After reading through some of these posts for the past hour...

[snow white]

both are brilliant.
as a complete album i think AFD is more comprehensive, it has less fillers, its more 'raw'.
UYI definitely has more fillers but it, IMO, it also has the better songs by far. the epics, november rain, estranged, dont cry, coma, civil war...the music is better, the lyrics are better, overall i find it more sophisticated.
i love the great songs on UYI more than the great songs on AFD, but i guess its all up to personal taste...

[slash rules]

AFD is not only guns best album, but it's the best rock album in the last 25 years. Illusions was strong, but AFD is in a class by itself.

[Evolution]

some days i feel uyi I or II is better some days afd.thats the beauty of gnr!

[Continental Drift]

I would say certain "moments" (ie "Estranged", "Coma". "You Could Be Mine", "November Rain", "Live and Let Die") on the UYI albums are as good, if not better, than anything on Appetite For Destruction. That being said, as a complete and cohesive unit, Appetite For Destruction far surpasses UYI- which is a bit too bloated, over-produced and rambling at times. AFD is perfectly streamlined- There isn't a single note or lyric on that disc that anyone would change. All five members were on the same page. No compromises needed to be made. Flawless.

UYI, on the other hand, is over-flowing with compromises. Songs that should have been 4  minutes long end up 7-9 minutes long (and lose much of their "effectiveness" as a result) so as to accomodate ALL of Axl's lyrics, ALL of Slash's riffs, ALL of Matt's drums etc. In many ways, UYI is an explosion of ego whereas AFD is an explosion of anger and passion. And to me that's why one album is one of the 2 or 3 (#1 in my book) greatest rock albums ever and the others are not.

Which isn't to say UYI aren't important albums. They are routinely ranked in the Top 50 Rock Albums of all time and rightly so. Also, the best tracks on the albums represented an important progression of the band's music that has allowed them to remain relavent in the rock scene even to this day. Those albums showed that Guns was capable of divirsifying their style and producing incredible art. A MAJOR reason why many people still hang around to see what Axl can come up with now.

[grog mug]

Estranged/You Could Be Mine are songs I will ALWAYS go back and listen too.  They are both so great and never get old.  Nothing sounds as good anymore everything is the same but GN'R will always stand out.....too bad they aren't around now damn it with no update!

[matt88]

Appetite is my favorite album cos it's a solid rock album nothin else...but UYI2 is very close 2 being with appetite. The difference of the styles of songs on it and the lyrics r excellent