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What's your unpopular GN'R opinion?


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On 26/06/2020 at 8:05 PM, dogman said:

DJ was actually good for the band.  Brought some much-needed charisma.  Besides Axl, the pre-dj band was a bunch of stiffs on stage.  He also brought back the era of playing the solos they way they were recorded on the record - no more of the improvised "play it how you want" crap that plagued the 01-06 era.  Also, of all the 01-14 guitarists, he's probably the closest in style and tone to Slash.  Oh and last thing, Axl's chemistry with DJ was BY FAR the best out of all the band members from 01-14.  I feel like Axl considered DJ an actual friend/band member as opposed to a hired-hand like the rest of them.

 

Was he corny and a bit of a poser? Yes.  But I think the points I mentioned above out weight the cheese.

Agree 100% with this.

DJ really brought some personality to the band. Axl and him clearly got on well, I'm surprised we haven't seen DJ pop up during the reunion or Axl appear on some song of his.

I'd also argue his 'tone' was the closest to the original recordings, even if he was probably the weakest player.

On 20/07/2020 at 10:03 AM, Nesret said:

I would have preferred a "Chinese Democracy 2" over the reunion. And I hate whenever Slash plays anything off of CD, he didn't even bother to learn the songs even half correctly (for example the intro of "Better", wtf!).

I wish CD2 had been a double album released in 2015, before the reunion. Put out with the previous members on it and then put the CD era to bed before Slash and Duff came back.

I've never got the hate for Slash's CD guitar work. He doesn't play his own solos note for note so it makes sense he would interpret the CD stuff his own way too.

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6 hours ago, GNR_RNR said:

Agree 100% with this.

DJ really brought some personality to the band. Axl and him clearly got on well, I'm surprised we haven't seen DJ pop up during the reunion or Axl appear on some song of his.

I'd also argue his 'tone' was the closest to the original recordings, even if he was probably the weakest player.

I wish CD2 had been a double album released in 2015, before the reunion. Put out with the previous members on it and then put the CD era to bed before Slash and Duff came back.

I've never got the hate for Slash's CD guitar work. He doesn't play his own solos note for note so it makes sense he would interpret the CD stuff his own way too.

Im sure the majority of fans dont want DJ anywhere near this lineup/band/show. Also the cheese with him outweighs any shownan ship he brought, not sure how other nuguns fans think?.

He was enthusiastic for being in the band, you cant deny that, but it was the end of the "GNR" name and band at  that point. That wasnt DJs fault, thats axls.

Edited by Sydney Fan
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  • 9 months later...

If this is an unpopular opinion, it shouldn’t be:

Velvet Revolver’s Illegal I Song, which I’ve always considered their Coma because of the multiple different movements, if it were another 6-7 minutes longer, would be *this close* to being better than Coma.

(OK, they’d have to lose the screaming bit at the end, though.)

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  • 7 months later...

as I grew older I came to dislike GnR music, as in not to like as much as before, and not evaluating their quality as high as before. But I still have fun listening to them and a bunch of their songs, especially live performances.

I think the reason behind this is there's something more than the music itself in GnR. Maybe it has to do with their "on-stage characters" (?), the attitude, especially Axl's, idk. Watching Saskatoon '93 is like a study of case, like 'give a talent to 5 (3) rats in a cage and watch themselves kill each other', kinda thing. As you consume GnR over the years you kinda 'feel the atmosphere' between the group without actually them needing to express shit directly, idk.

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For me, Chinese Democracy hasn't aged well.

If I'm putting Guns on, it's usually stuff from Lies, UYI1&2, and Spaghetti.  The lone inclusion from Chinese Democracy would be TWAT.

Hardskool > everything else on Chinese Democracy except for TWAT

Hardskool reminded me how much GNR needs Slash's sound to bring it all together.  While I appreciate what Axl and the group of musicians were going for with Chinese Democracy, Slash on Hardskool reminds me what Chinese Democracy was missing.  

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25 minutes ago, downzy said:

For me, Chinese Democracy hasn't aged well.

 

The demos have aged fine IMO, but I rarely listen to anything from the album anymore. Maybe Better or Sorry occasionally, but the leaks are much better. I still think the best versions of TWAT and Prostitute are the Antiquiet leaks.

