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

[Dean]

8 hours ago, HollyWoodRose84 said:

Am I late to the party that I missed this jungle pro shot from Coachella? He did pretty well here

 

 

I've been listening to a few of 2016 shows over the past few days. Those AC/DC rehearsals must have played a big part in it, as he just seems on the ball. The Philadelphia and Houston shows are particular highlights. It's a mammoth setlist the band fire through, I reckon Axl would have struggled with that back in 06/10 if I'm honest. The Slash interview that was posted just recently where he says he found a way to sing the AC/DC stuff without it harming his voice makes me think that the 06/10 shows, he was balls to the wall every night and it ended up taking it's toll. Whatever he done in 2016, he upped his game big time in comparison to the last run with the Ashba era.

[Live Like a Suicide]

13 hours ago, GNRfanMILO said:

This is how Axl should sound nowadays... Steven is fucking 70 years old. And we have to celebrate when Axl rasps two words in Rocket Queen.

2:45

 

It's odd that you would criticise Axl for allegedly rasping little parts of his songs, and then immediately refer to a small clip of Steven Tyler...

I don't get the doom and gloom over Axl. He still sounds great when he wants to, and he can last entire songs...

Case in point:

 

[Jw224]

3 hours ago, Live Like a Suicide said:

It's odd that you would criticise Axl for allegedly rasping little parts of his songs, and then immediately refer to a small clip of Steven Tyler...

I don't get the doom and gloom over Axl. He still sounds great when he wants to, and he can last entire songs...

Case in point:

 

I don't think there's doom and gloom. People are just pissed he half asses it most of the time. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by Jw224

[trqster]

Would Axl's voice have improved if he had been less bloated like he was in early '16 at the first shows? I honestly believe so... But there's little hope for that now as he grows older. It's so sad and pathetic to see people getting older and using that as an excuse to just let themselves go... Oh well. 

Edited August 24, 2018 by trqster

[nevergotochurch]

All I know is when I read Slash or Duff saying things like “Tour has been great, Axl sounds amazing every night”.... I don’t get how they can say that sort of thing and keep a straight face 

[Stro]

49 minutes ago, trqster said:

Would Axl's voice have improved if he had been less bloated like he was in early '16 at the first shows? I honestly believe so... But there's little hope for that now as he grows older. It's so sad and pathetic to see people getting older and using that as an excuse to just let themselves go... Oh well. 

Weight wise, Axl is definitely in better shape now than he was in 2016. I watched some video from 2016 the other night and was actually shocked at how big he looked in comparison. A good 20 pound difference, and wearing shirts that fit instead of what looked to be a shirt at least 1 if not 2 sizes too big making him look even bigger.

[Jw224]

1 hour ago, nevergotochurch said:

All I know is when I read Slash or Duff saying things like “Tour has been great, Axl sounds amazing every night”.... I don’t get how they can say that sort of thing and keep a straight face 

They are very aware of how things are. They are not gonna say that kinda stuff in public. Especially since they are getting along so well. I wouldn't say that about my friends. 

[MJRemastered]

A thing i have noticed, maybe it's just me, but when he sings in either mickey or normal voice in words where the letter "s" should sound sharp he pronounces it like it's a "sh", example: shweet child or in better: "inshide shomeone like you now" and "replay the part you shtole my heart". 

Maybe it's just me, but it does sound like that. 

Also, i am not feeling that the mickey voice is that bad overall, i mean i believe that it's the same vocal style he used in early years where he had a clean high and sharp voice. Related to that voice, did he ever use in UYI era the clean high voice not the raspy one? I've listen to all the bootlegs and couldn't find any recording where he would use that voice. The voice i mean you can hear in Back off bitch at the beggining of the course and 1 verse before, in these lyrics: "And taste the flame, Back off bitch, Back off Bitch"

[Stro]

Well his voice and throat were fucked up for most of the UYI tour so that's not really his "normal" singing voice to begin with. His UYI "rasp" was throat nodules and damage, and doesn't sound the same as when he really pushed it before 1991 and in 2006 and even 2010.

[GNRfanMILO]

He sound incredibly fucking raspy here. 1991 style, makes my own vocal chords hurt! 

