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The big "Fuck Bob Ezrin" thread


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The full Bob Ezrin quote:

-------

[...]

I’ve read that at some point during the Guns N’ Roses lengthy “Chinese Democracy” recordings, Axl Rose called you to evaluate what he had already done. What really happened?

EZRIN: Hm.. Well.. (ed:pause) I’m not sure!! (laughs)

I’ve read that you told him he had about 2 ½ songs or 3 ½ songs. Something like that.

EZRIN: Yeah, I probably did. It started off when Jimmy Iovine (ed: producer, chairman of Interscope/ Geffen) asked me for a big favour. They were stuck, they were stuck in a studio in North Hollywood for years with Roy Thomas Baker (ed: Queen’s producer), and nothing was happening. They were paying enormous rental bills and they were paying people to sit around the studio waiting for Axl to show up and it was just a disaster.

I agreed to go there immediately and listen to a bunch of stuff. What I heard was – I don’t know how to say this without be insulting, I don’t want to be insulting because he worked very hard on it – but what I heard was something that he had painted over too many times. So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something…

Anyway, I agreed to help out if Axl would agree to work with me, which he did. He had the idea that the only person who could finish the album with him was me, based on what I don’t know. I came, I listened, I said to him I will listen and will give you notes we will see together.
I spent a lot of time listening. I went to see Jimmy Iovine and I gave him my perception of the situation, including the fact that they had to get out of Rumbo Studios immediately – not because Rumbo is a bad studio, it’s a wonderful studio –  but because they needed to be closer to the scrutiny of the record company and Jimmy’s team, so there could be at least some measure of control. And I recommended we move them to the Village Recorder in West Hollywood. So, they did that, and moved everybody there.

I had to wait to talk to Axl because he avoided me. He was nervous about hearing what I had to say.

We finally met, on a night when my wife – who was then my girlfriend – came down from Toronto to visit me and we were having a dinner with friends at my house. She was cooking when I got a phone call from Jimmy Iovine saying that I needed to come meet Axl and I said “I can’t tonight. I’m booked”. And Jimmy replied saying “ok” (laughs). No he didn’t. When he wants something, he really knows how to get it. Anyway, he basically guilt-tripped me and I told him “Ok, I will be there at 8pm and I will leave there at 8.30, whether Axl shows up or not”, because that was Axl. Because last time we had an appointment at 10pm and Axl showed up at 2 in the morning. “So tell Axl that’s it”.  

I went to the restaurant at 8 and a team of Axl supporters and hangers-on showed up and joined me at the table – and no Axl. Axl finally came about 8:25 (laughs). Anyway, I told him basically what you’ve heard. I didn’t tell him “you have 2 ½ songs” and when he sat down, he started saying me that he has finished the record. And I said “Axl, we are not ready to mix this record. This record isn’t ready to be mixed”. I said “there are two great songs on it and I know that you’re capable of more, that’s the reason why I’m here.  You’re such a great talent and I would do you a disservice if I didn’t tell you the truth, which is that most of the songs aren’t great.  But I‘m very happy to help you get there and I believe that it’s possible, if you would like to continue to work on the record, to make it better”.   He said “I don’t agree with that. We are ready to mix”. And I told him “you have my number, if you change your mind let me know, but I have a dinner party at home now and I had to go”.  I left and I haven’t heard from him since. It was years later when it came out.

[...]

http://www.a-4-d.com/t3373-2011-12-dd-hit-channel-interview-with-producer-bob-ezrin-excerpt#12852
 

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10 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

The full Bob Ezrin quote:

-------

[...]

I’ve read that at some point during the Guns N’ Roses lengthy “Chinese Democracy” recordings, Axl Rose called you to evaluate what he had already done. What really happened?

EZRIN: Hm.. Well.. (ed:pause) I’m not sure!! (laughs)

I’ve read that you told him he had about 2 ½ songs or 3 ½ songs. Something like that.

EZRIN: Yeah, I probably did. It started off when Jimmy Iovine (ed: producer, chairman of Interscope/ Geffen) asked me for a big favour. They were stuck, they were stuck in a studio in North Hollywood for years with Roy Thomas Baker (ed: Queen’s producer), and nothing was happening. They were paying enormous rental bills and they were paying people to sit around the studio waiting for Axl to show up and it was just a disaster.

