Guns N' Roses' Hit Sweet Child O' Mine Has This '70s Rock Band In Its DNA

Despite being known as the most dangerous rock band in the world in the '80s, Guns 'N Roses penned one of the most definitive love songs of the era. Aw! "Sweet Child o' Mine" — off 1987's "Appetite for Destruction" — continues to be a beloved track to this day. However, fans of the song may owe a debt of gratitude to a popular band that served as an unlikely inspiration.

In a December 2005 interview with Q (via Far Out), vocalist Axl Rose revealed that he looked to Lynyrd Skynyrd to nail the song's sentimentality. "I'm from Indiana, where Lynyrd Skynyrd are considered God to the point that you ended up saying, 'I hate this f***ing band!" he said. "And yet for 'Sweet Child' ... I went out and got some old Skynyrd tapes to make sure that we'd got that heartfelt feeling." Well, Skynyrd wrote "Sweet Home Alabama," so there's that whole — pardon the pun — sweet connection.

As it turns out, the woman who inspired Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child o' Mine" was Rose's girlfriend at the time, Erin Everly. He tweaked the words of a poem he had written for her into lyrics, blasted Lynyrd Skynyrd to get into the right mindset, and the rest is rock 'n' roll history. Everly would also make an appearance in the music video for the song that was written about her.

Despite "Sweet Child o' Mine" becoming one of Guns N' Roses' most recognizable tracks, guitarist Slash just thought the main melodic riff was something fun that he had come up with on the spot while strumming away on his six-string. As he told Guitar World, he saw GNR as "a Motörhead-type hard rock band, so any kind of ballads were sort of uncongressed."

In a separate conversation with Total Guitar, Slash explained that it wasn't a riff he had any plans for. In other words, he was like that random guy who comes to a party and starts jamming his guitar in the corner. "I just happened to come up with it while we were all hanging around together," Slash said. "Izzy was the first one to start playing behind it, and once that happened, Axl started making up words, and it took off that way."

While it is far from Guns N' Roses' most underrated song, one does wonder how different the band's career could have been had it decided not to explore the initial riff of "Sweet Child o' Mine." And who knows if it would have hit a chord with fans if the hard-rockers weren't open to finding inspiration from a Southern rock band known for heartfelt power ballads? Axl Rose is notorious for a lot of controversial moments and questionable choices, but his decision to stick with this song turned out to be one of the best he ever made.