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Is it just me, or does GNR seem to be ignored from many 80s music era documentaries?


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Kinda watched this cnn eighties documentary on the impact of music and all. And towards the end of the decade conversation the discussion seemed to go from bon jovi and def leopard straight to the rise of nirvana with ZERO mention of gnr even with the success of afd. They even mentioned rick astley and REM. Ive also noticed this on other online documentaries. I wasnt alive back then, but I was just wondering if gnr got popular with retrospect as opposed to its initial success?

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I think they played the bulk of their shows and released UYI in the 90s, so they're more packaged in with that. Plus Appetite didn't hit it big until like 88 and GNR transcended the sound of early 80s Rock. 

Plus there's the whole idea that GNR got too big too fast and then crashed, so while the songs lived on, the band didn't, where as Nirvana were immortalized due to Kurt's death. GNR has no definitive place because they existed in the limelight from 88-93, not really fitting in to either year. Rick Astley is just thrown in there because of YouTube lol

Edited by KiernanProud
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It's because they weren't candy ass posers like most 80's bands. Bon Jovi hired outside, studio owned song writers to write some of their hits for fucks sake lol. GNR was more of a punk rock attitude. Raw, real... they were just genuine and focused on making really good music. 

Basically, substance over style... 

Edited by Nintari
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20 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

Which ones?

Desmond Child wrote Livin on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, Bad Medicine, etc. He's written a lot of songs for a ton of famous bands I see after some research but I've never heard of the guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Desmond_Child 

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Edited by KiernanProud
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I don't think GnR established themselves enough before flaming out. They needed one more album in the mid 90's to cement their place in the industry. So much had changed in the industry by the mid 90's that GnR was lost in translation. Had they released that '96 album, just a raw, stripped down rock record -- it would have infused much credibility back into the band and legitimized their place in rock history. As it stands now, they seem more like a band with great potential that just imploded in their prime  -- that's where much of the "they were overhyped", "grunge killed them", "nothing more than a hair metal band with a few good songs" criticism comes from. They needed one more well received album to legitimize their brand and unfortunately -- they couldn't stay together long enough to make that happen.

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2 minutes ago, Oldest Goat said:

@KiernanProud I've always hated Bon Jovi, but Wanted Dead or Alive is good, very catchy riff.

It's one of those things where like I'd never listen to them intentionally, but if they came on the radio I wouldn't waste the effort to change it lol. I'd say they have like 3 decent songs but the rest isn't great. 

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Haha it's simple really, gnr were shown on the lead up to the show that aired on CNN but when you try to get in touch with management of the band it's just a rabbit hole...you get nothing. 

It's their own fault nobody ever mentions them, they are the most unavailable band of all time. You gotta talk to 3 separate managers to get approval for just the use of their material let alone their image...they've burnt a lot of bridges with the media over the years and that's a relationship you need this day and age. 

Oh well the true rock fans will still love that gnr operate this way because it's defiant and what not, but you don't gain any new fans this way. 

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I've seen a few 80s documentaries on VH1 and MTV back in the day. They always had Guns right at the end, so maybe its due to the fact that they got big in 88/89. I dont think they would be ignored becasue of the fact that they were so different to the status quo and changed they dynamic of the music at the time. But this was only on VH1 or MTV so I dont know about CNN or any other channel.

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Just now, Gracii Guns said:

GN'R also never appear on any rock compilation albums either.

Ive a feeling it's to do with music licensing.  

Yeah but I like it that way. When we start seeing SCOM on "Totally radical, totally 80's" albums, the party is officially over lol. 

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17 hours ago, Rovim said:

 I think that even if Guns broke up after Appetite and never made another album, it would still have been enough to cement their legacy.

If anything that would have made them even more legendary. They'd be seen as this mysterious band that put out one classic album and disappeared.   

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19 hours ago, Loseyourillusions98 said:

Kinda watched this cnn eighties documentary on the impact of music and all. And towards the end of the decade conversation the discussion seemed to go from bon jovi and def leopard straight to the rise of nirvana with ZERO mention of gnr even with the success of afd. They even mentioned rick astley and REM. Ive also noticed this on other online documentaries. I wasnt alive back then, but I was just wondering if gnr got popular with retrospect as opposed to its initial success?

GnR didn't really break until the end of the 80s. 

18 hours ago, ludurigan said:

i do not understand why anyone here, on a GNR Forum, would ever care about GNR "cementing their place in the industry" or the "credibility of the band" and how to "legitimize their place in rock history" or, -- worse of all -- "legitimize their brand"...

what?

who gives a flying fuck about this shit?

who gives a flying fuck about somebody saying that GNR "were overhyped", "grunge killed them", "nothing more than a hair metal band with a few good songs"

i mean

we all know that GNR is exhibit A for "wasted potential"

we all know they imploded way too fast

but come on

listen to this

 

This song alone is better than the entire discography of every hair metal band and every grunge band that ever walked the earth

:headbang:

we know that, dont we?

Fantastic post. 

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19 hours ago, KiernanProud said:

Desmond Child wrote Livin on a Prayer, You Give Love a Bad Name, Bad Medicine, etc. He's written a lot of songs for a ton of famous bands I see after some research but I've never heard of the guy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Desmond_Child 

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Just out of curiosity, why does it matter who wrote a song? Whenever I hear a song that sounds good to me, my first thought isn't "who wrote this."

