GnR's Ballad Battle.....rank their ballads!

[Apollo]

How about something positive to help with all the negativity surrounding last night's performance?

I did this on my website www.hairmetalmusic.com (SHAMELESS PLUG.............Mods, feel free to delete if you want. I'm 100000% Pro-GnR on it though. I did a Greatest Song of All Time Tournament with 64 popular songs and Welcome To The Jungle won........and a Top 10 Most Underrated Albums of All Time - and Chinese Democracy won).

Anyway - recently I ranked my 12 favorite GnR ballads.

HOW WOULD you guys rank your top 10???

Once known as the most dangerous band in the world, some people think Guns N’ Rose real strength as a band were there amazing ballads. With Axl Rose’s vocals piercing your heart, Izzy’s lyrics touching your soul, and Slash’s guitar solo’s elevating the songs to the heavens – GnR released some of the best ballads and power ballads in rock history.

But which Guns N’ Roses ballad was the best? Below we rank GnR’s top 12 ballads. Let us now if you agree or disagree.

12 – So Fine
Written and sung by bass player Duff Mckagan, So Fine is our 12th favorite GnR ballad. An interesting song with a bit of a punk feel, GnR fans seem to either love it or hate it. Duff performs the song with his band Loaded. It definitely needs Axl’s backing vocals to make it something special.

11 - Since I Don’t Have You
GnR certainly loves to cover other artist’s work. They took a doo-wop song from The Skyliners and somehow turned it into a rock hit. The most memorable thing about the song is legendary actor Gary Oldman appears in the video. And, the video was the last official one released by the classic band. I don’t mind the song that much, but lots of die-hard GnR fans hate it. We think Axl’s voice sounds cool on the track.

10 - Madagascar
The first song from the controversial Chinese Democracy album to make our list. Surprisingly, eclectic keyboard player Chris Pitman co-wrote this song with Axl Rose. Like So Fine, seems fans either love Madagascar or they are bored by it. Madagascar was one of the first songs from CD that Axl started playing live, a full seven years before the album was even released. The first time we saw and heard it live in concert (2002), Axl referred to the song as “Mad At Nascar.”

9 – Prostitute
Back to back entries for Chinese Democracy. Prostitute has a Patience feel to it and many people feel it was the perfect closer for the album. We like the song, but it is a little to pretty and over-produced for us. One of those songs that when we listen to it, we really like it. But we never find ourselves searching it out to hear.

8 – Patience
Ballads like Patience show why Izzy was such a valuable writing partner for Axl. An old fashion rock ballad, but without the cheese factor that hampered bands like Firehouse and Poison. Every emotion from the song feels real. You can feel (and see in the video) Axl’s emotions in every word. Apparently Slash was extremely drunk during the video shoot, hence the reason he is barely in it. Like many, we absolutely love the closing of the song – when Axl sings the “I’ve been walking the streets at night…….” Takes our breath away every time.

7 – This I Love
The infamous This I Love comes in at number 7. Reportedly written in the late 80s, This I Love has been Axl’s baby since the Appetite days. Fans could have heard the song a decade earlier than Chinese Democracy’s 2008 release. This I Love was optioned to the Robin Williams movie When Dreams May Come. But the director didn’t feel the song fit with his vision of the movie, so they scrapped it. Rumor also has it that Axl was content to let the song sit in his vault, but band mates (especially Robin Finck) convinced Axl to include the song on CD. We are glad he did. Some people say it belonged on the Twilight soundtrack, some people say it belonged in a musical. We say it doesn’t matter where it is, as the song is haunting, emotional and just flat out awesome.

6 – Catcher In The Rye
CD’s 2nd highest ranking song on the list. An ode to John Lennon and the GnR’s most Beatles like sounding song. Brian May recorded the original solo on the song, but Axl ended up liked Bumblefoot’s more. That’s how good this song is – May couldn’t even get a solo on it! Great lyrics, Axl’s voice is amazing, great guitar work – Catcher In The Rye is one of the highlights of Chinese Democracy. The song just blows up at the 430 mark. “On an ordinary day, not in an ordinary way” is pure magic.

