A 1987 Guns N' Roses single built on a Slash guitar riff that began as a string skipping exercise, with Axl Rose's lyric about his then-girlfriend.
Composition
Sweet Child o’ Mine was written by Guns N’ Roses, with the opening riff developed by Slash as a string skipping exercise. Axl Rose wrote the lyric for his then-girlfriend Erin Everly, daughter of Don Everly.
Reception
Released as the third single from “Appetite for Destruction” in 1988, the song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1988, becoming the band’s only U.S. number-one single. The album sold over thirty million copies worldwide.
Legacy
The song’s opening riff has become one of the most-recognized guitar passages in hard rock. It was certified diamond by the RIAA in 2020 for digital sales over ten million units.
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Sweet Child o' Mine starts with S and ends with E. Browse other songs along the same letter.
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