Analysis of Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite For Destruction” album cover

This is the original album cover released for the debut studio album by Guns N’ Roses. As we
can see at a first glance, it is quite a graphic image and quite striking. We see a girl with her
underwear around her ankles, a very strange robot and a devil like creature at the top. This
is actually depicts a robotic rapist about to be punished by a metal avenger. This artwork
was refused by most distributors due to its insane level or controversy; it just couldn’t be
shown to the public because of how graphic it was. It wouldn’t stand a chance of being
published now days but even back in the 1970’s when this was released, it was never used. I
think it is also fair to say that the images perfectly reflect the name of the album; the
avenger at the top looks very much like he is about to cause “destruction”.

Looking at the girl, we can clearly see that something is not right, although it is left open to
interpretation. It could be said that she looks dead or at least dying, some say that she just
looks like she has had a really good time so it is up to the audience to decide. However we
can be certain that some form of sexual activity has taken place because of her underwear
being around her ankles is connoting this. In addition, her top is open, displaying her
breasts, her hat is not where it should be, she has a shoe missing and her facial expression is
not one particularly displaying her happiness.

The Robot which has been revealed to be a rapist, can be seen right as he is shocked by the
avenger before him; his hat is flying off and he has some sort of explosion going on above
his head. This connotes that he is being punished for his actions, and it looks almost as if the
devil has come to take him to hell. The tongue of the red monster in particular makes it look
hungry, which is enforcing the name of the album once again. It is the avenger who has the
appetite, who has found this rape scene or “destruction”. The hands of the devilish monster
are almost clenching with hunger at the sight of this robot.

There are many ways to perceive this artwork but the way I see it is this: The artwork
represent the government (robot) raping the society of America in the 1970’s and
destroying the entrepreneurial spirit (represented by the woman). Then the red war
machine (the red monster above) destroys the government. It just connotes our own
destructive nature as a society. Here it is applied to the States but I think it can be applied to
just about anywhere with the similar sort of society. However, who is to say that this
women has been raped; the robot could represent a male boss, and the women is willing to
sleep with him in order to rise to the top of the ladder which was very common in society at
the time and very much still now. The boss then ruins her when it gets to the point where
she is actually a competitor. He may have then forced her into sex, through harassment or
she would lose her job, another very common problem in society which again is
“destructive”. In which case we can see the red beast as the avenger of the women. On the
other hand it could just represent the dog-eat-dog world that we live in, and in that case,
whoever has the biggest teeth wins.

The lead singer from Guns N’ Roses said that the robot represented society and that the
women represented the band or individually humanity as a whole. He also claimed that “the
image itself was not indecent; it’s what people chose to see”. Basically he chose artwork
which backed up the thesis of Joseph Campbell which has made him a hero: “that the
progress of Western culture has outstripped man's spiritual and emotional ability to deal
with it”