What's your unpopular GN'R opinion?

[dsus4]

1) Breakdown is an absolute gem, and a lyrical masterpiece. But the Vanishing Point part f'iing sucks. I think Axl said in terms of the UYI albums, recording the VP quote on this song was one of his bigger regrets. Sorum also said recording the drum part was really difficult for him.

2) Locomotive is the best GNR recording.

3) As much as I hate to admit it, if GNR didn't break up we probably wouldn't have a reunion right now because I think someone would have ended up dead, if not half of the band. Even so, Slash, Axl, and Steven have self admittingly OD'd, in Slash and Steven's case multiple times. But, my opinion is that things would have continued into far darker places because of the toxicity of the relationships among everyone.

4) As others have mentioned, Think About You is far under rated. The instrumental in the chorus parts is pretty bad ass.

5) As much as we have all complained about Axl being late during some of the UYI and NuGNR shows, I don't think the shows would have been nearly as good as they were if he wasn't. Talk about energy and being on the edge. I think the best performances that Axl has had have been when's he's been pissed off for whatever reason, and just on the cusp of that edge. Don't get me wrong, it's great he's on time now. And it's obvious whatever demons he was wrestling with back in the day aren't nearly as bad now. I do think that's pretty cool.

6) Acoustic slow version of You're Crazy (think CBGB's) is much better than the fast electric version. I still wish the Lies version was different though. Slash has had a tendency to speed up songs a little too fast for my liking, even on the NITL tour.   

7) If GNR would have recorded Crash Diet it would have freaking rocked.

 

 

Edited March 26, 2019 by dsus4

[Blackstar]

3 hours ago, soon said:

Iggy tapped Duff and Slash for Brick By Brick after the release of Rocket Queen after all.

Yeah, and he had praised GnR and Axl's lyrics:

Guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan from Guns N’ Roses are featured as musicians and co-writers on several tracks on “Brick by Brick.” [Iggy] Pop praised the band for its understanding of the punk attitude. 

“They really have the energy of a good punk band, and, lyrically, that guy [singer Axl Rose] actually does what a good punk lyricist tries to do,” he said. “He describes what’s bugging him, no matter how out there it is, and he describes what’s going on around him faithfully.”  [L.A. Times, 1990]

Spoiler

That was before Coma, though 

I like the last part of Coma and the "psychedelic" part in the middle, but the song as a whole, I don't know, I don't think it's as great as other people think.

Locomotive, though, I think it's great and one of Axl's top moments lyrically - long and superb.

Edited March 26, 2019 by Blackstar

[ElectricTear]

-Chinese is their best album. Also it's the only one without fillers.

-Scraped and Riad are very good songs.

 

[Homefuck]

- Stevens drumming is overrated (the "less technique but more feel"-argument doesn't gel with me)

- I've never liked Patience, it bores me. 

- Matt Sorum is the best drummer gnr ever had. 

- Izzys solo albums are ok at best (except ju ju-hounds which is a B+, mainly because of "shuffle it all") 

-  "it's five o'clock somewhere" is pretty dull and generic, especially compared to the magnificient "ain't life grand"

- I liked the horns and background singers on the 1992-leg of the UYI-tour. 

[Gordon Comstock]

Neither 'Snakepit' album is all that great, and Axl & Duff were right to reject It's 5 O'clock Somewhere.

 

Bad Apples and Dust N' Bones are both in the 'top 10 best songs' on the UYI albums.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Gordon Comstock

[Graeme]

2006 Guns N' Roses was the best Guns N' Roses.

The reunion was an extremely disappointing outcome and has driven me away from actively following the band. 

 

 

[Ratam]

I love 14 years, but seem this song don't have too much love for GNR fans.

[scottish nutter]

6 hours ago, Graeme said:

2006 Guns N' Roses was the best Guns N' Roses.

The reunion was an extremely disappointing outcome and has driven me away from actively following the band. 

 

 

Axl was in top form in glasgow, as good as when i seen them in 92 and 93

[Len Cnut]

14 hours ago, soon said:

Theres a lot to be said for "3 chords and the truth" or the early Elvis formula of no song longer than 2:30. For Iggy its the perfect lane. And I love Iggy. But I think you highlight something that is also true about it - kids letters to a celebrity will be shit and therefor are requested to be short. And as you say 'less chance of being shit' if its short. That could potentially just be a safety blanket that kills art. You mentioned Pink Floyd earlier and I love their songs that take up entire album sides, Like Echoes and Dogs. I listen to Cohen and The Dead (covering Dylan) pretty much daily. I think Axl would not be wise to always push the length and word count, but in the times he has he met the threshold for greatness and often exceeded it imo.

Iggy tapped Duff and Slash for Brick By Brick after the release of Rocket Queen after all.

