Author Topic: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club  (Read 130416 times)

Online Jeff

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #630 on: December 16, 2008, 11:02 AM »
Axl drops by the interwebs to interact with his fans

A friend sent me this link, apparently Axl spent last weekend on the net chatting/debating and answering questions from the GNR fans on that site.  Apparently it's all legit.  It's quite an interesting read if you can make it through the whole thing...
« Last Edit: December 16, 2008, 11:03 AM by Jeff »
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Offline Chris M

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #631 on: December 17, 2008, 08:56 AM »
Jeff, thanks for the link there...interesting read, if you can manage to make it through the whole thing.  Axl has a way of being over the top wordy.  It's nice to finally get some of his perspective on the entire GnR thing and the break up of the original band.

That said, I think he is still over the top bitter about it.  He has now said his piece, and in his autobiography, Slash said his piece about what happened.  I think Slash's perspective on events may have been a bit altered due to all the drugs he was using at the time.  However, I think both guys were telling the truth from their point of view.  What really happened to the band is somewhere in between.  I'd love to hear what Duff had to say about the break up...but I don't think he's been one to comment publicly about that sort of thing.

I think Axl really needs to extend the olive branch to Slash and Slash needs to do it. Now that they are both clean, unlike 12 years ago, a discussion and burying the hatchet would be much easier.  I will say that from Slash's perspective, he felt that Axl was trying to take creative control of the band and was bringing in too many of his own people and blowing band money left and right on stupid stuff, like excessive parties for groupies and hangers on type people. I think Slash had a lot of distrust for those people who were coming around because the band was making money hand over fist and was at the top of the metal world.  Most of that I believe came during the UYI tour.  FWIW, I think both of those albums are badass!!!

One thing I would love to see is a reunion, especially if/when they are inducted into the Rock n Roll HOF.  IMO, GnR is one of the greatest bands ever, right up there with Aerosmith.  And incidentally, those two bands have had many similar experiences, especially when dealing with talents and personalities and egos.  I would love to see Axl and Slash work out their differences, being clean now as I mentioned earlier, and make a new album.  I'm not trying to defend Slash here at all, simply offering perspective.  I think he's the best guitarist of my generation and will always be thought of as a top 5 guitar player in the rock world.  The same goes for Axl, few people have the vocal range that he does.  When you put the two of those things together, great things happen.

I think both of these guys know and understand how truly talented the other is.  The roadblock at the moment I think is Axl's bitterness.  Slash claims to have tried in the 90's to go by Axl's home and work it out, but apparently he was all f'd up at the time, probably drunk as opposed to high on heroin.

Now, I'm just hoping.  I've listened a bit more to the new album and while it's a far cry, IMO, from the old GnR, it's still decent.  I do like the bluesy-rock sound.  However, as I said in a previous post, I just can't get past it not being the original band.  I can tell it's not Slash on the guitar.  To me, it often sounds as if it's a really, really good GnR cover band with Axl doing the lyrics.  I'm not taking away from any of the other musicians who played on it, it's just not old school GnR.  I say all of this as I'm jamming to "Let it Ride" by Velvet Revolver...a totally kick ass song with a great guitar riff!!!

I just want to point out that the stuff above is just my opinion and my view of things that have transpired.  Often times, we tend to bag each other's opinion because it's not the same as ours.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #632 on: December 17, 2008, 12:25 PM »
IMO, GnR is one of the greatest bands ever, right up there with Aerosmith.

Not even close.  IMO.

GN'R had one phenomenal album, two good albums that might have been one phenomenal album had they exercised some restraint, and then it all went to ****.  Aerosmith blows them away, longevity- and output-wise.
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Offline Chris M

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #633 on: December 17, 2008, 12:35 PM »
I don't mean by sheer numbers of albums and sales.  I'm simply referring to their music quality itself.  I know a lot of people don't care for some of the UYI stuff, but most of it I really liked.  Some of it though is crap...but I think that about all albums, some of them just have some songs that suck.

That said, Aerosmith to me, is the best rock band of all time.  They've been there, done that, got the Tshirt, and been through the gates of hell to keep rockin'.

BTW, I'm reading a book about them at the moment called "Walk this Way."  Great read if you are really into them.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #634 on: December 17, 2008, 12:52 PM »
I don't mean by sheer numbers of albums and sales.  I'm simply referring to their music quality itself.

So was I.  All of the syrupy ballads Aerosmith has been relying on for the last fifteen or twenty years makes people sometimes forget that they had a decent run of some really solid rock albums back in the seventies.  Then it all went to ****, just like GN'R.  The difference is that Aerosmith came back.

As far as individual albums go, I like Appetite over anything Aerosmith ever did, Toys or Rocks or whatever.  But as overall careers go (which I think is more what the R&RHOF is looking at), GN'R can't hold a candle to them.  Will they get in?  Almost definitely.  Are they as deserving?  Nope.
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Offline Sprry75

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #635 on: December 17, 2008, 07:43 PM »
I think they're deserving of HOF induction, as they've got themselves a pretty unique place in RnR history.  They're one of those bridge bands that links a lot of different styles or "scenes" or whatever together.  I hate most hair metal stuff like Poison, Tesla, Great White and all that crap, but I loved GnR.  They were kind of a bridge between glammy post New York Dolls rock/punk, ****** '80s crotch rock, and "alternative" rock like The Cult.  They're an explosive, important band because of, if not in spite of, their many faults.

