The "Axl's Voice" Thread - Please Keep All Discussion Here

[IncitingChaos]

6 minutes ago, Pedrolg said:

The improvement (as slight as it is) in his voice + Slash's band datas later the year might indicate something with Axl's schedule.

I don’t hear improvement yet. That Nightrain last night started weak then he went to a stronger voice that isn’t one he typically uses. It was near a growl for most of the song. Which sounded better! But I don’t think his vocals are in better shape at the moment 

[Loseyourillusions98]

Maybe he should get a voice lift or some sort of vocal restoration surgery. It’s obvious that the past 2 years have drained his voice from constant touring to not practicing for months after. And tbh, even though 2016 axl/dc was fucking amazing it still doesn’t hold a candle to him in 2010. Something must have happened to his voice from 2010 to 2011 because that was such a huge change.  I think Steven Tyler had a similar surgery and he sounds the same as he did in the 80s now. 

Edited June 19, 2018 by Loseyourillusions98

[IncitingChaos]

another Axl flashback to his last great pro shot haha

[TheGeneral]

I just wrote this in another thread, would fit here too and I'm interested to hear your opinions on my opinion  

In my opinion Axl isn't even a 'vocalist', it's just that the raspy voice that many people can do and that sounds shit when they do it sounds good when he does it. Even I can do a raspy voice, it's very inconsistent also and sounds shit. His is very inconsistent but sounds good. It's the same with Brian Johnson, but his was very consistent. It's not natural, it's more like a "tone" or something. I don't know how to describe it in English.

Mercury, Plant, Perry and Tyler for example are real vocalists, because they use their 'real voice' for singing.

But I'm not an expert, so everything I wrote might be complete bullshit.

[edsonandhudson]

Guys, when you say he improved from one to night to another, I'm sorry to tell you, but it's you forcing youself to enjoy/hear things differently. A real improvement would be if he switched to 2010/AxlDc vocals. Anything else is you forcing yourself to listen to things that are not real. If you have any videos from the current tour where Axl sounds like 2010/AXLDC Axl, then please, post it here. And no, ISE, Brownstone, etc don't count. I'm talking about RQ's outro, Coma not sounding claustrophobic, Paradise City having balls. Stuff like that.

[Gordon Comstock]

6 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

I just wrote this in another thread, would fit here too and I'm interested to hear your opinions on my opinion  

In my opinion Axl isn't even a 'vocalist', it's just that the raspy voice that many people can do and that sounds shit when they do it sounds good when he does it. Even I can do a raspy voice, it's very inconsistent also and sounds shit. His is very inconsistent but sounds good. It's the same with Brian Johnson, but his was very consistent. It's not natural, it's more like a "tone" or something. I don't know how to describe it in English.

Mercury, Plant, Perry and Tyler for example are real vocalists, because they use their 'real voice' for singing.

But I'm not an expert, so everything I wrote might be complete bullshit.

Not only does he use his 'real voice' on songs like Mr Brownstone, Patience, Sorry etc, but how the hell does someone with his range not count as a real vocalist? The guy used a super high, clean voice all over their most famous album. In the early days he had a piercing clean voice. In 2002 and 2006 his clean voice was hit or miss, but when it hit, it was great. Nowadays his best songs are It's So Easy, Slither and Wichita Lineman... Your argument sucks Yes, anyone can do a 'raspy voice' of some kind. Not everyone can sing in a powerful raspy voice while running across a big stage, or maintain that singing style for a 2 hour ACDC set.

[IncitingChaos]

13 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

I just wrote this in another thread, would fit here too and I'm interested to hear your opinions on my opinion  

In my opinion Axl isn't even a 'vocalist', it's just that the raspy voice that many people can do and that sounds shit when they do it sounds good when he does it. Even I can do a raspy voice, it's very inconsistent also and sounds shit. His is very inconsistent but sounds good. It's the same with Brian Johnson, but his was very consistent. It's not natural, it's more like a "tone" or something. I don't know how to describe it in English.

Mercury, Plant, Perry and Tyler for example are real vocalists, because they use their 'real voice' for singing.

But I'm not an expert, so everything I wrote might be complete bullshit.

Axl has enough of a body of work to determine that he is a true vocalist. Most of his album recordings do not contain rasp. His early days with Rapidfire he was more in his natural tone. 

I think illusions he had gotten into telling a story and portraying feelings through his vocals, so you get some unique mashups there, where as AFD is in his classic clean vocal state with some aggression here and there. Lies is his more nasally true sound. 

