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Why do we want another album, anyway?


Dr. Who

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Axl is a 52 year old man, soon to be 53. Let's say he was to write, record and release a brand spankin' new album in 2015...Why would we want it? What I mean is...Most 50something rockstars, when they put out new material, it isn't really anything as good or special as what they put out in their prime. I mean, if anyone here can name me an album by an artist over 50 that was on par with their more youthful material, let me know. I'm not saying an new album would be crap simply because Axl's older...But it ain't going to be anything special either. It's like what Axl himself said in the '80s when asked if he listened to new Elton John material; he said no, the new stuff was aimed at an older audience and lacked the fire of the original releases.

I mean when the Stones were in their 50s, they put out Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge. Good albums but...Nothing like the '60s and '70s. When Plant and Page were around the same age as Axl they put out Walking into Clarksdale...Which isn't even really remembered. I'm just saying...for those who want a new album, why do we want it?

Edited by Dr. Who
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David Bowie released one of the best and most critically acclaimed albums of his career in 2013 and he is 17 years older than Axl.

Neil Young continuously releases new music year in, year out, some of which is definitely up their with his best work.

Morrissey released one of his best solo albums this year and he is 55 and has been in the industry longer than Axl.

Prince released two albums alone this year, one of which (Art Official Age) is widely considered to be his best work since the 80s.

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I mean, if anyone here can name me an album by an artist over 50 that was on par with their more youthful material, let me know.

Lemmy, AC/DC and Springsteen are all still killing it. Trent Reznor and Rob Zombie are 49, so they're almost there and still going strong. They're certainly not as successful since they don't make music for teenagers, but their fanbases are still incredibly happy with their work.

Even if a new GnR album wasn't close to being as good as the early stuff, I'm sure I'd still enjoy it. And having so many younger replacement members could add a lot more energy than an album of the original band struggling to re-create the sound of their younger selves while trying to put aside decades of bitterness.

Unless the next album is full of cameos from other major musicians, I'm sure it won't do very well. But as a die-hard that still listens to GnR on a daily basis, I'd treasure any new music we can get between now and when Axl is gone.

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Axl has tons of musical ideas dating back to the 90's that can be recorded and released. Not to mention I still think Axl could probably write decent tunes nowadays

My main worry isn't the songwriting, it is overproduction - which IMO was the issue with Chinese Democracy.

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Just going to parrot what's already been said:

- Chinese "leftovers"

- Axl's wellspring of creativity is unlikely to be completely tapped, given his relatively small discography

- Old doesn't necessarily mean you should be banished to the retirement home these days. Tom Waits,
Nick Cave, Neil Young, Prince, Bowie, etc, all still getting it done.
- It's not exactly like anyone else has come along to pick up the Rock & Roll banner.

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Well it´s not that I "want" a new album. Axl decided to carry on with the name GN´R and a new version of the band. He has to do more than just a Vegas residency. The new band has to be productive.

Yes you do. You want it. Don't lie. You'll listen to it if it comes out. (just my own ego driven bullshit guess)

Edited by Rovim
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Well it´s not that I "want" a new album. Axl decided to carry on with the name GN´R and a new version of the band. He has to do more than just a Vegas residency. The new band has to be productive.

Yes you do. You want it. Don't lie. You'll listen to it if it comes out. (just my own ego driven bullshit guess)

I don´t lie. What I want is a reunion. But that seems it will never happend. Unlike you I didn´t like CD and I´m not interested in this new band anymore. Back in 2001 I used to think that Axl would be capable to make me forget about the past. Unfortunately in my case it didn´t happen. Would I buy a new album? I guess so, just out of curiosity and to hear those songs we already know the titles. But I doubt I like it.

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Well it´s not that I "want" a new album. Axl decided to carry on with the name GN´R and a new version of the band. He has to do more than just a Vegas residency. The new band has to be productive.

Yes you do. You want it. Don't lie. You'll listen to it if it comes out. (just my own ego driven bullshit guess)

I don´t lie. What I want is a reunion. But that seems it will never happend. Unlike you I didn´t like CD and I´m not interested in this new band anymore. Back in 2001 I used to think that Axl would be capable to make me forget about the past. Unfortunately in my case it didn´t happen. Would I buy a new album? I guess so, just out of curiosity and to hear those songs we already know the titles. But I doubt I like it.