If it's a good song that you enjoy, why does it matter who wrote it? If it was discovered that Axl hasn't written any GnR lyrics and that his aunt Mildred had wrote them all. Would that make civil war or November rain any less amazing?

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2 hours ago, Apollo said:

Just out of curiosity, why does it matter who wrote a song? Whenever I hear a song that sounds good to me, my first thought isn't "who wrote this."

If it's a good song that you enjoy, why does it matter who wrote it? If it was discovered that Axl hasn't written any GnR lyrics and that his aunt Mildred had wrote them all. Would that make civil war or November rain any less amazing?

It doesn't ruin the enjoyment of songs for me at all. I just respect artists who write their own songs more. Axl wrote and amazingly sang tons of material, that's why I'm such a fan of his. 

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3 hours ago, Apollo said:

Just out of curiosity, why does it matter who wrote a song? Whenever I hear a song that sounds good to me, my first thought isn't "who wrote this."

If it's a good song that you enjoy, why does it matter who wrote it? If it was discovered that Axl hasn't written any GnR lyrics and that his aunt Mildred had wrote them all. Would that make civil war or November rain any less amazing?

The song is still the song but the artist is worth less, you know? Who is a bigger artist? Someone who sings songs other people had written or someone who sings songs he has written on his own successfully. 

Guns had a little help in songwriting occasionally for some songs I won't deny that. But it was never like "we don't know how to write some hits, so we hire somebody to do that for us". To me that's a different. 

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3 hours ago, Apollo said:

Just out of curiosity, why does it matter who wrote a song? Whenever I hear a song that sounds good to me, my first thought isn't "who wrote this."

If it's a good song that you enjoy, why does it matter who wrote it? If it was discovered that Axl hasn't written any GnR lyrics and that his aunt Mildred had wrote them all. Would that make civil war or November rain any less amazing?

you are right in a sense. from a standpoint of just enjoying the song, it really doesnt matter. most of the people REALLY dont care who wrote what, they just wanna listen to the songs they like and thats it. some even more casual music fans dont even care who (artist, band) PLAYS on the song. they just wanna listen to the song and they dont give a shit who is playing on it

not everyone is like that. First thing most people do when they like a song from an artist/band that they are not familiar with is asking "WHO IS THIS?". It probably happened to everyone here in this forum when we first listened to GNR. Why did we ask "WHO IS THIS"? Because we wanted MORE! We all went after MORE songs from GNR after listening to that first song (and we all eventually fell so much in love with the band that we are here, discussing every little thing that there is to discuss about it -- and, above all, we are all hungry and thirsty for more GNR music)

asking "WHO WROTE THAT" is sort of a "next" step on that search for "music gold". For example, you really like GNR and you wanna know who wrote that terrific music. Lets imagine for a second that Steven Adler was the music genius of Guns n Roses -- that he wrote every song, every note of every Appetite, and he just asked his friends Axl, Slash, Duff and Izzy to play on the songs he wrote. If that was the case, I am sure that a lot of us would pay much more attention to every Steven step outside of GNR, and that some of us would know each and every solo stuff that he released outside GNR

to use your example of Aunt Mildred. Lets suppose you are really into GNR lyrics and one day you find out that Aunt Mildred has written all GNR lyrics. Its likely that your next move after finding that would be asking something like "Does Aunt Mildred writes lyrics for other bands too?"

in the end of the day, the writers and the performers are the "fountain" of the "music gold".

you wanna get some more, you go after them

:headbang:

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4 hours ago, Apollo said:

Just out of curiosity, why does it matter who wrote a song? Whenever I hear a song that sounds good to me, my first thought isn't "who wrote this."

If it's a good song that you enjoy, why does it matter who wrote it? If it was discovered that Axl hasn't written any GnR lyrics and that his aunt Mildred had wrote them all. Would that make civil war or November rain any less amazing?

My opinion is that it would make GNR less amazing. The songs would of course still remain just as great as they were and Axl's aunt would get a lot more respect from me. Of course the lyrics aren't the most important reason why I love November Rain or Civil War. It's the melodies, guitar solos and the way Axl sings those lyrics.

But when I hear a song that sounds good to me, my first thought actually is "whose song is this." And if there's a reason to believe that it's written by someone else than the actual performers of the song, I want to know who wrote it. Just so I can check if he's written anything else amazing.

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True and since it was GNR who changed the sound and face of the pop metal era in the 80's, they should be mentioned in every music show.

I think it might be because Axl doesn't ever get interviewed and maybe he stops it. Maybe GNR would want big bucks for any footage they show of them and most shows won't pay.

Well, after this reunion tour, GNR will show exactly how they changed the face of rock music back in the 80's and early 90's with their songs and amazing videos.

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Does it really matter that much? Guns made it on their own by their demands and with yet so much negativity and ignorance from various sides they are one of the best stelling rock acts!  Also it makes the band more kind of our own thing, Guns N' Roses is ours because no one else likes them maybe Just their songs november rain and scom but we embrace them!

Edited by GNRmello77
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