The Gunners Take Aim At Punk

By CHRISTOPHER JOHN FARLEY

The members of the aptly named metal band Guns N' Roses have a history of shooting off their mouths. Their 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction, used the word nigger and contained the line "Immigrants and faggots/ They make no sense to me." On their new album, however, Axl Rose and his bandmates present a collection of tributes to the '70s punk rock that inspired them -- from the Sex Pistols' Black Leather to the Stooges' Raw Power -- and in doing so they find a way not only to display superb musicianship but also to express anger without their characteristic crassness. Interestingly, if Guns N' Roses on its own albums has sometimes seemed to lose control over its lyrics, its music on "The Spaghetti Incident?" displays more focus than many of the sloppily spontaneous punk-rock originals.

The New York Dolls' 1972 version of Human Being, for instance, seems washed out compared with Guns N' Roses' fierce, tightly controlled update. Rose -- whose voice sounds like an angry air horn -- is one of the most distinctive singers in rock, and his prowess is on display throughout the album. He and guest singer Michael Monroe (formerly of the band Hanoi Rocks) take the Dead Boys' 1978 tribute to nihilism, Ain't It Fun, and reinvent it as a duet, infusing the song with new energy through the interplay of their voices. "I punch my fist right through the glass," they sing together. "I didn't even feel it, it hurt me so bad. Such fun. Such fun." Rose also performs a passionate rendition of Since I Don't Have You, a pop classic by the '50s vocal group the Skyliners.

None of the songs on "The Spaghetti Incident?" have the kind of racist lyrics Guns N' Roses has included on its past albums. Several of the songs contain obscenities directed at society in general, but not at any specific group. The Gunners could learn a lesson from that. Their musical heroes were able to create great vitriolic songs without letting their rage spill over into bashing minorities. Punks don't have to be jerks.