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The magic of GN'R covers - what's next


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One thing that always impressed my about GNR are their covers. I point that out because normally I do not care for covers at all, except from the really, really special ones like Johnny Cash with NIN's "Hurt".

The reason for that is that most bands don't really transform the songs, the merely put a new layer of paint on it and that's it.

GNR always really owned their covers and made them into something REALLY GNRish. So I'm very keen on potential new covers emerging from the old gang and I was thinking which material would be suited well.

Mind you - we're not talking here about songs we like and we would simply like to have played by GNR. I'm sure we'd gather 200 songs over night, but there would be no real gain in that.

What I'd like to see here are song that you think have the potential to suit this project, that have the potential to become great specifically in GNR's hands.

Maybe we can give the band an inspiration or two. ;)

My suggestion is based on "Sail away sweet sister":

For those who don't know the original, it's here:

So they transformed a clean, harmonic, relatively melancholic yet happy chorus in a beast of anger and fury, just using Axl's voice and Duff's base.

So I suggest to use exactly this treatment (added by Slash's guitarwork of course) to this wonderful little diamond of a song by John Fruiscante:

Listen closely and imagine this song transformed the same way like "Sail away sweet sister". The result could be breathtaking ...

Som what are your suggestions?

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I once read that they done a cover of 'Take a Long Line' by The Angels. I would kill to hear the band's take on that song back in their heyday. I'm not sure how reliable the source was, but Axl and Doc were mates, and GNR was influenced by The Angels. So it's not exactly a long shot. We've got footage of 'Marseilles' being covered no less than three times though, so at least that's something.

'Take a Long Line', as performed live by The Angels in 1983:

Edited by Live Like a Suicide
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I hope they collar a female guest vocalist (Fergie? Lady Gaga?) and belt out Gimme Shelter. It's always baffled me that Slash had Izzy and Fergie right there in the studio when he was doing his solo album, and he didn't think to cover it.

I don't think Izzy's too keen on collaborating with teen-pop-singers, and I would absolutely hate to see Guns N' Roses working with Gaga/Beyonce/Bruno Mars/Adam Lambert or any of those guys.

I don't think I stand alone with this opinion.

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I hope they collar a female guest vocalist (Fergie? Lady Gaga?) and belt out Gimme Shelter. It's always baffled me that Slash had Izzy and Fergie right there in the studio when he was doing his solo album, and he didn't think to cover it.

I don't think Izzy's too keen on collaborating with teen-pop-singers, and I would absolutely hate to see Guns N' Roses working with Gaga/Beyonce/Bruno Mars/Adam Lambert or any of those guys.

I don't think I stand alone with this opinion.

I wouldn't consider myself a pop fan, but Fergie and Lady Gaga have fucking phenomenal voices. A lot of those singers are wasted doing pop, as a cursory glance at Fergie's live performances with Slash shows.

There are an awful lot of people who adopt a tribal stance to music – god forbid that a pop act should ever sully a rock act by collaborating with them. The difference between music fans who base their entire identity on hating one music genre or another, and the actual musicians in those bands, is that musicians recognise and appreciate talent regardless of genre. Hence why you'll see Slash collaborating and performing with everyone from Michael Jackson to Bob Dylan to Chic to, yes, Adam Lambert, while his more blinkered fans froth at the mouth.

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I hope they collar a female guest vocalist (Fergie? Lady Gaga?) and belt out Gimme Shelter. It's always baffled me that Slash had Izzy and Fergie right there in the studio when he was doing his solo album, and he didn't think to cover it.

I don't think Izzy's too keen on collaborating with teen-pop-singers, and I would absolutely hate to see Guns N' Roses working with Gaga/Beyonce/Bruno Mars/Adam Lambert or any of those guys.

I don't think I stand alone with this opinion.

I wouldn't consider myself a pop fan, but Fergie and Lady Gaga have fucking phenomenal voices. A lot of those singers are wasted doing pop, as a cursory glance at Fergie's live performances with Slash shows.

There are an awful lot of people who adopt a tribal stance to music – god forbid that a pop act should ever sully a rock act by collaborating with them. The difference between music fans who base their entire identity on hating one music genre or another, and the actual musicians in those bands, is that musicians recognise and appreciate talent regardless of genre. Hence why you'll see Slash collaborating and performing with everyone from Michael Jackson to Bob Dylan to Chic to, yes, Adam Lambert, while his more blinkered fans froth at the mouth.

I agree that they are in possession of great voices. The big difference, to me, between the likes of those artists (Gaga/Lambert/Levine etc.) and more "credible" artists like The Strokes/Guns/Iggy Pop is that the formers songs sounds like they are created to sell. They have an instrumental value. The latters songs sounds like they are created from the pure pleasure of creation, these songs have an intrinsical value, i.e. a value in itself. I know that this may sound arbitrary (who am I to decide in what purpose these artists create their songs?), and it probably is. Just for the sake of consistency I can tell you an example: I thought Hanson was really good in their "heyday", so it's not about that I like every rock-song and dislike every pop-song, but (to me) it's a pretty distinct difference between songs that are created with the intention to earn money and songs created with the intention of just pure creativity (that the artist wants to sell and be succesful too, ofcourse)

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No more covers!

Fernando: We're having a special three hour meeting this year!

Beta: Complaints complaints complaints

Axl (Several years later): And now, here's our amazing new song: THE SEEKER! And I won't even sing on it! I'll just go backstage and eat cheeseburgers while the Duff lookalike I hired sings it! You're welcome, GNR fans!!!!

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No more covers!

Fernando: We're having a special three hour meeting this year!

Beta: Complaints complaints complaints

Axl (Several years later): And now, here's our amazing new song: THE SEEKER! And I won't even sing on it! I'll just go backstage and eat cheeseburgers while the Duff lookalike I hired sings it! You're welcome, GNR fans!!!!

cheese AND bacon burgers.

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