Sweet Child o' Mine

"Sweet Child o' Mine"
Song

"Sweet Child o' Mine" is the third single by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and the third from their 1987 debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction. Released on August 20, 1988, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and reached number six on the UK Singles Chart.

Background and composition

"Sweet Child o' Mine" was written by lead vocalist Axl Rose with guitarist Slash and popular song writer Mikey Wiseman during an intense six-hour brainstorming session after a New Year's Eve party. The song was written about Rose's then-girlfriend and eventual wife, Erin Everly.

Slash has been quoted as having a disdain for the song due to its roots as simply a 'string skipping' exercise and a joke at the time. In a VH1 special, it was stated that Slash played the riff in a jam session as a joke. Drummer Steven Adler and Slash were warming up and Slash began to play a "circus" melody while making faces at Steven. Izzy asked Slash to play it again, and added chords to play with it. With Steven Adler's added drum part, the harmony became the core of the song. Originally, there was a third verse to the song. However, this verse was later cut from recording as the band's producer, Spencer Proffer, felt the song would carry on for too long. The final dramatic breakdown was not added until Proffer suggested the band add one. They agreed, but weren't sure what to do. Axl started saying to himself, "Where do we go? Where do we go now?" Spencer suggested that he sing that, and "Sweet Child o' Mine" was born. In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1988, bassist Duff McKagan noted:

The thing about 'Sweet Child,' it was written in five minutes. It was one of those songs, only three chords. You know that guitar lick Slash does at the beginning? It was kinda like a joke because we thought, 'What is this song? It's gonna be nothin', it'll be filler on the record.' And except that vocal-wise, it's very sweet and sincere, Slash was just messing around when he first wrote that lick.

Music video

The "Sweet Child O' Mine" video depicts the band rehearsing in an abandoned theater, surrounded by crew members. Several of the band members' girlfriends were shown in the clip. Izzy Stradlin's dog was also featured. The video was extremely successful on MTV, and helped launch the song to success on mainstream radio.

In an effort to make "Sweet Child O' Mine" more marketable to MTV and radio stations, the song was cut from 5:56 minutes to 4:20, with much of Slash's guitar solo removed. This move drew the ire of the band members, including Axl Rose, who commented on it in a 1989 interview with Rolling Stone: "I hate the edit of 'Sweet Child o' Mine.' Radio stations said, "Well, your vocals aren't cut." "My favorite part of the song is Slash's slow solo; it's the heaviest part for me. There's no reason for it to be missing except to create more space for commercials, so the radio-station owners can get more advertising dollars. When you get the chopped version of 'Paradise City' or half of 'Sweet Child' and 'Patience' cut, you're getting screwed."

On an interview on Eddie Trunk's New York radio show in May 2006, Axl Rose stated that his original concept for the video focused on the theme of drug trafficking. According to Rose, the video was to depict an Asian woman carrying a baby into a foreign land, only to discover at the end that the child was dead and filled with heroin. This concept was rejected by Geffen Records.

There is also an alternative video for "Sweet Child O' Mine" with different captures and the footage entirely in black and white. English soccer club Barnet FC use the guitar intro as their pre-match fanfare when the team enters the pitch.

Accolades

"Sweet Child O' Mine" placed #37 on Guitar World's list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos." It also came in at number three on Blender's 500 Greatest Songs Since You Were Born, and at number 196 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at number 6 in its list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Tracks. The introduction's famous riff was also voted number-one riff of all-time by the readers of Total Guitar magazine. It was also in Rolling Stone's 40 Greatest Songs that Changed the World. It places number 7 in VH1's "100 Best Songs of the 80s", and placed #210 on the RIAA Songs of the Century list. On a recent BBC poll, the song was voted to have the "greatest guitar riff ever". The song came 1st in Kerrang!'s Slash's top 30 guitar anthems.

In film

"Sweet Child O' Mine" is featured in the 2008 film The Wrestler. The song is played when Randy "The Ram" Robinson (played by Mickey Rourke) makes his entrance to the ring at the end of the film. Rourke, who is friends with Axl Rose, convinced him to allow the song to be played in the film for a fraction of what would have been normally charged. Rourke himself used the song as his entrance music during his boxing career.

It is also sung a capella by Derek's family in the 2008 film Step Brothers.

