THE VIDEO Guns N Roses, "Welcome to the Jungle," Appetite for Destruction, 1987, Geffen
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SAMPLE LYRIC "In the jungle / welcome to the jungle / watch it bring you to your / sha-nanananananana knees knees / ooh-ah I / I wanna watch youuu bleed"
EXCESSIVELY DETAILED DESCRIPTION The video begins innocuously enough, with a sort of quiet street (there's a police siren, but it's pretty far away) and a vaguely sketchy dude in a pleather jacket leaning against a bench smoking a cigarette. But as soon as a bus enters the frame -- and Slash's guitar cranks up -- we know we're in for something good.
A pre-teen looking, hayseed version of Axl Rose steps off the bus, wearing a backward-tipped Bob Seger trucker hat (second coming of trucker hats -- the first coincides with Smokey and the Bandit), a plaid shirt, flared jeans, white pointy-toed shoes (possibly cowboy boots, possibly the shoes Eddie gives Chevy Chase in National Lampoon's Vacation) and with (in case we don't get it) a piece of straw still stuck in his mouth. Did Axl really dress like this back in Indiana? Why are so many awesome metal musicians from Indiana? (Diamond Dave and Mick Mars spring to mind right away, naturally). The world may never know.
Anyway, as Country Axl picks up his suitcase, the sketchy dude comes up to him and starts talking to him right away, in a confidential looking manner (we can't hear any of it, because the Real Axl is going, "Woooo-oooh-oooh-ohhhh-ohhhh" like a spider monkey on crack). Country Axl steps aside at whatever the man's offer is, putting his hand on the dude's chest (despite the physical contact, this is probably the least confrontational confrontation any version of Axl's ever had), and walking away.
The camera pulls closer as Country Axl walks away, and we follow his gaze as he looks at a blonde passing him going the opposite direction. We stick with his eyeballs as they roam up her stocking-clad legs to wear they end in uh, what I wish I could refer to as hot pants but what appear to be biker shorts. Country Axl stops and stares after her, then looks at a wall of TVs in a store window (note Slash in a cameo as a drunken bum on the sidewalk beneath).
The TVs show Fantasy Axl, strapped to a chair (explaining the screaming), and we sort of travel toward the TVs until the shot on their screen becomes the shot on ours. After the screaming Fantasy Axl fills the screen momentarily, we finally see Real Axl, who's onstage with his hair teased in well, it's the one time we see him with his hair like this in any GNR video (there are plenty of old photos with his hair like this, however). He's screaming, hands outstretched, and as he brings them together over his head his scream reaches its apex. Just as his hands are about to meet, he stops, and breaks into the Axl dance, which rules.
The camera pulls back and we see that we're actually in a fairly large space (which is probably supposed to be a club but I have always thought of as a warehouse -- it's dark in there but the space is very unfinished looking to me), and as per every metal video directed by Nigel Dick there are spotlights shining around but it's mostly pretty dark. The band's onstage, and the next sequence of shots is sort of a "meet the band" thing (sans Izzy): overhead shot of Steven (who was at the time my favorite member of the band), then Slash (who's actually never been my favorite member of the band, but then again neither has Izzy), then Duff (who now that I'm older and wiser is my favorite member of the band. In retrospect, he was/is the band's best looking member).
Then we go back to Axl, who's dancing, clapping his hands, and in general mustering more enthusiasm for this video than he's since mustered for anything that wasn't brown and liquid (at this early juncture, he is apparently not yet a complete prima donna rock star). Then we finally see Izzy, who's wearing a frilly patterned shirt that in spite of leather pants makes him look like he accidentally wandered in here from the set of a Black Crowes video.
Anyway. Axl's singing now. We get through almost the whole first verse with basically the same shot, him singing from the front, then we see it from the back, to show the crowd. As Axl does his first "sha-nananananana-kneeeeees," he's holding the microphone and using more of a facial expression than he ever does in any other video (I mean, all he does is close his eyes when friggin' Stephanie Seymour buys it in 'November Rain'). As he leans into Slash, for the first time we cut away to news footage -- a cop (or something holding a baton -- the brown uniform means it's either in another country or this person's actually a security guard) shoves away a mostly unseen person, then some other sort of something enforcement personnel shoulders a rifle in another shot.
Second verse, we see a little bit more of the band, starting with a lengthy shot of Izzy. Then Axl steps in front of him, so that's over. Axl starts dancing around, doing the Axl stomp (which here he's doing in leather pants but which really, we are most familiar with him doing in either a) a kilt or b) biker shorts. I think at one point Beavis and Butthead mused on what was up with Axl always wearing stuff like that, and didn't anyone else in the band think of kicking him out over that).
Then we go to a better shot of Izzy doing a similar move, then (one of my favorite parts of the video), as Axl sings "now you're a very sexy girl / very hard to please" we see a shot of a blond in a bikini walking forward and then film of a still image of another bikini babe laying down (I always think of this as being a billboard, but it's hard to tell -- it goes by really fast and also, since I didn't note this before, I keep calling it "news footage" because it looks like someone literally taped it off the tv and then edited it into the video -- yes, the quality is that good).
