Axl Rose on stage, fat as hell, bad voice

I used to like them, in high school too.It gets annoying after a while.

Axl was in prison song, Axl had sex song, Axl did drugs song, Axl was-late-to-the-show song, afterall-Axl-is-a-patient-guy song, Axl is pissed with some rock reviewers song, Axl is in love song, Axl is getting married song, Axl is getting divorce song, Axl is having problems with the divorce song, Axl has a garden song, Axl was dead-no-is-alive-no-is- dead song, Axl is down, Axl is up, Axl had a cold in St. Petersberg song and so on.
 
mskatonic said:
I think Civil War was the first time I thought to myself, "My god, these guys have brains in their heads?" It was a refreshing change of pace from their other songs, which while fun, weren't all that deep. I always enjoyed GNR, especially in high school. It's too bad that the whole thing imploded, and the guys had to go their separate ways, but if they're all able to keep making music, eh...that's how these thing work sometimes. Sometimes bands part as friends, but more often than not, it's like an ugly divorce.

That pic of Axl has to be one of the worst I've seen, though. The raincoat's not helping much either, but I think it's largely the angle (picture taken from below so it looks like he has a double chin). I watched the video, and while he doesn't sound great, I still would probably be rockin' out to the songs.

I think the moral of the story is that it sucks to get old. There are only a few guys who make it past 50 who stay slim (Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and of course, Bruce Dickinson immediately come to mind), and even they are likely bigger than they were in their 20s. Also, a lot of men who are older and slim end up with a ton of wrinkles (see Iggy Pop), so sometimes being a little chunky helps you look younger. There are certainly more monstrous celebrities out there --- seen Robert Smith of The Cure lately?
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Axl's got a gut, but he really didn't age that badly. His face itself looks almost exactly the same. The RIR IV shot in the OP is the most bloated he's looked in the past three tours.

Civil War was the song that made me sit up and pay attention, too. And then I heard Coma and Estranged, and I just fell in love with the band. Breakdown and Don't Damn Me also have fantastic lyrics.


Rotam said:
I used to like them, in high school too.It gets annoying after a while.

Axl was in prison song, Axl had sex song, Axl did drugs song, Axl was-late-to-the-show song, afterall-Axl-is-a-patient-guy song, Axl is pissed with some rock reviewers song, Axl is in love song, Axl is getting married song, Axl is getting divorce song, Axl is having problems with the divorce song, Axl has a garden song, Axl was dead-no-is-alive-no-is- dead song, Axl is down, Axl is up, Axl had a cold in St. Petersberg song and so on.
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:bigsmile: To be fair, Axl didn't write the lyrics to some of those songs (Mr. Brownstone and Patience were from Izzy) or the idea came from another band member (Get in the Ring was all Duff). And the bolded songs don't actually exist (November Rain's not fundamentally about a marriage, The Garden's not about Axl having a garden, Coma isn't about Axl being dead/alive/dead, and I have no idea what the fourth one was supposed to be).
 
Oh came on, i know The Garden is not about his garden, i was being ironic. I heard a lot of GNR back then.Coma is great song.

My point is GNR songs are too much self-centered. I pick Axl as the most obvious choice. Maybe i was unfair...
 
You have a point, though. They're very personal songs (especially Chinese Democracy songs). I think that's what I love about the songs, though. They're honest and it can be comforting to know that someone else has experienced the same emotions or the same experiences.

Coma's my favorite. I don't know why it doesn't get more attention. Slash just tears the song apart.
 
Coma's one of my favourite GnR songs, and November Rain is iconic - Most rock fans I know say they want it played at their wedding and/or funeral.

I don't see a problem with the songs being very 'self centered', you write about what you know after all. My Michelle was written about a friend of the band (who appreciated the honesty), Rocket Queen is loosely on a girl Axl once knew (who wanted a band called rocket queen). November Rain is the song Axl had been writing since before GnR ever formed.

The Garden is awesome simply because of the presence of Alice Cooper.
 
The Garden is also awesome because it's atmospheric and it has some sick guitar.

Yeah, Axl was really infatuated with Barbi Von Grief. He would dedicate the song to her and go on and on about how she saved his life at nearly every show in '86. :bigsmile:

I think that's what attracts most people to GN'R's music -- that it's all personal and every song means something to the artist who penned it. Sure, you could argue Axl takes his music too seriously, but you could also argue that one could never take passion too seriously. Plus, there's a sincerity in GN'R songs that's very hard to find anywhere else, in my opinion.
 
Kill Devil Hill said:
Axl's got a gut, but he really didn't age that badly. His face itself looks almost exactly the same. The RIR IV shot in the OP is the most bloated he's looked in the past three tours.
Civil War was the song that made me sit up and pay attention, too. And then I heard Coma and Estranged, and I just fell in love with the band. Breakdown and Don't Damn Me also have fantastic lyrics.
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Don't get me wrong. The singles off Appetite for Destruction were in heavy rotation my freshman and sophomore year, and I dug those, too, but by the time the Use Your Illusion albums had come out, I was actually shocked to hear something so poignant from GNR.

November Rain actually made me think that Axl had a heart, whereas previously I felt that he was in all likelihood a womanizer, but hey, being a womanizer was cool back then. It was all just part of the image. ;) Hell, I think I actually may have gone to the record store at midnight to buy Use Your Illusion II (for some reason I never bought UYI I, but it got pretty heavy play at the bar where I worked).
 
