About being young and Erik, I must write why I thought about that, as I think Erik is a great guy and I didn't want to bash him:
I actually was introduced to GnR when Appetite LP was released, as I remember the vinyl came with these awesome machine raping stickers. I really liked the music, also the crosses on the field (later discovered them to be Metallica's Puppets) interested me. Those guitars on the wall made strange noises with some strange pedal and plectum over the strings. I thought it was weird, only few years after me and my cousin (who owned this stuff) were drinking together and hanging.......long hair over my face and I could get every bar......damn, that was great!