Gotta disagree on Hardschool though - nothing about the released version is better than the demo. Slash didn't necessarily make it worse, but he didn't really improve it either. The solo on the demo > the solo on the single. The simplified drumming on the single was also disappointing, not to mention the mixing, editing, etc.

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20 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Gotta disagree on Hardschool though - nothing about the released version is better than the demo. Slash didn't necessarily make it worse, but he didn't really improve it either. The solo on the demo > the solo on the single. The simplified drumming on the single was also disappointing, not to mention the mixing, editing, etc.

Yeah, for me it’s the opposite.  I find the solo in the demo incredibly lifeless and forgettable.  Slash makes that solo sing and really elevates the mood and energy of the song. Plus I appreciate the bluesy tone of his guitar in the opening riff versus the original.  It connects the song to the sound most think of when they think of GNR. I’ve never really given too much thought about drumming. I know drumming in a song matters to many, but it’s probably the last thing I listen for (save for Zeppelin and Stones songs).

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11 minutes ago, downzy said:

Yeah, for me it’s the opposite.  I find the solo in the demo incredibly lifeless and forgettable.  Slash makes that solo sing and really elevates the mood and energy of the song. Plus I appreciate the bluesy tone of his guitar in the opening riff versus the original.  It connects the song to the sound most think of when they think of GNR. I’ve never really given too much thought about drumming. I know drumming in a song matters to many, but it’s probably the last thing I listen for (save for Zeppelin and Stones songs).

This aint an unpopular opinion. Its pretty stock tbh

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25 minutes ago, downzy said:

Yeah, for me it’s the opposite.  I find the solo in the demo incredibly lifeless and forgettable.  Slash makes that solo sing and really elevates the mood and energy of the song. Plus I appreciate the bluesy tone of his guitar in the opening riff versus the original.  It connects the song to the sound most think of when they think of GNR. I’ve never really given too much thought about drumming. I know drumming in a song matters to many, but it’s probably the last thing I listen for (save for Zeppelin and Stones songs).

 

Slash's tone sounds good but his solo is just as lifeless as the demo, IMO. On the released version, he goes back into the riff during the chorus after the solo, but on the demo the solo basically goes from 2:05 until the end of the song.

Even for people who aren't drummers/musicians I would've thought the difference between the demo and single would be pretty noticeable. Frank (well, let's be honest, Axl) really dumbed-down the drumming, especially during the solo. At some point probably before Slash and Duff got their hands on the songs, the drums were quantized and compressed to hell. It's very noticeable on Absurd, too.

Edited by Gordon Comstock
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8 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Slash's tone sounds good but his solo is just as lifeless as the demo, IMO. On the released version, he goes back into the riff during the chorus after the solo, but on the demo the solo basically goes from 2:05 until the end of the song.

Again, the solo in the demo does absolutely nothing for me. So continuing it during the chorus isn’t a net benefit.  The issue that I have with many of the demos (and CD in general) is there’s often way too much going on. The official release scales things back but  not at the expense of killing the moment of the song as it reaches the final chorus. The chorus in the demo just sounds like a mess to me.  The focus was, in my opinion, brought correctly back to the opening riff that helps drive the chorus.  I really don’t need a derivative guitar solo played over top. 

 

8 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

Even for people who aren't drummers/musicians I would've thought the difference between the demo and single would be pretty noticeable. Frank (well, let's be honest, Axl) really dumbed-down the drumming, especially during the solo. At some point probably before Slash and Duff got their hands on the songs, the drums were quantized and compressed to hell. It's very noticeable on Absurd, too.

Again, I never really care about the drumming in a song so long as it’s not integral to the song’s overall sound or identity (for example, When The Levee Breaks by Zeppelin). I’m not listening for little fills or what have you.  Again, I’m partial to letting the guitar get the main focus during the guitar solo. Some of the greatest solos of all time have fairly uninteresting drumming playing in the background. Pearl Jam’s Alive is a good example of this. Just keep the beat/groove and let the lead guitarist do his thing. I would describe most 1985-1993 GNR songs this way.  

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3 hours ago, gavgnr said:

I’d have preferred Cd2 and whatever was next to a reunion. Seriously 

Totally agree. If Slash and reunion tour did not happen, we would have got CD2, which would have probably followed the same quality of sound as CD, and not this highly compressed joke of an EP that's coming. 

