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What went wrong with NUGNR?


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NuGNR could have been awesome. Both the 01' and '06 line-ups were very solid and in my opinion, one of the best line ups of all time. You have Axl, legendary vocalist and frontman, with straight up badass guitar players: Fortus, Finck, Bumblefoot, Buckethead. Kickass bass player. Brain was a beast on drums. Veteran Dizzy Reed. (Shitman didn't really add anything). I believe that NuGNR could have ruled the world if Chinese released somewhere between '99-'02. Even in 2006, when the momentum was back if they released the album it would have been legendary. However, 2 years of no-touring and a late ass release f*cked CD in the butt, plain and simple. I'm surprised it had the success it did.

However, the real failure of NuGNR in my opinion, is when the 2009-2014 happened. 2009-2010 was dealable, minus Ashba and Axl gaining some weight. But still a decent lineup. This tour is fair, as it was to promote Chinese Democracy. The fans expected another album in a few years, followed by a new tour, and finally it seemed as if NuGNR gained some momentum.

However, then 2011-2014 happened and just completely ruined any chance of CDII or hope of success for the band. Axl clearly stopped giving a shit, dancing on stage with a yellow banana raincoat overweight and nearly have a stroke and ruining songs like November Rain and Patience. Plus, only 3-4 songs from CD were played, meaning almost Axl was done with that album. These dark years of non-stop useless touring killed NuGNR and made it into a joke. Don't even get me started on Bridge School. "We've got everything you want…I said…..(uh)….you, *chokes*" Stupid Axl.

They promised new music during these years like they did with CD, and at this point everyone knew it would never come out and no one gave a shit.

Thankfully GN'R is in a good place now. But good l o r d.

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9 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

NuGNR could have been awesome. Both the 01' and '06 line-ups were very solid and in my opinion, one of the best line ups of all time. You have Axl, legendary vocalist and frontman, with straight up badass guitar players: Fortus, Finck, Bumblefoot, Buckethead. Kickass bass player. Brain was a beast on drums. Veteran Dizzy Reed. (Shitman didn't really add anything). I believe that NuGNR could have ruled the world if Chinese released somewhere between '99-'02. Even in 2006, when the momentum was back if they released the album it would have been legendary. However, 2 years of no-touring and a late ass release f*cked CD in the butt, plain and simple. I'm surprised it had the success it did.

However, the real failure of NuGNR in my opinion, is when the 2009-2014 happened. 2009-2010 was dealable, minus Ashba and Axl gaining some weight. But still a decent lineup. This tour is fair, as it was to promote Chinese Democracy. The fans expected another album in a few years, followed by a new tour, and finally it seemed as if NuGNR gained some momentum.

However, then 2011-2014 happened and just completely ruined any chance of CDII or hope of success for the band. Axl clearly stopped giving a shit, dancing on stage with a yellow banana raincoat overweight and nearly have a stroke and ruining songs like November Rain and Patience. Plus, only 3-4 songs from CD were played, meaning almost Axl was done with that album. These dark years of non-stop useless touring killed NuGNR and made it into a joke. Don't even get me started on Bridge School. "We've got everything you want…I said…..(uh)….you, *chokes*" Stupid Axl.

They promised new music during these years like they did with CD, and at this point everyone knew it would never come out and no one gave a shit.

Thankfully GN'R is in a good place now. But good l o r d.

I disagree. 2014 was one of the best GNR years. The whole period reminds me of Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV.

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10 hours ago, Rovim said:

That is ground breaking. I just thought of another: what if Axl made the record he wanted to make (with the people he had at his disposal at the time) and even got a deal which made profit before it sold any copies? then he toured it with great live performances in 2010, playing every song from the album. (Riad was played in 2002)

So to sum up: he only released 1 album in 25 years, but it was the album he wanted to make according to him, and he also made money and toured all over the world. This is not a failure. It's no huge success compared to old Guns, but he completed an album and a tour.

What if it wasn't all on Axl, and the pressure of a reunion did damage his plans with new Guns? others talked about people fuckin' it up, it wasn't just Axl. I'd say his insecurities and obsessive nature were some of the main reasons it took so long.

 

Wth?

One album in 25 years is a failure for a professional singer of Axl's stature. 

If Stephen Curry scores 30 points tonight and then quits basket for the next decade, you can't call his career a success just because he had a couple good years. 

Was CD a "success" in a personal sense for Axl? Maybe. It wasn't what he originally wanted to release. He chose not to promote it. But if he personally chooses to list it as a success to him - then awesome. 

But in terms of his career position as singer and ruler of GnR? There is no way to say it's been a success. That's just ludicrous. One album in 25 years is not a success. Axl threw away his prime. From age 30-to-55 he should have been able to release 6-7 albums. 

