Paradise City
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| "Paradise City" | ||||||||||
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| Single by Guns N' Roses | ||||||||||
| from the album Appetite for Destruction | ||||||||||
| Released | 1988 | |||||||||
| Format | 7" Vinyl 10" Vinyl 12" Vinyl CS CD | |||||||||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||||||||
| Genre | Hard rock, heavy metal | |||||||||
| Length | 6:46 | |||||||||
| Label | Geffen | |||||||||
| Writer(s) | Axl Rose Slash Izzy Stradlin Duff McKagan |
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| Producer | Mike Clink | |||||||||
| Guns N' Roses singles chronology | ||||||||||
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"Paradise City" is a song written by the hard rock band Guns N' Roses. It is included on the 1987 album Appetite for Destruction and was released as a single in 1988. It is also the only song on the album to use a synthesizer. The song peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100, the third single of the band's to go Top 10.
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[edit] Song
Slash states that the song was written in the back of a rental van as they were on their way back from playing a gig in San Francisco with the band Rock N Riders. He states that the band was in the back of the van, drinking and playing acoustic guitars when he came up with the intro. Duff McKagan and Izzy Stradlin started playing along. Slash started humming a melody when Axl Rose sang, "Take me down to the Paradise City." Slash chimed in with "Where the grass is green and the girls are pretty." Axl sang the first line again, where Slash shouted out "Where the girls are fat and they've got big titties." Axl finished with "Take . . . me . . . home!" Slash preferred his second line but the rest of the band thought different. He was overpowered and they used the first line. The band then expanded upon the rest of the lyrics in rounds. Finally Slash wrapped up by coming up with the heavy riff that drives the song.[1]
"Paradise City" is thought by some to be about San Francisco and its corruption at the time. Some believe the song to be written about Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin's hometown of Lafayette, Indiana and the nearby Purdue University campus.[citation needed] During a 1988 interview, Rose told Hit Parader Magazine that "the verses are more about being in the jungle; the chorus is like being back in the Midwest or somewhere". Matt Sorum, despite not being in the band when the song was written, has stated on occasion that the song is written about Ireland. Others believe it is about Lake Geneva, WI where the band spent their time during the production of Appetite for Destruction. They rented a mansion right on Lake Geneva.
This song was often used as the band's show-closing song during the Use Your Illusion Tour and Chinese Democracy Tour.
It was also ranked #21 on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs of All Time,[2] #3 in Total Guitar Magazine's list of the 100 greatest solos of all time, and has won various similar awards over the years. It ranked #453 on Rolling Stones' "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Slash has stated that this is his favorite Guns N' Roses song.[1]
In the last two minutes of the song it changes to double-time and the chorus is repeated several times while Slash plays a guitar solo in the background.
Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy has said that the song is copy from a couple riffs of Hanoi Rocks. He said the chorus is just the same as riff in Lost in the City, just slowed down. Axl Rose has often cited Hanoi Rocks as Guns N' Roses' biggest influence. The style of the main riff of Paradise City (involving an ascending chromatic riff) has also been used by many former Guns N' Roses members in new projects. This can be seen in Izzy Stradlin's "Bomb" and Velvet Revolver's "Do It For the Kids".
[edit] Personnal
- Axl Rose - Lead Vocals, backing vocals, synthisizer and percussion
- Slash - Lead Guitar
- Izzy Stradlin - Rhythm Guitar, backing vocals, percussion
- Duff McKagan - Bass, backing vocals
- Steven Adler - Drums
[edit] Live
During live Guns N' Roses shows, "Paradise City" is usually performed last, as an encore. This has been a tradition since at least 1988, up to their latest tour. They also performed the song live at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert in 1992 (this time it was the first song of their short set).
[edit] Music video
Half of the music video was filmed at Giants Stadium in New Jersey while Guns N' Roses were on tour with Aerosmith, midway through the video, they are seen boarding the Concorde jet so they could make an appearance in England, and return as quickly as possible back to the USA to continue touring with one of their major influences. The concert in England is the Monsters of Rock event at Donington Park. The reason for this is because of some deaths that took place while Guns N' Roses were performing. As a result, they thought the footage taken at the concert would be good music video footage and a proper show of respect to those who died at the concert. Duff can also be seen wearing an Aerosmith t-shirt in the video.
In the music video, about 4 minutes into the video, Axl Rose is seen sporting a World War II Nazi officer cap and a stage pass which appears to bear the SS eagle. Axl opens the pass, shows off the SS eagle, closes it again and gives a meaningful look to the camera. Most of the video was shot in black-and-white.
[edit] Cover versions
- Notable rock n' roll era singer Pat Boone included the song on his 1997 heavy metal covers album In a Metal Mood: No More Mr. Nice Guy.
- Warrior Soul covered the song in a more psychedelic and metal style for the 1999 GNR-tribute album, Appetite For Reconstruction.
- Post-hardcore band Eighteen Visions made a cover of the song which appeared on the 2004 Guns N' Roses tribute compilation Bring You To Your Knees: A Tribute to Guns & Roses. The key of the song is dropped a whole step lower, and played on guitars tuned to D. The low D open chord can be heard on the bridge following the solo. Also, the fast punk ending of the GNR version is replaced with an ironically slow, almost sludge-like turn on the original riff.
- A chill out cover of the song by Scubba was included on the 2006 tribute compilation Bossa n' Roses.
- In 2009, Slash's single "Sahara" has a version of "Paradise City" as a bonus track featuring Cypress Hill and Stacy Ferguson (Black Eyed Peas).
- Michael and the G2s cover the song in their album "Michael and the G2s Cover Everything."[1]
[edit] Live cover performances
- In 1999, Hole performed "Paradise City" live at the Big Day Out in Australia. A recording of the cover was released on a "Limited Tour Edition" of their Celebrity Skin album.
- Velvet Revolver have covered this song with Cypress Hill, partially transforming the song into a rap track.
- American Idol winner and country singer Carrie Underwood performed "Paradise City", sometimes along with "November Rain", as an encore on her Carnival Ride tour.[2]
- Camp Freddy, a cover band performed the song along with the original guitarists, Slash and Duff McKagan, and Chester Bennington of Linkin Park.
[edit] Sampling
N-Trance recorded a version of "Paradise City" (using the song's riff), on their 1999 album Happy Hour.[3]
[edit] Appearances in other media
A character in Can't Hardly Wait performs the song drunk.
The song is the theme tune for the racing game Burnout Paradise which is set in a fictional locale called "Paradise City".
The Degrassi:The Next Generation four-part episode is titled "Paradise City".
Rolling Stone ranked the song 453rd on their list "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time"[4].
[edit] References
- ^ a b Bozza, Anthony, & Slash (2007). Slash. Harper Entertainment: New York. pp. 131-132
- ^ "VH1 40 Greatest Metal Songs", 1-4 May 2006, VH1 Channel, reported by VH1.com; last accessed September 10, 2006.
- ^ Happy Hour, AMG, accessed June 12, 2007
- ^ http://www.rollingstone.com/news/coverstory/500songs/page/5
[edit] External links
- Music Video at VH1 Classic
- Paradise City at YouTube (requires Adobe Flash)
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