With roots in blues-rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo.
The first heavy metal bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple attracted large audiences, though they were often critically reviled, a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s Judas Priest helped spur the genre’s evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal had attracted a worldwide following of fans known as “metalheads” or “headbangers”.
In the 1980s, glam metal became a major commercial force with groups like Mötley Crüe. Underground scenes produced an array of more extreme, aggressive styles: thrash metal broke into the mainstream with bands such as Metallica, while other styles like death metal and black metal remain subcultural phenomena. Since the mid-1990s, popular styles such as nu metal, which often incorporates elements of grunge and hip hop; and metalcore, which blends extreme metal with hardcore punk, have further expanded the definition of the genre.
Welcome to the Jungle
Guns N' Roses Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Jump
Welcome to the jungle, we've 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've got the money, honey, we got your disease
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, uh, I wanna watch you bleed
Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want it you're gonna bleed but it's the price to 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 there for free
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
Ooh, ah, I want to hear you scream
Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
You learn to live like an animal in the jungle where we play
If you've 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
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
Mwah, I'm gonna watch you bleed
And when you're high, you never ever wanna come down
So down, so down, so down, yeah
You know where you are?
You're in the jungle, baby
You're gonna die
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Feel my, my, my my, serpentine
Jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-knees, knees
Down in the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to you
It's gonna bring you down, huh
The song Welcome to the Jungle by Guns N' Roses is an ode to the dangers and thrills of the city life. The lyrics depict a city as a jungle where people can have everything they desire, but at a price. The opening lines "Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games, we got everything you want honey, we know the names" talks about how the city provides entertainment, pleasure, and everything that people need but they have to be willing to pay the cost.
The chorus "In the jungle, welcome to the jungle, watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees. Mwah, I, I wanna watch you bleed" is a warning to those who dare to enter the city. It is a dangerous place that can bring people to their knees, emotionally and physically, and the singer wants to watch them fall. The second verse "Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day. If you want it you're gonna bleed but it's the price to pay. And you're a very sexy girl who's very hard to please" reiterates that the city is not for the faint-hearted. It is a place where people have to struggle to survive and that is the price they have to pay for their desires.
In conclusion, the song presents the city as a place of great danger but also of great reward. The lyrics offer a warning that people will have to be on their toes if they want to survive and thrive in the city.
Line by Line Meaning
Oh my god
Expressing a feeling of anticipation, excitement and maybe in disbelief (like someone could say 'wow')
Jump
An instruction about something crazy or exciting that's going to happen, maybe an invitation to escape from the normal mundane world to something wild, to plunge in to the unknown or start an adventure
Welcome to the jungle, we've got fun and games
A phrase greeting the newcomers to an environment where harsh conditions foster a very difficult, savage, and uncontrollable environment, but the inhabitants of the place, promise to provide a form of entertainment
We got everything you want honey, we know the names
Assurance that the establishment has several things, probably tangible and/or intangible, that newcomers desire or want, and that the inhabitants or insiders know how to call them, making them more accessible.
We are the people that can find whatever you may need
The inhabitants of this wild place, assures the newcomers of their ability to find or provide whatever they need, whatever it may be.
If you got the money, honey, we got your disease
A warning and probably a veiled threat that if one has money to offer, in exchange, affairs or relationships with the group could culminate in a disease or other negative effects like addiction or brainwashing
In the jungle, welcome to the jungle
Watch it bring you to your sha-n-n-n-n-n-n-n-n knees, knees
Mwah, I, I wanna watch you bleed
The wild place is tough and challenging, but the inhabitants who have been in the game want to watch the newcomers collapse, may be bleeding or struggling to adapt to their survival game
Welcome to the jungle, we take it day by day
If you want it you're gonna bleed but it's the price to 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 there for free
An assurance that the stakeholders take the place day by day and will not offer any shortcuts, and if the newcomers want anything from them, they will have to pay a considerable price. An observation that there is a beautiful lady there who is challenging to please but is intrigued by the bright lights and thinks she can get in for free.
Feel my, my, my, my serpentine
Ooh, ah, I want to hear you scream
An invitation to the beautiful lady there to feel the snake-like moves of the inhabitants, with further excitement from the screams, it seems like the inhabitants and the beautiful lady are both getting some pleasure from what's happening
Welcome to the jungle, it gets worse here every day
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
A warning that the place is getting worse by the day but inhabitants there have learned to live as animals. An assurance that if newcomers have a taste for anything they see, they will ultimately take it away. However, a strict warning to the newcomers not to do that to any existing member of the place.. Or else!
And when you're high, you never ever wanna come down
So down, so down, so down, yeah
A commentary about being in a rush, of getting a high (or being excited), but once that happens, you never want the excitement to end, and perhaps you will always be seeking the rush or the high
You know where you are?
You're in the jungle, baby, you're gonna die
A question asked rhetorically with the answer providing a warning to newcomers, assuring them that they have entered a highly dangerous and challenging place, and they have to be on the lookout; the playground can't guarantee their safety
It's gonna bring you down, huh
Furtherance of the previous warnings that the place would bring down anyone who's not ready. A general word of caution for anyone who dares to enter that it's going to be tough on them.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: W. Axl Rose, Saul Hudson, Duff Rose Mckagan, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@rocknjocie
33 years ago today they released Appetite for Destruction with this song as the opener...and it changed the world.
@pureevil9189
Yeah
@xl9322
Damn
@ryuzakisfeet4729
I did not think there are people watching this shit but I dare there is no 11 year old girl watching this 😈but in topic bro damn it changed the world, but what did it change?!
@ryuzakisfeet4729
Watching it in 2020 I mean 😂
@kiarapapp9424
True
@PreciousPotat
“Welcome to the Jungle” is by far my favourite Guns’n’Roses song. It’s just perfect - the lyrics, the singing, that bass, the guitars and drumming. You get lost in that intensity.
@johnjohnson7509
L.A. in the 80s baby!
@davidg.9932
Happy 57th Birthday Steven Adler Born Michael Coletti 01/22/1965 Cleveland, Ohio. At Bancroft Junior High, Adler befriended Saul Hudson, later known as Slash and the rest is history. Cheers Steven..
@maximumgaming1586
The moaning of a man.