The song is also in the Sean Penn, Gary Oldman film 'State Of Grace.'

An extract of this song was also featured in the Adam Sandler film "Big Daddy"

Cover versions

"Sweet Child o' Mine"
Song

The song has been covered by many artists including Texas, Most Precious Blood, Akasha featuring Neneh Cherry, DJ Dougall, Schmoof, Flat Pack, Luna, Chester the Pup, Dead Tongues, DJ Dex & A, and The Aluminium Group. The song was also performed in many live concerts by country singer Carrie Underwood, opening with her alone on acoustic guitar and using her voice to reference Slash's intro guitar tones before launching into a full band rock-out. Bonnie Tyler performed it on the for Charity DVD Rock for Asia in 2005.

Occasionally, as a joke Linkin Park performs parts of the song during some concerts. The Manic Street Preachers also frequently play it as an introduction to their song "Motown Junk" in live concerts. The main riff is replayed by Red Hot Chili Peppers at the end of the song "Punk Rock Classic". The intro is also sampled in a song on the Fort Minor mixtape, titled "S.C.O.M."(Sweet Child o' Mine). Avenged Sevenfold frequently use the opening riff as a segue between songs during live concerts.

In 1999, the song was covered by Sheryl Crow and re-recorded by the then-new Guns N' Roses members for the film Big Daddy. Crow's version earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. The new Guns N' Roses version which morphed into a live version half way through was not featured on the original soundtrack album of the movie, but can be heard during the movie's ending credits. The song was also featured in the 1990 film State of Grace, in a bar during a brawl.

The first time this song appeared in a movie was in 1988, it played as the credits were rolling for the movie Bad Dreams.

It was performed on December 2, 2006 at the Nokia Theatre Times Square in New York City by jam band Umphrey's McGee.

Black Eyed Peas usually performs the first verses of this song as well during their live shows. Turbonegro uses the intro as Introlick for the Song Bad Mongo played live.

A cover of the song is featured as a special encore in the music video game Guitar Hero II.

Part of the song is featured at the beginning of the episode "Witch Hunt" of the hit CBS show NCIS. Part of the song is used in scenes of a little girl. The song ends when a sound of a gunshot is heard indicating that the girl in the scenes is the deceased daughter of the show's main character Leroy Jethro Gibbs.

Sweet Child O' Mine was also covered in 2005 by Flatpack/Mylo, released at Breastfed and by Victoria Bergsman from The Concretes in 2007.

The song Homecoming queen (song) by Hinder bears a strong resemblance to "Sweet Child o Mine."

Slash performed "Sweet Child O' Mine" with Fergie at his recent 43rd birthday party in Las Vegas at the Mirage Hotel & casino on July 23, 2008.

Indie pop artist Victoria Bergsman, under the name Taken by Trees, also covered the song. Her version was used in the trailer for the remake of the Wes Craven film The Last House on the Left.

During the 2008 Reading Festival, band Tenacious D announced they were going to perform a cover of one of Metallica's most well known songs as a tribute. They then proceeded to play the opening riff to Sweet Child o' Mine.

Swedish music artist Johan Darius released a version of the song through his website in December 2008.

Live intros

During the Use Your Illusion Tour, Axl Rose would sometimes sing a few lines from songs by other artists as an 'introduction' to the song. The songs used were:

• Grand Funk Railroad's "Bad Time" (this was often preceded by a few lines of Queen's "Sail Away Sweet Sister". An example of this can be seen on the second half of the band's Live in Tokyo DVD)
• The Skyliners' "Since I Don't Have You" (the band would later cover this song in full on the 1993 album "The Spaghetti Incident?")
• Elton John's "The One" from the album The One
• U2's "One" (the only performance of this song occurred at the May 16, 1992 show at Slane Castle in Ireland, the home country of U2)
• Nazareth's "Broken Down Angel" (the only performance of this song occurred at the July 25, 1992 show at the Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
• The Hebrew folk song "Hava Nagila" (the only performance of this song occurred at the May 22, 1993 show at Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv)

Credits

• Axl Rose - lead vocals
• Slash - lead guitar
• Izzy Stradlin - rhythm guitar, backing vocals
• Duff McKagan - bass guitar, backing vocals
• Steven Adler - drums, percussion