Album of the Year

Use Your Illusion 2 has been in my car for the last three months and I haven't yet gotten tired of it. Right now I can't get "Breakdown" out of my head, truly one of the Gunners' hidden gems. Of course there's also "Don't Cry," "Civil War," and "Estranged" -- the classics -- and "Get In the Ring," which is the best pump-up song ever. (OK, 2Pac's "Can't C Me" with George Clinton is pretty awesome too, but it's close.) Then there's "You Could Be Mine," immortalized in Terminator 2 when John Connor rolls around LA on his motor scooter, "So Fine" (another secretly amazing ballad), and general rockin' n' rollin' everywhere you look. The only truly terrible track is "My World," a stupid techno track they pasted on the end for no apparent reason.

Crazily, this album was also album of the year in 1991 for me (Use Your Illusion 1 moved into first place in 1992, I believe). Also, these albums are still in the top 3,000 on Amazon, which is amazing seeing as they're 14 years old. I'm kind of glad Guns N' Roses fell apart when they did, actually. Very few bands keep it going strong as they get older -- most (with the exception of the Rolling Stones) get worse (Pearl Jam) and/or more mainstream (Metallica, Aerosmith, etc). Better to flame out than to lame out, no?