 

[nikothebellic]

Axl's voice is a matter of such a big dispute, however, some things are the fact and should be considred: 
1. It's easier for him to sing AC/DC stuff (at least, sing properly) as it faster and higher pitched. Therefore, most performances of songs like Nightrain, Jungle, My Michelle, SOYL, parts of Paradise City are decent - they math AC/DC style. 
2. Axl gives different efforts to different legs of tour - on US legs he sounds much better than on others, due to 'homeland status", I suppose. Summer 2016 shows were almost perfect (well, he wanted to show "they're back", anyway), while at South America in autumn his voice worsened a bit. Pacific, Asia and Europe Legs in 2017 also were weaker, however, despite not the best summer US gigs, in US arena tour in autumn 2017 he sounded much better. Of course, in 2016 AC/DC shows played some part, but what a chance that even after "full-packed" 2017 year he would sound great at dozens of arena shows. Europe 2018 was an intresting one - they completely fucked up the beginning and Axl started to sound properly only after 5-6 shows, but at the same time, overall, he sounded better than on EU gigs in 2017.   
3. Seems weather conditions and venues type also affect him - I don't think that he meant to screw up at such a classical Rock in Rio again. Moreover, most American gigs (and therefore - the best ones) were at indoor venues (even in 2016, for example, at "roofed" NRG Stadium, probably the best on the tour). So, it seems venue type really matters. Tokyo had two really good shows - Saitama is also an indoor arena.

All in all, I stay for Axl here, he did a pretty good job with his voice in recent years. Even, it's not on par with 90's or even 06-10, but it was decent. Though, probably, I would recommened them to shake up the set a bit in favor of Axl, maybe add more jams or reduce its length. Or at least, put SCOM earlier. 
  

Edited August 27, 2018 by nikothebellic

[fanfzero]

On 24/8/2018 at 8:24 PM, nevergotochurch said:

All I know is when I read Slash or Duff saying things like “Tour has been great, Axl sounds amazing every night”.... I don’t get how they can say that sort of thing and keep a straight face 

"As you can see in our faces, tour has been great, and Axl is sounding better than ever and there will be new music with 2018 Axl Voice and...emmm...ok Slash, I think it's enough"

If I was paid what those guys are paid every night, I would also like Axl's voice

(Hope they don't steal my picture for promoting shows)

Edited August 27, 2018 by fanfzero

[IncitingChaos]

Slash made the comment that they played the songs with more energy in 2016 because it was fresh to them, but after that leg it lost some of its energy due to it becoming a repetitive thing. 

I think he was referring to the tempo as well as Axl’s vocal approach 

[Jw224]

3 hours ago, fanfzero said:

"As you can see in our faces, tour has been great, and Axl is sounding better than ever and there will be new music with 2018 Axl Voice and...emmm...ok Slash, I think it's enough"

If I was paid what those guys are paid every night, I would also like Axl's voice

(Hope they don't steal my picture for promoting shows)

You'll see it on the videos behind them when they play. 

[Jordan Rose]

On 8/27/2018 at 6:45 PM, IncitingChaos said:

Slash made the comment that they played the songs with more energy in 2016 because it was fresh to them, but after that leg it lost some of its energy due to it becoming a repetitive thing. 

I think he was referring to the tempo as well as Axl’s vocal approach 

Where did he say this?

[IncitingChaos]

3 hours ago, Jordan Rose said:

Where did he say this?

The tempos of the old songs are up. Was that something you and Duff pushed for?
I think it was just high energy, because now things have started to settle down a little bit more. I felt like there was a lot of energy from those, you know, from Coachella through the first U.S. tour that we did, where everything was very sort of uptempo and just sort of manic. And I think that was just from a collective high energy from where we were at that time. It wasn’t intentional, the speed. Unless it was — I’m trying to think. There might have been a couple songs, you know, because I like to speed everything up anyway, you know.

Rolling Stone Interview 

Edited August 28, 2018 by IncitingChaos

[Gordon Comstock]

2018 is the worst year of Axl's career. It's depressing how far he's plummeted in only 2 years, but he's comparable to the likes of Bon Jovi or Vince Neil at this point. Whether that's from vocal damage, laziness/non-rehearsal, or a combination, it's sad to listen to.

[Jw224]

19 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

2018 is the worst year of Axl's career. It's depressing how far he's plummeted in only 2 years, but he's comparable to the likes of Bon Jovi or Vince Neil at this point. Whether that's from vocal damage, laziness/non-rehearsal, or a combination, it's sad to listen to.

Definite laziness imo. 

[Gordon Comstock]

41 minutes ago, Jw224 said:

Definite laziness imo. 

The frustrating thing is that he's always been the same way, but age seems to have finally caught up to him. Even from 2011-2016 he'd show significant improvements as the tours progressed, but I think what we're seeing/hearing now is most comparable to 2010->2011, where initially he pushed his voice to it's limits and then something happens; he doesn't maintain his aggressive style, or he strains for his aggressive style, or he doesn't change techniques properly, or whatever the technical terminology is, while dealing with vocal damage... AC/DC clearly damaged his voice, he sounded amazing but by the end his voice was definitely strained and cracking. I think that much strain at the top of his range and using rasp in his mid-range, and then not taking proper care in his downtime, led to the progressive weakness we've heard since SA 2016. And at this point he simply can't 'bounce back' like he used to.

