Fall To Pieces could have been a "Guns Song"

[Blackstar]

54 minutes ago, RedHook said:

12 or so years later,  it wasn't hard to find this letter he wrote to Axl

He took it back later.

[jacdaniel]

Axl was the victim in this case. Poor dude was just minding his own business and probably sleeping. Next thing Slash is at his house intoxicated and Scott is bashing him publically.

2006 was a major low point for Slash and VR. 

Whatever happened, Slash seems to still hate Scott. 

[Tom-Ass]

9 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

I’d be surprised if Axl could do this song justice truthfully. It’s not really his type of song vocally.

I think he could totally nail it if he rehearsed a couple times and sang the entire song in his lower register voice.. No Mickey..

6 hours ago, RussTCB said:

 Loving The Alien 

Amazing Amazing song right there that I don't hear enough about.. That was the song I played when he dies and it gave me the chills.

[AxlRoseCDII]

7 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

I think he could totally nail it if he rehearsed a couple times and sang the entire song in his lower register voice.. No Mickey..

That might just be the issue..Axl never practices or prepares for anything that isn’t AC/DC

[Tom-Ass]

VR. I really loved them and it was a fun time.. Following "the project" until they found a singer and then buying the Hulk Soundtrack so I could own "Set Me Free".  Saw them 7 or 8 times and had a lot of fun.  The two albums were very different but I loved them both.. Some good B-Sides too. I was briefly in a band that played "Dirty Little Thing" whichwas a blast! VR headlined Arena's and amphitheaters.. Had a bunch of hit rock songs.. Far from a failure in my eyes.

[appetite4illusions]

Contraband was the best thing Slash did post GN'R, precisely because it took him out of his comfort zone and placed him in the context of Alternative Rock.

It's the only instance in his career where I listen to the music and don't hear him dominating the style and approach. Instead, he's filtered through this matrix of bass and down-tuned guitars. There's truly more of a band integration going on in that album than any other he is featured on.

I have to really thank Scott Weiland for that. If he hadn't rejected the initial "Bad Company" album, Velvet Revolver would have been a very different band with a totally different musical identity. Instead, they tailored the sound to the milieu Scott came from; 90's Alt. 

No doubt, it was a killer milestone for Slash that reinvented him for a new generation as well as the last stellar moment for the great Scott Weiland, who ran out of creative steam immediately after.

[Tom-Ass]

I'm going to listen too some Velvet Revolver.

[J Dog]

6 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

I'm going to listen too some Velvet Revolver.

Contraband gets all the hype, and it should it’s that good. But Libertad is a sneaky good album.

[ludurigan]

19 hours ago, Kasanova King said:

 

 

Nothing against the late Scott Weiland or VR but Fall To Pieces would have been the next G N' R hit.  It was one of the primary riffs Slash was working on before they broke up.

 

Slash recently said he had "riffs" for his personal songs and other riffs for Guns songs.  Fall To Pieces was intended to be a Guns song.  It screams Guns.  

I would love to hear Axl's take on it.  Thoughts?

 

in order for it to become a "guns" song you would have to have axl's take AND izzy's take on it

right?

i am certain that if those two were to touch this song and specially if they could work on it with slash (steven and dough on it would be a bonus) it would be at least 18 thousand times better

nothing against your opinion but vr version is embarrassing. it sounds like a bad bon jovi song (one they wrote without desmond child) with slash riffing all over it and a grunge singer replacing bon jovi

any guns ballad (patience, nr, even just another sunday which is not really a GNR song) is vastly superior to this garbage

the pathetic video makes it all even worse

but yeah, it could be a good song

if it received the GNR treatment

[newusedillusion]

3 hours ago, RedHook said:

With Scott's passing not long before the beginnings of the GNR Tour I was very surprised Fall to Pieces was not played as a tribute to him.

It never happened, but they did play Black Hole Sun when Chris Cornell died.

Maybe Axl couldn't get over the little internet spat he had with Scott in 2006

FTP's lyrics were personal to Scott. I don't think Chris was ever able to explain what BHS was ever even about. It's not really the same.

I don't doubt what kicked off the spat happened and had merit. Contraband and Libertad are different because Scott had a flare-up of LSD and wanted to write all the lyrics for the next album (and later demanding more $$$ before continuing because he wrote the lyrics), which is different than how Slash, Duff, Sorum and Dave did Contraband. My guessing is the band was split about it with Slash wanting to keep the same dynamic and the others compromising to keep going. I have little doubt that Slash, drunk, high and pissed off said much of what Axl claimed because he saw it as "spineless". I don't think he really meant it, just pissed off rambling spurred by drugs and booze.

I liked VR but I think SW was the weak link in it. Those guys need a "dirty" sounding singer. I have the same problem with Miles. You hear the band going and you expect an Axl or Brian Johnson-sounding singer coming on and you get these clean vocals. Takes me out. They were on the right track with Josh Todd but I guess he didn't have the range they wanted.

