The Guns N’ Roses Hit That Was Written in Just 5 Minutes

When it comes to great songwriting, it seems there is no hard and fast formula for success. Queen's “Bohemian Rhapsody” took a little over six years to come to fruition from the moment when Freddie Mercury first began tinkering with the idea. Bob Dylan's “Tangled Up in Blue” took two years of gestation. Ray Charles’s “What'd I Say,” by contrast, was pretty much made up on the spot, whilst Paul McCartney composed the melody to The Beatles' “Yesterday” in his sleep! 

American hard rock band Guns N' Roses certainly know how to pen a compelling song. Over a nearly four-decade-long career, they've scored multiple top-10 hits worldwide and sold many millions of albums. It all started with the group's 1987 debut, Appetite for Destruction, an enormously successful record that featured the chart-topping single, “Sweet Child O' Mine.”

The story of that iconic "Sweet Child O' Mine" opening riff

Released in June 1988, the song reached number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100—remarkably the band's only single to achieve this feat (although five other Guns N’ Roses singles have cracked the top ten). 

“Sweet Child O’ Mine” came to life during a jam session at what was then the band's shared home near Griffith Park, Los Angeles. The eccentric, spiky, and extremely memorable guitar riff that opens the song was, according to the group's lead guitarist, Slash, made up on the spot. 

Speaking on the Eddie Trunk Podcast, he explained: “I was sitting around the house…and I just came up with this riff. It was just me messing around and putting notes together like any riff you do. You're like, 'This is cool,' and then you put the third note and find a melody like that.”

From jam session to radio staple

Slash’s looping melody caught the ear of rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who thought it worthy of building upon. Bassist Duff McKagan jumped on it, drummer Steven Adler found a suitable beat, and Stradlin worked out the chords. Singer Axl Rose came up with lyrics as he listened to them play, and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” came into being. 

It was, considers Slash, one of those strokes of good fortune that put all the right elements in the right place at the same time. “Initially it was just a cool, neat little riff that I’d come up with. It was an interesting pattern, and it was really melodic, but I don’t think I would have presented it to the band and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got this idea!’ because I just happened to come up with it while we were all hanging around together,” he said.

“Sweet Child O' Mine” went on to earn a platinum certification for having sold over one million copies.

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