I agreed to go there immediately and listen to a bunch of stuff. What I heard was – I don’t know how to say this without be insulting, I don’t want to be insulting because he worked very hard on it – but what I heard was something that he had painted over too many times. So, by the time I heard it, the original content was lost and it was just a highly produced piece of something…

Anyway, I agreed to help out if Axl would agree to work with me, which he did. He had the idea that the only person who could finish the album with him was me, based on what I don’t know. I came, I listened, I said to him I will listen and will give you notes we will see together.
I spent a lot of time listening. I went to see Jimmy Iovine and I gave him my perception of the situation, including the fact that they had to get out of Rumbo Studios immediately – not because Rumbo is a bad studio, it’s a wonderful studio –  but because they needed to be closer to the scrutiny of the record company and Jimmy’s team, so there could be at least some measure of control. And I recommended we move them to the Village Recorder in West Hollywood. So, they did that, and moved everybody there.

I had to wait to talk to Axl because he avoided me. He was nervous about hearing what I had to say.

We finally met, on a night when my wife – who was then my girlfriend – came down from Toronto to visit me and we were having a dinner with friends at my house. She was cooking when I got a phone call from Jimmy Iovine saying that I needed to come meet Axl and I said “I can’t tonight. I’m booked”. And Jimmy replied saying “ok” (laughs). No he didn’t. When he wants something, he really knows how to get it. Anyway, he basically guilt-tripped me and I told him “Ok, I will be there at 8pm and I will leave there at 8.30, whether Axl shows up or not”, because that was Axl. Because last time we had an appointment at 10pm and Axl showed up at 2 in the morning. “So tell Axl that’s it”.  

I went to the restaurant at 8 and a team of Axl supporters and hangers-on showed up and joined me at the table – and no Axl. Axl finally came about 8:25 (laughs). Anyway, I told him basically what you’ve heard. I didn’t tell him “you have 2 ½ songs” and when he sat down, he started saying me that he has finished the record. And I said “Axl, we are not ready to mix this record. This record isn’t ready to be mixed”. I said “there are two great songs on it and I know that you’re capable of more, that’s the reason why I’m here.  You’re such a great talent and I would do you a disservice if I didn’t tell you the truth, which is that most of the songs aren’t great.  But I‘m very happy to help you get there and I believe that it’s possible, if you would like to continue to work on the record, to make it better”.   He said “I don’t agree with that. We are ready to mix”. And I told him “you have my number, if you change your mind let me know, but I have a dinner party at home now and I had to go”.  I left and I haven’t heard from him since. It was years later when it came out.

[...]

http://www.a-4-d.com/t3373-2011-12-dd-hit-channel-interview-with-producer-bob-ezrin-excerpt#12852
 

what a fucking moron. 

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Blaming it on the songs being over-produced would be a convenient explanation for why he rejected the material and caused such a length delay of the release, considering that most people thought the final product was exactly that: over-produced and a mess. Better than saying, say, that Axl wasn't interested in his contributions.

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Yup thanks very much for making this thread... 👍🏻

 

FUCK U BOB EZRIN!!!

 

AND A GIGANTIC FUCK U TO EVERYONE ELSE BEHIND THE SCENES WITH THEIR ENDLESS FUCKERY AND MEDDLING as well...

 

YOU'RE ALL PATHETIC AND WOULDN'T KNOW GOOD ART IF IT SMASHED INTO YOUR FACE LIKE A GOLDEN FEATHER FFS

 

😡🤬👎🏻

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6 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Blaming it on the songs being over-produced would be a convenient explanation for why he rejected the material and caused such a length delay of the release, considering that most people thought the final product was exactly that: over-produced and a mess. Better than saying, say, that Axl wasn't interested in his contributions.

Sounds most like he wanted to come on board and get some writing credits. I’m sure he’s said something similar to that to sell his services before 

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25 minutes ago, Its Tino said:

Even people with great track records, drop the ball, and he did in the CD situation. 

So yeah, fuck him. 

