Guns N' Roses - Sweet Child O' Mine
《Sweet Child O' Mine》有着摇滚史上最令人难忘的吉他前奏，使得Guns N’Roses成为了超级明星。1988年夏天，这首歌登上了单曲排行榜的榜首，这多少有点令人惊讶——80年代末的热门歌曲大多是民谣，没有一个乐队的声音像枪花那样粗糙、原始。
Slash的前奏riff是一个高亢优美、回味无穷的琶音（分解和弦的一种），令人印象深刻。接着Izzy的节奏吉他进入，随之而来的是Duff轻快的Bass line，形成了前奏部分的三个声部。Axl刺耳的声音显然不是情歌的最佳选择，但它的确有效地传达了一种痛苦的激情，而流畅、精致的表演根本无法做到这一点。事实上，这首歌取得的惊人销量，正是因为尽管Axl的歌词看起来有点伤感，但它们实际上都是关于我们所爱的人唤起的原始情感和莫名其妙的联想：她脸上的每一个方面都与童年早期形成的深厚感情联系在一起，甚至让他回到了懵懂的童年。因此，有人认为标题中的“甜孩”真的指的是Axl自己重新发现儿时的自己。
Slash的曲间solo是简单而抒情的，由新的和弦进行引入，紧接着的是哇音踏板一次又一次的构建和释放，直到高潮。歌曲骤然停转，在全员反复吟诵“where do we go now?”的驱动下，Slash和Rose分别插入了偶尔的吉他声和歌词，直到歌曲重新进入全速状态。这里的人声与吉他的相互作用绝对令人惊叹：Slash在哭泣的吉他声中穿插着Axl疯狂、情绪化的歌声。歌曲以Axl的长啸结尾，乐队的演奏随之停下。当歌曲接近尾声时，一个几乎听不到的轻柔琶音向上飘来。
尽管这首歌素质过硬，但乐队在MV中引人注目的表现无疑帮助他们战胜了对手。Axl对着麦克风的蛇舞，让美国各地的青春期男孩都试图模仿（但通常都失败了）；Izzy一袭黑衣，戴着墨镜，嘴里漫不经心地叼着一支烟，似乎对周围发生的一切都漠不关心；而Slash则戴着一顶礼帽，露出浓密的秀发，紧紧抓住他的大G，好像这是他与外界交流的唯一方式。《Sweet Child O’Mine》在MTV和电台上取得了成功，为《Welcome to the Jungle》铺平了道路。
总的来说，《Sweet Child O’Mine》完美地升华了枪花最初阵容中的一切，而一个能够如此敞开心扉的乐队竟然还录制了十年来最具攻击性的硬摇滚歌曲，真是令人难以置信。然而，这也证明了乐队给爱的等式的双方带来了激情，以同样的强度将爱与恨戏剧化。这首歌立刻成为经典，自发行以来，它的影响力丝毫没有减弱。
以上为UP主亲自翻译自All Music网站的乐评，希望大家喜欢。
Boasting one of the most memorable guitar intros in the history of rock & roll (and there have been quite a few), "Sweet Child O' Mine" made Guns N' Roses superstars, sending their debut album Appetite for Destruction on its way to staggering sales of over 13 million copies. An edited version of the song, chopping out parts of the instrumental intro and guitar solo, hit number one on the singles charts in the summer of 1988, which was at least moderately surprising -- even though several pop-metal bands scored number one singles in the latter half of the '80s, most of those hits were ballads, and none of the bands had as gritty or raw a sound as the Gunners. None were as dark or controversial in their subject matter, either, but that didn't matter with "Sweet Child O' Mine," a mid-tempo rocker (not, as some have called it, a power ballad) with starry-eyed romantic lyrics written by lead singer Axl Rose for his then-girlfriend Erin Everly (daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers). That ability to combine ruggedness and vulnerability was the perfect hook the band needed to establish themselves as a massive commercial force -- and the quality of their music didn't hurt, either.
Slash's intro riff is a soaring, graceful, evocative arpeggio figure that indelibly stamps itself into the listener's consciousness as soon as it rings out (a slight variation reoccurs in the chorus, which pushes it to even greater heights). After one complete run-through of the intro, Izzy Stradlin's rhythm guitar -- the foundation upon which the band was built -- enters and leads into a lilting bass solo by Duff McKagan, proving that he can be just as lyrical in the spotlight as he is moving underneath the music in a supporting role; there's a third, straight-ahead full-band run through the intro figure before the verses begin. Axl Rose's scratchy whine might not seem the most evocative choice for a love song, but it effectively conveys an aching passion in a way that a smooth, polished performance simply couldn't. And that actually sells the song better, because even though Rose's lyrics might seem a little sappy, they're really about the primal emotions and inexplicable associations that loved ones call up in the recesses of our subconscious; every aspect of her face connects with some deep reservoir of affection formed in early childhood, and even takes him back to that emotionally simple and expressive state of being. One starts to wonder whether the "sweet child" of the title actually refers to Rose's own rediscovered younger self.
Slash's soloing on the short breaks between the choruses and verses is simple and lyrical, and his major, extended solo (introduced by a new chord progression) begins that way, but builds into a passionate frenzy of wah-wah-pedal-driven licks whose tension he expertly builds and releases, over and over, until the climax. There is an abrupt drop-off into a completely new part of the song, a quiet section driven by a full-band chant of "where do we go now?"; Slash and Rose interject occasional licks and lyrics, respectively, until the song crashes back into full-band high gear. The interplay here is absolutely stunning, as Slash's almost literally crying guitar weaves in and out of Rose's frantically emotive vocals. The song ends with Rose wailing as the band brakes to a halt behind him; Slash playing a final lick that slides down the full range of the guitar, Rose gives a final cry in the background, and a gentle arpeggio, barely heard, floats upward as the song comes to a final close.
Even though the song was more than solid enough to stand on its own, the band's striking presence in the accompanying video certainly helped put them over. Rose's dance moves at the microphone were the stuff stars were made of, a snaky, sinuous pelvic hitch that adolescent boys across the country tried (and generally failed) to copy. Izzy, in all black, wearing sunglasses, a cigarette dangling nonchalantly from his mouth, seemed coolly indifferent to everything going on around him, while Slash, with his face hidden behind a top hat and a massive bush of hair, gripped his Gibson Les Paul as though it were his only means of communicating with the outside world. "Sweet Child O' Mine" was so successful on MTV and radio that it paved the way for "Welcome to the Jungle," a throttling, vicious rocker that had flopped upon its initial release as a single, to hit the pop Top Ten, a feat that probably would never have occurred otherwise and which cemented the band's status as the top hard rock act in America.
All in all, "Sweet Child O' Mine" is the perfect distillation of everything that made Guns N' Roses' original lineup so great, and it's almost incomprehensible that a band wearing its hearts so transparently on its sleeves could also record some of the most self-indulgently offensive hard rock songs of the decade. Yet it's also evidence of the passion the band brought to both sides of the equation, dramatizing love and hate with equal intensity. The song was an instant classic, and hasn't lost an ounce of its potency since its release.
