GnR in Spin magazine's readers polls (1989, 1991, 1993, 1994)

[Blackstar]

Spin started in the mid-80s aspiring to rival Rolling Stone as a "serious" music magazine, appearing as more alternative orientated (by American standards, meaning that some bands that were mainstream in Europe, like U2 and Depeche Mode -and even The Smiths in Britain-, were considered alternative in the US) and targeting, as well as creating to an extent, the respective audience. It was something like a proto-hipster magazine.

In 1989 Spin did a general readers' musical preferences poll and yearly polls from the 90s on. It's interesting to see where GnR stood among that audience and how opinions developed.

1989: Opinions on GnR (as well as on some other acts) were polarized, but certainly they weren't seen as being in the same category as the hair bands. It seems that a portion of the readers rated them, as AFD was voted as one of the 10 best albums of all time.

It must have been quite an insult for Axl to be outvoted by Bon Jovi in "most dateable dude" and "worst dressed dude" categories (the readers' taste was questionable, to say the least )

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Poll for the year 1991: It was dominated by "grunge", Jane's Addiction, U2, R.E.M. (and Metallica to a lesser extent), but UYI 2 made it to the top 5 in the best album category.

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EDIT: 1993 poll: included a poll for "top 100 songs of our time"

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1994 poll (the voting took place in late '94 and published in January '95)

(edit: I had wrongly posted it as 1993)

As the 90s progressed, the magazine's "alternative" credibility faded and in the end of the decade Korn was its readers' favourite band.

 

Edited December 15, 2017 by Blackstar
added

[Georgina Arriaga]

Interesting.

By 2002, Appetite for Destruction was the Best Metal album of all time by Spin Magazine

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/guns-n-roses-top-spin-s-all-time-greatest-metal-album-list/

 

[killuridols]

That's a great finding @Blackstar

And LOL... by the look of those polls, GN'R did not get much love from the readers

I can't believe that by 1989 they were already considered a DECADENT band!

What the....

[MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle]

GNR scored number 1 in at least one poll: most decadent band.   How apt! 

Thanks for this @Blackstar  Really interesting to see how certain bands were viewed back then.  Look at The Cure in the Best Band of All Time category.  I certainly remember how well liked they were, credible and cool - they were a huge commercial success but they were also considered 'alternative'.  They just faded away for some reason.  I wonder if anyone here even remembers them?   Released a lot of albums too, I think.  Anyway, I loved them back in the day.

It's amazing when you think about it, that GNR having such a small back catalogue and it being so old have still managed to catch the nostalgia wave.  I guess it just goes to show how unique they were.  There really wasn't, and hasn't been, another band like the old GNR.

[Blackstar]

@killuridols I guess the term "decadent" wasn't interpreted in the same way by all the readers. Some took it as positive (as in "very rock 'n' roll") and others as negative. Judging from the "most decadent rocker of all time" category, many took it as positive.

Edited December 13, 2017 by Blackstar

[AncientEvil80]

What a load of fucking bullcrap... but hey, thanks for finding the time to post all this for a LOL.

 

[Blackstar]

5 minutes ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

GNR scored number 1 in at least one poll: most decadent band.   How apt! 

Thanks for this @Blackstar  Really interesting to see how certain bands were viewed back then.  Look at The Cure in the Best Band of All Time category.  I certainly remember how well liked they were, credible and cool - they were a huge commercial success but they were also considered 'alternative'.  They just faded away for some reason.  I wonder if anyone here even remembers them?   Released a lot of albums too, I think.  Anyway, I loved them back in the day.

It's amazing when you think about it, that GNR having such a small back catalogue and it being so old have still managed to catch the nostalgia wave.  I guess it just goes to show how unique they were.  There really wasn't, and hasn't been, another band like the old GNR.

The Cure had broken in the US just then, in the late 80s (and made it to the top 10), although in Europe they had been popular years before. I think their last album was in 2008.

The Smiths were a bit of a surprise for me, because I'd think that they would be too "British" for the American audience (even the "alternative" one) to relate to.

[RONIN]

11 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

The Cure had broken in the US just then, in the late 80s (and made it to the top 10), although in Europe they had been popular years before. I think their last album was in 2008.

