Just_me

I remember reading somewhere that Joe Satriani called Bumblefoot to let him know he'd recommended him to GNR so if someone called about him auditioning for the band it wasn't a joke.

I'm not sure how it got to that point though. Maybe Satriani is friends with someone in the band?

Ok, this is strange. I've never considered myself one of Eric's biggest fans (part of why I don't post here often) and I guessed from the beggining that money was at least the main motivation in closing the forum, and yet I think that's perfectly reasonable while a lot of people seem to be hugely offended by it. Why?

Honestly to my mind it doesn't matter if the site is costing Eric $1000 a month or $1, if it's money he has to pay out of his own pocket then it's entirely up to him whether he wants to pay it or not. If it got to the point where he didn't want to do that, for whatever reason, then he's perfectly entitled to say he's not going to do it. But then someone else came along and offered to pay the money so that became a non-issue and now there is no reason to close.

The only way I think it could have been handled better is that Eric could have started out saying "I can't afford/don't want to keep running this forum. If you think you could and would take it over PM/email me and we'll talk" rather than jumping straight to planning to close the forum. But then it's possible he didn't believe anyone else would want to take it on.

But whatever the case, at the end of the day you get to keep your forum, why not be happy about it?

Apparently it's not him, it's an anonymous donor who's covering the full costs for Eric.

It should have been closed three days ago and still open.....great

Maybe it's going to stay up until hosting runs out? Not sure when that would be.

Yes it sucks that the forum is shutting down, but it is NOT the bands fault. The ONLY reason this place is closing is because Eric can't afford to keep it open.

Are you Axl Rose trying to do damage control?

The fact that Eric cannot afford to keep this forum open, is NOT THE ONLY REASON for it going down.

He has been getting legal-threats from the band too, and the lack of news is another reason for taking it down.

Quote from Eric:

"In recent years, some aspects have grown to be whole lot less fun: leaks, lack of communication from management, even lawyer letters from the band..."

He got cease and desist letters years ago for allowed illigally leaked material to be posted on the forum.

So did every other site that hosted leaked songs. It was a standard letter with a standard (and legal) threat to back-up the request that the songs be taken down. It didn't even have to be a perfect ban, stuff occasionally got through on the Velvet Revolver forum (where I'm a moderator) but Axl and his legal team accepted that we were doing our best and left us to it.

Re-read the original post. That section in context is not a reason the forum is being shut down. Eric didn't say he'd finally lost a legal battle and a court had ordered him to shut the site down. Only that he couldn't afford to keep it running. The rest is, at most, reasons he might not feel it's worth the cost and effort.

Honestly lets keep things in perspective.

Yes it sucks that the forum is shutting down, but it is NOT the bands fault. The ONLY reason this place is closing is because Eric can't afford to keep it open.

It's a totally valid and understandable reason, there is nothing wrong with deciding you don't want to pay out your own money to give other people a place to chat (I've been in that position myself with other forums/communities). What is not reasonable is expecting the band to pay for it, especially after all the trouble they've had with leaks and negative rumors spread through this forum. It's a fan forum for a reason, they're under no obligation to keep this, or any other site open. Yes other bands choose to set up and maintain their own forums, others choose to fund a fan site, but there is no rule that all bands have to do that and it's rediculous to suggest otherwise.

If anything it would be better to keep the attention on the real issue where it belongs - mourning the end of the site and figuring out where everyone is going to go and how they're going to keep in touch, as well as thanking Eric and everyone else for the time and effort they've put in over the years. Instead it's turned into yet another thread of bitching about Axl not doing things he should never have been expected to do in the first place. Great way to spend your last days on the forum.

I met my boyfriend on the Velvet Revolver forum, so no problems with how much time I spend online, how much I talk about the band or anything like that. Only issue is that he preferes the new band and I prefere the old.

My parents don't like them but they tolerate my obsession, my sister unfortunately doesn't seem to realise she's not 13 anymore (no offence to any 13 year olds, thats just when her bitchy adolescent phase started), any time I say anything she disagrees with or doesn't like her answer is 'yeah, well you like Guns N' Roses!' Kind of annoying since when I'm at home I have to share a room with her, but mostly I ignore her.

