are inside a cardboard sleeve (can't call it a box if it has no ends!). The sleeve is really loose so you've got to grip it tight lest the cases fall out and break. The cover art looks pretty awesome, almost like something that you could actually see on GNR promotional material. Too bad the backs of the cases suck. Since this album is all about the guest stars, every song needs a whole line explaining what it's about. And it isn't even arranged stylistically or anything. It looks like a bullet-point list mashed into a paragraph format. It makes it rather tedious to look up any particular song's name. One song, LA Guns' “Love and Hate”, is incorrectly listed as “Sex Action” (which is the name of a different LA Guns song, by the way). Also, for some reason, every instance of the band Hollywood Rose is noted with an asterisk reminding the listener of that band's lineup, as if any hardcore GNR fan – pretty much the only type of person who would buy this – wouldn't already know that.

   Now for the music itself. The assortment of songs is definitely a mixed bag. Out of a total of 28 songs, there's only one original song: “Last Cigarette”, by Hollywood Roses featuring Teddy Zig Zag. It's slow tempo, really average, and the organ makes it sound out of place for a GNR-inspired track. All the other songs fall into two categories: covers and rips.

   First, the rips, the songs that were obviously culled from somewhere else. Half of them are various classics from LA Guns. These tracks are quite awesome, even if they do have more of a glam rock sound than the hard rock sound that Guns N' Roses was known for. If nothing else, the LA Guns songs are energetic and good for banging one's head to. The other half of the rips are old songs from Hollywood Rose, Axl Rose's and Izzy Stradlin's first Los Angeles-based band. Predating the formation of GNR by a year, it's an interesting bit of the band's history, but they're the exact same (original demo) versions found on the 2004 album The Roots of Guns N' Roses.

   Attitude for Destruction's covers are much more varied. Almost every song from Appetite for Destruction is covered here, but not always well. The covers of “Used to Love Her” (featuring John Corabi, Tracii Guns, and Gilby Clarke), “Sweet Child O' Mine” (Guns, Clarke), and “You're Crazy” (Guns, Clarke, and Stevie Rachelle) all sound great by virtue of their commendable guitars and serviceable vocals. Conversely, songs like “It's So Easy” (Guns, Clarke, and Fred Coury) and “Mr. Brownstone” (Guns, Clarke, and Bang Tango) are so-so because of their lazy vocals and uninspired guitar work, respectively. And then there's the bad covers, like “Patience” (Guns, Clarke, Corabi) which is missing the whole guitar solo and half the lyrics. Where did they go? And don't get me started on “Paradise City” (Guns, Gilby Clarke, Kory Clarke) and “Don't Cry” (Guns, Clarke, and Spike... whoever the hell that is). Each of these songs have some of the worst singing I've ever heard in hard rock. It sounds like a higher-pitched Trent from Daria trying to whisper-shout the lyrics after smoking a whole truckload of cigarettes. I'd say the best GNR cover songs on this album are “Sweet Child O' Mine” and “You're Crazy”.

   There are some covers of other bands' songs too, most of which were ripped from somewhere else. These range from Alice Cooper's “No More Mr. Nice Guy” (featuring Slash and Roger Daltrey), to Aerosmith's “Toys in the Attic” (Tracii Guns and Stephen Pearcy), to a cool punked-up version of Alice Cooper's “Elected” (Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, Steve Jones, and Billy Duffy). Ratt's “Lay it Down” is covered by Tracii Guns and Stephen Pearcy in a rendition that's heavier, yet stripped-down and less energetic than the original. Teddy Zig Zag (of all people) pops in for a puzzling performance of Garth Brooks' “Friends in Low Places” with a rock twist to it. It sounds OK, but I don't think it really fits in with the rest of the album. Speaking of not fitting in, the final track covers the Moody Blues' “Gypsy”, featuring Slash and Tommy Shaw. Seriously? Not only does this synth-heavy tune sound absolutely nothing like Guns N' Roses, but also Slash is barely in this thing. He does a short solo towards the end which isn't even all that remarkable. This progressive rock stuff belongs with bands like Dream Theatre, not hard rockers like Guns N' Roses!

   So that's Attitude for Destruction, a mixed bag, to say the least. In a strange way, it really does live up to its title. Attitude comes from a mood, and this album, in providing a vast yet concise spectrum of 1980's hard rock and glam metal, pretty well captures the mood of Guns N' Roses' music: hard, fast, and reckless rock n' roll. If you're a hardcore GNR fan (and if you can find this for cheap, which it usually is) you may want to consider checking it out; I still have my copy. Just remember to keep the skip button handy.

Stay tuned for the third and final part in my Guns N' Roses series, where we run though all of the post-GNR albums.