The Smiths were a bit of a surprise for me, because I'd think that they would be too "British" for the American audience (even the "alternative" one) to relate to.

American hipsters love British bands.

[Hollywood Gunner]

sweet child gets 5th best video and 6th worst... what a load of crap 😂 who comes up with this stuff

[Nicklord]

Can you share 1990 and 1992? Wanna see those  

[Blackstar]

@Nicklord there were no polls for those years.

[RONIN]

It's remarkable to see how much fan/critical/peer backlash against GnR (and Axl) there was between '93-95. Incredible how far they had fallen in America after so thoroughly dominating '91 and '92. 

Some quotes of relevance:

ENGLEHART: You did a show with Guns N' Roses at Wembley Stadium in London several years back, at Axl Rose's instigation. Do you get any feedback from him these days?

REZNOR: I heard from him right before we started this tour. That was kind of when the downfall of Guns N' Roses was just reaching bottom. He was just kind of freaked out and was talking about maybe working on some other kind of project. I said, "Let me know. I'm into at least listening to ideas." I haven't had any other contact.

ENGLEHART: He's got an interesting mind. I think there's a lot more going on in there than people give him credit for.

REZNOR: With Axl? Yeah. I feel a certain degree of compassion, just because he was thrust into something that was larger than anything else and then a lot of weight was placed on him to carry the torch. If I had to pick something that I think was wrong with how they were treated it was that no one had the balls to say "No." As in, "No, it's not a good idea to put out two double albums of mediocre material." But if you said that you got fired. I think that's inherently the problem. I think the guy is talented at what he is doing.

Juice Magazine - July 1995

http://www.theninhotline.net/archives/articles/xart38.shtml

The "Smells like Teen Spirit" video came in at the same time the new Guns N' Roses video came in, and at this point, I hadn't worked at MTV for very long. I went to Abbey Konowitch, the head of the programming department at that point, and said, "Look, I love this place. I'm having a great time. That being said, this place doesn't really represent my generation. We really aren't playing videos from bands that I'm passionate about. We have something that's come in that I'm extremely passionate about. I'm just saying to you that if we don't play this, I don't feel like there's a place for me here." I put my job on the line, basically. I believed in it that much. The video world-premiered on 120 minutes. Within a week or two, we got it in heavy rotation, and within less than a month, the face of MTV had started to make a major transition. - Amy Finnerty (MTV director of music programming and talent relations)

"In the fall of 1991, that video was getting a lot of airplay on MTV (Smells like Teen Spirit), and I would spend hours at my girlfriend's house just laying in bed waiting for it to come on, 'cause it was really exciting, really like nothing else out there. At the time, I think my competition was a million-dollar Guns N' Roses video (Don't Cry?) and Michael Jackson doing something w/ Eddie Murphy or MC Hammer. The "Teen Spirit" video was nasty, brown colored - it looked dirty, it really stood out.

Within a year of that, there were a lot of different looking videos: Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, Soundgarden. It seemed like all that videos now had this angry, dark vibe to them. - Samuel Bayer (MTV)

- Everybody loves our Town: An Oral History of Grunge by Mark Yarm (there's a lot of great GnR quotes from this book)

Edited December 14, 2017 by RONIN

[Blackstar]

It's funny how Jane's Addiction was ignored in the 1989 poll and in the 1993 poll their 1988 album 'Nothing's Shocking' appears as second best album of all time  There are many other "inconsistencies" like that.

It's also notable that Pearl Jam and Jane's Addiction/Perry Farrell were much more popular than Nirvana in '92-'93 among Spin's readers. Smells Like Teen Spirit was just #43 in the "top 100 songs of our time" poll, being topped by 3-4 songs by each of Pearl Jam, REM, Jane's Addiction and U2 (and also by Welcome To The Jungle). Nirvana's popularity rose again after Kurt Cobain's suicide.

 

Edited December 14, 2017 by Blackstar

[IncitingChaos]

GNR’s place in history is cemented. A casual listener will hear Guns N Roses and think Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen. They aren’t grunge, they aren’t heavy metal, they are a big band, with a great name, and timeless music. 

I think we take too much time dissecting where they belong or what era they came up in. But a large majority of people just group them with some of the biggest rock bands in music history. 

