Welcome to the Jungle (song)
| Welcome to the jungle | |
|---|---|
| Guns N 'Roses | |
| publication | October 3, 1987, October 1988 (secondary publication) |
| length | 4:31 |
| Genre (s) | Hard rock |
| Author (s) | Slash , Axl Rose |
| album | Appetite for Destruction |
|
Chart positions Explanation of the data |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Singles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Welcome to the Jungle (English for. " Welcome to the Jungle ") is a song by American hard rock band Guns N 'Roses , which in 1987 on the album Appetite for Destruction was released. The lyrics are by singer Axl Rose , the music by guitarist Slash .
background
The song, which Axl Rose wrote during a stay in Seattle , critically reflects everyday life in Los Angeles . It reflects the dark side of the city, with which above all people come into contact who come to Los Angeles on the - mostly in vain - search for fame and success. Personal experiences were also incorporated: In 1985 Guns N 'Roses lived in a building on Sunset Boulevard , which they commonly called "the house of hell"; Inside there was always a lot of drugs and alcohol, and groupies went in and out every day.
Slash describes in his autobiography "Slash" how he played a guitar riff while recording in March 1987; the singer Axl remembered a text he had previously written in Seattle. From the riff and the text, they then created an arrangement for the whole band, which implemented it in a very short time; The title was finished after just under three hours.
According to a Rolling Stone article to mark the 20th anniversary of Appetite for Destruction , "You're in the jungle, baby! You're gonna die!" Is based on an encounter between Axl Rose and a black boy who Jake Query, a friend of the singer, said on a radio station that the headline was from a truck driver who had taken the hitchhiking Axl Rose to Los Angeles. The driver called to him on arrival have: “Welcome to the jungle!” The song Underwater World by the Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks is also cited as a possible source, since this song also contains the lyrics “welcome to the jungle” and there are similarities between the two titles on a musical level. According to Axl Rose, the Finns had a huge impact on the band's music and performance.
The original cover of the single sparked controversy; the illustration consisted of a drawing of a robot that apparently raped a woman.
Music video
The video is set in New York. It shows Axl Rose in the role of an initially inexperienced young person who comes under the negative influence of modern vices and seductions.
Axl Rose arrives in town by bus at night and is immediately approached by a drug dealer (Izzy Stradlin). After he got rid of this, his gaze falls first on a prostitute (Duff McKagan) and then on the Slash sitting on a wall who consumes alcohol. In the background of Slash, several televisions can be seen showing the band performing. In between, images are repeatedly faded in that depict various forms of violence. A little later, Axl made an optical change; In the typical presentation of a “city punk” he stares spellbound at the television program in front of him and no longer perceives his surroundings.
In the subsequent part of the video, Axl Rose sits, tied to a chair, in front of a wall full of monitors on which other television images are broadcast. The flood of images torments him, but his attempts at liberation are unsuccessful, so that he remains helplessly exposed to the images. In the end, Axl Rose stands in front of a television shop and watches the current program, which consists of the previous scene. Shaking his head, he turns away and continues.
The application of a so-called aversion therapy is shown with the “picture torture” ; a reference to the "Ludovico technique" from the film Uhrwerk Orange is unmistakable.
success
Welcome to the Jungle was released in October 1987 as the second single from the album Appetite for Destruction . The bonus track of the US version was the title Mr. Brownstone , which describes everyday life under the influence of drugs from the point of view of the authors, Slash and Izzy Stradlin ("Mr. Brownstone" is a slang term for heroin ). The British version included a live cover version of the AC / DC classic Whole Lotta Rosie . The 12 "maxi single also contained the live recordings of It's So Easy and Knocking on Heaven's Door (Guns N 'Roses would later use Bob Dylan's song for their album Use Your Illusion II ).
The single received little attention at first: in the USA it did not even get into the charts, in Great Britain it only managed to place it in the lower range. After the worldwide success of Sweet Child O 'Mine , Welcome to the Jungle was re-released in the fall of 1988 and this time achieved far better results. In the USA the disc landed at position 7, which meant the second top ten hit in a row for Guns N 'Roses, and also achieved gold status. In the UK charts, the title made it into the top 30.
At the MTV Video Music Awards in 1988 , the band received the award as Best New Artist for the video for Welcome to the Jungle ; Guns N 'Roses also played the song live on the show. In 2002 the band surprisingly appeared again with the title; of the original line-up, however, only Axl Rose was there.
The music channel VH1 named Welcome to the Jungle for best hard rock song of all time.
use
Welcome to the Jungle was used in Death Game , the fifth installment in the Dirty Harry series; Guns N 'Roses made a guest appearance. The song is also played at the beginning of The Knallharte Prinzipal (original title Lean On Me ). It can also be heard in the movies Challenge - The Challenge , Selena - An American Dream and Jumanji - Welcome to the Jungle and in several episodes of the series The Simpsons . A use planned by Slash in the blockbuster Black Hawk Down did not materialize because Axl Rose refused to give his consent as a co-author.
The title is featured on the soundtrack for the video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas , and in the game itself it can be heard on a radio station's program. Welcome to the Jungle is also part of the video games Rock Band and Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and can be replayed in both.
At sporting events, the title is preferably played when the visiting team marches in. The Cincinnati Bengals football team is widely recognized as the founder of this custom. The Norwegian soccer team Lillestrøm SK uses the song before every home game.
Cover versions
The following artists or bands covered the title:
- 1991: Big Daddy (on Cutting Their Own Groove album )
- 2004: Pink (Live version during their “Try-This” tour; available on the DVD Pink: Live in Europe released in 2006 )
- 2004: Hewhocorrupts (on the album The Discographer )
- 2004: Zombie Apocalypse (on the album Bring You to Your Knees - A Tribute to Guns' n Roses )
- 2005: Richard Cheese (on the album Aperitif for Destruction )
- 2006: Freedom Dub (on the album Bossa n 'Roses )
- 2007: John 5 ( The Devil Knows My Name )
- 2007: Rocket K (on the Time Machine RK album )
- 2015: "Novo Amor" (in a German AX commercial)
Others
- The piece was one of the songs that the American forces played as part of their psychological warfare during the US invasion of Panama .
- In 2007 a police operation broke out at a Connecticut school after a teacher told a student, “You're in the jungle, baby! You're gonna die! ”Heard singing. Assuming that it was a threat to a classmate, the teacher called the police, who arrested the student and his alleged accomplices. Only after clearing up the misunderstanding were the students released.
- The 2003 action comedy Welcome to the Jungle also makes references to this song.
- The horror film Cannibals - Welcome to the Jungle from 2007 refers to the title by name.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c https://www.loudersound.com/features/the-story-behind-the-song-welcome-to-the-jungle-by-guns-n-roses
- ↑ Charts UK Charts US
- ↑ a b c d Songfacts.com (English)
- ↑ https://www.last.fm/music/Guns+N%27+Roses/_/Welcome+to+the+Jungle/+wiki
- ↑ Welcome to the Jungle (Re-Release) on Song-Database.com
- ↑ Vh1 Top 100 Hard Rock Songs ( Memento from April 19, 2012 on WebCite )