Guns n' Roses FTW!!

Okay, as most of you have probably gathered by this stage, I like my music. Personally speaking, I love glam rock/hair metal just as much as I love Elvis and Mr. Sinatra himself. Therefore, Guns n' Roses have always been/always will be in my opinion, probably one of the greatest glam rock bands ever to enter our headphones.

I remember the first time that I heard Sweet Child o' Mine. I was about 13 at the time. I was sitting in my dads car after school one day when it came on the radio. That's when I thought to myself "these guys are AMAZING." And from what i gathered from listening to the rest of their music over the years, I certainly wasn't wrong.

"Sweet Child o' Mine" is the third single released by the American rockstars and the third from their 1987 debut studio album Appetite For Destruction which was released on August 18, 1988. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first and only number-one single. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart and reached number 4 in Ireland.


The first time this song appeared in a movie was in 1988. It played as the credits were rolling for the movie Bad Dreams. Since then,  It has been played in the 2008 film The Wrestler featuring Micky Rourke and has also been played in many more well-known films such as Adam Sandler's Big Daddy and in the hilarious 2008 movie, Step Brothers. Needless to say, this timeless classic needed little or no more publicity. Until Taken By Trees came along, and ripped it apart.

Now, some could say that Taken by Trees did a good job at covering this song. The "some" who would say this are obviously deaf with absolutely no rhythm or appreciation for music. Never in my life have I hear such a whiny, depressing voice such as the one of Victoria Bergsman, the lead singer of Taken by Trees. I can honestly say that I've heard this song being covered better by karaoke than from this woman who seems to call herself a musician.

Throughout Bergsman's version of Sweet Child O' Mine, it constantly sounds like the girl is about to jump off a cliff. Even the opening of the song sounds like something thats about to be played in mass rather than at a rock festival. The piano work is good but where the hell is the feeling? As for the chorous, give me a break!! Her tuning is all wrong wrong, she lacks emotion and above all SHE MUMBLES some of the most amazing lyrics that was ever written. Oh dear.

Then we get to the end of the song..the grand finale that once wowed so many people with Slash's incredible guitar work and Axl's high pitched screeches and what does she do? SHE HUMS! Let me emphasise that HUMS one of the most memorable endings to any song in history. Shame on this band. Big time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dqVDQ-lF4Q

Above is the link to this atrocious cover. See what you think yourself. Then compare it to the Guns n' Roses version right here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1w7OgIMMRc4.
The evidence of what I just said, speaks for itself.

In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1988, bassist Duff McKagan said:

"The thing about 'Sweet Child' is that it was written in five minutes. It was one of those songs, only three chords. You know that guitar lick Slash does at the beginning? It was kinda like a joke because we thought, 'What is this song? It's gonna be nothin', it'll be filler on the record.' And except that vocal-wise, it's very sweet and sincere, Slash was just messing around when he first wrote that lick"

"Sweet Child o' Mine" placed number 37 on Guitar World's's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos." It also came in at number three on Blender's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born, and at number 196 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of all Time.

In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 6 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The introduction's famous riff was also voted number-one riff of all-time by the readers of Total Guitar magazine and on a recent BBC poll, the song was voted to have the "greatest guitar riff ever". Beat that Taken by Trees!