My brother is the source of my theory that no one learns guitar without learning at least one GNR song. He only like "intelligent" music like Tool, Radiohead, Muse, REM ect. but he can play SCOM, WTTJ, NR and PC, and maybe a couple of other songs. (He denies it, and seems to honestly believe I won't recognise the songs when he plays them. )

And technically my obsession is his fault since it started when I stole SCOM and NR from his computer and then couldn't stop listening to them.

The thing that confuses me is that I can't remember the last time I went to a rock show and didn't see nudity.

It seems to be an unwritten rule at gigs these days that whenever theres a wait a bunch of girls in the audience take their tops off and the camera guys put them on the screens.

Even when I went to see Red Hot Chili Peppers it happened.

Only time I remember not seeing it was when I took my little sister to see Sum41.

Maybe this woman didn't realise that, but the point still stands. You go to a rock gig, thats the sort of thing you have to expect.

And if they put tape over their nipples they'll be wearing more than a lot of women at the beach, and no one ever complains thats inappropriate for kids.

Actually my personal experience has been that people who aren't big fans might not get so worked up over Axl using the name but they still don't consider the new band to be Guns N' Roses and they don't aceept them as such.

And I think it will stop a lot of people from buying the album. Back in the brief period when the leaks were played on the radio the main reaction I heard from people was "that does NOT sound like GNR!".

As far as the name increasing sales because of recognition I think he could do that just as well by making it a solo project. Its very rare to find someone who knows the name Guns N' Roses but doesn't know who Axl Rose is. And those people who do only know the band name would be unlikely to buy one of their albums.

Yeah, a lot of people just don't bother to read the liner notes.

For that matter I've got a ton of CD's I don't think I ever read the booklet for.

I like the rant about his families response to the Rolling Stone article.

About the only way they could make that situation even more fucked up was to try and tell Axl he shouldn't tell anyone what happened so his parents don't have to face the shame of it.

I thought Paul left because he didn't want to play in front of huge crowds.

But I can't see why the others would leave. They get paid wether it comes out or not, and this way they have time for their other projects.

Its pretty much any musicians dream situation.

When was the last time One In A Million was actually played live? I only know of it being done once, at the acoustic show in CBGB's in 1989.

So I think they're safe on that count.

And its hardly one of their greatest hits either.

But I do agree that GNR tickets aren't the best option for a gun exchange program, simply because the majority of people they're trying to appeal to will not give a shit.

But I suppose its hard to find bands willing to give away tickets. Or anyone willing to give away their product, even if gun exchanges could be a good idea.

I couldn't even count the number of bands I only know one song by. And I'd bet you're the same, because everyone hears stuff on TV, on the radio, at others peoples houses ect. by bands/artists they don't know.

Theres probably a huge number of bands other people love that neither of us has ever even heard of.

Its not a big deal.

If they were trying to claim GNR sucked because they never wrote anything but radio-friendly rock ballads because thats the only song they know then it'd be worth taking the time to correct them, play them Coma or something. But the fact that they haven't gone out and research every band they've ever heard a song by is perfectly normal.

Well there's an old interview floatin' around from 87 or 88 on that very subject where Axl explains the tatoo and the story behind , something like it was a place and time in his ife that no matter how it worked out he wanted to remember it and have it with him . So even though it ended badly it probably doesn't give him akward feelings , he would've had it removed then , IMO .

Peace GnR Nation

I saw that today..

and he's right.. it will always remind him of that time.. for bad or for worst.

and I dont thonk its hatred bettwen them, they had somthing too special.

Yeah that was how all the band members explained the GNR tattoos.

If anything its more relevant now than it would be if they had stayed together, because then they wouldn't need a reminder of the good stuff.

This way when they're feeling pissed off or upset or whatever about the band and how things turned out they can look at their tattoos and remember that there were good times as well. I know that sounds really cheesy and sentimental but thats the mood I'm in right now.

