twenty years?

i am a little behind in my reading of rolling stone but i finally got to the august 9 issue today. on the cover is a photo of guns n roses to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the release of appetite for destruction. first off, damn twenty years already? i can still remember seeing the videos for paradise city and sweet child o' mine and thinking (in a pre-pubescent voice) "those guys must have a lot of girlfriends. second, was it such a landmark album that it needs to grace the cover of RS in 2007? the writers inside believe it to be but i haven't though much about the release since i discovered the beatles somewhere around 1990.