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"Sweet Child O' Mine" is a power ballad by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, and the third single from their 1987 debut studio album, Appetite for Destruction. Released on August 17, 1988, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the band's first and only number-one single in the U.S. It reached number six on the UK Singles Chart, when re-released in 1989.

Background and composition

Lead Guitarist 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. Rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin asked Slash to play it again. Meanwhile lead singer Axl Rose was upstairs in his room and heard the 'jam session' going on downstairs and couldn't help but write lyrics. He based it on his girlfriend Erin Everly. With Steven's added drum part, Izzy's chords and Duff McKagan's bassline 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, Mike Clink, felt the song would carry on for too long. The final dramatic breakdown was not added until Clink 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?" Clink suggested that he sing that, and "Sweet Child o' Mine" was born. In an interview with Hit Parader magazine in 1988, Duff McKagan noted:

The thing about 'Sweet Child o' Mine,' 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 nothing, it'll be filler on the record.' And except that vocal-wise, it's very sweet and sincere, Slash was just fuckin' around when he first wrote that lick.

The song is composed in the key of D♭ (D-Flat)/C♯ (C-sharp) mixolydian, which is a mode of G♭/F♯ major. At the start of the guitar solo it changes to the relative minor key or aeolian mode of G♭/F♯ major, or E♭/D♯ minor.

Music video

The "Sweet Child o' Mine" video depicts the band rehearsing in the Huntington Ballroom at Huntington Beach, surrounded by crew members. All of the band members' girlfriends at the time were shown in the clip. Rose was dating Erin Everly at the time, whose father was Don Everly of The Everly Brothers fame. Duff's girlfriend Mandy from the all-female rock band "The Lame Flames" was there, as was Steven Adler's girlfriend Cheryl and Slash's girlfriend Sally. 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 to 4:12, 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."

The edit was released on the 7-inch vinyl format of the single as a 'Remix' while the 12" vinyl format contained the longer LP version.

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 shots, all in black and white.

Reception

"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 #198 on Rolling Stone's The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. In March 2005, Q magazine placed it at #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 #7 in VH1's "100 Greatest 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. The song is currently ranked as the 104th greatest song of all time, as well as the best song of 1987, by Acclaimed Music. In October 2009 it came first in Kerrang!'s 100 greatest riffs. The song has sold 2,609,000 digital copies in the US as of March 2012.

Legacy

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The opening riff can be heard briefly (at the end) of the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Punk Rock Classic" from the "Mothers Milk" album.

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

The song "S.C.O.M." from Fort Minor's mixtape We Major samples from the introductory riff of the song.

In Keith Urban and Brad Paisley's "Start a Band", a tribute to the main riff can be heard as the singers describe famous rock songs.

SR-71's song, "Axl Rose", contains part of the opening riff.

In the bridge of the Dope song "Always", Edsel Dope's background vocals of "Where do we go now?" are a reference to the bridge of Sweet Child o' Mine.

In film

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

"Sweet Child o' Mine" was 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 sung a cappella by Derek's family in the 2008 film Step Brothers.

The song is in the Sean Penn, Gary Oldman film State of Grace.

Sheryl Crow's cover of this song is featured in the Adam Sandler film, Big Daddy.

The Taken by Trees cover of this song appears at the end of the movie Life as We Know It. It also is used in the trailer for the 2009 remake of The Last House on the Left.

The introductory riff is heard in the 2010 film Gulliver's Travels, starring Jack Black.

Artist covers

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 and later included in her third studio album The Globe Sessions. Crow's version earned her a Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance. A music video for Crow's version was also released, directed by Stéphane Sednaoui. A separate Guns N' Roses version which morphed into a live version half way through was not featured on the original Big Daddy soundtrack album of the film, but can be heard during the film's ending credits. This Guns N' Roses version of the song was also featured in the 1990 film State of Grace, in a bar during a brawl.

The following artists have also notably covered the song:

• Texas
• Most Precious Blood
• Akasha featuring Neneh Cherry
• Luna
• Janet Devlin (In X Factor UK- Season 8 in 2011)
• Flatpack/Mylo in 2005
• Final Approach
• DJ Dougall
• Milk Inc.
• John Henneberry
• Schmoof
• Italian band Belladonna
• Flat Pack
• Chester the Pup
• Bumblefoot
• Dead Tongues
• DJ Dex & A
• The Aluminium Group
• DZK
• The SweatHögs
• Tyler and the Wailers
• Anastacia on It's a Man's World in 2012.

The following artists have performed their versions of the song-

• Swedish music artist Johan Darius
• Lucie Jones (In X Factor UK- Season 6 in 2009)
• Channel V - Hindi version, played on sitars and tabala.
• Australian vocal group Human Nature - cappella version (on Andrew Denton's Musical Challenge)
• Taken By Trees
• Lina Geboy

Use in Live concerts

• The song was also performed in many live concerts by country singer Carrie Underwood.
• 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.
• 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".
• Avenged Sevenfold frequently use the opening riff as a segue between songs during live concerts.
• The 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.
• Green Day occasionally plays the beginning of the song in concert.
• Welsh rock band Lostprophets play the first verse (minus the intro riff) as an intro to "Last Summer".
• British progressive rock band Muse played part of the intro riff during the outro of their song "Hysteria", at Reading Festival in 2011, and to conclude the outro of their song "Plug In Baby" at the Emirates Stadium in 2013.