[RussTCB]

58 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

Amazing Amazing song right there that I don't hear enough about.. That was the song I played when he dies and it gave me the chills.

Same here. As soon as I could, I put my Contraband LP on and playing Loving The Alien 

[Tom-Ass]

 

[appetite4illusions]

All of Scott's music changed for me after he passed. There's some really heartfelt later days STP songs like "Wonderful" and "Hello, It's Late" that became absolutely haunting in the wake of his death. He had a power that few singers do: he was transformative.

Still, he was seriously, seriously diminished in the last few years of his life and in the last four albums he made. As an artist, he could hardly deliver, as a human being, he could barely speak or form sentences. 

[ludurigan]

36 minutes ago, appetite4illusions said:

Contraband was the best thing Slash did post GN'R, precisely because it took him out of his comfort zone and placed him in the context of Alternative Rock.

It's the only instance in his career where I listen to the music and don't hear him dominating the style and approach. Instead, he's filtered through this matrix of bass and down-tuned guitars. There's truly more of a band integration going on in that album than any other he is featured on.

I have to really thank Scott Weiland for that. If he hadn't rejected the initial "Bad Company" album, Velvet Revolver would have been a very different band with a totally different musical identity. Instead, they tailored the sound to the milieu Scott came from; 90's Alt. 

No doubt, it was a killer milestone for Slash that reinvented him for a new generation as well as the last stellar moment for the great Scott Weiland, who ran out of creative steam immediately after.

Contraband was a poor effort in a string of poor efforts by Slash post GN'R, precisely because the songs are a bit of a Frankenstein of Slash riffs mixed with horrible Scott Weiland's & associates pseudo-alternative, safe, boring rock.

It's yet another instance in his career where his usually brilliant riffs and ideas seem completely wasted and lost in mostly bad songs. To make matters worse, his music is filtered through this matrix of bass and down-tuned guitars that some call "modern" and "current" but most of the times sounds just weak and uninspired.

There seems to be very little band integration going on in that album. Apparently Scott took bits and pieces of some of the songs Slash and the other guys wrote, re-wrote it with the help of his associates and that became Contraband. Precisely because of that I have to put a bit of the blame on Scott Weiland.

Not only Scott was unable to turn good slash ideas into great songs (something that Axl and Izzy proved to be very good at in the past), but apparently he rejected songs that were written by Slash, Izzy and Duff (basically a GNR instrumental album), and as if that was not lunatic enough, he called it a "Bad Company" album. Of course that any lunatic that rejects a GNR instrumental album has no business playing with Slash and should have been fired right then and there.

But of course it is necessary to remember that Velvet Revolver became what it became thanks to Slash. It is known that Velvet Revolver would have been a very different band if Slash had any actual rock n roll taste and had accepted izzy's idea to have an izzy & duff fronted band.  Of course he chose to have a lead singer instead and had to sell his soul in the process to get a high-profile singer to front the band. A singer past his prime that along with his "associates" pretty much imposed Slash and his little band a totally different musical identity.

No doubt, it was yet another less-than memorable record for Slash, one that kept him stuck on bad songs, stuck on bad chord progressions, stuck on the lack of groove.

Slash apparently hasn't realized to this day (and apparently most of his "fans" haven't realized as well) that all it takes for Slash to fucking shine is giving him a good 3-chord progression played by actual rock n' rollers

a good singer helps too, of course

[appetite4illusions]

A little passive-aggressive, aren't ya, friend? You could have just said you didn't like it. But since you wanted to rewrite my post, all you had to say was you don't dig Scotty.

That's okay, nobody said you had to.  But, as long as we're treading on facts, the endeavor won them a grammy and it gave Slash a level of prestige he hadn't had since 1993.  

[ZoSoRose]

Contraband is a great album. It was exactly what it needed to be at the time. 

[RussTCB]

3 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

Contraband is a great album. It was exactly what it needed to be at the time. 

That's what I've always thought. I'm really surprised to hear so many negative opinions of it.

[Ninjapie24]

I always felt like Contraband was Appetite 2.0. It was a hard rock album that kicked ass and had 10/13 songs be hard rock with the other 3 being ballads. 10 hard rock is the same number as Metallica’s Black album (which I think is a weaker Metallica album but that’s besides the point). Having the same amount of hard rock songs as such an iconic album shows just why I think it’s Appetite 2.0. Libertad was more experimental and reminded me of the compilation of both of the Illusions albums.

[gnfnrs1972]

5 hours ago, RedHook said:

 

 

12 or so years later,  it wasn't hard to find this letter he wrote to Axl 

 

 

Im not good at the internet thing. But if I was I would post a picture of Kelso saying BURN!

[Ant]

2 hours ago, ludurigan said:

Contraband was a poor effort in a string of poor efforts by Slash post GN'R, precisely because the songs are a bit of a Frankenstein of Slash riffs mixed with horrible Scott Weiland's & associates pseudo-alternative, safe, boring rock.

