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Dropping the Needle: Alan Niven talks GNR


AndreCC

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Here's Alan Niven!

Really interesting interview, he goes through the renegotiation with Geffen, Use Your Illusion days, Geffen, inside stories Break up etc...

Here's what Alan confirmed mixed with my take on it (my opinion only):

- Axl is a control freak (really?!) and basically back in the Use Your Illusion days, Axl was already taking over before the Illusion records were finished, and the rest of the band really didn't agree with the musical direction...(according to Axl, Use Your Illusion album were more because Izzy wanted his material, then Slash wanted his material as well, so they joined all the material and put it on one album) That's utter Bullshit!

- Slash was frustrated with the musical direction the band was going on, because of Axl but he didn't really wanna oppose to that as long as the paycheck was coming in.

- Axl lied in his recent aussie interview when he said he didn't really wanted to tour. Alan confirms EVERYONE was pumped up and excited to go on tour. Alan goes ahead and tell us he doesn't understand the whole (nobody cared about my safety or well being thing) and calls it ridiculous.

- Axl saw Guns N'Roses as his life, as his thing even when the Old Band was still together.

- Axl was looking for guidance and he basically hired some spiritual advisors that were there to rip him off his money.

- In Alan's opinion Axl doesn't know who he is (besides the rock n roll star persona that he carries)

- All Doug Goldstein wanted was money and he had a great part on the "contract" thing that Axl presented to the other members of the band. Also i think this interview pretty much confirms that Doug and Axl had some kind of an alliance and that Axl wanted to make more money then the other band members. Doug was very influential in Axl's business life at that point for the worst. He basically brainwashed Axl and Axl played along. And that was the main thing that caused the break up.

- Chinese Democracy (Axl take over) started way before the old band broke up!

After seeing this interview and how honest Alan Niven always was, i can conclude that to me Axl is a liar...

He accused Niven and Slash of only being interested in money, not caring about Axl's health and life... that's a lie!....

Axl wanted to tour, Axl and Doug were the ones who were trying to make every effort to try to get as much money as possible.

It's no surprise to me, i mean we all knew that the whole story that Axl gave us didn't make sense at all....

Anyways please have a look at this interview if you're interested and take conclusions for yourself.

Credits to: Dropping the Needle Show - http://www.DroppingTheNeedle.com and Alan Niven! Also i have to mention that i heard the first two parts of this interview on youtube, thanks to MSL's forum.

Edited by AndreCC
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lol

I know a liar and his name is not Axl Rose. Soooo enjoying those unreleased tracks?

Have you even heard the interview to back up your opinion? Trying to go off topic won't change the truth! So you can go off topic all you want and continue to be a brick in this community.

I'll consider your opinion when you actually watch the whole interview like i did. Especially that third part of the interview!

Edited by AndreCC
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I'm not even defending Slash anymore. But Alan seems to be a pretty humble and honest person. I highly doubt he's lying! I will more easily believe Axl is lying since his story has a lot of contradictions and some of it was already proved as being lies.

A lot of what's been happening (bad things) with this new band as well. There were many things that already happened in this new band, where someone in Axl's camp was caught lying in my humble opinion!

Edited by AndreCC
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Whilst Niven clearly knows a lot more than any of us ever will he isn't without bias on the subject, if you read the interviews he did with metalsludge a while back he makes it clear he never really liked Axl from the outset and he holds him responsible for personal monetary losses. Not saying his version is or isn't true but like everyone involved he will have his own agendas.

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Whilst Niven clearly knows a lot more than any of us ever will he isn't without bias on the subject, if you read the interviews he did with metalsludge a while back he makes it clear he never really liked Axl from the outset and he holds him responsible for personal monetary losses. Not saying his version is or isn't true but like everyone involved he will have his own agendas.

I disagree... i think especially on the material direction that Axl started to take (and always denied on interviews and says it's bullshit), he was completely outside and also an impartial judge to give his opinion on the matter. Clearly it was Axl who changed the path on the material... everyone wanted to continue to do Appetite and he wanted to go "South" and have his "physical Grafitti". However, he said on plenty of interviews that the Illusions was a compilation of mainly what Slash and Izzy wanted to put out, and a couple of songs he (Axl) wanted to put out... I'm guessing November Rain, Estranged and Don't Cry.

Right there you have 5 people telling you the same thing, and then you have Axl's version! I think it's really strange that no one supports Axl's theory!

There's been so many contradictions on Axl's story over the years...