5 – Don’t Cry
A song so good that GnR could have put it on Appetite for Destruction but the band wanted to save it to make sure they had a quality song for their follow up release. Another song that shows how valuable Izzy’s songwriting skills were to GnR. So much to say about Don’t Cry’s video. Features Shannon Hoon on backing vocals. Axl sports a Nirvana hat in the video. Axl and GnR had loads of respect for Nirvana and Kurt Cobain, even though the love and respect was not returned. Slash drives a car off a cliff in the video…in spite of his video wife still being in it! And originally, Axl was going to kill off his wife as well! Finally, in the end scenes with the live performance on top of a building, we see a sign that says “where’s Izzy.”
Axl said he and Izzy wrote the lyrics in five minutes. Proving you don’t need to work on a song for a decade (hint hint) for it to be amazing. There are three different versions of Don’t Cry. Two have different lyrics. One was recorded on tape all the way back in 1986.

4 – Estranged
The song that most die-hard GnR fans view as the band’s greatest all time song – Estranged comes in at number four for us. Lyrically and vocally, Axl was at the top of his game with Estranged. Maybe at top of the entire rock world. It has no real chorus, includes guitar solos and piano solos, is 9 minutes long and reportedly part of a collection of videos somewhat geared off of a short story from Axl bff Del James.
Some of Axl’s finest vocal work and Slash guitar work is found on Estranged.
The video is a little cheesy, but what can you do. Songs like Estranged are what separated GnR from 99.9% of all other rock bands. Can you imagine Poison or even a band like Van Halen writing something as good as Estranged?

3 – Street Of Dreams
The entry that probably will surprise most of you, Street Of Dreams is our third favorite Guns N’ Roses ballad. While Chinese Democracy was the talking point of rock music for almost a decade, the album’s release was met with varied results. Some people loved what Axl had created, while others blasted it and said it just didn’t sound like Guns N’ Roses without Slash, Duff and Izzy in the band. Well, one song begs to differ. Street of Dreams sounds like classic GnR. To the core. Originally titled The Blues, SOD would have been at home on Appetite and actually sounds like it was supposed to be on the Illusions albums.
Some of Axl’s best lyrics of his career appear on SOD. Vocally, Axl uses his entire range of sounds (high pitched, raspy, deep). Fans of old GnR who haven’t given Axl’s new vision a chance, must listen to Street of Dreams. In our opinion, SOD was hands down the best ballad released in 2008 and 2009. Just a magical song, pure Guns N’ Roses, and it should have been a huge hit for the band.

2 – Sweet Child O’ Mine
Probably GnR’s most popular and well loved song. Unique because it was a ballad that could be loved by everybody. Metal heads could love and rock out to it without being embarrassed. Axl’s screaming and live performances of the song are simply out of this world and cemented why he is the best rock frontman of our generation.
Some fun facts about SCOM. The song was created off of a practice riff that Slash used to warm up his fingers. Izzy heard it and added some chords to it, Duff and Adler started jamming to it, and Axl – reportedly in a different room – heard the music and wrote lyrics on the spot (about his gf Erin Everly). Out of that jamming, a masterpiece was born. Blender rated it as the third best song of all time, Rolling Stone put it in their 40 Greatest Songs that Changed the World, VH1 listed it as the 7th best song of all time. And a BBC poll rated Slash’s guitar parts as “the greatest guitar riff ever.”
Brilliant song, brilliant lyrics, brilliant guitar work and brilliant vocals. And a pretty cool video as well. Also went to number one on Billboard, GnR’s only song to do so. The song that broke the band into rock history.

