The date was July 21, 1987 and 'Appetite For Destruction' hit store shelves.   But if you didn't know, the cover art you see above isn't the original cover for the album, and it's kind of bit GNR in the ass again here recently.

Below is the original cover art that was banned.

Remember it was 1987, so looking at it now you may be thinking "not a big deal", so why was it banned you ask??  Did you not notice the woman who appears to be sexually assulted??  No big deal right??  But according to the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas it still is.  Guns N Roses are just a few days into their "Appetite For Democracy" residency, and to promote their concerts, the city of Las Vegas even changed the name of the street next to the Hard Rock to "Paradise City Road" to make the band feel welcome.  But the controversial element about Guns being in Sin City is the posters they used to promote the event using the cover art from the banned album cover.  See Below:

These were everywhere,  Not just at the Hard Rock, but in print ads, cabs, you name it, if you were in Vegas you saw this ad.  So since the ad has recieved so much attention because the use of the banned cover art...they have all been pulled now.  Remember when I told you above that the city temporarily changed the name of Paradise Road to Paradise City Road??  Clark County commissioner Mary Beth Scow told the Las Vegas Sun that she regrets the decision to change the street name. “I hadn’t seen the advertising before the media event. It’s clearly inappropriate. Maybe it’s the risk of doing business with a rock band, but I guess we’ll have some remorse over this decision. It’s a lesson learned.”

The Hard Rock Hotel has apologized for the artwork, issuing a statement Friday which reads, “Hard Rock Hotel & Casino regrets that the Guns N’ Roses advertising for their current shows has offended any member of the community. The resort has decided to further modify the art and began the process of changing the materials.”

Just goes to show you, sometimes back in the day when something was offensive, maybe it really was taking it too far..even for 1987.  Guns N Roses was a rock band that was VERY hungry, and not only really wanted to make it in the music biz, but they were also a band that needed to make it. Even if it means shocking you into buying their album, which looking back now was an album that set the tone for Hard rock for the next 4 years to follow "Appetite For Destruction".  It looks like in Las Vegas, where they need to sell tickets for a show with only one original memeber in the band now, they found a way to get people talking about the band again.  Even if it was a re-hash from their debut album...loooks like it worked. Enough so that now I need to figure out how to grab some tickets and airfare to Vegas before November 24th so I can check out the show.