Even with events on the new band... for example the Shirt thing... where Axl says he has nothing to do with fans not being able to wear Slash t-shirts (which i believe that he probably allows it since 2006 or so)... but in 2001 when things were still recent and he was angry at everyone from the Old Band, you can clearly see Axl demanding a fan to take out the shirt on Rock In Rio 3)... so again it doesn't mean he still does it, but it seems there was a time he did... and there's a lot of contradictions on Axl's side...

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I don't think Axl likes looking back on the past, even though he makes his living singing hundreds of shows about that time.

Alan felt he was used and tossed aside, with good reason.

Hard to say if the advisers ripped him off, but it sounded like they created a big inconvenience with this woman deciding some place had bad vibes. She could've been right, though.

Maybe the trips to Sedona did Axl good, but I'm sure he put in more frequent flier miles going to some off the beaten path places.

The whole thing about the guy getting kicked out with the Slash t-shirt, we can't see if the guy's heckling Axl and screaming "Where's Slash" over and over,during songs, in between songs and he finally kicked him out.

Edited by dalsh327
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I don't think Axl likes looking back on the past, even though he makes his living singing hundreds of shows about that time.

Alan felt he was used and tossed aside, with good reason.

Hard to say if the advisers ripped him off, but it sounded like they created a big inconvenience with this woman deciding some place had bad vibes. She could've been right, though.

Maybe the trips to Sedona did Axl good, but I'm sure he put in more frequent flier miles going to some off the beaten path places.

It all comes down to if you believe in it or not... and i can understand Niven's opinion as he appears not to be a believer, but at the same time, i also believe Axl could have been naive enough to believe in whatever anyone would tell him in those days...

And i strongly believe that he gave himself up for grabs to the people who surrounded him (Doug Goldstein and the advisors), as he still does today with Team Brazil. I can definitely see that Axl has some personality flaws, which could have been caused by his teenager past.

Edited by AndreCC
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I see what you are saying but I don't find all this Axl is bad versus everyone else very comfortable. No relationship breakdown is one sided. Axl is an easy target because he is not subtle and often doesn't do himself any favours, it doesn't mean no one else is a player.

Didn't Niven also write an open letter at one time slating Scott W and sucking up to Axl, I think it was around the time serious reunion talks might have been in the offing. Not sure if it was proven to be authentic or not but if it was the suggestion was he was trying to align himself with Axl possibly with a view to managing a reunion. Not the actions of someone who doesn't have agendas.

We all know that Axl was/is difficult but I find it hard to believe he was the only one. Yes he opposed a lot of band decisions but who's to say he didn't have good reason sometimes.

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I see what you are saying but I don't find all this Axl is bad versus everyone else very comfortable. No relationship breakdown is one sided. Axl is an easy target because he is not subtle and often doesn't do himself any favours, it doesn't mean no one else is a player.

Didn't Niven also write an open letter at one time slating Scott W and sucking up to Axl, I think it was around the time serious reunion talks might have been in the offing. Not sure if it was proven to be authentic or not but if it was the suggestion was he was trying to align himself with Axl possibly with a view to managing a reunion. Not the actions of someone who doesn't have agendas.

We all know that Axl was/is difficult but I find it hard to believe he was the only one. Yes he opposed a lot of band decisions but who's to say he didn't have good reason sometimes.

That happened when VR break up and Scott said publicly that he now understood why Axl felt the way he felt in regards to Slash and the rest of the guys.

Bear in mind that Scott had previously been in a small feud with Axl, and all of a sudden he was "sucking up" to Axl. I believe Alan said that in that context!

I completely agree that there's always two sides of the story... but sometimes they don't have to be at the same distance of the truth... and i think since it's more of a Axl VS Slash thing more than anything else... Alan is able to be impartial and be right in the middle of the ring and tell the story like it is.

Edited by AndreCC
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But don't you think the fact he liked Slash and not Axl will have some bearing on how he saw things at the time. He couldn't be with them 24/7 and by his own admission he was meeting himself coming back trying to manage two successful bands. Even things that he 'knows' will have been told to him second hand.

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I see what you are saying but I don't find all this Axl is bad versus everyone else very comfortable. No relationship breakdown is one sided. Axl is an easy target because he is not subtle and often doesn't do himself any favours, it doesn't mean no one else is a player.

Didn't Niven also write an open letter at one time slating Scott W and sucking up to Axl, I think it was around the time serious reunion talks might have been in the offing. Not sure if it was proven to be authentic or not but if it was the suggestion was he was trying to align himself with Axl possibly with a view to managing a reunion. Not the actions of someone who doesn't have agendas.