All this being said, I think Axl was actually pretty grumpy about having to write all the lyrics for Coma. Apparently the outro kinda poured out of him in a recording session after having become frustrated with his lack of progress on writing lyrics for it. A frustration that seems to have stuck with him as today his intention is to have music written around his lyrics.

I think Axls power lies not in songwriting, in fact probably least in songwriting, in terms of lyrics, I can't really talk about composition but being as how it takes him 15 years to make an album one can assume its hardly his strong suit.  Where his power does lie though is in the ability to belt out a song and make it powerful and sound like he means that shit, which to me is enough to sustain greatness, I mean Elvis had that and not much besides and he was the King, the voice and the image.  I don't have a problem per se with long lyrics I just don't think that many people are good at it and lots want to be and are not.  Pete Townshend is fantastic at that shit. 

Iggy could write long too but I just feel like he had more respect for the process, if you look at the album American Ceasar he does kinda does do the verbosity thing and handsomely at that.  Perhaps the biggest problem with Axl is that he has shit taste in music and wants to make shit in the vein of Queen and Elton John and Nazareth which, I dunno, the odd track is cool but...Use Your Illusions is best described as lyrics written by a man who seems aware of being position as the next voice of a generation...and they suffer for it.  When he was just street scum writing from the heart it was a lot more powerful.

Edited March 27, 2019 by Len Cnut

[DieselDaisy]

The lack of material would lead me to believe that Rose is completely overrated as a songwriter to be honest. It is very disappointing. I honestly think he got flukey with Estranged.

[Len Cnut]

11 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

The lack of material would lead me to believe that Rose is completely overrated as a songwriter to be honest. It is very disappointing. I honestly think he got flukey with Estranged.

Estranged, in terms of composition, feels very much like the Pete Townshend tactic of tacking two song ideas together, neither fully formed, to make one whole, sort of like A Quick One, which was a number of very little song ideas tacked together, its just A Quick One has a narrative to it.  A lot of the songs on Chi Dem sound like that, particularly Madagascar, it feels almost lazy, a little song idea with the quotey bit in the middle then back to the original motif to finish it off.  Chi Dem in general feels very bereft of ideas.

[DieselDaisy]

Just now, Len Cnut said:

Estranged, in terms of composition, feels very much like the Pete Townshend tactic of tacking two song ideas together, neither fully formed, to make one whole, sort of like A Quick One, which was a number of very little song ideas tacked together, its just A Quick One has a narrative to it.  A lot of the songs on Chi Dem sound like that, particularly Madagascar, it feels almost lazy, a little song idea with the quotey bit in the middle then back to the original motif to finish it off.  Chi Dem in general feels very bereft of ideas.

CD is crap but Rose certainly reached a (individual, not necessarily band) greatness on Estranged and some of the other Illusion epics. I prefer the Appetite style but one cannot be unimpressed at the way he stitched together some of the pieces. I now feel it was a bit of a fluke. Everyone has at least one flukey number in them I suppose. 

[Len Cnut]

7 hours ago, Ratam said:

I love 14 years, but seem this song don't have too much love for GNR fans.

That song is an absolute fucking belter, one of my all time favourite GnR songs, loved it early doors and to this day it stands up better than most of the songs.  I don't think Izzys importance is at all understated, I think he was the beating heart of that band, an essential ingridient, kinda like Dee Dee Ramone was in The Ramones, you could get someone to stand in his place but fulfill his role?  No way, The Ramones were never the same after Dee Dee left, much like Izzy what he bought in terms of image, style, playing and songwriting was essential.  Guns n Roses never much felt like a rock n roll band without Izzy.  Duff has got that groove, Axl has the voice, Slash has that fly shit but Izzy had that fuckin' loose rhythmic quality that gave the music an overall feel that fit in with the core of what that band was i.e. a rock n roll band, after he left they just sounded like...I dunno, Elton John with load Marshall stacks, which I'm sure a great many loved but its not my cup of tea I'm afraid. 

[Len Cnut]

12 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

CD is crap but Rose certainly reached a (individual, not necessarily band) greatness on Estranged and some of the other Illusion epics. I prefer the Appetite style but one cannot be unimpressed at the way he stitched together some of the pieces. I now feel it was a bit of a fluke. Everyone has at least one flukey number in them I suppose. 

It'd be interesting to know how much of those songs were Axl though.  You get the feeling its the basic melody and not a lot besides, without which they're kinda like bare bones ideas, which would fit neatly into my prior feeling that songs like Madagascar etc sound like...unfinished, tacked together, Guns n Roses without the lads.  I'm sure some afficianado around here could do a good job of breaking down how much of Estranged was truly Axl.  I don't think Axl has that Prince thing where he does the whole shit himself or the Pete Townshend thing where he'd bring in song ideas that were like, fully formed demos for The Ox, Moonie and Rog' to go mental over. 

