36 Years ago today, Guns N’ Roses released their now legendary debut album Appetite For Destruction, an album now known as not only one of the greatest rock albums of all time, but one of the greatest musical albums in general.
However, the album surprisingly wasn’t a breakout success as it became in the months and years to come. The album’s subject matter almost caused the band’s label, Geffen Records to “walk away” from the album as a whole. The gritty, risqué themes of Welcome to the Jungle caused MTV promoter John Malone to threaten to banish Geffen from MTV should the single’s minute of Welcome To The Jungle be broadcasted.
Luckily for the band, Geffen Manager Al Coury managed to convince Malone to air the song on MTV -- at 4 a.m.
While MTV execs thought airing the video at 4 am would go unnoticed - it didn't: a small group of rockers who were watching MTV so late at night spread word of the song’s existence, and it quickly became the most requested song on MTV. So much so that the number of calls coming into MTV that night “fried the switchboard” according to Coury.
And so, the path to fame begun.
The album went on to peak at number one on the US Billboard 200, and it became the seventh best-selling album of all time in the United States, as well as the best-selling debut album.
Today, the album is certified 18 times platinum and with over 30 million copies sold worldwide, it is also one of the best-selling albums globally.