1 – November Rain
The song that made the word “epic” become associated with not only Guns N’ Roses, but also with songs created by other artists. Along with being epic, November Rain is really Axl Rose’s masterpiece. He started working on the song before GnR was even a band. At one point, November Rain was almost 20 minutes long. It’s been reported that originally Slash and Duff weren’t happy with the long ballad (along with Estranged) and wanted the band to concentrate on more straight forward hard rock songs. But eventually Axl’s love of the song rubbed off on the guys, and Slash ended up writing one of his best solos of all time for the song.
November Rain always ranks near the top of “greatest ballads” of all time lists, as well as usually listing in the top 50 songs of all time. The elaborate video for Nov Rain is still considered as one of the top 5 videos of all time.
Epic. Simply epic – from top to bottom. Axl – epic performance. Slash – epic guitar work. Video – amazing from start to finish.
November Rain showed a band that was on top of the world in all aspects. And to this day….nobody has done a ballad better.

Edited April 24, 2014 by Groghan

[RussTCB]

What's this??? Someone starting something positive instead of just making snide remarks about all the haters and how awful this place is? Unbelievable.

To you Groghan, I say "Huzzah and celebramous!"

Here's my ranking off the top of my head:

12 Catcher In The Rye

11 So Fine

10 Since I Don’t Have You

09 Madagascar

08 Patience

07 Prositute

06 Don’t Cry (Atl Lyrics)

05 Sweet Child O’ Mine

04 This I Love

03 The Blues

02 November Rain

01 Estranged

[Mysteron]

Great post

I have to go with Don't Cry as my top.

Don't Cry and Rocket Queen were my favourite songs in the late 80s for GN'R. Don't Cry for me is awesome

[Nick85]

NR

[Amir]

I love Maddy and Prostitute but I wouldn't really call them ballads, even if they're not exactly rockers.

1. November Rain

2. TIL

3. Estranged

[RandallFlagg]

If Catcher and Madagascar are ballads then surely Locomotive and Yesterdays and 14 Years could qualify? I like them all intensely.

1. Locomotive

(2.) Breakdown - heck I don't know what constitutes a fucking GNR ballad they're all somewhat poignant

2. Estranged

3. Catcher In The Rye

4. November Rain

5. Sweet Child O' Mine

6. This I Love

7. Prostitute

8. Yesterdays

9. Don't Cry

10. 14 Years

Edited April 24, 2014 by RandallFlagg

[Apollo]

It was tough to leave a few songs out. On my site a couple people have said that I Used To Love Her is their favorite.

I went with the Slow Dance method. If played at a bar, would you slow dance with your partner or fast dance. That's how I came up with my 12. That's why songs like TWAT, Yesterdays, Breakdown and Locomotive didn't make it.

*****

Thanks Russ.

I just wanted to keep it a bit positive.

Axl didn't get the Revolver Dio Lifetime award for his performance last night, but for all the amazing songs he helped create over the past 25 years!!!

[DangerousCurves]

1) Don't Cry

The End.

[Amir]

1) Don't Cry (Alt. Lyrics)

The End.

FTFY

[RussTCB]

1) Don't Cry (Alt. Lyrics)

The End.

FTFY

Based on the bridge alone, I've always preferred the alternate lyrics by a country mile.

[DangerousCurves]

1) Don't Cry (Alt. Lyrics)

The End.

FTFY

Based on the bridge alone, I've always preferred the alternate lyrics by a country mile.

Me too. It just puts it right over the top.

[Sixes]

1. Don' Cry alt lyrics

2. Estranged

3. Madagascar

4. Patience

5. November Rain

[maynard]

Estranged and NR are the best.

[Apollo]

^{No love for Street Of Dreams????}

[magisme]

Official list of ballads needed.

[Amir]

^{No love for Street Of Dreams????}

Nope. That and Riad are the songs I skip the most on ChiDem, though I like the added outro vocals on the album version. It tries to be November Rain Part II in my opinion and doesn't make it, it's such an awkward mishmash of tones and music.