[DieselDaisy]

Just now, Len Cnut said:

It'd be interesting to know how much of those songs were Axl though.  You get the feeling its the basic melody and not a lot besides, without which they're kinda like bare bones ideas, which would fit neatly into my prior feeling that songs like Madagascar etc sound like...unfinished, tacked together, Guns n Roses without the lads.  I'm sure some afficianado around here could do a good job of breaking down how much of Estranged was truly Axl.  I don't think Axl has that Prince thing where he does the whole shit himself or the Pete Townshend thing where he'd bring in song ideas that were like, fully formed demos for The Ox, Moonie and Rog' to go mental over. 

You remove Slash's guitar, which always reminds me of a porno soundtrack, and that is Rose. It is his finest moment musically in fairness. I am not going to rob olde ginger bollocks of that. I slag him off for a lot but he did reach an individual greatness on that song.

[Len Cnut]

8 hours ago, Graeme said:

2006 Guns N' Roses was the best Guns N' Roses.

What like better than Apetite and Lies era? 

[DieselDaisy]

2006 isn't even the greatest ''nugnr'' line-up let alone greatest gnr line-up. They didn't have the guy in a bucket.

[Len Cnut]

24 minutes ago, DieselDaisy said:

You remove Slash's guitar, which always reminds me of a porno soundtrack, and that is Rose. It is his finest moment musically in fairness. I am not going to rob olde ginger bollocks of that. I slag him off for a lot but he did reach an individual greatness on that song.

NuGuns reminds me of like...the rich kid with the swimming pool and the Nintendo that invites a bunch of cool kids round his house only for them to find that, despite all the eccoutrements of fun all around him, he's still a boring cunt.

[Azifwekare]

The last time I mentioned it, it proved to be very unpopular, so here goes.

I hate the mixing on AFD, specifically the reverb on the drums. It sounds fucking horrible and dated. I was disappointed that the remaster didn't give the drums the punch they deserved and instead left it drowned in reverb.

My only gripe about an otherwise classic album.

 

On a side note about how guitars are mixed generally with Guns: I hate that when an earphone/speaker blows, I lose an entire guitar track.

[WildStar]

- Velvet Revolver were much better than NuGNR

- Slash should stop doing The Godfather theme

- Witcheta Lineman is the worst GNR cover ever 

- Gilby Saved Guns N' Roses 

[allwaystired]

53 minutes ago, WildStar said:

- Velvet Revolver were much better than NuGNR

- Slash should stop doing The Godfather theme

- Witcheta Lineman is the worst GNR cover ever 

- Gilby Saved Guns N' Roses 

Does 'Beautiful' by Christina Aguilera count as a proper cover? Probably not I suppose, but if so, that's got my vote. I remember being stood in an Arena thinking "what the fuck am I watching?" when that happened. 

I hope you've bought your truck by the way......

 

[Len Cnut]

1 hour ago, Azifwekare said:

The last time I mentioned it, it proved to be very unpopular, so here goes.

I hate the mixing on AFD, specifically the reverb on the drums. It sounds fucking horrible and dated. I was disappointed that the remaster didn't give the drums the punch they deserved and instead left it drowned in reverb.

My only gripe about an otherwise classic album.

 

On a side note about how guitars are mixed generally with Guns: I hate that when an earphone/speaker blows, I lose an entire guitar track.

As a follow on from this, i think Guns might've sounded musically better if Slash would tone his metal-ness down a bit and give Izzys work room to breathe, though I must admit to feeling slightly ridiculous at this point opining about how professional musicians and producers should have done their job 30 years ago, being a man whoose never set foot in a recording studio.

[Ratam]

2 hours ago, Len Cnut said:

That song is an absolute fucking belter, one of my all time favourite GnR songs, loved it early doors and to this day it stands up better than most of the songs.  I don't think Izzys importance is at all understated, I think he was the beating heart of that band, an essential ingridient, kinda like Dee Dee Ramone was in The Ramones, you could get someone to stand in his place but fulfill his role?  No way, The Ramones were never the same after Dee Dee left, much like Izzy what he bought in terms of image, style, playing and songwriting was essential.  Guns n Roses never much felt like a rock n roll band without Izzy.  Duff has got that groove, Axl has the voice, Slash has that fly shit but Izzy had that fuckin' loose rhythmic quality that gave the music an overall feel that fit in with the core of what that band was i.e. a rock n roll band, after he left they just sounded like...I dunno, Elton John with load Marshall stacks, which I'm sure a great many loved but its not my cup of tea I'm afraid. 

Glad me agree with you about 14 years, nice to coincide with a person very intelligent as @Len Cnut 👍 pity that this song Axl just sing with Izzy, i guess then never we will listening in the future 14 years 

[EvanG]

11 hours ago, Ratam said:

I love 14 years, but seem this song don't have too much love for GNR fans.

I think it's one of Izzy's finest compositions on UYI. Also one of the few good lyrics he brought in for those records. 

[Chuzeville]

Paradise City is kinda boring.