The thing about 'Sweet Child O' Mine,' it was written in five minutes. It was one of those songs, only three chords. You know that guitar lick Slash does at the beginning? It was kinda like a joke because we thought, 'What is this song? It's gonna be nothing, it'll be filler on the record.' And except that vocal-wise, it's very sweet and sincere, Slash was just fuckin' around when he first wrote that lick.
Duff McKagan, 1988[6]
Lead guitarist Slash has been quoted as having an initial disdain for the song due to its roots as simply a "string skipping" exercise and a joke at the time.[6] During a jam session at the band's house in the Sunset Strip,[7] drummer Steven Adler and Slash were warming up and Slash began to play a "circus" melody while making faces at Adler. "
Nació de un riff de coña, para descojonarse de Adler. Creció y acabo en canción porque Axl quería dedicarle una balada a su chica. A Slash nunca le gustó no siquiera el corte final (producido) y a base de escucharlo ha sabido aceptarlo y renegar menos de él (siempre dice que, pese a no gustarle mucho, es el que más pasta le ha dado y que por eso, al final le ha acabado cogiendo "cariño").
Y en una votación que hicieron para meter los temas del disco, esta canción no salió por ningún lado.
A mí me sigue pareciendo una de las joyas más grandes de la historia del rock, pero que su canción favorita no es ya te lo digo.