[UsedYourIllusion]

3 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

The frustrating thing is that he's always been the same way, but age seems to have finally caught up to him. Even from 2011-2016 he'd show significant improvements as the tours progressed, but I think what we're seeing/hearing now is most comparable to 2010->2011, where initially he pushed his voice to it's limits and then something happens; he doesn't maintain his aggressive style, or he strains for his aggressive style, or he doesn't change techniques properly, or whatever the technical terminology is, while dealing with vocal damage... AC/DC clearly damaged his voice, he sounded amazing but by the end his voice was definitely strained and cracking. I think that much strain at the top of his range and using rasp in his mid-range, and then not taking proper care in his downtime, led to the progressive weakness we've heard since SA 2016. And at this point he simply can't 'bounce back' like he used to.

Sometimes voices just go, Axls been lucky to have been able to come back at all like he did from 06-10 and for ACDC. His terrible vocals technique, however great it sounded during the UYI tour and during the Appetite tour caught up with him in the late '90s and early 2000's. He just been bouncing between great and meh ever since. People's voices just go, like Adele's voice, someone who belts (while she doesn't use rasp like Axl) like Axl does, Adele will probably never release another record and she's in her early 30s I believe.

[Sydney Fan]

On 25/08/2018 at 5:49 AM, Jw224 said:

They are very aware of how things are. They are not gonna say that kinda stuff in public. Especially since they are getting along so well. I wouldn't say that about my friends. 

A true friend always tells you how it is even if you dont like it.....but depends on the subject of course.

[Sydney Fan]

On 25/08/2018 at 4:56 AM, Stro said:

Weight wise, Axl is definitely in better shape now than he was in 2016. I watched some video from 2016 the other night and was actually shocked at how big he looked in comparison. A good 20 pound difference, and wearing shirts that fit instead of what looked to be a shirt at least 1 if not 2 sizes too big making him look even bigger.

A greed he has lost weight but i still think theres more to lose, just around the midsection. His foot operation he did in 2016 and as part of recovery he wouldnt have been doing any running or light jogging for maybe 3 to 6 months. When we first saw him in 2016 was he at least that size towards the end of the ashba era?.

[Gordon Comstock]

17 minutes ago, UsedYourIllusion said:

Sometimes voices just go, Axls been lucky to have been able to come back at all like he did from 06-10 and for ACDC. His terrible vocals technique, however great it sounded during the UYI tour and during the Appetite tour caught up with him in the late '90s and early 2000's. He just been bouncing between great and meh ever since. People's voices just go, like Adele's voice, someone who belts (while she doesn't use rasp like Axl) like Axl does, Adele will probably never release another record and she's in her early 30s I believe.

What makes it frustrating is that he's surprised us before, like 06-10 and 2016, even sporadically from 2011-14 he'd still 'bring it'. But it does seem like his voice is 'gone', at least in the current context. He simply can't sing songs like YCBM, Better, Yesterdays, RQ, or especially This I Love properly. But if he were to actually release more songs, using the vocal styles he uses on ISE, CD, Wichita Lineman, DTJ, or parts of Madagascar, he'd still sound good. Or at least alter the set and reduce it to 2~ hours. But he's seemingly too stubborn to admit defeat. I'll admit he sounds relatively good on SOYL and some parts of other songs where he just screams but those short moments aren't really enough to make a 3.5 hour show 'better'.

Edited November 4, 2018 by Gordon Comstock

[UsedYourIllusion]

3 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

What makes it frustrating is that he's surprised us before, like 06-10 and 2016, even sporadically from 2011-14 he'd still 'bring it'. But it does seem like his voice is 'gone', at least in the current context. He simply can't sing songs like YCBM, Better, Yesterdays, RQ, or especially This I Love properly. But if he were to actually release more songs, using the vocal styles he uses on ISE, CD, Wichita Lineman, DTJ, or parts of Madagascar, he'd still sound good. Or at least alter the set and reduce it to 2~ hours. But he's seemingly too stubborn to admit defeat.

Yeah, songs like Bad Obsession, Sorry, You Ain't the First, along with Izzy being there and singing some songs and adding another Duff track; you could seriously improve the shows dramatically. god I'd pay a great deal to hear Dust N' Bones again

[Gordon Comstock]

2 minutes ago, UsedYourIllusion said:

Yeah, songs like Bad Obsession, Sorry, You Ain't the First, along with Izzy being there and singing some songs and adding another Duff track; you could seriously improve the shows dramatically. god I'd pay a great deal to hear Dust N' Bones again

When I saw them in 2011, Loaded was the opening band. Duff sang Dust N' Bones in Vancouver and it was awesome. They could definitely do that song now, I'm kinda surprised Duff hasn't switched up his solo spot tbh, with all the setlist additions since the beginning I'm surprised they never added So Fine or Dust N' Bones or some Loaded song.