Live he does it all, I think with performances he did with the Stones and Tom Petty and MTV November Rain he stuck to his natural tone but at live gnr concerts he just added that extra grit to his performance and so you get a lot of the rasp from there

[TheGeneral]

22 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Not only does he use his 'real voice' on songs like Mr Brownstone, Patience, Sorry etc, but how the hell does someone with his range not count as a real vocalist? The guy used a super high, clean voice all over their most famous album. In the early days he had a piercing clean voice. In 2002 and 2006 his clean voice was hit or miss, but when it hit, it was great. Nowadays his best songs are It's So Easy, Slither and Wichita Lineman... Your argument sucks Yes, anyone can do a 'raspy voice' of some kind. Not everyone can sing in a powerful raspy voice while running across a big stage, or maintain that singing style for a 2 hour ACDC set.

Lol. Yeah. His 'real voice' is the one he used on Brownstone etc, but that doesn't have anything to do with making him a 'vocalist'. I honestly think I'm just using the wrong word for what I mean  

I'll try to explain it differently.

His 'real voice' is the one from Brownstone etc or more recently live The Seeker. But it's not a great voice. It just isn't. The voice he uses for these songs DOESN'T have any range at all. I believe that The Seeker, or on Slither after the guitar solo is as high as it gets. It's something that even you or me, doesn't matter if we are good singers, could pull off 'okay' with a bit of training. But that doesn't make us good singers. If so, I'm a vocalist too!

Everything else, everything that's higher than that isn't his natural tone anymore. It's something else. His natural singing voice, without any 'tones' or 'effects' is the one he used for The Seeker.

And you can hear that, you can tell when he's away from his natural tone. That's something that you can't with all the Plants and Tylers, their singing voices just sound normal, like an extension of their speaking/'normal register' singing voice. Axl's doesn't sound like that. I'd honestly say Axl's 'normal' Brownstone/Patience/Seeker is pretty useless. It doesn't sound great and it doesn't sound bad. It sounds okay-ish/good. Hasn't got the range his other voices have. But as I said, his natural voice is something that you and me both could do with a bit if training. 

I really need some sleep lol it's long after midnight and I'm extremely tired...so have mercy  When I'll read it again in the morning I'll probably think WTF. But I think it's at least a bit understandable what I mean, if not I'll try to explain it again...and again...

[Gordon Comstock]

11 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

Lol. Yeah. His 'real voice' is the one he used on Brownstone etc, but that doesn't have anything to do with making him a 'vocalist'. I honestly think I'm just using the wrong word for what I mean  

I'll try to explain it differently.

His 'real voice' is the one from Brownstone etc or more recently live The Seeker. But it's not a great voice. It just isn't. The voice he uses for these songs DOESN'T have any range at all. I believe that The Seeker, or on Slither after the guitar solo is as high as it gets. It's something that even you or me, doesn't matter if we are good singers, could pull off 'okay' with a bit of training. But that doesn't make us good singers. If so, I'm a vocalist too!

Everything else, everything that's higher than that isn't his natural tone anymore. It's something else. His natural singing voice, without any 'tones' or 'effects' is the one he used for The Seeker.

And you can hear that, you can tell when he's away from his natural tone. That's something that you can't with all the Plants and Tylers, their singing voices just sound normal, like an extension of their speaking/'normal register' singing voice. Axl's doesn't sound like that. I'd honestly say Axl's 'normal' Brownstone/Patience/Seeker is pretty useless. It doesn't sound great and it doesn't sound bad. It sounds okay-ish/good. Hasn't got the range his other voices have. But as I said, his natural voice is something that you and me both could do with a bit if training. 

I really need some sleep lol it's long after midnight and I'm extremely tired...so have mercy  When I'll read it again in the morning I'll probably think WTF. But I think it's at least a bit understandable what I mean, if not I'll try to explain it again...and again...

To be fair, Axl hitting the high notes and Axl just screaming is apparently the same thing. His natural voice was always diverse and kinda raspy;

 

But I'm not sure I get what you're saying? Plant's singing and talking voices weren't really the same, Tyler's is close but there's still a difference. Axl might not use his 'natural tone' when singing but he's still a 'natural vocalist', actually he is/was an exceptional vocalist.

[IncitingChaos]

@TheGeneral 

1:04 is Axl’s natural tone and that is singing 

plus if this whole song isn’t great singing then idk what is 

[Sonic Reducer]

2 hours ago, edsonandhudson said:

Paradise City having balls.

It's been ages since that happened. He totally butchers this song, even the whistle is blown in the wrong time making it totally pointless. I think he has given up as a GNR vocalist and this is more like a hobby to him that also serves as a cash cow. Same goes for Slash and Duff, they have their own side projects to be creative, and Axl has ACDC now, I suppose. I hope he releases a good album with them.