CD is my favorite album of the last decade. But it isn't enough to call 1999-2015 a success. Not even close. 

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Axl should have called his band something else entirely. Without getting into the arguments of whether he was entitled to continue using the GnR name, it made him lose a lot of credibility with the general public by keeping the name with an entirely new lineup. 

Oh, and the lack of new music...

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3 hours ago, Mr. Dude said:

I disagree. 2014 was one of the best GNR years. The whole period reminds me of Rocky Balboa in Rocky IV.

Really? One of the best years? It was the 4th year of cash grab touring. Axl sounded decent at best and it was cool to see Duff back for a little but overall it was a disappointing year. Another Vegas residency and no new music all pointed towards signs of cash grabs. Watch the Golden Gods GN'R concert and the early South American shows and you really won't be too impressed.

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What went wrong? Failure to build a brand combined with low productivity. The music and the shows themselves were for the most part really good. But there should have been more releases and a clearer identity. 

What was good? One good album and great tours. Less controversies, a more mature and reliable band (except for 2002).

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11 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

He did?? I never saw that.

You are such a liar.:facepalm:

 

We went over it for days. The sales figures are mostly by orders to retailers, NOT actual sales. That is why many ended up in dollar stores. The album did not sell well with the public.

 

"Extrapolate." Remember?

Edited by Rustycage
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13 hours ago, blackrose87 said:

Off the top of my head

 

  • Constant chopping and changing of musicians.
  • No promotion of band members. Interviews etc. Very little promotion of the band itself
  • 1 album over a 15 year period.
  • Axl phoning it in for every tour. No rehearsing and his performances suffering.
  • Absolute silence for periods of years on end.

 

Probably the best answer I've read out of this entire thread. Can't disagree at all

1- Russ mentioned promoting bucket and robin in 2002, but then Buckethead was gone and robin came back with a look so different naturally the casual fan thought it was someone else. 

2 - yup, no promotion. Only promotion I ever saw was Buckethead in 2002 with Kurt Loder and MTV pushing him like the next Wes Borland. That was the best time to release Chinese 

3- 1 album alone just wasn't enough. Especially when baz is saying they've got four records and axl said they had 3 worth of material. Lord knows what happens to that all now.

4- Axl didn't sound bad every tour, but he was far from prepared, especially at the beginning of each leg. 

5- the silence was aggravating beyond belief and it still is. As much as I'd like to agree with axl in a sense of "fuck them they can think what they wanna think", I think that really only applies AFTER you've explained yourself, yet people interpreting any statement to mean something other than the truth. It happens too often, and every day on this board actually 

Just had to vent.. I wanted nuGNR to succeed but it got to a point where even I had to throw in the towel and accept that a reunion was best for everybody. 

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22 hours ago, DieselDaisy said:

I'm not sure I agree with that. I think in the beginning, around 2001 when he had the Bucket, he thought he could turn GN'R into a sort of NIN, revolving cast, experimental project. If Chinese was released in 2001 or 2002 and was successful, (big ifs, I know!), that would have (quasi) justified his power grab: ''look, I told you all along that I was the 'only original member' and the brains behind the operation'.

With CD and Nugnr flopping like a pair of saggy breasts, Axl learnt that he is not Guns, and that he needs Slash and others for it to be considered Guns. Getting Slash to play This I Love is merely a face saving exercise.

From 2010 I'd agree with you. 2010 onward Axl had given up the fight and was just there to make money basically.

That's a lot of ifs. Why didn't he release an album during that time? In my opinion it's because the band he assembled were never able to bring his vision to fruition the way he hoped. He didn't wanna release anything and the way he acted after CD finally came out shows he didn't want that released in 2008 either. I think he couldn't bring himself to ever release anything because the guys he really wanted in the band weren' but they are now .  I honestly feel Axl never really wanted NuGnR to exist but his ego got in the way and he blew it and guys walked because truth is they don't and didn't need him to have a career in music doing what they love. It seems clear to me as talented as Axl is he's not talented enough to make a real go at it without Slash and maybe to a  lesser extent Duff. They brought out the best him and vice versa but unlike them he was never able to move on and do other things he enjoyed. Hence why he clung to the GnR name. It was all ego. "I'm GnR and nobody is gonna say otherwise" Truth is the moment the core left(Slash and Duff) it wasn't GnR. You can't take out the lead guitar player visible image of the band and the so called "conducter" and expect to go on with the same results. Axl felt he could and was proven wrong. Maybe now that the core is back he can and will get an album out. It would be fucking awesome if they'd record and put an album out this year. Between the three of them they have more than enough material and for fuck sakes bring in Izzy to help write and record even if he doesn't wanna tour. lso fire Frank and bring Matt back haha

If they manage to get an album out withi the next year it will further siggest to me he never wanted NuGnR and that GnR with Slash and Duff was what he always wanted even when he claimed he didn't.