We all know that Axl was/is difficult but I find it hard to believe he was the only one. Yes he opposed a lot of band decisions but who's to say he didn't have good reason sometimes.

That happened when VR break up and Scott said publicly that he now understood why Axl felt the way he felt in regards to Slash and the rest of the guys.

Bear in mind that Scott had previously been in a small feud with Axl, and all of a sudden he was "sucking up" to Axl. I believe Alan said that in that context!

I completely agree that there's always two sides of the story... but sometimes they don't have to be at the same distance of the truth... and i think since it's more of a Axl VS Slash thing more than anything else... Alan is able to be impartial and be right in the middle of the ring and tell the story like it is.

I thought Scott got caught up in old band feud stories, same with why Sammy Hagar took potshots at Roth for years. They'd go on about it, and he'd go "fuck Roth" with them, and when he toured with Dave, they almost got into a brawl and cancelled some dates. Kid Rock was there and tried to play mediator...

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Whilst Niven clearly knows a lot more than any of us ever will he isn't without bias on the subject, if you read the interviews he did with metalsludge a while back he makes it clear he never really liked Axl from the outset and he holds him responsible for personal monetary losses. Not saying his version is or isn't true but like everyone involved he will have his own agendas.

This

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Niven is bitter and full of shit. UYI is "entirely" an Axl solo album? Are you fucking kidding me? How could anyone agree with or defend that statement?

He didn't say that. He said the direction the album was going, was mainly Axl's direction! Proof of that was that the majority of songs that became singles were the Axl songs!

Also he said that Steven Adler wasn't really fired because of his addictions, but because he was unable to fit into the style of the album, in terms of his way of drumming, and they had to find a drum player that would fit Axl's vision (Matt Sorum), and therefore Axl's "vision" had a lot to do with the break up of the band.

Same thing happened with Robin as well...as the other members wanted to bring Robin in for rhythm guitar, and Axl wanted him on lead guitar instead of Slash because that would fit the new style the band was adopting...

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Niven is bitter and full of shit. UYI is "entirely" an Axl solo album? Are you fucking kidding me? How could anyone agree with or defend that statement?

He didn't say that. He said the direction the album was going, was mainly Axl's direction! Proof of that was that the majority of songs that became singles were the Axl songs!

Also he said that Steven Adler wasn't really fired because of his addictions, but because he was unable to fit into the style of the album, in terms of his way of drumming, and they had to find a drum player that would fit Axl's vision (Matt Sorum), and therefore Axl's "vision" had a lot to do with the break up of the band.

Same thing happened with Robin as well...as the other members wanted to bring Robin in for rhythm guitar, and Axl wanted him on lead guitar instead of Slash because that would fit the new style the band was adopting...

Maybe you should watch the video you posted since your such an expert on it. They ask him if he considers the UYI albums an Axl solo effort and he says "entirely".

How the fuck are the singles chosen "proof" of the direction the album was going!?! If anything that indicates that Axl's songs were better received, IF it were true, which it hardly is. YCBM & Don't Cry are Izzy songs, Civil War is a Slash/Axl song.

Edited by ShadowOfTheWave
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Niven is bitter and full of shit. UYI is "entirely" an Axl solo album? Are you fucking kidding me? How could anyone agree with or defend that statement?

He didn't say that. He said the direction the album was going, was mainly Axl's direction! Proof of that was that the majority of songs that became singles were the Axl songs!

Also he said that Steven Adler wasn't really fired because of his addictions, but because he was unable to fit into the style of the album, in terms of his way of drumming, and they had to find a drum player that would fit Axl's vision (Matt Sorum), and therefore Axl's "vision" had a lot to do with the break up of the band.

Same thing happened with Robin as well...as the other members wanted to bring Robin in for rhythm guitar, and Axl wanted him on lead guitar instead of Slash because that would fit the new style the band was adopting...

Maybe you should watch the video you posted since your such an expert on it. They ask him if he considers the UYI albums an Axl solo effort and he says "entirely".

How the fuck are the singles chosen "proof" of the direction the album was going!?! If anything that indicates that Axl's songs were better received, IF it were true, which it hardly is. YCBM & Don't Cry are Izzy songs, Civil War is a Slash/Axl song.

Not only the Axl songs, but also the fact that Axl had to include effects, piano and other things in the songs that were made without it. So yes it was kind of an Axl album... he claims otherwise...

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