‘Welcome to the Jungle’ is a song by American rock band Guns N' Roses, featured on their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987). It was released as the album's second single initially in the UK in September 1987 then again in October 1988 this time including the US, where it reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 24 on the UK Singles Chart.
Axl Rose wrote the lyrics while visiting a friend in Seattle: "It's a big city, but at the same time, it's still a small city compared to L.A. and the things that you're gonna learn. It seemed a lot more rural up there. I just wrote how it looked to me. If someone comes to town and they want to find something, they can find whatever they want." Guitarist Izzy Stradlin summarizes the song as "about Hollywood streets; true to life".
Slash describes the development of the music in his self-titled autobiography. As the band was trying to write new material, Rose remembered a riff Slash had played while he was living in the basement of Slash's mother's house. He played it and the band quickly laid down the foundations for the song, as Slash continued coming up with new guitar parts. "It was really the first thing we all collaborated on…" the guitarist recalled. "In that whole 'discovering ourselves' period from '85 through '86 – when we were living together very haphazardly and getting together and jamming – there was something going on that not a lot of people had. And this song just had this natural feel that was very cool."
Axl Rose claimed the lyrics were inspired by an encounter he and a friend had with a homeless man while they were coming out of a bus into New York. Trying to put a scare into the young runaways, the man yelled at them, "You know where you are? You're in the jungle baby; you're gonna die!" "It was a very telling lyric – just the stark honesty of it," said Slash. "If you lived in Los Angeles – and lived in the trenches, so to speak – you could relate to it."
‘In 2009, ‘Welcome to the Jungle’ was named the greatest hard rock song of all time by VH1. In 2021, Rolling Stone listed "Welcome to the Jungle" at 491 on their “500 Greatest Songs of All Time” list. The song was ranked number 19 in Martin Popoff's book The Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All Time. It was also named the second greatest metal song by VH1 in 2008. In 2006, VH1 also placed the song at number 26 on its list of the "100 Greatest Songs of the 80s" and, in 2009, the channel ranked it the greatest hard rock song of all time. Rolling Stone readers named it "the greatest sports anthem" in 2009 and it was listed number 764 in Q's "1001 Best Songs Ever". Paste and Kerrang both named it Guns N' Roses' greatest song. It was named the "greatest song about Los Angeles" in a 2006 Blender poll.
Label – Geffen
Songwriters – Guns N' Roses
Producer – Mike Clink
SONG LYRICS
[Intro]Oh my God
Jump
[Verse 1]
Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games
We got everything you want, honey, we know the names
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
If you got the money, honey, we got your disease
[Chorus]
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shun-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n, knees, knees
Mwah, ah, I wanna watch you bleed
[Verse 2]
Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want it you're going to bleed, but it's the price you pay
And you're a very sexy girl, who's very hard to please
You can taste the bright lights, but you won't get them for free
[Chorus]
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
Oh, ah, I wanna hear you scream
[Interlude]
Moaning
[Verse 3]
Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here everyday
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you got a hunger for what you see, you'll take it eventually
You can have anything you want, but you better not take it from me
[Chorus]
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shun-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n, knees, knees
Mwah, I'm gonna watch you bleed
[Bridge]
And when you're high, you never
Ever want to come down
So down, so down, so down, yeah
[Guitar Solo]
[Bridge]
You know where you are?
You're in the jungle, baby
You're gonna die
[Chorus]
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shun-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n, knees, knees
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, oh my, my, my serpentine
Jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your shun-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n, knees, knees
[Outro]
Down in the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your, it's going to bring you down, huh