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I can appreciate Axl's work on CD, I'll always listen to anything with his vocals on it, I was just never into any of the nu-GNR bandmembers.  In fact, I quite disliked Ashba, Bumblefoot, Finck. 

Obviously Axl has been dealing with a lot of issues over the years, but he never seemed to have confidence with this version of GnR or himself.  Which was a self-fulfilling prophecy because some of those live performances were pretty bad. 

 

 

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10 hours ago, Lies They Tell said:

Lol, no. Just because I love Appetite For Destruction, doesn't mean that I have a narrow taste in music.

CD was like the next progression for me from the wanton abandon of AFD to some reflection on UYI and then CD is sort of 30 something malaise. You have lived long enough to not always ride the nightrain and have some solid enemies to hate. You take the high road if you can. Prostitute seems like the final say on that. 

It's hard to say where you go from there. Is it Oh la la by the small faces or does life become like a big buffet, all you can eat but you on a diet so you have the sushi. All the good things. 

The two records that capture that to me are Hotel Califoria and LA Woman. Not sure they were meant as final nostalgic goodbye albums but that's how they work for me. 

Edited by wasted
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Axl's ego was too big.. He thought him and his "vision" was Guns N' Roses.. He was wrong... The world fell in love with Gn'R  for being a stripped down, raw, high energy, unpredictable rock band that wrote great songs in a time when the mainstream bands were anything like that..

Gn'R didn't look or sound anything like Guns N' Roses and their music wasn't as good\ and most weren't having it.

People loved GnR as a band... Axl wasn't enough. He was probably the most disliked member of the bunch.

When he came back he was still showing up late, if at all.. Causing riots...

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On May 24, 2016 at 0:59 PM, AxlRoseCDII said:

NuGNR could have been awesome. Both the 01' and '06 line-ups were very solid and in my opinion, one of the best line ups of all time. You have Axl, legendary vocalist and frontman, with straight up badass guitar players: Fortus, Finck, Bumblefoot, Buckethead. Kickass bass player. Brain was a beast on drums. Veteran Dizzy Reed. (Shitman didn't really add anything). I believe that NuGNR could have ruled the world if Chinese released somewhere between '99-'02. Even in 2006, when the momentum was back if they released the album it would have been legendary. However, 2 years of no-touring and a late ass release f*cked CD in the butt, plain and simple. I'm surprised it had the success it did.

However, the real failure of NuGNR in my opinion, is when the 2009-2014 happened. 2009-2010 was dealable, minus Ashba and Axl gaining some weight. But still a decent lineup. This tour is fair, as it was to promote Chinese Democracy. The fans expected another album in a few years, followed by a new tour, and finally it seemed as if NuGNR gained some momentum.

However, then 2011-2014 happened and just completely ruined any chance of CDII or hope of success for the band. Axl clearly stopped giving a shit, dancing on stage with a yellow banana raincoat overweight and nearly have a stroke and ruining songs like November Rain and Patience. Plus, only 3-4 songs from CD were played, meaning almost Axl was done with that album. These dark years of non-stop useless touring killed NuGNR and made it into a joke. Don't even get me started on Bridge School. "We've got everything you want…I said…..(uh)….you, *chokes*" Stupid Axl.

They promised new music during these years like they did with CD, and at this point everyone knew it would never come out and no one gave a shit.

Thankfully GN'R is in a good place now. But good l o r d.

A guy wearing a mask with a KFC bucket on his head is badass??? Another guy who looked like he could be part alien or whatever he looked like in 2002 was a badass??? I had to LOL at that comment. At least Finck looked  more like he could be in GNR in 06 when he looked different. Badass? No. Neither was a badass.  

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1 minute ago, Draguns said:

A guy wearing a mask with a KFC bucket on his head is badass??? Another guy who looked like he could be part alien or whatever he looked like in 2002 was a badass??? I had to LOL at that comment. At least Finck looked  more like he could be in GNR in 06 when he looked different. Badass? No. Neither was a badass.  

Buckethead's guitar playing is badass, you can't deny the dude isn't talented.

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2 minutes ago, PsychoKiss344 said:

Buckethead's guitar playing is badass, you can't deny the dude isn't talented.

His style just doesn't interests me whatsoever. There's a reason why he has made 70+ albums and not made a hit out of  any of them. 

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3 minutes ago, Draguns said:

His style just doesn't interests me whatsoever. There's a reason why he has made 70+ albums and not made a hit out of  any of them. 

I think you misunderstand the type of music he does! He is not exactly the type of guy who strives for 'hits'.

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