It's yet another instance in his career where his usually brilliant riffs and ideas seem completely wasted and lost in mostly bad songs. To make matters worse, his music is filtered through this matrix of bass and down-tuned guitars that some call "modern" and "current" but most of the times sounds just weak and uninspired.

There seems to be very little band integration going on in that album. Apparently Scott took bits and pieces of some of the songs Slash and the other guys wrote, re-wrote it with the help of his associates and that became Contraband. Precisely because of that I have to put a bit of the blame on Scott Weiland.

Not only Scott was unable to turn good slash ideas into great songs (something that Axl and Izzy proved to be very good at in the past), but apparently he rejected songs that were written by Slash, Izzy and Duff (basically a GNR instrumental album), and as if that was not lunatic enough, he called it a "Bad Company" album. Of course that any lunatic that rejects a GNR instrumental album has no business playing with Slash and should have been fired right then and there.

But of course it is necessary to remember that Velvet Revolver became what it became thanks to Slash. It is known that Velvet Revolver would have been a very different band if Slash had any actual rock n roll taste and had accepted izzy's idea to have an izzy & duff fronted band.  Of course he chose to have a lead singer instead and had to sell his soul in the process to get a high-profile singer to front the band. A singer past his prime that along with his "associates" pretty much imposed Slash and his little band a totally different musical identity.

No doubt, it was yet another less-than memorable record for Slash, one that kept him stuck on bad songs, stuck on bad chord progressions, stuck on the lack of groove.

Slash apparently hasn't realized to this day (and apparently most of his "fans" haven't realized as well) that all it takes for Slash to fucking shine is giving him a good 3-chord progression played by actual rock n' rollers

a good singer helps too, of course

I think you're too hard on VR. Slash really stretched on a lot of that material and it was really cool how he expanded his sonic palette IMO.

I do agree Slash is his own worst enemy a lot of the time, though. As cool, complimentary and utterly unparalleled as Slash and Izzy's playing is in GNR and on AFD especially, I think it's possible to overestimate their actual musical chemistry/writing compatibility with each other as funny as it may sound. I suspect this given Slash's multiple comments about Izzy's style, their sparse collaborations post Guns and from the way he's approached his solo career. For that reason, I think the idea of the Izzy/Duff fronted band is a non-starter and I'm glad we have material from Slash in the context of another democratic band and not his solo whims. Slash seems to have this inclination towards straight ahead quasi-metal and it was fortunate for us that Izzy and his Keith Richardisms were basically forced on him.

Edited August 26, 2018 by Ant

[BadApples87]

Contraband is a really good record. 

While not as great as Appetite or the Illusions...it is the best thing that any of these guys did post GNR or STP.....and way better than Hired Guns N Posers Chinese Democracy. 

GNR was a total joke in the 2000's.  I would prefer to pretend that the GNR name didn't exist during that time quite frankly.  Kinda like when Aerosmith went on without Perry and Whitford, only probably worse with that Bucket dude..Yikes!

VR won a grammy for Contraband.  Fall to Pieces is a great jam by Slash, and the lyrics are all Scott.  Nobody else could do that song.

[Gibson87]

5 hours ago, Sosso said:

2006 GN'R > 2006 Velvet Revolver 

Agreed. I love Slash and Duff but 2006 GN'R kicked the shit out of 06 VR

[Sydney Fan]

4 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

VR. I really loved them and it was a fun time.. Following "the project" until they found a singer and then buying the Hulk Soundtrack so I could own "Set Me Free".  Saw them 7 or 8 times and had a lot of fun.  The two albums were very different but I loved them both.. Some good B-Sides too. I was briefly in a band that played "Dirty Little Thing" whichwas a blast! VR headlined Arena's and amphitheaters.. Had a bunch of hit rock songs.. Far from a failure in my eyes.

Will say when i saw them when  they toured here in oz in feb 05 and was one the best gigs ive seen. I rocked up to see them not quite knowing what to expect as i wasnt a frequent blogger on any VR or guns website, but was completely blown away and th ed crowd in sydney loved it!. They rescheduled 3 times back in 07/08 for another oz tour little did people know the internal issues with scott and the rest of the band.

[BOSSY78]

I'd have loved to hear Axl's take on it but people forget the lyrics wouldn't have been the same Scott wrote those lyrics.

It would likely have been a very different song. I like what Scott did with it.

I do believe Axl showed interest in the bits Slash played him and thought he could write lyrics to it. It likely would have turned out great too but I'm also a fan of the song Scott wrote.

[chester]

Contraband was decent IMO...Slither, FTP(Though, pathetically derivative of SCOM), Loving the Alien... That second album was just terrible. I find myself going back to Chinese Democracy far more than I ever do anything VR related(I don't at all.) I saw them once live and couldn't help but compare Scott to Axl in stage presence, he fell flat for me, prancing around, dressed like Axl in 1988. In the end it put money in the pockets of Slash, Duff, and Scott, who independent of each other are/were great artists.