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15 hours ago, downzy said:

Again, the solo in the demo does absolutely nothing for me. So continuing it during the chorus isn’t a net benefit.  The issue that I have with many of the demos (and CD in general) is there’s often way too much going on. The official release scales things back but  not at the expense of killing the moment of the song as it reaches the final chorus. The chorus in the demo just sounds like a mess to me.  The focus was, in my opinion, brought correctly back to the opening riff that helps drive the chorus.  I really don’t need a derivative guitar solo played over top. 

 

Again, I never really care about the drumming in a song so long as it’s not integral to the song’s overall sound or identity (for example, When The Levee Breaks by Zeppelin). I’m not listening for little fills or what have you.  Again, I’m partial to letting the guitar get the main focus during the guitar solo. Some of the greatest solos of all time have fairly uninteresting drumming playing in the background. Pearl Jam’s Alive is a good example of this. Just keep the beat/groove and let the lead guitarist do his thing. I would describe most 1985-1993 GNR songs this way.  

 

Yea that's fair. I thought the drumming on the demo was fairly important to the song (the intro and solo mostly) but I get what you mean about the simple drums on most classic GNR songs. The cowbell on the single was a pretty 'classic GNR' addition, I wish that part went longer tbh.

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1 hour ago, El Guapo said:

My World is a cool way to end the Illusions.

I remember listening to UYI 2 every night before going to sleep in my teenage years, falling asleep during the last few songs and jumping out of my skin when My World came on. Damn you Axl

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On 12/22/2021 at 10:43 AM, downzy said:

For me, Chinese Democracy hasn't aged well.

If I'm putting Guns on, it's usually stuff from Lies, UYI1&2, and Spaghetti.  The lone inclusion from Chinese Democracy would be TWAT.

Hardskool > everything else on Chinese Democracy except for TWAT

Hardskool reminded me how much GNR needs Slash's sound to bring it all together.  While I appreciate what Axl and the group of musicians were going for with Chinese Democracy, Slash on Hardskool reminds me what Chinese Democracy was missing.  

I agree 100 percent with everything you said!

 

Honestly, I don't listen to CD anymore really.  I even listen to TSI? more than CD nowadays.  I guess for me Slash's sound is just too important to not have in my GNR binging when I need my GNR fix

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I have a few unpopular GnR opinions, depending on who I'm hanging out with. 

My girlfriend in high school thought it was lame that I liked GnR at all. She was/is a punker and to her Guns were an overblown stadium band with stupid videos. We caught up for a beer earlier this year and she'd changed her mind...and even went to see Nu Guns in 2007! She maintains the Illusion videos are ridiculous...and she may have a point. "What's with those bike pants on the psych's couch?!"

My buddy Patrick thinks I like the Illusions records too much because "those guys SUCK after Appetite" (I disagree, but understand where he's coming from...AFD is my favourite my a long way).

My brother thinks I don't like Illusions enough. 

My old workmate Dan thinks I've slept on Chinese, which he worships. I love the drama of the CD period and it's an incredible saga, but the record itself just leaves me cold. I don't hate it but never found it fun to listen to. But I'm still always happy to read any tidbit of info about this record because it's all such a batshit story. I should say that I enjoy some live recordings I've heard from 06 and 10, but I'm not a big bootleg trainspotter.

Edited by merryfnchristmas
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  • 7 months later...
On 12/22/2021 at 6:07 PM, ezosk said:

as I grew older I came to dislike GnR music, as in not to like as much as before, and not evaluating their quality as high as before. But I still have fun listening to them and a bunch of their songs, especially live performances.

I think the reason behind this is there's something more than the music itself in GnR. Maybe it has to do with their "on-stage characters" (?), the attitude, especially Axl's, idk. Watching Saskatoon '93 is like a study of case, like 'give a talent to 5 (3) rats in a cage and watch themselves kill each other', kinda thing. As you consume GnR over the years you kinda 'feel the atmosphere' between the group without actually them needing to express shit directly, idk.

Yeah they’re certainly not my go-to band to listen to anymore, they were a lot more exciting to me when I was a horny, moody teenager with a chip on my shoulder. 
 

But, as you say, when you get a bit older and realise these guys are just … well, guys…  I’m fascinated by them. And their whole bizarre story. They’ve released so little music compared to their ‘rock legend’ counterparts, yet here we are talking about them.. especially Axl.

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