From cult classics to forgotten gems, artists pick the one album they consider essential listening.
James Dean Bradfield Manic Street Preachers on...Guns N' Roses Appetite For Destruction
"By this time, I'd gone past the point of the naivety of punk and began to see through the iconoclastic thing of trying to destroy. I didn't want us to have that horrible anti-star ethic that 'anyone can do it'. I wanted us to keep the basic premise of punk, but be quite snotty too. For me, Axl Rose and Slash replicated the Jagger/Richards axis. Slash was such a big, lumbering bloke but really gentle too - millions of contradictions, but everyone just thought he was a twat in a top hat. This was an incredibly romantic time for me. Nicky and Richey were still in university, and when my parents were out at work, I'd just shut the curtains and learn this whole album on guitar. 'Sweet Child O' Mine' has become so strongly associated with Slash, and I wanted to create something that people would immediately identify with my guitar. That was probably the biggest motivation for 'Motorcycle Emptiness'. Pretty egotistical, I suppose."
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