Yeah, they've put out a fair amount of mediocre stuff, and some pure ****, but when GnR hit their highest (e.g., Rocket Queen), there aren't too many bands that are any better.
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Offline BillCable

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #636 on: December 30, 2008, 10:06 AM »
I got Chinese Democracy for Christmas.  Finally had the chance to give it a listen...

I really enjoyed the first half of the album.  I've listened to the first 6  or 7 songs maybe 4 times through.  The first song is solid.  The second song is fantastic... my favorite of the album so far.  I love the funky, industrial stuff.  The third is good, but it felt like filler.  Four through six are something different.  These are like showcases of Axl's vocal chops, and unlike anything he's done before.  He's always had a powerful voice, but it was always used as just one piece of any song.  In four through six, his vocals ARE the song.  And for the most part he pulls it off amazingly.  In Street of Dreams he kinda fumbles it on the first and third line, drawing out "world" in particular across like six notes that just didn't work for me.  But otherwise I was really surprised just how he melodically carries those songs solely by his vocals.  Without his strong performances, they'd fall apart.  But because of his singing the songs are just really compelling.

Catcher in the Rye is pretty lame for the first 3/4 of the song, but the ending is just fantastic enough to make it worthwhile.

The rest of the album I've only really listened through once, and I wasn't very happy with it.  I.R.S. stood out as catchy, but for the most part the second half of the album was Axl being a whiny little bitch.  That's my first impression, and it's disconcerting.  It was all ballads moaning about women troubles.  I can deal with one or two of those, but dedicating half the album to that theme is ridiculous.  Maybe it'll grow on my after I listen to it a couple more times, but I don't have high hopes.  I want GnR to kick ass, and the second half of the album certainly doesn't.

I need to listen to it through a few more times before I have a final opinion.  But it seems like it'll be an album I'll be skipping a bunch of songs on when I listen to it.  It's a pity that the great songs are tarnished by the weaker ones.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #637 on: December 31, 2008, 09:38 AM »
The third is good, but it felt like filler.

Really?  Most of the reviews I've read say it's one of the album's better tracks, pun fully intended.

Quote
Four through six are something different.  These are like showcases of Axl's vocal chops, and unlike anything he's done before.  He's always had a powerful voice, but it was always used as just one piece of any song.  In four through six, his vocals ARE the song.  And for the most part he pulls it off amazingly.  In Street of Dreams he kinda fumbles it on the first and third line, drawing out "world" in particular across like six notes that just didn't work for me.  But otherwise I was really surprised just how he melodically carries those songs solely by his vocals.  Without his strong performances, they'd fall apart.  But because of his singing the songs are just really compelling.

Amazing what a little pitch correction can do.
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Offline BillCable

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #638 on: December 31, 2008, 10:06 AM »
Better is fine, just didn't really do anything for me.

One error in my earlier review... the word he draws out is "you" rather than "world."  I was looking through the lyrics trying to play it back in my head, and picked the wrong one.

And my impression that the last half of the album was all whiny was incorrect.  It's really only the last 1/4.  But that last 1/4 is so epically whiny that it bled over in my mind to all the previous songs.  On a second listening, both 8 and 9 are great, rocking songs.

#10 Sorry is garbage.  I don't like it at all.  The lyrics are anti-whiny, but they come across as whiny.  Plus it's too long, too slow, and dull.

I.R.S. like I said before is catchy.  Decent song.

12 and 14 have some redeeming qualities... they're not great, but they're listenable... but they're pretty much overrun by the whiny suckiness that is This I Love.  I never thought one bad song could ruin an album, but This I Love is challenging that belief.  That one song puts me in a mindset that just soils everything around it.  If it wasn't included, I think I would have absolutely loved this album.  The goodness of the songs I really enjoy would affect my perception of the whole.  But This I Love just obliterates that effect, and replaces it with bad feelings.

So I think I'll end up erasing This I Love from my MP3s and skip it when I listen to the CD in the car.  Maybe, with time, the bad effects will fade and I'll love the album.  I hope that's the case, at least.
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Offline evenflow

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #639 on: January 1, 2009, 10:47 AM »
Thats funny considering i think This I love is the best track on the album. Its the oldest of the songs. I think its just a continuation of the Illusion albums.
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Offline Neal

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #640 on: January 1, 2009, 08:24 PM »
Thats funny considering i think This I love is the best track on the album. Its the oldest of the songs. I think its just a continuation of the Illusion albums.

I somewhat agree.  It's not my favorite song on the album, but I think it's one of the better ones. 

Offline Matt

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #641 on: February 12, 2009, 12:31 AM »
Axl Speaks; Nobody Cares

Quick summary:   The internet is mean.  The record company is mean.  The media is mean.  The fans are mean.  Slash is mean.

But, the big news:  They're releasing a full Guns N' Roses album for Rock Band! 



It's Chinese Democracy. 

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Offline Chris M

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #642 on: February 12, 2009, 09:44 AM »
Is Axl ever going to get over it?  I mean, this has been going on for 15 years.  After reading Slash's autobiography, I don't think he holds any ill will towards Axl.  I think he was frustrated with where he was taking the bands music.

The two need to get over and make some badass music.
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Offline Matt

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #643 on: May 22, 2009, 01:25 PM »
Nearly six months after it's release, and I have just one thing to ask:

Anyone still listening to Chinese Democracy?
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Offline Morgbug

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Re: Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club
« Reply #644 on: May 22, 2009, 01:35 PM »
Never bought/downloaded/stole it in the first place.  So I guess the answer is no.
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