Edited June 20, 2018 by Sonic Reducer

[WhazUp]

2 hours ago, edsonandhudson said:

Guys, when you say he improved from one to night to another, I'm sorry to tell you, but it's you forcing youself to enjoy/hear things differently. A real improvement would be if he switched to 2010/AxlDc vocals. Anything else is you forcing yourself to listen to things that are not real. If you have any videos from the current tour where Axl sounds like 2010/AXLDC Axl, then please, post it here. And no, ISE, Brownstone, etc don't count. I'm talking about RQ's outro, Coma not sounding claustrophobic, Paradise City having balls. Stuff like that.

Just because there isn't a huge astronomical improvement like transporting back to the year 2010, has no bearing on if he improved a bit from one show to the next even if by just a bit.  The most recent show overall is more consistently great than the first show of 2018 in my opinion - it has nothing to do with anyone forcing themselves to hear it differently, and it isn't "not real", so to speak

Axl isn't at his best vocally even compared to 2016, which to me was his strongest year since 2010, but hearing the most recent show compared to the first, there for sure is a noticeable improvement

 

Edited June 20, 2018 by WhazUp

[Loseyourillusions98]

I think this demo shows Axl’s best voice imo where he’s able to combine his “naturally voice” with the rasp that we all know. That and 1993 axl was probably the best versions of him as far as a vocalist 

 

https://youtu.be/qb8uPfhmfYM

[Towelie]

8 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

I can only assume that Axl/DC is a real thing and Axl has no desire to make anything of these GNR shows. He knows that all eyes will be on him with ACDC and he’ll be judged on that. So I think he’s just coasting and making sure he’s 100% when this ACDC thing comes into fruition. 

In a year or two time I think we’ll be talking about Axl’s voice being back and how good he is in his late 50’s. This gnr thing is played out to him and the fans at the moment 

Well, if that’s what it is, then what a fucking dickhead he is. I prefer to think he’s just fucked up his voice as opposed to taking peoples hard earned money and then making no effort to deliver a decent show. 

Either way, he fucking sucks and has no business getting up on stage and charging people money to hear him sing worse than an X Factor reject.

[IncitingChaos]

13 minutes ago, Towelie said:

Well, if that’s what it is, then what a fucking dickhead he is. I prefer to think he’s just fucked up his voice as opposed to taking peoples hard earned money and then making no effort to deliver a decent show. 

Either way, he fucking sucks and has no business getting up on stage and charging people money to hear him sing worse than an X Factor reject.

When Axl tries and his voice is failing him it sounds like this 

 

gnr effort isn’t anywhere near this 

[DeadSlash]

8 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

I can only assume that Axl/DC is a real thing and Axl has no desire to make anything of these GNR shows. He knows that all eyes will be on him with ACDC and he’ll be judged on that. So I think he’s just coasting and making sure he’s 100% when this ACDC thing comes into fruition. 

In a year or two time I think we’ll be talking about Axl’s voice being back and how good he is in his late 50’s. This gnr thing is played out to him and the fans at the moment 

That's nonsensical.  Why would you draw the conclusion that he's tanking on purpose for a $500m + tour, so he can really shine on a far less profitable tour?  It's like your critical thinking is broken.

[IncitingChaos]

2 minutes ago, DeadSlash said:

That's nonsensical.  Why would you draw the conclusion that he's tanking on purpose for a $500m + tour, so he can really shine on a far less profitable tour?  It's like your critical thinking is broken.

You’re assuming gnr is more important to Axl. But nobody is going to kick him out for singing bad. 

If he isn’t singing good with Angus, Angus might say “you know it was really messed up what I did to Brian...I don’t think we should finish this album...it’s me not you.” Haha but in all seriousness I think you misunderstand Axl’s loyalties at the moment.

 

[edsonandhudson]

13 hours ago, WhazUp said:

Just because there isn't a huge astronomical improvement like transporting back to the year 2010, has no bearing on if he improved a bit from one show to the next even if by just a bit.  The most recent show overall is more consistently great than the first show of 2018 in my opinion - it has nothing to do with anyone forcing themselves to hear it differently, and it isn't "not real", so to speak

Axl isn't at his best vocally even compared to 2016, which to me was his strongest year since 2010, but hearing the most recent show compared to the first, there for sure is a noticeable improvement

 

If there's no drastic improvement, what's the point of going HOLY FUCK for 1 sec of rasp here, 2 secs of rasp there?

We don't even need to go back to 2010. In 2016, with AC/DC he was great. That's improvement. The microscopical improvements he has during a GNR tour is more his fans forcing themselves to listen to stuff that's not really there.

Like I said, unless he's using his trademark raspy voice in a consistent basis, there's no real noticeable improvement. Just fans telling themselves "Axl is getting better as the tour progresses!!!!11" when he adds 1 sec of rasp in WTTJ or Nightrain because he felt like doing so, not because he's improving.