Next we see Duff kind of, from below the back of his bass, and then more of Axl dancing. As the chorus begins (and we briefly see footage of soldiers running), Axl starts really going for it, with the hands-over-head-hip-swivel. We also see the crowd get a little more into it, with hands waving in the frame and a shot of Slash from behind that highlights an enthusiastic blonde in the front row.
After we see Slash playing guitar for a second or two, we go to one of (drum roll please) my all time favorite shots in all of heavy metal videos (yes, I'm not afraid to come right out and say these things!). In the background, we see Steven Adler and an anonymous babe kind of lying next to each other on a bed (ok, you can only see their heads, so I am extrapolating a bit here but stay with me). City Axl is in the foreground of the screen, taking up the entire left half, but he's out of focus. As Steven turns to look at said babe, City Axl comes into focus.
I love this shot! I could watch it all day. Seriously. In my mind, half the time when I think about The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (which obviously, I love), I remember the whole movie as being this one shot! Even though it's not in the movie at all. It is reminiscent of the scenes with Paul Stanley though. Anyway.
The camera then slides around behind City Axl's back, and we see that he's sitting at the foot of the bed (which I still uphold is there), and they're all watching a bank of four or five (or more -- it's hard to tell) TVs of varying sizes which have been stacked up against a wall (actually, the side of a staircase, since railings are partially visible and there are also these weird fleur-de-lis lights running up the side diagonally). All of the TVs are showing something different, but we can't really see since we quickly go right up to one of them, which is showing a whole bunch of soldiers around something burning.
We quickly jump back to Slash playing guitar, but just as fast we're back with something weird happening with an ambulance, some kind of military or assault vehicles going down the street away from us, then (almost too quickly to see), something that looks like somebody surfing or something and then an image of a red convertible (sorry -- even going over these videos frame by frame -- which is how I do, p.s. by the way -- I can't pick it out).
Next we again see City Axl, looking more than a bit jaded, that random chick still blurry but visible in the background. Axl's onstage, leaning on Slash, then we cut back and see that Duff is also in the TV room. Steven looks away from the woman to smile at someone else (another shot I love -- the man may have been a junkie or whatever but he was the only one of these lads that was any good at conveying emotion with any subtlety). City Axl turns again as they rewind a shot of people walking on one of the tvs.
Whoa... I just realized I'm up to 1,575 words... and I'm only 1:55 into the video. Methinks I need to start editing myself more (or not describing every shot in quite such detail!).
Anyway. The next verse is mostly Axl onstage, singing and doing his dance, but it's intercut with more tv footage -- soldiers running, a print ad or billboard of a woman in a bikini -- and also another close-up shot of the now über-jaded City Axl. We get more performance (Duff singing backup, then making a badass face, Axl dancing, Slash bent over guitar, Steven from above), then we move into the bridge -- and get to see a replay of my favorite shot! So again, Steven turns to look at the anonymous groupie/girlfriend, and as his head turns, City Axl in the foreground comes into focus. Onstage, Axl's beginning the snaky, hands-over-head dance that is about the billionth truly memorable part of this video, then we again are looking over City Axl's shoulder at the wall of TVs.
We come toward the TVs to see soldiers/police officers with bigass guns, then go back to the stage for the "When you're high you never / ever wanna come down / suh! down" as Axl turns his usual dance into a sort of mime version of this idea (think of someone miming pulling taffy, or making pasta, and then throwing it at you, and you've got the idea). On the final "down," he jumps to his knees (making me wince at the idea of doing this in what appear to be pleather pants), and we see him rocking out from the front and also (somewhat incongruously, as it's the one shot in the video where he's suddenly sweaty and shirtless) from the back, with the crowd reaching toward him. Slash finally gets substantial camera time for the guitar solo (which he manages to play without even once showing his entire face), and we see a little bit more of Steven, who keeps the cowbell coming.
Axl's return to the mic (and Slash's nice big sliiide) brings us finally back to Fantasy Axl, who appears to be in both an electric chair (okay, it could just be some kind of weird restraining thing) and a straightjacket in some sort of A Clockwork Orange scenario that also involves the dancefloor from Saturday Night Fever. He's watching a whole wall of TVs (more neatly arranged than the ones in the sequence where the whole band's on the bed) and shaking.
We can't really see what's on them, just that all are showing something different, though we do pull in once for the millionth shot of police walking, then a happy couple sort of leaping up in each other's arms in water, soldiers running, then someone throwing a rock. Axl starts screaming, "You know where you are? / you're in the jungle, baby" as the shots of the TVs become even more frantic (as does Fantasy Axl's shaking), then we see the same bikini woman from the first TV sequence and (as Axl yodels, "di-I-I-I-I-I-I-ie") a covered body being loaded into an ambulance. Onstage, Axl's making a crazy-ass face, we see some soldiers real quick, then Fantasy Axl starts flipping out and screaming.
