"Welcome to the Jungle" is a song by the United States rock group Guns N’ Roses, used as single number two for the 1987 album "Appetite for Destruction".
It was recorded in 1987 and released on the third of October, that same year. The formats that it was made available in were seven inch vinyl, twelve inch vinyl, CD and twelve inch picture disc.
The single was a heavy metal influenced by glam metal type of song, released for the label Geffen and produced by Mike Clink. The writing team was made of Slash and Axl Rose. "Welcome to the Jungle" ultimately peaked at rank 7 on the US Billboard Hot 100 charts, also reaching as high as 24 on the UK Singles Charts.
The B-side for the single was "Mr. Brownstone" in the US, "Whole Lotta Rosie"’s live version in the UK and "Nightrain" reissued in 1988 in the UK. VH 1 called "Welcome to the Jungle" the best hard rock song ever in 2009.
The story of the song’s writing process comes from Axl Rose’s visit to a friend in Washington, in a small town called Kingston. Axl was inspired from the way the town looked and wrote the words that came to his mind about it. Also, remembering one of Slash’s riffs, Axl decided to bring him in on the song and start putting it together. The main riff was credited to Duff McKagan, who admitted he used the same one in a 1978 song called "The Fake".
"Welcome to the Jungle" was used in a movie by Clint Eastwood called "The Dead Pool".
Jim Carrey was featured in the film, in the period when he was not known as a big actor yet. The band also briefly appears in the movie, but Carrey is shown as singing the song.
The song made it to the list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time by the Rolling Stone magazine. Used a lot in sport events, "Welcome to the Jungle" was also called the best sports anthem ever by Rolling Stone, in 2009. In live performances, it has been used for six years as the opener for their performances. It was also featured in the video games "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" and in "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas".
"Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N’ Roses is a great heavy metal song featuring interesting guitar instrumentals. If you want to play it on the piano as well, feel free to use the sheet available on the page.
