"Paradise City" (Guns N' Roses)

When I was in 5th grade, Guns N' Roses was the biggest band on earth.  I remember our class taking a field trip to the Old Salem colonial historic district in Winston-Salem, NC (which was a big deal, because it was 300 miles roundtrip, and no class at our elementary school had ever done something quite like that before), and we played Appetite for Destruction (1987) on the bus at least 10 times, heading there and back.  So much fun.
There was something about GNR in those days that I liked, before the songs and Axl Rose's ego/waistline got bloated.  Although the band had formed in L.A., they didn't completely fit the mold of L.A. glam metal.  Even at age 10, I kind of knew that the majority of hair bands, like Poison and Warrant, were just a bunch of Led Zeppelin wannabes who'd raided their slutty sisters' makeup cases.  But GNR had an attitude that seemed more punk.  There also were shades of bluesy, raunchy rock à la Mick Taylor-era Rolling Stones.  (Granted, I wasn't able to express it that way at age 10.  But I still knew what I liked.)
And while all of my classmates were going nuts for "Welcome to the Jungle" or "Sweet Child O' Mine," I gravitated to "Paradise City."  To me, it had the perfect balance of a singalong, poppy chorus juxtaposed with gritty verses.  But it really was all about that unstoppable, monster riff by Slash—who is still the baddest mutha to ever pull off wearing a top hat.
I recently stumbled upon an interview with Slash where he was reminiscing about the song and one-for-all camaraderie of the band in its early days.  He notes that they were riding in a rented cargo van, making the 6-hour drive back to L.A. after playing a gig in San Francisco.  He was noodling around on his guitar in the back of the van, when he began playing the almost-countryfied, fingerpicked intro to the song.  His bandmates eventually fell in on their guitars, and the arena-ready chorus started to take shape on the spot.  (If you're interested in hearing what the original, totally un-PC lyrics were for the chorus, click on over to Slash's interview with Fuse online.)
Ultimately, the chorus became about Rose and bandmate Izzy Stradlin's memories of growing up together in Lafayette, IN (Take me down to the Paradise City / Where the grass is green, and the girls are pretty), whereas the verses became a snapshot of the band's struggle to succeed while not letting L.A. eat them alive.  Quite honestly, in an era that was not known for intelligent lyrics, "Paradise City" is a refreshingly smart song.
If I have one critique of the track, though, it's the obvious splice that happens in the coda (at around 4:42).  Even as a kid, it would drive the audiophile in me nuts when Rose hits that high note on Hoooooome, and then the track obviously cuts to a different take of him screeching the same thing before the band begins to thrash.  
Luckily, the unhinged final two minutes of the track more than make up for it.  
In fact, anyone feel like moshing?