The final chorus brings us back to performance footage, Axl with his hands aloft and the rest of him thrusting, and just a quick cut to a crowd of people running from a man striking at them with a bullwhip (I'd be interested to know what any of this stuff is from -- unlike, say, "Peace Sells," none of it is recognizable, at least to me). The next shot, which is that security guard-looking guy hitting at someone with a nightstick, is the only one that's labeled in any way -- very generic 80s looking news text that says "Last Wednesday / Westwood." Axl gives us one last "sha-nananananananana-knees" and we see a man (looks like movie footage) shooting a gun.
The camera pulls back and we see City Axl watching the wall of TVs in that store window from waaaay back at the beginning of the video (remember them?). He's got his hands on his hips, and the TVs are switching back and forth between different footage we've already seen and Fantasy Axl screaming. As Real Axl wraps it up, we see City Axl from the side (in a shot that's obviously parallel to the first time we see Country Axl). He shakes his head dismissively and walks away as the camera comes back in to focus on the televised image of Fantasy Axl screaming.
THE VERDICT Clearly, Guns N Roses are like, the Brian DePalma of heavy metal videos (they didn't invent the form or the genre, but they did do their best to take it to its logical extreme -- viz. the Use Your Illusion trilogy/Scarface), so I'm starting out with the lighter fare and leaving the concept videos (the analysis of which will likely make my exhaustive essaying of say, Whitesnake's "In the Still of the Night" seem like light reading). Yeah, I'm tossing out easy pitches for now, but don't worry, I'll get to everything eventually. I also need the disclaimer because my analysis of this video is so celebratory (even moreso than usual!). And why is that? Well let's take a look with 5 Reasons Why "Welcome to the Jungle" Rules.
1) It's got one of my all-time favorite shots, which is also one of my favorite in a very cinematic way and not just a "Whoa! That was frickin' badass" way. It shows how much faith Geffen had in GNR that they were willing to roll out the big bucks immediately and do a video that even jeez, over fifteen years later, still looks very slick. Don't get me wrong, we all know I love the mad old videos and their patently D.I.Y. set design, I'm just really impressed with the way that this video just gets it right. Unlike later Guns videos (which paved the way for excessively plot-heavy, expensive, bloated videos of all genres), this video is mad tight.
2) Axl's hair! As mentioned above, one can find a jillion pictures of Axl where he has his hair teased, but this is the only video where you see it. I find it to be so, so hot. Admittedly, I like that very L.A. look with the teased hair and aviators (it's what got me into Faster Pussycat), but I think it also helps Axl out a lot because otherwise, he's really kind of a small guy (or at least he was then). As evidenced by the last shot where he's shown from the side, the hair gives him some size.
3) Steven Adler. Hotness! At the time, Steven was my favorite member of GNR -- I thought he was sooo cute (what can I say, my taste had not yet matured enough to appreciate Duff). This video, however, makes me remember what I was thinking at the time. He looks so hot! And the drumming in this song is tight. I've always felt bad for Steven getting kicked out of Guns -- I mean, can you imagine those guys being like, "Dude, we think you've got a substance abuse problem"? I hope that they at least put down the Jack Daniels while they told him. Seriously, if he'd been in Mötley Crüe, those guys would have laughed at him for being a wuss. Plus, everyone knows I'm a sucker for bands that stay with their original lineups (notable exceptions like Iron Maiden excluded).
4) I am also a sucker for anything that uses news or old movie footage (viz. my obsession with old Headbanger's Ball bumps, Iron Maiden). Part of it's a general obsession with anything I can get my hands on from the 80s and prior (viz. this entire website, most of what I own). This video in particular does a great job with this. Juxtaposing all of the creepy, "Is it the third world or is it California?" news footage with vaguely sexual advertisements totally works and is convincing for the A Clockwork Orange sequence. It also adds something to the Country Mouse/City Mouse convention (which is actually intended here as a reference to Midnight Cowboy). Unlike a video like say, Poison's "Fallen Angel," where the individual seems to have directed her own destiny (or at least, had it directed by other individuals and personal events), "Jungle" offers a broader, cultural explanation for the transformation.
5) It's the one of the most over-played, over-used songs ever, but it's still (not to belabor the term) evocative. (Unlike, for example, the Who's "Baba O'Riley," which is one of the most amazing songs ever but which I can't help feeling gets cheapened with every misuse.) You can't go to a sporting event (or a sports bar, for that matter), without having to put up with revolting losers screaming along to it -- but somehow, you can sing along too without losing your lunch. Try going to a karaoke night anywhere without having to suffer through some fool's drunken rendition of it. But you still love it! It's impossible not to. And no matter what it gets used in, it's still badass.
Remember how the movie Lean on Me opens with it, over the lengthy sequence showing just how awful that school is? It's pretty incongruous (you were expecting rap), but it fits perfectly and sets the scene. Same thing with the current super-saturation of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas commercials (which actually use the song in a similar way, where one would again expect rap). Every time that thing comes on, I sit up and pay attention. The biggest draw still is that opening guitar/scream thing. Even though every time I hear it I think, "What the hell was Axl thinking? Of course he was dooming himself to a career's worth of throat problems singing like that all the damn time," it still sends chills down my spine. Literally.