2021.04.06 - Verse Chorus Noise - Interview with Steve Thompson

Transcript:

Mike Galaxy: Hi guys, thanks for joining us for this first ever installment of Verse Chorus Noise. Verse Chorus Noise is a new series where we discuss the making of legendary albums with icons and music industry professionals who are intimately involved with those records. On today's show we'll talk with Steve Thompson, the man who mixed Guns N' Roses' Appetite for Destruction. If you like this show, please hit the like button below. Subscribe to hear more up and coming interviews. I know you'll like them. For extended interviews and even more fantastic stories, please visit my Patreon page. The link is below in the description. Thanks again for supporting my channel. Enjoy. Mike Galaxy with Verse Chorus Noise. On this installment we take a spin with Geffen's best selling album of all time, Guns N' Roses Appetite for Destruction. Appetite for Destruction was produced by Mike Clink, who has worked with Motley Crue, Megadeth, Metallica and more, and was recorded between January and June of 1987 at various Los Angeles area studios, but primarily at Rumbo Studios and The Record Plant, which has produced hugely successful albums like Blondie's Parallel Lines, Metallica's Load and Reload, The Eagles' Hotel California, Fleetwood Mac's Rumors, Eminem's Marshall Mathers, and many more. Although the album was released in July of 1987 and even debuted in the top 200 on Billboard, it wasn't until early 1988 that the album would gain heavy radio support for their singles Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, and Sweet Child O' Mine, all of which would dominate the charts. The album eventually soared to number one in the U.S. and went on to sell over 30 million copies. Appetite for Destruction was mixed by Steve Thompson who immediately went to work on Metallica's ...And Justice For All. I recently caught up with Steve.

Steve Thompson: Well, first of all, I was producing Tesla's first album Mechanical Resonance, I think the first project I did for Geffen Records, and Tom Zutaut was the A&R guy. So while I was doing the record, he started sending me the Guns N' Roses demos, because he wanted us to produce it. Michael Babiero, myself. And I got the demos through the process. I was doing like four projects at once. Absolutely loved it. When I heard Welcome to the Jungle it blew me away, I said, "I gotta do this band." And the problem was they wanted to do it right away. We were so physically burnt from the projects we did. Obviously we wanted to do it, but you know, we do a project, we have to be a thousand percent there. So we said, "Why don't you find somebody to produce and we'll mix it for you?" So that's when Tom got Mike Clink. And that's basically how the project started. So we wound up mixing it in New York and Izzy, Axl and Slash were at the mix sessions. We did some additional recording. I believe we released that single about two or three times, Welcome to the Jungle, with no success until I think it was Tom Zutaut and Geffen Records put a gun to the head of MTV and says, "Give this video a shot." So MTV finally gave in and I think they played it like in the wee hours of the morning, two to four in the morning and they got so much response at that hour, they finally put it in rotation.

ST: We wound up releasing Sweet Child O' Mine, which the song totally blew up the band. Just blew it up. I mean, it was insane. So I think we went back to Welcome to the Jungle after Sweet Child O' Mine, because to me, that song to this day is still an anthem.

ST: I remember when we were doing Rocket Queen, we were mixing it. Axl wanted real sex sounds in the middle of Rocket Queen. So we mic'd them up in the studio and Axl and this woman, they decided to have sex and we mic'd it up.

ST: I think the first song we mixed was It's So Easy. I have a tendency once I get something I like, I play it loud. And I remember Slash coming in on, you know, when I said, "Okay, take a listen to the mix." And I had everything on 11. And I remember specifically, when the heavy guitars first came in, I made them over-loud. And the funny part was... I don't know if you ever saw the Memmrix[?] commercial, you see a guy and the music and the winds blowing on his face, and that was Slash. So I think I ended up blowing three sets of speakers, mixing that song, and I felt it was right after that.

ST: My feeling was, I felt that's what rock and roll needed to be in that time and place, and I felt very strongly about that. And if it didn't, I was really gonna be pissed off because that was perfect rock and roll. Did I know it was gonna be probably the number one selling rock and roll album of all time? No, but I knew that there's no reason why this album can't be huge. I mean, they had everything, they had danger, they had the looks, they had the songs, they had a great company behind it. And it just, everything fell into place. And to this day, we're still selling a gazillion records a year.

MG: And that concludes this installment of Verse Chorus Noise. I want to thank Steve Thompson and I want to thank all my listeners and supporters. We'll see you next time. Sounds great, Mike. Have a great day. I really hope you enjoyed this installment of Verse Chorus Noise. I want to thank Steve Thompson for joining us on this episode. If you really liked the show, please give us a like and subscribe to the channel. If you really want to support us, visit our Patreon link below. Thanks and we'll see you soon.

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