Other versions/Notable performances

In 2008, during their tour, Projekt Revolution, Linkin Park mashed their song Bleed It Out with Sweet Child o' Mine, in which the intro was played while the lead singer, Chester Bennington would sing the first verse, then would change to Bleed it Out and the performance would go on to the drum solo, where Street Drum Corps would perform before the song would be finished.

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

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

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

Irish dance act The Lazy Boyz recorded a trance version in 2004. It went on to appear on two Ministry of Sound compilations, Big Tunes and The Annual 2005.

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, and in a 2009 UK advert for department store John Lewis and announced would be released as their next UK single. This cover peaked at #23 on the UK Singles Chart.

Malaysian Idol's first winner, Jaclyn Victor, performed this song in the competition and received positive reviews from the judges and voters.

Welsh rock band Lostprophets performed the first verse (without the intro riff) as an intro to their song "Where We Belong" at the BBC Radio One Big Weekend 2010.

Slash recorded an acoustic version of the song with singer Myles Kennedy for the deluxe edition of his 2010 solo album, Slash.

Limp Bizkit has played their own version of the song a number of times during their 2010 European tour.

Classically trained pianist Vika Yermolyeva has performed a piano cover which has garnered over three million unique views on YouTube.

American punk band blink-182's guitarist Tom DeLonge played a portion of the intro during the outro of the song "Depends".

During the Super Bowl XLV halftime show, which featured The Black Eyed Peas, Slash joined with vocalist Fergie to perform the song.

Use in sports

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English football team Barnet FC uses the song when the team enters the pitch before a game.

Formats and track listing

All tracks are written by Guns N' Roses except where noted

Personnel

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

Charts and certifications

See also

• List of best-selling singles in the United States
• List of Hot 100 number-one singles of 1988 (U.S.)
• List of UK Rock Chart number-one singles of 2010

References

1. "Artist Chart History - Guns N' Roses". Billboard. Retrieved 2008-12-18. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
2. "Guns N' Roses". Chart Stats. Archived from the original on 2012-07-21. Retrieved 2008-12-18.
3. ^ Meaning Behind Songs - N.I.
4. "Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child o' Mine". YouTube. 2009-12-24. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
5. "News". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
6. "Guns N' Roses top rock riff poll". BBC News. May 2, 2004. Retrieved May 24, 2010.
7. "Acclaimed Music Top 3000 songs". 27 May 2009.
8. "Week Ending March 18, 2012. Songs: Your '80s Party Mix-Tape". New.music.yahoo.com. 2012-03-21. Retrieved 2012-03-29.
9. Bad Dreams (1988)
10. New York Magazine | The Wrestler Director Darren Aronofsky on Mickey Rourke and the Benefits of Having a Small Music Budget
11. "Sheryl Crow to Release 'Sweet Child o' Mine,' Her Special Version of the Rock Classic, in June. - Free Online Library". Thefreelibrary.com. 1999-06-01. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
12. YouTube video of Belladonna's version of "Sweet Child Of Mine"
13. "Sweet Child of Mine Sitar Version". YouTube. 2007-04-02. Retrieved 2013-04-12.
14. Mentioned on the Radio 1 Fearn Cotton Show, 20 November 2009 approx 11:00 GMT
15. Limp Bizkit - Sweet Child o' Mine (10.10.10)
16. "Black Eyed Peas, guests wail; Aguilera wobbles". USA Today. 2011-02-06. Retrieved 2011-02-07.
17. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40.
18. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50.
19. "Top Singles - Volume 48, No. 22, September 17, 1988". collectionscanada.gc.ca. Retrieved 2010-02-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
20. "The Irish Charts". irishcharts.ie.com. Retrieved 2010-02-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help) Note:User must seek the title of the song.
21. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine". Top 40 Singles.
22. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine" (in Dutch). Single Top 100.
23. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine" Canciones Top 50.
24. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine". Singles Top 100.
25. "Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine". Swiss Singles Chart.
26. "Sweet Child o' Mine". Retrieved 2010-02-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
27. ^ "Billboard Singles". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2010-02-29. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
28. "2011 Top 40 Rock & Metal Singles Archive - 2nd April 2011". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 October 2012.
29. "Italian single certifications – Guns 'N Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 30 October 2012. Select "Tutti gli anni" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Type "Sweet Child o' Mine" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Singoli" under "Sezione".
30. id MUST BE PROVIDED for UK CERTIFICATION.
31. "American certifications – Guns N' Roses – Sweet Child o' Mine". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
32. Grein, Paul (2012-10-24). "Week Ending Oct. 21, 2012. Songs: Maroon 5′s "Nixon Moment"". Yahoo! Music. Retrieved 2012-11-01.
    • britster (2013-05-05). "US Top 200 Songs in Digital Era". Nielsen SoundScan. BuzzJack.com. Retrieved 2013-05-22.

External links

• Template:MetroLyrics song

• Cite certification used for United Kingdom without ID
• 1988 singles
• Guns N' Roses songs
• Sheryl Crow songs
• Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
• Glam metal songs
• Music videos directed by Nigel Dick
• Singles certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America
• Songs written by Slash (musician)
• Songs written by Axl Rose
• Song recordings produced by Rick Rubin
• Rock ballads
• 1980s ballads
• Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance
• Music videos directed by Stéphane Sednaoui