Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club

[Matt]

Off-topic from the Illusion albums but still on-topic as far as "Guns N' Roses" goes:

I saw a little quip in an issue of Esquire recently:

The Esquire 70 (as in, the seventy things that make us very happy to be alive today):

38.  The race between the long-rumored release of Guns N' Roses' Chinese Democracy and actual democracy in China.

In the same issue, they were also voted in as "Greatest squandered talent".

Woo-hoo!

[Scott]

Oooh, I forgot this one but I read it a couple of days ago in the Rolling Stone...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

A new Guns N'Roses track was aired on US radio after being leaked by an unlikely source - a top-flight baseball player.

The latest unusual twist in the G N'R saga began when New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza was mysteriously sent the CD in the post simply marked 'New GNR'.

Reports in the US detail how Piazza - making one of his regular appearances on the Friday Night Rocks ... With Eddie Trunk, a nationally syndicated show on New York's classic rock station Q104.3 - urged the DJ to play a track, 'I.R.S', during his guest spot just after midnight.

"It reminded me of 'Use Your Illusion'-era stuff, with some modern flairs to it," said DJ Eddie Trunk.

"The song had a loop track in the beginning, but then, when it kicked in, it was that same dramatic Guns N' Roses hard rock."

Predictably calls came flooding in from listeners and the band's management were soon on the phone and "flipped" out according to the station director of programming.

"We've gotten hundreds, dare I say thousands, of e-mails since, urging us to play it again," said Bob Buchmann. "But we can't because the management flipped when they heard it on the air."

The CD was hastily collected and representatives from Guns N'Roses would not comment but the track has already surfaced on popular peer-to-peer music sites.

Axl Rose himself played the long-awaited new material in a Las Vegas strip club to apparently seek the dancer's approval.

According to the band's official site, news on the much-delayed album, 'Chinese Democracy', will be published 'very soon'.

[Matt]

A new Guns N'Roses track was aired on US radio after being leaked by an unlikely source - a top-flight baseball player.

The latest unusual twist in the G N'R saga began when New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza was mysteriously sent the CD in the post simply marked 'New GNR'.

Reminds me of the other well-known jock GN'R fans, from back in the day--Tony Mandarich (Green Bay Packer flop) and tennis burn-out Jennifer Capriati.  Both were professed big GN'R fans.

Axl Rose himself played the long-awaited new material in a Las Vegas strip club to apparently seek the dancer's approval.

Foolish Axl.

According to the band's official site, news on the much-delayed album, 'Chinese Democracy', will be published 'very soon'.

Hmmm.  Color me more excited about this news about Velvet Revolver:

RCA Holsters Velvet Revolver

Velvet Revolver is officially locked and loaded.

After rumors, road bumps, and name changes, the supergroup featuring Stone Temple Pilots' vocalist Scott Weiland fronting former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum, along with Suicidal Tendencies guitarist Dave Kushner have signed a recording deal with RCA. The band plans to release its debut next year.

"We're thrilled to partner with RCA Records and its legendary chief, the enigmatic Clive Davis," says Velvet Revolver in a statement. "We believe this marriage will be a loyal, dedicated and fruitful relationship not based solely on business, but instead on the thing that once dared us all to dream--music."

"This is a milestone signing for RCA," says Clive Davis, who serves as chairman/CEO of RCA Music Group. "Velvet Revolver is distinguished by not only its powerhouse musicianship but also by its new material. The songs I've heard will propel this group to the very forefront of rock music today."

Fans' first live dose of Velvet Revolver came in June, when the group played a short set of covers and originals at the El Rey Theater in Los Angeles. Bootlegs of that mini concert quickly circulated online, and the group initially planned to release a DVD and EP of the show. But those plans were scrapped as the band, the most buzzed-about "can't-miss" group since Audioslave--entertained offers from major labels.

Though the rockers haven't performed publicly since, they did release songs on two summer soundtracks, a cover of Pink Floyd's "Money" for The Italian Job and the original "Set Me Free" on The Hulk.

Formed by the Guns N' Roses remnants as Reloaded, the group spent a considerable time searching for the right vocalist. Among those rumored in contention for microphone duty: Courtney Love, Days of the New's Travis Meeks, Lit's A. Jay Popoff and early frontrunner Sebastian Bach of Skid Row. Weiland, who says he was deep into recording his second solo album at the time, ultimately took the coveted vocalist spot. (His move put Stone Temple Pilots on an even longer hiatus, though there is a STP greatest hits album said to be in the works.)

With the core lineup established, the group changed its name from Reloaded to Velvet Revolver, but it almost was disarmed when Weiland's drug problem resurfaced. The singer was busted again last May on two counts of felony drug possession. In a press conference preceding the June 19 show at the El Rey Theater, McKagan noted that it could have happened to anyone in the band--and in fact has in the past.

Velvet Revolver, currently in the studio doing preproduction, already have dozens of songs in their arsenal, including a few written with another ex-Gunner, Izzy Stradlin. The group has already recorded "Slither" with producer Bob Ezrin (KISS, Pink Floyd) and "Loving the Aliens (Sometimes)" with Josh Abraham (Orgy, Staind), though it's unsure if these will appear on the final album.

The band will not likely play live again before the release of the disc to prevent further online song swapping of its material.

Yahoo! News link

Chinese Democracy is vaporware.

[Jim]

Still havent got around to picking these up.  Need some input here.  Not interested in the videos but would like the live Illusions from Japan.  Scott, can ya help?  BTW, for you fans of the original band, looks like Velvet Revolver may never take off.  That dumb a$$ Weiland got arrested again.  This time DUI, under the influence of narcotics, hitting parked cars and fleeing the scene.  I just have no more patience or feel bad for this clown anymore.  Strike 3 your out!  Maybe a GNR reunion may take off eventually.