Its not until you dive into their history that you see the ugly, but for some that’s more interesting and i think any casual listeners who dive into their music find out how talented they were. They have two albums worth of greatest hits on 4 records...it’s quite impressive to me. 

As time rolls on and less people from the “grunge” era dominate how this band is perceived then they will fit nicely into the timeline of big rock bands and might stand as the last testament to that classic rock sound.  

 

[rocknroll41]

It's funny how in the 1994 polls, the voters said they wanted GNR to go away. Little did those people know that they would the following year lol.

[RONIN]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

It's funny how Jane's Addiction was ignored in the 1989 poll and in the 1993 poll their 1988 album 'Nothing's Shocking' appears as second best album of all time  There are many other "inconsistencies" like that.

It's also notable that Pearl Jam and Jane's Addiction/Perry Farrell were much more popular than Nirvana in '92-'93 among Spin's readers. Smells Like Teen Spirit was just #43 in the "top 100 songs of our time" poll, being topped by 3-4 songs by each of Pearl Jam, REM, Jane's Addiction and U2 (and under Welcome To The Jungle). Nirvana's popularity rose again after Kurt Cobain's suicide.

 

Agreed. In Utero had underperformed as well compared to Nevermind in '93. Someone mentioned some months back how it had even undersold TSI? in its first week. There seems to be a lot of revisionist history about Nirvana's relevance and place in the industry post-Cobain's death.

[DieselDaisy]

From my experience, a lot of people hated Guns N' Roses - even during their pomp. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by DieselDaisy

[Blackstar]

On 14/12/2017 at 4:02 AM, RONIN said:

Agreed. In Utero had underperformed as well compared to Nevermind in '93. Someone mentioned some months back how it had even undersold TSI? in its first week. There seems to be a lot of revisionist history about Nirvana's relevance and place in the industry post-Cobain's death.

Yeah, although I personally like Nirvana a lot and I'd take them over Pearl Jam and the other popular "grunge" bands (and I don't like U2 and Metallica), there's indeed a lot of revisionism in regards to their popularity and impact before Kurt Cobain's death.

Edited December 15, 2017 by Blackstar

[Ratam]

Axl between best dressed in the music??

[Sydney Fan]

The most under rated band from grunge would be alice in chains. I remember reading the reviews when inutero came out and it was mixed to say the least. By that time kurt had changed his clothing style dramitcally and didn't look like the washed out looking guy from 91 plus he was seeing Courtney around that time and close to be married which I think turned people off. If I remember the reviews Inutero was generally getting 3 stars out of 5, not the 5 out of 5 that nevermind was getting. I guess fans were particularly fickle around that time.

[-W.A.R-]

I like how Axl was on both best dressed and worst.

[Ratam]

17 minutes ago, -W.A.R- said:

I like how Axl was on both best dressed and worst.

Yes, worst too 😀

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

And by ‘99 they had a cover article essentially begging for Axl’s return (i.e. “What The World Needs Now...”)...

[Nicklord]

In Utero undersold in the first week cause of limited release. It didn't bomb, just a lot of places didn't even offer it cause of the cover, Rape Me song and stuff like that. Eventually it sold like it should even before Kurt's death 

Edited December 14, 2017 by Nicklord

[soon]

Those polls definitely reflect my memory of being a Guns fan in that era.  They had such an undeniable presence in early 90's that even people who voted them for 'worst ______' would still probably have a song or video, or even just member they liked.  And I remember feeling like there was an effort, conspiracy even, between certain fans and publications to destroy them by around 94'.

Slightly off topic: I cant recall if it was Spin, but a lot of "alternative rock" magazines in that era would talk about how guitar solos were out of style, but youd have Billy Corgan on the cover because of his hit songs full of guitar solos.  There was an agenda.  All the grunge bands had not only guitar solos, but guitar hereos.  Eventually even the trade publications for guitarists were perpetuating this myth of solos being out of style.  Then Metallica started laying off the solos, while the "alternative" universe kept churning them out.  Forever baffled by this.

An aside: In 91' poll its great to see Mariah topping the best female vocalist category.  She doesnt get the respect she deserves from the younger pop audience these days.  Those were the days!