Songs like TWAT from ChiDem are their own beast and are just amazing. Even TIL tries to be a different kind of ballad than Axl has done before.

[wasted]

1. November Rain

2. Sweet Child O Mine

3. Estranged

4. Patience

5. Don't Cry

6. This I Love

7. There Was a Time

8. Catcher in the Rye

9. Street of Dreams

10. Madagascar

Edited April 25, 2014 by wasted

[rocknroll41]

MY TOP 10

1.Sweet Child o' Mine

2.November Rain

3.Estranged

4.Don't Cry (Original)

5.Don't Cry (Alternate Lyrics)

6.Patience

7.Yesterdays

8.So Fine

9.Knocking On Heaven's Door

10.Since I Don't Have You

[liers]

12. Used To Love Her

11. Patience

10. So Fine

9. Yesterdays (Don't really consider it a ballad)

8. Estranged

7. Breakdown

6. Don't Cry (Alt)

5. Sweet Child O Mine

4. Madagascar

3. November Rain

2. Prostitute

1. Catcher In The Rye

I think we need a clearer defination of what constitutes a ballad. For instance is The Garden a ballad as it's a slow song? How is KOHD a ballad? The studio version is pretty upbeat.

[Crash Diet]

You forgot Yesterdays
Prostitue while is a ballad, but not great at all
I agree what Groghan posted except Prostitute and SOD. Replace SOD with Yesterdays and Prostitute with TWAT (yes, i consider that a ballad )

[Padme]

Don´t Cry (original)

SCOM

Patience

Estranged

NR

Madagascar

SOD

So Fine

[Apollo]

It isn't an "official" government regulated list. You can put whatever songs on there that you feel are ballads!!!

I just went with the slow-dance test. If I was at a wedding reception and this song was played, would I dance a slow dance to it or a fast dance to it? That's why a song like TWAT didn't fall into my ballad category. You would slow dance to it with your partner.

Yesterdays was right on my fence the entire time. It is one of my 5-6 favorite Guns n Roses songs of all time.

[axlrod]

1. Don't Cry

2. November Rain

3. This I Love

4. There Was a Time

5. Sweet Child O Mine

6. Estranged

7. Patience

8. Catcher in the Rye

9. Street of Dreams

10. Madagascar

[Sixes]

1 Don't Cry alt lyrics

2 Estranged

3 Madagascar

4 Patience

5 November Rain

6 The Blues

7 Catcher in the Rye

8 Breakdown

9 Don't Cry original

10 Just Another Sunday

[downzy]

^{No love for Street Of Dreams????}

Nope. That and Riad are the songs I skip the most on ChiDem, though I like the added outro vocals on the album version. It tries to be November Rain Part II in my opinion and doesn't make it, it's such an awkward mishmash of tones and music.

Songs like TWAT from ChiDem are their own beast and are just amazing. Even TIL tries to be a different kind of ballad than Axl has done before.

Yeah, agreed. I remember hearing so much hype about this song when it was first played in 2001 in Vegas. I was thoroughly disappointed when I first heard it. Really liked the intro (miss the old guitar lead over top), but the song just doesn't do anything for me. Always felt as though Axl was trying to write a song for the band Journey. It just kind of meanders without going anywhere. Always preferred Catcher over SOD; glad they're now switching SOD for Catcher on tour.

My list:

1. Estranged

2. November Rain

3. Don't Cry (Alt version)

4. Patience

5. TWAT

6. SCOM

7. You Ain't the First

8. Madagascar

9. TIL

10. So Fine.

I'm not sure what else you would consider ballads. A case could be made for One in A Million, which if were to be considered as a ballad, would probably rank in the sixth spot (based purely on Axl's vocal performance). I'd consider Yesterdays a mid-tempo rocker, hence why I didn't include it on my list (probably be #4 if one wants to consider it a ballad).

Edited April 25, 2014 by downzy