[Scott]

Yeah heard that about Weiland this morning

I haven't bought either of the three DVD's

Welcome to the Video's
Use Your Illusion I and II

I have all three on tape and am not in a huge rush to get them, I was planning on asking for them for Christmas

I saw Best Buy had the Videos one for $11.99 which is a steal

[Matt]

. . .looks like Velvet Revolver may never take off.  That dumb a$$ Weiland got arrested again.  This time DUI, under the influence of narcotics, hitting parked cars and fleeing the scene. . .

Are you kidding me?

Hell, that's vintage G N' R behavior, my friend.  Maybe the old Guns guys are putting Scott Weiland through some hazing or something, to get him up to speed on the G N' R way of things. . .    

Their album will be out sometime next year, and I'm looking forward to it much more than Axl's project.  I guess there's a joke going around that says we'll see real Chinese democracy before that album comes out. . .

As for the DVDs--I'll get 'em when I get 'em.  No rush.  I've got them all on VHS, which I hardly ever watch, anyway--and these things are basically the exact same stuff.

Oh, and that reminds me!  I heard last night, that Geffen released the DVDs without Axl's "permission", so now Axl's record company is suing Geffen.  Apparently, there was a (crappy) Guns N' Roses Greatest Hits CD that was scheduled for a November 25 release, which has now been delayed due to the lawsuit.

Sounds a bit silly, but then again, this is Axl we're talking about. . .

More as I find it.

[Matt]

Here are a couple of threads, from the Home Theatre Forum and DVD Talk, regarding the new DVDs:

Guns N' Roses DVDs Avaliable October 28th (HTF)

Guns n' roses dvd's coming Oct 28th!!! (DVD Talk)

(Watch that HTF thread, though--it was derailed halfway through by some ****** from Oklahoma who couldn't shut up about the concert he went to back in the day. . .)

And this is supposedly the track-listing for the Greatest Hits CD:

01. Welcome To The Jungle
02. Sweet Child O' Mine
03. Patience
04. Paradise City
05. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
06. Civil War
07. You Could Be Mine
08. Don't Cry
09. November Rain
10. Live And Let Die
11. Yesterdays
12. Ain't It Fun
13. Since I Don't Have You
14. Sympathy For The Devil

What a piece of crap.  No "Estranged", but yet we have the horrid cover of "Sympathy".  And no rare or live tracks--the Live at the Ritz version of "Knockin'" from 1988 would have been cool--that was all over the radio in late '88 and '89.  

('Course, if they added a rare or live track that I didn't already have, I'd be pissed, too--having to buy it just for that one track, but I digress. . .)  

Oh well.  Doesn't look like it's coming out, anyway.

[Scott]

There should be a whole disc full of B-sides and unreleased tracks to do the release justice.

The Sympathy inclusion is laughable at best especially when they leave out Estranged

Glad that this actually ISN'T coming

Sad thing on Weiland, it is only a matter of time until he goes Layne Staley on the world  

[Scott]

Pretty strong rumor that Gn'R will again play Rock n' Rio in Portugal as well as a Euro tour next Spring.  Wake up its time to Die!

[Matt]

Weird that this was bumped--I had a dream last night that involved an old girlfriend singing "Sweet Child O' Mine", for some reason.  I have no idea why.  Maybe it was a way of letting me know that this thread was going to be bumped.  

And, Axl, how about you finish your album before you do any more touring, huh?  

What a ******* moron.

[Rob]

I wasn't a big G N' F'N' R fan through the glory years... I mean, sure, they had a few good songs, and Slash was okay at guitar... But I feel very strongly that they didn't really start coming together as a band until more recently...

...when they started playing with buckethead.

[Scott]

Heard on the radio today that Buckethead played the gee-tar on Viggo Mortensen's latest CD...

Aragorn and Buckethead, reunited at last

http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1480593/20031121/index.jhtml?headlines=true

[Matt]

Hey, would someone (who can still post at Rebelscum) do me a personal favor and set this guy Barada straight for me regarding the release of "Civil War"?

His quote:

Here's the story on Civil War. When they released the single for You Could Be Mine as a tie-in to T2, they used Civil War as the B-Side song. With GnR being so huge at the time, and the song being so good, radio picked it up immediately.

I know this because I have the single for YCBM, and still remember the first time I heard it.

Yes, "Civil War" was released as a b-side on the "You Could Be Mine" single in June 1991, but it was first released on the "Nobody's Child" compilation in the middle of 1990.  The "Nobody's Child" album was a compilation of a bunch of (mostly) classic rockers, to benefit Romanian orphans or something.

Here's a link to Amazon:

Link

Almost a year later, it was re-released on the "YCBM" single, which pissed me off at the time, because I thought they should have released a never-before-released song on the single instead.

Another UYI song was officially released in 1990, a full year before the albums officially came out:  "Knockin' on Heaven's Door", on the soundtrack for "Days of Thunder".

Anyway, if someone wouldn't mind clarifying that, that would be greeeaaaat.  I'd do it myself, but, well, you know. . .  

And Scott (since I know you're reading anyway), how you or any other GN'R fan could list their cover of "Sympathy for the Devil" as one of their greatest is beyond me.  What an absolutely terrible, terrible cover of a classic, classic song.  Disgraceful.  

Axl sucks.

I love Axl.

[JediMAC]

How'd that be?  LMK if you want anything added or revised!

- M

[Matt]

How'd that be?  LMK if you want anything added or revised!

- M

You rule, dude.  

Thanks, brother.

Let me know if I can return the favor by perhaps posting something in your behalf at the www.baggysweater.com forums sometime. . .