Seems like the world agree's with him though. CD is far from a masterpiece and dismissed by most. Also not sure how he would have delayed anything. According to this quote it seems like he worked 2 mins on it.

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"I spent a lot of time listening. I went to see Jimmy Iovine and I gave him my perception of the situation, including the fact that they had to get out of Rumbo Studios immediately – not because Rumbo is a bad studio, it’s a wonderful studio –  but because they needed to be closer to the scrutiny of the record company and Jimmy’s team, so there could be at least some measure of control. And I recommended we move them to the Village Recorder in West Hollywood. So, they did that, and moved everybody there."

My translation

- He listened for 5 minutes probably

- He was on a gigantic fuckery mission with iovine to deliberately sabotage Axl becuz they all really just wanted GnR back together. More $$$ that way

Fuck U again Bob 👎🏻😡🤬

And Fuck U as well iovine becuz from the rumours I've heard about you? You're apparently a pretty deranged degenerate and that's putting it as mildly as possible given the stories that've been told by a great many people over the years

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3 minutes ago, PatrickS77 said:

Seems like the world agree's with him though. CD is far from a masterpiece and dismissed by most. Also not sure how he would have delayed anything. According to this quote it seems like he worked 2 mins on it.

Exactly. 2 freaking mins. If that. iovine gave him his orders and he followed them to the letter. We all know now that we got the wrong album with Chi Dem. Axl had the goods and fuckery happened and there wasn't very much he could do about it. Anyone with half a brain should be able to connect all the dots and see that now. Hindsight being 20/20 and all

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To be fair to Bob - if he heard the same exact tracks we heard, the only tracks I would say were "guaranteed money" were Perhaps and The Blues

TWAT wasn't a great song yet. Catcher in the Rye is great because of Brian May and you'd have to advertise it as "Guns N' Roses featuring Brian May" which I'm not sure Axl would want to do with a single.

Axl not putting Perhaps on the 2008 album to me indicates he was still planning on a second/third album at that point and wanted to hold back a "big gun".

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Axl had very good material, but he hadn't any hit. I think that was always the problem for the record company.

Maybe if Axl hadn't used the name GNR it'd have been different. Slash's solo albums are well below what Axl produced in those years, and he hadn't problem editing them.

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Just now, Pacha said:

Axl had very good material, but he hadn't any hit. I think that was always the problem for the record company.

Maybe if Axl hadn't used the name GNR it'd have been different. Slash's solo albums are well below what Axl produced in those years, and he hadn't problem editing them.

I think Perhaps and The Blues could have cracked Top 40 in 2001-2002, but that's only because they have pop vibes

Hardschool would have sounded tame compared to the nu-metal stuff that was dominating the charts back then 

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19 minutes ago, TheSeeker said:

I think Perhaps and The Blues could have cracked Top 40 in 2001-2002, but that's only because they have pop vibes

Hardschool would have sounded tame compared to the nu-metal stuff that was dominating the charts back then 

 

Yes, I also think that a couple of CD songs could have worked commercially. I still hear time to time Better on the radio. But I still think they are far from the great hits that GNR has.

 Maybe the record company wanted a new Sweet child or Jungle

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13 minutes ago, Pacha said:

 

Yes, I also think that a couple of CD songs could have worked commercially. I still hear time to time Better on the radio. But I still think they are far from the great hits that GNR has.

 Maybe the record company wanted a new Sweet child or Jungle

That's it. PD: Que la gente crea porque tiene con que creer. 

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32 minutes ago, Pacha said:

 

Yes, I also think that a couple of CD songs could have worked commercially. I still hear time to time Better on the radio. But I still think they are far from the great hits that GNR has.

 Maybe the record company wanted a new Sweet child or Jungle

The record company wanted to recoup its investment or use it as a 4th qtr loss write off regardless of the material. With piracy rampant, sales dwindling and no Slash, it wasn’t exactly the most reassuring environment for a release to begin with. 

Couple that w the 02 tour riot/cancellation and buckethead leaving, it took nearly 4 yrs for the band to regroup and start again.  It doesn’t sound like the most stable timeline. Who knows what went down but those situations certainly didn’t help

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