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Axl Rose: After all, what's wrong with your voice?


Gibbo

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Axl's voice use is totally related to his mental state as well. When he is feeling competitive or angry or emotional in some way, the voice is expressed differently. His voice is really a window into his soul.

We're hearing a happier and more content Axl lately.

One of the truest things said in this thread.

The changes back and forth in his singing style from clean to full rasp and back since 2001 have way more to do with his mental state/goals/intentions at the time than whether he physically can or can't produce rasp.

He pulled rasp out of a hat for one show in Philly '12 as an obvious 'sorry, thank you.' When he was rasping in 06-10 it coincided with him looking and performing as close to old-skool Axl as he could. In '11-'14 he went into coasting mode, hiding behind all his hats and shit.

There's no massive mystery. If things actually went to plan with a new album release I'd bet a lot of money that he'd come out the gates like Hammerstein '06 or Tokyo '09 and bring the energy and voice.

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Something happened to his voice in '94.

If you listen to his live performance of Come Together with Bruce from January '94, he still has a deep, throaty rasp, but it's weak.

Then in May '94, Gilby's solo album came out and we hear Axl on Dead Flowers, and his voice is very high pitched, but raspy (similar to how he sounds on Live Era, a "clean" high pitched rasp, more a snawl; no more baritone-bluesy throatiness)

Then in December '94, Guns released Sympathy for the Devil. Note Axl's voice, when he screams, is sort of buried in the mix and how clean it sounds compared to the UYI albums. Again, a clean, high pitched rasp, sort of like a thinner version of the TSI vocals.

In '96, Axl and Slash guest starred on West Arkeen's song Anxious Disease. Axl sounds very high pitched here and not far removed from his voice on Chinese D.

We all know how Live Era sounds.

Flash forward two more years and the voice has thinned out fully to what we got at RiR 3 in 2001.

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If you listen to his live performance of Come Together with Bruce from January '94, he still has a deep, throaty rasp, but it's weak.

That would be his problem. Using the throat for rasp is a sure way to destroy your voice.

Well, from '88 onward it was all throat, and then I guess in '94 his voice couldn't handle it anymore, and we got the slow decline that's brought us to today.

Axl has never sounded better, or more accessible, than he did on Appetite. Appetite was a perfect mix of rasp, clean, with a hell of a lot of power, control and range, but he didn't sound screetchy (like on the UYIs) or like Mickey (like '01 to present). AFD and TSI are Axl at his best vocally. Lies is good but only if you're into that bluesy sound; not everyone is, and the UYIs run the gamut from sounding AFD-like to sounding like he has broken glass in his vocal cords.

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Something happened to his voice in '94.

If you listen to his live performance of Come Together with Bruce from January '94, he still has a deep, throaty rasp, but it's weak.

Then in May '94, Gilby's solo album came out and we hear Axl on Dead Flowers, and his voice is very high pitched, but raspy (similar to how he sounds on Live Era, a "clean" high pitched rasp, more a snawl; no more baritone-bluesy throatiness)

Then in December '94, Guns released Sympathy for the Devil. Note Axl's voice, when he screams, is sort of buried in the mix and how clean it sounds compared to the UYI albums. Again, a clean, high pitched rasp, sort of like a thinner version of the TSI vocals.

In '96, Axl and Slash guest starred on West Arkeen's song Anxious Disease. Axl sounds very high pitched here and not far removed from his voice on Chinese D.

We all know how Live Era sounds.

Flash forward two more years and the voice has thinned out fully to what we got at RiR 3 in 2001.

The isolated vocal track from SFTD is on YouTube, you can hear the change in tone. It's definitely more like Live Era than his voice in 93.

I think there's more to the story. Live era vocals sound much like 06 vocals, so what was going on in 01/02? My guess is illness, possibly cancer.

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Something happened to his voice in '94.

If you listen to his live performance of Come Together with Bruce from January '94, he still has a deep, throaty rasp, but it's weak.

Then in May '94, Gilby's solo album came out and we hear Axl on Dead Flowers, and his voice is very high pitched, but raspy (similar to how he sounds on Live Era, a "clean" high pitched rasp, more a snawl; no more baritone-bluesy throatiness)

Then in December '94, Guns released Sympathy for the Devil. Note Axl's voice, when he screams, is sort of buried in the mix and how clean it sounds compared to the UYI albums. Again, a clean, high pitched rasp, sort of like a thinner version of the TSI vocals.