That the thing about the Illusions. A lot of people didn't like them because they were nothing like Appetite, but they actually show a lot of maturity and cover a wide range of emotions. You would never expect the guy who wrote Anything Goes to write Estranged. And honestly, to this day, I don't think any two albums by any band have songs as strong as the Illusions have. Now I wouldn't call them the best albums in the world because they lack that slick cohesion that most great albums have, but the song quality is so strong. Use Your Illusion I doesn't have a single bad song on it, and Use Your Illusion 2 has seven masterpieces on it (with some great songs and some not so great ones). And lyrically, they're the strongest in GN'R's catalog.
 
I agree The Illusion albums are Really Great, I prefer them to appetite.
I think illusion 2 is the best
Fav's
Everything except yesterdays,and my world
 
When CD came out people complained cos it didn't sound like normal GnR stuff (I honestly reckon it would've been better recieved under a different name even if it was the same album) but I see the UYI albums as a mid-point between them.

The UYI albums were the first (only until Nelly iirc?) time a band had albums debut at #1 and #2, and frankly it's easy to see why. There's a few weak tracks on UYI1 in my opinion, and a few on UYI2 (including what is quite possibly one of the worst songs I've ever heard) and I honestly couldn't say which I prefer. They are certainly good showcases of Axl's songwriting ability, one of my favourite parts being the end of Coma which I believe he wrote in one sitting.
 
Appetite's my favorite album just because it's more cohesive and it kind of tells a story. I think CD is in the same vein, but the sound itself isn't as cohesive. The Illusions just sound like a jumble, could've easily been compilation albums. The song quality is the best on the Illusions, though.

I prefer UYI 1 as an album to UYI 2. UYI 1 I can listen to just straight through. I love every song. UYI 2 only has one song I dislike (My World -- though I do love to put it on and try to convince people it's a Guns N' Roses song) and a few songs I skip sometimes (Shotgun Blues, Get in the Ring, Knockin' on Heaven's Door). But I think UYI 2 has better songs than UYI 1. UYI 1 is flaw free, but the only spectacular songs on the album are Coma, November Rain, and Dead Horse. On UYI 2, you get Estranged, Breakdown, Locomotive, Civil War, Don't Cry (alt), Pretty Tied Up, and You Could Be Mine.

I agree that the UYIs were the midpoint between Appetite and CD. I think CD was the next logical progression from the UYIs. CD can be a lot to chew on, but the album is pretty solid start to finish, though the demos are better. Take Catcher in the Rye. I wish Brian May's solo stayed. I like Ron's solo, but May's solo just sounded more emotional, in my opinion. And I wish the outro was clearer, because there's some gorgeous vocals by Axl, but Ron kind of covers him up. But even with little flaws here and there, I'd call CD one of the best albums of the decade. Just great songwriting.

Edit: That's my favorite part of Coma, too. Some of the best lyrics in all of GN'R's catalog. Yeah, he was trying to write the lyrics to it, passed out, and when he awoke, he just went off and wrote the thing. It's stories like that make me respect Axl a ton.
 
Kill Devil Hill said:
UYI 1 is flaw free, but the only spectacular songs on the album are Coma, November Rain, and Dead Horse. On UYI 2, you get Estranged, Breakdown, Locomotive, Civil War, Don't Cry (alt), Pretty Tied Up, and You Could Be Mine.
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I'm intrigued as to why you count Don't Cry from UYI2 as spectacular but not UYI1? Garden/Garden of Eden rank very highly for me on UYI1.

14 Years is one of the early songs that grabbed me from the albums, and Dust and Bones aswell... both of which happen to be Izzy on vocals, I find Double Talkin Jive harder to notice it's not axl though.

As for CD - This I Love (I find comparable to November Rain for brilliance and would often struggle to say which I prefer, but November Rain is the more impressive of the two certainly, This I Love is a song that manages to feel simple and powerful at once) and Prostitute are my two favourites. The middle of the album kind of merges into one but Street of Dreams is one that sticks out from it.
 
Oh, I forgot The Garden! I wouldn't put the original Don't Cry because, well, don't get me wrong, I love it, but I think the second one grew on me so much that I find the UYI 1 Don't Cry to be inferior now. The lyrics and the way Axl sings the final verse on the UYI 2 Don't Cry just make the other one less enjoyable for me. :p

Dust N' Bones is killer. 14 Years I tire of from time to time. Double Talkin' Jive is both Izzy and Axl singing at the same time. I think that's why it's hard to tell. Izzy's is higher in the mix, though.

Which tracks do you consider weak off of UYI 1? I used to dislike Right Next Door to Hell, Bad Apples, and Back Off Bitch, but they really grew on me. Especially RNDTH and Bad Apples. I adore those songs now.

This I Love is really pretty. I love Finck's solo in that tune. I think the lyrics are better in November Rain, as is the overall song, but TIL is really beautiful. It's not a favorite of mine, though. I prefer TWAT, Prostitute (good to see someone giving it some love!), Better, Catcher, IRS, and Madagascar. I think that's a testament to how good the album actually is, if I place TIL in the bottom half of the album. It's a shame people didn't give it a chance.
 
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