GnR

They announced that Guns & Roses will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year.
I was 16 or 17 when GnR busted through the sod out of a dank hole somewhere and onto the MTV scene.  My friend Larry, who was more into music than I was, saw their video and said how awesome it was.  We watched MTV at his house until it came on.  I always liked metal music, but was never really into it.  GnR changed that.  I bought Appetite for Destruction as a cassette and almost wore it out.  I don't know how many plastic cases I broke as they slid around in my car with a copy of that in the tape deck.  Axl and Slash were awesome.  There was a lip sync contest at school that year (a private Christian school) and a bunch of guys did Welcome to the Jungle (with one guy doing nothing but holding a GnR banner - odd).  It was allowed by the "censors" but apparently there were discussions afterwords that it was inappropriate.  Appetite was unapologetically sex, drugs and rock and roll with not even the thinnest veil.
GnR Lies came out about a year later, although it felt a lot longer.  I bought the cassette at a local record store the first day it was out and almost wore that cassette out too.  One side electric, the other acoustic.  The songs were funny, irreverent.  Appetite was still played a lot.  After GnR Lies, there was a big dry spell.  I bought a vinyl bootlegged LP of some of their early music, with a naked lady on the cover of it.  Some of their music on it I've never heard anywhere else.  I still have it, but no way to play it.  I still own the cassettes of Appetite and Lies, but only have the CD of Appetite.  Several of their songs are on my MP3 player and phone as well.
I had a GnR poster in my room.  The band ssitting there and a couple bottles of booze.  If there was any doubt about whether Rock could be a bad influence, I'm sure I drank Jim Beam and Jack Daniels because the band was frequently seen with them.  In reality, that only influenced what I drank, not if or when.
My first year in college, Use your Illusion I & II came out.  I dutifully bought them.  There was some OK stuff on them, but I doubt I've listened to the entire cassettes more than a handful of times.  It was lacking the rawness of the real stuff.  Chinese Democracy was a tragedy.  I'm not sure if it was meant to be a political statement or not, but it shouldn't have been, on at least two levels (at least).
When I heard GnR was going to be in the Hall of Fame, I felt a little old, and wondered if Slash and Axl would get back together for a reunion, but I really didn't care.  The other day I watched the Welcome to the Jungle video on youtube; it is still pretty cool.  I also grabbed my Appetite CD and listened to it front to back for the fist time in a long while.  This time, I was listening with 40 year old ears, not 16 and while sitting at my desk at the Fortune 500, something impossible to contemplate to 16 year old ears.  I still like the music and know all the words, but there is no doubt I've changed along with my overall music tastes.  The classic rock stations I listen to now routinely play Guns & Roses.  And in reality, with only one member still in the band, it is more of a brand than a band.  I guess we've all gotten older in the 20 years it takes to get into the Hall of Fame.