robin2002 Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I guess this is more for older fans, just wondering what was the build up to the Spaghetti Incident like and what was the reaction to it at the time?I've seen the clips of the queues of people waiting for UYI, and the massive media attention, but was there much for TSI? Obviously it was a cover album so I don't imagine it would of been anything like the UYI releases, but was there much hype? and what were your initial thoughts/reactions when you got home and listened to it?and finally, I'm guessing at the time everyone just assumed this was to pass the time until the next record (kinda like Lies), did you ever think that would be the last release by that lineup? (I'm gonna assume Live Era and The Greatest Hits don't count as releases by that lineup as they came out some years after each member had left). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Diet Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 "The Spaghetti Incident?" debuted at #4 on the Billboard 200, selling about 190,000 albums in its first week of release, significantly less than their previous releases Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estrangedtwat Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 By that time Nirvana and Pearl Jam were fucking huge and the bandwagon fans had already moved on. Even then, only hardcore fans were really excited about it.It got a lot of attention on rock/alternative radio. Lead single was "Ain't It Fun" with the word "cunt" removed of course. And there was a video for "Since I Don't Have You" but I think it came much later.I remember getting psyched hearing shit like "Human Being" being previewed on the radio before the album release. None of my friends gave a shit, but I got it the first day. There were no lines or hysteria.The only real press it got was by the evening of release day when the media outraged over the Manson cover.It was really seen and promoted as a little cover collection...just a little something to tide fans over until the next record. It was never meant to be a proper follow up to UYI. Certainly wasn't meant to be the last album by the original band. I think people liked it just fine for what it was....a covers album.But as the months and years went by, and it became understood that it essentially was the LAST Guns record, people looked down on it more. It was certainly a whimper to go out with, not a bang. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raz0r Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I don't remember it being a big deal at all, and I didn't buy it for years. I finally pick it up in '99 when I saw a ton of them in the bargain bin of my local music store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulMonster Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 As far as I remember it there wasn't much of a build-up. Especially when compared to the the launch of the UYIs. I guess it wasn't a prioritized release from neither band or label, and the interest in GN'R was waning.I bought it immediately and enjoyed it for what it was worth. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercool Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 i was living in l.a. when it got released."ain't it fun" got some radio airplay and i saw many times the video for "since i don't have you" on mtv.the band was a laughing stock since the video for "estranged". nevertheless, i didn't think it was the end of gnr. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR DOOM Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Way more low key than UYIs, but the record stores were plastered with posters for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
estrangedtwat Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 i was living in l.a. when it got released."ain't it fun" got some radio airplay and i saw many times the video for "since i don't have you" on mtv.the band was a laughing stock since the video for "estranged". nevertheless, i didn't think it was the end of gnr.TSI? came out before the video for Estranged aired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robin2002 Posted April 16, 2014 Author Share Posted April 16, 2014 (edited) i was living in l.a. when it got released."ain't it fun" got some radio airplay and i saw many times the video for "since i don't have you" on mtv.the band was a laughing stock since the video for "estranged". nevertheless, i didn't think it was the end of gnr.TSI? came out before the video for Estranged aired.I'm led to believe that aswell, TSI came out late '93 and the video for Estranged was released in early '94. Although in the Making of video you can see Axl and Slash deciding the title for TSI.Edit - Wiki says the video was released Dec '93, still post-TSI though. Edited April 16, 2014 by robin2002 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavgnr Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Got it day of release...was no fanfare at shop Love the album Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yourcrazy Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 It definately wasn't a huge deal, but there was still some excitement over it. Like someone said earlier in the post, it was just a collection if covers not a true follow up to the illusions. We truly believed a new proper album would be out soon (something's never change). Even so, our local record store opened up at midnight for the release. There were probably 50 people or so waiting. I remember I was able to get one of the promotional items they were giving out which was basically a cardboard poster of the album cover about the size of a lp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DR DOOM Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I remember Sympathy For The Devil being a reasonably big deal too, it got played on the radio a fair bit...I bought the Cd single Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Padme Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I remember the controversy over the Manson song more than anything else. If I remember correctly Sharon Tate´s relavites were doing interviews at the time. The only video for the album was Since I Don´t Have You. And Axl dated that blonde chick for a little while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowmass Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I picked it up the day it was released. Think I remember (this is alot of brain cells ago) that it was pretty well known that it was just a filler album to satisfy the fans while the boys hit the studio. Well- that didn't exactly workout... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsh327 Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Ain't It Fun and Hair of the Dog seemed to get a lot of radio play. Estranged video came out days or weeks after TSI was released. It was just really weird timing to put that out as a new song and new video and have this out around the same time. I think people were GNR'ed out after 3 years, and the whole thing of it classified as a "punk covers" album kind of made people disinterested in it. They probably could have padded out a third UYI album with some of these songs and anything Slash,Izzy, and Duff had kicking around in '91-'92. This was more like Bowie's Pin Ups - it was paying homage to their influences, and most of the songs had been sitting around from the UYI sessions. Cheetah Chrome said the TSI royalties helped out a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lio Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Ain't It Fun and Since I Don't Have You became hits, but nothing major. The world had moved on by then. Me too. I didn't even buy TSI, where a year before GNR was an absolute obsession of mine. I kinda liked Ain't it Fun, didn't like Since I Don't Have You and the video didn't help at all. I was kinda embarrassed that I had been such a huge fan of the band. That feeling never went away afterwards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimMorrison4 Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I remember getting it on sale for $2 or $3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amir Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 They probably could have padded out a third UYI album with some of these songs and anything Slash,Izzy, and Duff had kicking around in '91-'92. Cheetah Chrome said the TSI royalties helped out a lot. Wasn't that the plan originally, hence why Gilby had to rerecord over a lot of Izzy rhythm parts? Think it would have been a UYI I, II, III, with the covers mixed in.Hah, seems the "Pension Fund" idea worked out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snowmass Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I remember Look at Your Game Girl was a "hidden" 13th track. Axl sounds great on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunsfanoldie Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 This was more like Bowie's Pin Ups - it was paying homage to their influences, and most of the songs had been sitting around from the UYI sessions. Pin Ups is a good comparison. You're completely right that the "punk covers" think made people disinterested. It made me disinterested, and then I heard it years later and it was fucking great. Its a great album that doesn't get the respect it deserves for many reasons. All covers, coming at the end of a long 3 years of GNR mania, no Izzy and the band essentially already broken up by that point. But its a fantastic album, and really is the only other covers album aside from Pin Ups that I enjoy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JONEZY Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 It was supposed to come out in 1989, to give the fans something to listen to while they worked on a new album, which would have come out in 1990. But they got a little sidetracked. Anyway, I bought it when it came out, enjoyed it. As others have said it got some radio airplay and there was the controversy with the Manson song. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WAR41 Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Interesting topic. I had gotten into the band just a year before the TSI? release through my brother. I remember when it had come out, both him and I were still big fans of the band, but it seemed like no one else cared. I definitely remember when the Estranged video came out, it got so much airplay and there was almost no talk around TSI? among my friends until the Since I Don't Have You video was released. I remember hating that SIDHY video and to be honest I still don't like it. I wish they had chosen a different song on the album to make a video for.After some time even my brother slowed down his listening of GNR which left me pretty much by myself. Because I had only been into GNR for a short time I was constantly playing their whole catalog and I remember how stunned I was listening to the progression of the band from AFD to Lies to UYI to TSI and then the Sympathy For the Devl single. To this day I still do not like the SFTD single. After that the band disappeared until the end of the century. What a strange and abrupt end to the original GNR lineups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gunsfanoldie Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 To this day I still do not like the SFTD single. Thank god I'm not the only one. I never understood the love for it. I think it was a too well known and classic track for them to take on. Also, and this is true of the Stones later in their career as well, its just a hard song to play and beat the original. There's something awesome about the minimalist studio version that even the Stones have lost since the late 80s. The bigger you try to make that song, the worse it kind of is. And GNR over produced it to the max with all the different sound effects and layers on it. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellobeatle Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 It was my first compact disc actually, owned cassettes/vinyl prior.All the attention was on the Charles Manson cover at the end. Looking back, it was obviously a publicity move to conjure up attention to the disc. Ain't It Fun was the lead single and I remember its debut quite well on rock radio. Since I Don't Have You music video got airplay but nothing like November Rain or even Estranged which was out around that time. Hair Of a Dog got radio play too.I don't think its lack of sales had anything to do with the musical climate. It was very loosely promoted and labeled just a one-off covers album to fill the void, which is why I feel it lacked in sales - simply was no promotion like UYI, which was promoted prior to release like crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HollyW00d Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 I remember Since I don't Have You getting air play, and little fanfare when it was released. The thing that most sticks out to me was the damn advertisements all over the place with the spaghetti cover. It was in almost all of my Marvel Comics at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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