THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

463-Guns N’ Roses-Sweet Child o’ Mine.

1988-Number 24 single. When it was re-issued in 1989, it peaked at Number 6. In 2023, it re-entered the UK top 40 at Number 40.

Best Bit-At 0.01. Axl Rose wrote the romantic lyrics about his future wife Erin Everly, the daughter of Don Everly (see also best songs 799.) The groups guitarist Slash was not impressed, as according to him a Rock band don’t make songs with soppy lyrics.

‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ was the third of five singles released from ‘Appetite for Destruction,’ the debut studio Album by Guns N’ Roses, (see also best songs 8) from July 1987, the song became their only American Billboard Number 1 single, and has sold in excess of 2.5 million copies worldwide. ‘Appetite for Destruction’ is the seventh best selling Album of all time in the United States, and the best selling debut Album of all time. With sales in excess of 30 copies, it is the 22nd best selling Album of all time worldwide, at the time of writing. ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ was co-written by all five group members, W. Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler, they also share the songwriting credits on all of the other 11 tracks on the Album.

‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ was produced by the American music producer Mike Clink, who would go on to produce the next four Guns N’ Roses studio Albums between 1988-1994, he also joined forces again with ‘Slash’ in 2024, producing his second solo studio Album ‘Orgy of the Damned.’ Mike Clink has been a music producer for ‘Rock’ acts since 1986, working with artists of the calibre of ‘Whitesnake’ on ‘Slip of the Tongue,’ (1988) ‘Megadeth’ on ‘Rust in Peace,’ (1990) and ‘Sammy Hagar’ on ‘Marching to Mars,’ (1997) Of the choosing of Mike Clink for ‘Appetite for Destruction,’ Axl Rose has said, ‘We could have made it all smooth and polished with (original producer) Spencer Proffer, but it was too f#king radio, (i.e., radio-friendly) that’s why we went with Mike Clink.’

‘Slash’ was born Saul Hudson, on July 23rd, 1965, in Hampstead, London, England, he was given the nickname ‘Slash’ as a child by the American actor Seymour Cassel, (1935-2019) because he was ‘always in a hurry, zipping around from one thing to another.’ ‘Slash’ who was named after the American cartoonist and artist Saul Steinberg (1914-1999) is of mixed race, his mother was Ola J. Hudson, (1946–2009) who was a black American fashion designer and costumier from the United States, and his father is Anthony Hudson, who is an English artist. Of his mixed race background, Slash has said, ‘As a musician, I’ve always been amused that I’m both British and black, particularly because so many American musicians seem to aspire to be British, while so many British musicians, in the ’60’s in particular, went to such great pains to be black.’ Slash was the lead guitarist with Guns N’ Roses from their forming in 1985 until 1996, when parting ways on bad terms, he reconciled in 2016, and at the time of writing is still a group member. He is one of the most critically acclaimed guitarists of all time, always showing up prominently on best of lists, with the American ‘Time’ magazine naming him runner-up to Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) (see also best songs 983 and 492) on their list of ‘The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players,’ in 2009. Away from Guns N’ Roses, Slash has released two solo Albums, plus two with ‘Slash’s Snakepit,’ two with ‘Velvet Revolver,’ and a further four as ‘Slash featuring Myles Kennedy & the Conspirators,’ he has also released three official live Albums. Slash has issued 15 singles between 2009-2024, and has appeared on a further 15 as a featured artist, most notably on Michael Jackson’s (1958-2009) (see also best songs 812-511-249-191 and 137) 1993 UK Number 2 single ‘Give in to Me.’ Slash has spoken about how his interest in music first came about, ‘My big awakening happened when I was 14. I’d been trying to get into this older girl’s pants for a while, and she finally let me come over to her house. We hung out, smoked some pot and listened to Aerosmith’s Rocks. It hit me like a f#king ton of bricks. I sat there listening to it over and over, and totally blew off this girl. I remember riding my bike back to my grandma’s house knowing that my life had changed. Now I identified with something.

It was Slash who came up with the critically acclaimed and memorable guitar riff, on ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine,’ but apart from his input he isn’t a big fan of the song, he has said, ’You know Guns N’ Roses was always a real hardcore, sort of, AC/DC (see also best songs 797-245 and 170) kind of hard rock band with a lot of attitude. If we did any kinds of ballads, it was bluesy. This was an uptempo ballad, that’s one of the gayest things you can write. It’s a great song, I’m not knocking it, but at the time, it just did not fit in with the rest of our sort of schtick, and of course it would be the biggest hit we ever had.’

In 2015 an article by the Australian writer Nathan Jolly noted the similarities between ‘Sweet Child o’ Mine’ and a 1981 song by the Australian band ‘Australian Crawl,’ with their song ‘Unpublished Critics.’ Duff McKagan the bass player with Guns N’ Roses found the similarities between the two songs ‘stunning,’ but said that he had not previously heard ‘Unpublished Critics.’

‘She’s got a smile it seems to me, reminds me of childhood memories, where everything was as fresh as the bright blue sky. Now and then when I see her face, she takes me away to that special place.’