Fair enough.

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I'm sure Axl would agree now that Elton's stuff over the past decade has been much better than what he delivered from the late 70s to the late 90s, but he's going to be biased towards liking the stuff he listened to as a kid that motivated him to be a musician.

Artists can't turn off the music in their head, even though some of them talk about ways they try to. It's always there unless they hit a barrier.

Billy Joel stopped writing albums in hid mid 40s, was it premature? Maybe. He went through a lot of shit that would probably be a good album, but then you hear how he sounded on Maybe I'm Amazed or that song he wrote to his ex-wife and you're going..maybe it's not there. Axl talked about writing compositions when that question about an "Axl Rose solo album" came up, which is what Billy's been doing for the past 20 years. Roger Waters wrote a few songs but worked on an opera for 20 years. Does the world want a new Roger Waters album? Yeah but based on how many people downloaded his solo songs, it doesn't get the attention the Pink Floyd name gets. Same with David Gilmour - if he puts stuff out under his own name, it doesn't have the hype Pink Floyd has. The last album he did with Orb was more or less the same "ambient album" that he just did.

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Axl is a 52 year old man, soon to be 53. Let's say he was to write, record and release a brand spankin' new album in 2015...Why would we want it? What I mean is...Most 50something rockstars, when they put out new material, it isn't really anything as good or special as what they put out in their prime. I mean, if anyone here can name me an album by an artist over 50 that was on par with their more youthful material, let me know. I'm not saying an new album would be crap simply because Axl's older...But it ain't going to be anything special either. It's like what Axl himself said in the '80s when asked if he listened to new Elton John material; he said no, the new stuff was aimed at an older audience and lacked the fire of the original releases.

I mean when the Stones were in their 50s, they put out Steel Wheels and Voodoo Lounge. Good albums but...Nothing like the '60s and '70s. When Plant and Page were around the same age as Axl they put out Walking into Clarksdale...Which isn't even really remembered. I'm just saying...for those who want a new album, why do we want it?

Nobody is forced you to wait...

anyway is better to wait another album from Axl than a ponytail on a man....

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The reason that older musicians don't have the "fire" anymore is because they are trying to recapture what they once had. You can't re-create who you were 20 years earlier, sometimes music is only a paycheck or a hobby to them later in life. When older musicians are honest and just express what's going in their life at the moment, usually it's derided for being softer or whatnot, but it's also a much better result artistically.

As for Elton John, he was trying to be commercial in the 80s/90s, his albums have been much better in the past 15 years, and he's got to be a senior citizen by now.

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Hearing new music from Axl would be a cool thing, no doubt. But then again, more "I am the victim, everyone is out ta get me, people have stolen 20 years of my life" lyrics are a major turn off to me. And 6 years after CD, I can't even imagine the number of layers of synth and pointless guitars and stupid ambient intros that must be included in the songs. Axl using his clean vocals in studio is also very stupid. His clean high voice sounds like shit. So, unless all the songs are drastically different, the new album (lol) will probably be as bad as, or worse than CD. Saving the best for the second album is not really an idea I buy.

If Axl manages to put out 5 good songs until his retirement, I'll be happy (and also very surprised).

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Neil Young is putting some of his best music out now; Psychedelic Pill is one of my favourite albums of his. You can put that album up alongside Zuma and Ragged Glory and it does not look out of place. It is a similar story with the rest of his recent albums. Dylan had a late career renaissance with the critically acclaimed and superb Time Out of Mind. Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Van Morrison have all had renaissances late in their career also. The last three Stones albums, while not as good as their heyday, are certainly worthy releases. Black Ice and 13 were so commercially successful that they both seemed to contradict the general trend of, shutting up shot on the album front.

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I do understand the reasons, it's just I can't say I personally am very excited for new stuff. Especially since it's been six years since the last one, time has kind of killed the enthusiasm I guess

What I say "new stuff" I am talking ONLY about stuff with Bumble and Ashba rerecords on it. Late '90s, early '00s stuff by Paul, Robin and Bucket I would definitely be interested in.

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