This thread proves my point perfectly.

I've been watching every Slither video that comes out and while I keep reading he's sounding much better at every new performance, I keep hearing the same Mickey vox throughout the song in every damn performance. Where's the improvement? Is he dancing more in the more recent performances? Cause the voice is the same...

[trqster]

At the end of the day, truth is, aging's a bitch and Axl is still a great f@ckin rock singer at his age! His vocals are way past his heyday but he still pulls a great overall show. Respect!

So you better stop bitchin'you double-talking jives mf's!  

[Loot Man]

14 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

@TheGeneral 

1:04 is Axl’s natural tone and that is singing 

plus if this whole song isn’t great singing then idk what is 

Fuck, he was perfect at Salt Of The Earth (and Mick knew it).

Edited June 20, 2018 by Loot Man

[Ratam]

1 hour ago, Loot Man said:

Fuck, he was perfect at Salt Of The Earth (and Mick knew it).

Loved like Axl sing this song.

[WhazUp]

5 hours ago, edsonandhudson said:

If there's no drastic improvement, what's the point of going HOLY FUCK for 1 sec of rasp here, 2 secs of rasp there?

We don't even need to go back to 2010. In 2016, with AC/DC he was great. That's improvement. The microscopical improvements he has during a GNR tour is more his fans forcing themselves to listen to stuff that's not really there.

Like I said, unless he's using his trademark raspy voice in a consistent basis, there's no real noticeable improvement. Just fans telling themselves "Axl is getting better as the tour progresses!!!!11" when he adds 1 sec of rasp in WTTJ or Nightrain because he felt like doing so, not because he's improving.

This thread proves my point perfectly.

I've been watching every Slither video that comes out and while I keep reading he's sounding much better at every new performance, I keep hearing the same Mickey vox throughout the song in every damn performance. Where's the improvement? Is he dancing more in the more recent performances? Cause the voice is the same...

I personally hear an improvement from the first show of the year to the last few, sure it isnt 2016 level in my opinion but for a couple of reasons I hear something better sounding than the first show.  Nightrain as a whole (not just 1 second or so like your post says) improved a ton to my ears.  Slither is less pitchy, more confidently delivered, and has stronger vocals overall compared to show 1 it was played on to my ears. 

 

All in all you have your opinion and that's cool.  Other people may have a different view, I just feel like it is silly to automatically just go to the "I am right, everyone else is forcing themselves to hear things and are in denial".  To you, if he isnt rasping the whole time it doesn't matter.  To others, having an improvement that sounds better than the first shows of the tour, is an improvement that they find noticeable.   And it is not fans "forcing themselves to hear things that aren't there", it is people simply with a different opinion that is just as valid

Edited June 20, 2018 by WhazUp

[edsonandhudson]

1 hour ago, WhazUp said:

I personally hear an improvement from the first show of the year to the last few, sure it isnt 2016 level in my opinion but for a couple of reasons I hear something better sounding than the first show.  Nightrain as a whole (not just 1 second or so like your post says) improved a ton to my ears.  Slither is less pitchy, more confidently delivered, and has stronger vocals overall compared to show 1 it was played on to my ears. 

 

All in all you have your opinion and that's cool.  Other people may have a different view, I just feel like it is silly to automatically just go to the "I am right, everyone else is forcing themselves to hear things and are in denial".  To you, if he isnt rasping the whole time it doesn't matter.  To others, having an improvement that sounds better than the first shows of the tour, is an improvement that they find noticeable.   And it is not fans "forcing themselves to hear things that aren't there", it is people simply with a different opinion that is just as valid

It's alright dude. And man, you certainly have amazing ears to be able to listen to so subtle improvements.

j/k

[WhazUp]

19 minutes ago, edsonandhudson said:

It's alright dude. And man, you certainly have amazing ears to be able to listen to so subtle improvements.

j/k

My ears are certainly GNR obsessed for better or worse

[Georgina Arriaga]

On 19/6/2018 at 5:45 PM, TheGeneral said:

I just wrote this in another thread, would fit here too and I'm interested to hear your opinions on my opinion  

In my opinion Axl isn't even a 'vocalist', it's just that the raspy voice that many people can do and that sounds shit when they do it sounds good when he does it. Even I can do a raspy voice, it's very inconsistent also and sounds shit. His is very inconsistent but sounds good. It's the same with Brian Johnson, but his was very consistent. It's not natural, it's more like a "tone" or something. I don't know how to describe it in English.

Mercury, Plant, Perry and Tyler for example are real vocalists, because they use their 'real voice' for singing.

But I'm not an expert, so everything I wrote might be complete bullshit.

Now, I hear and read everything. 

Axl, not a real vocalist? Wtf is that?