G N' R Lies: "Mama Kin"

If we're counting Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide as GNR's debut, "Mama Kin" appears on two of the world's most beloved hard rock bands' first albums.

From Aerosmith, 1973:


From Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide, 1986:


After Rose Tattoo, Aerosmith was the second band that Guns N' Roses honored and obliterated by covering them on Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide. This time, it wasn't chops or charisma that gave GNR the distinct advantage, two things that Aerosmith has in droves. It was mainly something that that Aerosmith had that GNR didn't--a saxophone.

The saxophone may be the most polarizing instrument in all of rock n' roll, abhorrent in nearly every instance yet transcendent on Kid A, Cure for Pain and Bill Clinton's Arsenio Hall Show appearance. The A.V. Club and WNYC's Soundcheck have explored the sax's influence with simultaneous awe and scorn. For every Rolling Stones song with Sonny Rollins, there seem to be a thousand Kenny Gs. Aerosmith is one of the only rock bands that can make a saxophone work, and their "Mama Kin" is competent. But nobody listens to rock music for competence. "Competent" would be The Silver Bullet band, whom Aerosmith sound most like on "Mama Kin."

On Lies, "Mama Kin" comes right after "Move to the City," a GNR staple with gritty lyrics, a menacing progression, and yes--a saxophone. In that context, I like "Mama Kin" even more, knowing that Guns N' Roses had access to a saxophone and chose not to use it.

Joe Perry, whose band was taking Guns N' Roses out on tour the year that Lies was released, may have noticed. "I heard a lot of Aerosmith in them, which meant I also heard a lot of bands that came before us," Perry noted in Rolling Stone. "And I remember being a little jealous, because they were really hitting the nail on the head."

G N' R Lies: "Nice Boys"

Great songs can happen to mediocre bands. We hear it all the time in music, less so often in metal, where "hits" are scarce and most metal bands with one actual high-charting single (Faith No More, Living Colour, Queensrÿche) support their place in history with a few great albums. But near the top of the mediocre band/great song heaps sits Rose Tattoo, barely remembered today as the Australian metal band that isn't AC/DC.

Most of Rose Tattoo's songs are routine hard rock fare without the leery charm of Bon Scott and the Young brothers. However, on "Nice Boys," they hit it out of the park, with the band's usual slide guitar riffs and badder-than-thou lyrics coming together for one solid jukebox anthem.



Rose Tattoo's version isn't all too different from Guns N' Roses' more famous cover on G N' R Lies. But why is it inferior?



To these ears, Rose Tattoo are trying too hard. The guitar playing feels labored next to Slash's, the vocals sound strained vs. Axl's feral interpretation. Both versions are great, and both bands have chemistry, but only one of them is iconic.

Chuck Klosterman, the literary world's most vocal GNR fan, might agree. "Because rock is so tied to the abstract concept of 'cool,' it seems distasteful when anyone tries too much," he once wrote in Spin. "Bands that are unpolished and lazy (the Replacements, Pavement, Motörhead) are always more likeable than groups that do 'whatever it takes' to achieve a modicum of success (Bon Jovi, Jimmy Eat World, Flickerstick)."

Now that we know that Axl can spend decades working on a song, it's clear that Guns N' Roses are neither unpolished nor lazy. But on "Nice Boys," they played the part with the finesse of a Scorsese cast.