In '96, Axl and Slash guest starred on West Arkeen's song Anxious Disease. Axl sounds very high pitched here and not far removed from his voice on Chinese D.

We all know how Live Era sounds.

Flash forward two more years and the voice has thinned out fully to what we got at RiR 3 in 2001.

The isolated vocal track from SFTD is on YouTube, you can hear the change in tone. It's definitely more like Live Era than his voice in 93.

I think there's more to the story. Live era vocals sound much like 06 vocals, so what was going on in 01/02? My guess is illness, possibly cancer.

Link?

It's very strange because in '93 his voice was at full power. I mean, both live and in studio (the vox for TSI were recorded in '93, a perfect example is SIDHY, recorded in Boston in March '93)

I've always had a weird theory that as Axl became a bigger and bigger dick, his voice, hair and appearance suffered as a result. After the break with Slash, his looks, his hair and voice all went downhill.

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Axl's studio voice still sounds excellent. So hopefully the big boy will release numerous more albums.

I've seen him live three times post classic line-up and he sounded great every time. And he was a boss at those last few Vegas shows.

The dude is still potentially amazing. It is just a matter of how much work he wants to put into it.

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Something happened to his voice in '94.

If you listen to his live performance of Come Together with Bruce from January '94, he still has a deep, throaty rasp, but it's weak.

Then in May '94, Gilby's solo album came out and we hear Axl on Dead Flowers, and his voice is very high pitched, but raspy (similar to how he sounds on Live Era, a "clean" high pitched rasp, more a snawl; no more baritone-bluesy throatiness)

Then in December '94, Guns released Sympathy for the Devil. Note Axl's voice, when he screams, is sort of buried in the mix and how clean it sounds compared to the UYI albums. Again, a clean, high pitched rasp, sort of like a thinner version of the TSI vocals.

In '96, Axl and Slash guest starred on West Arkeen's song Anxious Disease. Axl sounds very high pitched here and not far removed from his voice on Chinese D.

We all know how Live Era sounds.

Flash forward two more years and the voice has thinned out fully to what we got at RiR 3 in 2001.

The isolated vocal track from SFTD is on YouTube, you can hear the change in tone. It's definitely more like Live Era than his voice in 93.

I think there's more to the story. Live era vocals sound much like 06 vocals, so what was going on in 01/02? My guess is illness, possibly cancer.

Link?

It's very strange because in '93 his voice was at full power. I mean, both live and in studio (the vox for TSI were recorded in '93, a perfect example is SIDHY, recorded in Boston in March '93)

I've always had a weird theory that as Axl became a bigger and bigger dick, his voice, hair and appearance suffered as a result. After the break with Slash, his looks, his hair and voice all went downhill.

He still sounds amazing to me, but there's a change there for sure.

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There are two other things to consider.

See, there are two different kinds of singers (or people's voices).

The first is the one with a specific, natural, unique set of characteristics. The other is the one who trained themselves to use their voice a certain way.

Axl falls into the first group. A good example is that YouTube clip where he talks about Slash and getting the girls after Slash passed out. Listen to his voice during that clip.

Long story short, Axl has a natural voice that he built ON TOP OF.

The foundation is and always be there. But the added on parts....are subject to change, and that depends on many factors such as training, health, lifestyle, etc.

Another important thing is that Axl has never lost range. In fact, he fucking increased it. Find me a high range singer who hasn't lost range.

So it sort of works like this: if a singer keeps their range, their voice is fine and they can do whatever they want.

It is when a singer loses range that we can say "their voice has changed permanently" or that they're missing something or that there should be a concern about whether that singer can ever regain their original voice we've all come to love.

When Axl loses RANGE, that is when we know, shit has changed, and not likely ever returning to what we love.

As long as he has range, his voice is good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Even back in 1991 Axl didn't give a fuck. At Rio 91 he forgot the words to Jungle and before Nightrain started he even said 'I'm not sure I even remember the words to this next song' and was out of sync from the rest of the band for the whole song. Even his voice at that gig sounded rusty and unused for months.. The big difference is that he was still young and amazing and could get away with not rehearsing or practising but in 2014.. Completely different story.

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