BUT it's starting to look more and more like an Axl solo record using the GnR name as the cash grabber. If "bandmembers" aren't even allowed to know what the fuck is going on, well, i just don't understand it. It is Axl's thing though, so whatever, i guess.

I think he means he doesn't know because he's out talking to the fans when topics like that come up, not that Axl won't allow the band to know whats going on.

Also I doubt he's really that concerned. At this point it looks like he's just a touring member, so he has no reason to worry about what happens with the album.

btw does anyone know what rob is doing now?

Far as I can tell he may as well have dissapeared off the face of the earth after he left GNR.

He's on an LA Guns EP (Along with Ole) but thats all I know.

to the guy who said that punk=rock, you are thinking too much in the now, when gnr did it 20 years ago it was quite different to what was done by other bands, at least those that were in the mainstream.

Thats what I was trying to explain.

Of course theres plenty of bands around now who combine the two and the lines have become blurred, but I'm talking about 20 years ago when that simply wasn't the case.

You could equally say that Hendrix wasn't anything special because theres tons of bands around today who play electric guitar and do weird effects.

Releasing two albums on the same day is hardly 'turning the industry upside down'. Yes it was a diffrent way of doing things, but its not like it had any real impact on the way the music buissness operated.

Also I think you missed out one of the the main reasons GNR were heralded as something new and diffrent when they first came out. They may not have been inventing a new style or bringing a style perviously unheard outside the underground circuit into the mainstream the way bands like RHCP or RATM did but what they did do was to combine a lot of diffrent existing styles, and make it work.

Most noticably at the time rock and punk were considered almost polar opposites. You played and listened to one, or the other but not both. And GNR found a way to combine the two, taking elements both stylistically and musically from both genres and combining them. It was only later, when grunge hit, that the punk influence in their music was forgotten and they were typically lumped in with the glam scene.

But it wasn't just punk and rock, they combined elements of all kinds of diffrent styles. The classical influence should be obvious, but theres also a lot of styles still seen in modern pop music, they experimented with samples and electronica, acoustic and even things like spanish guitar and sitar....theres bits of everything in there.

That for me is the most radical and rebellious thing they did. Its easy to stay within a style, no matter what that style is. But when you start trying to combine them you run the risk of confusing your fans (or potential fans) and scaring them off. Unfortunately the majority of people seem to like music to be devided clearly into neat groups. They settle on the idea that they like some groups and not others so they're unlikely to give something a chance if it sounds too much like something they've told themselves they don't like.

On the other hand if you get it right combining diffrent styles can allow you to create something that could appeal to everyone, and hopefully (in an ideal world) would inspire them to explore some of the diffrent kinds of music you're drawing on.

Sorry to bump this up but to add some extra detail Black Frog is basically Uzi Suicide re-formed.

I'm not 100% clear on the details but because Uzi Suicide was joint owned by all the original band members it was liquidated or something (I never took buisness so I'm not sure of the right terminology) when the band split. Black Frog is the same idea, but with just Axl in charge.

Both companies serve the same purpose, I can't explain it exactly but its a way for the band to retain a bit more control over their music by acting as their own publishing company. Although Sanctuary will almost certinally be the ones doing the actual publishing.

Incidentally Uzi Suicide was also used to put out Live Like A Suicide independant of Geffen, and I'm guessing Black Frog would have done the same for CD had it been ready before the deal with Sanctuary.

Well considering how many GNR shows you can get bootlegs of I'd say its fairly obvious that many, many people who take cameras to the gigs get away with it.

Having said that I have no idea how many other people don't get away with it, or what lengths you have to go to in order to get a camera in. It probably depends on the venue.

I'd say if you want to try it'd be a good idea to try and find out what the venues policy on cameras is, how strict they are about it and if possible how exactly they enforce the policy. Then use that to figure out how to attempt to get away with it.

And obviously don't stand right at the front being a dick to Axl throughout the show and waving the camera in his face like a certian someone did at a certian show back in '91.

Maybe he won't jump off the stage and hit you but I'd say its a safe bet you'll be kicked out.

The part that confuses me about all this is that when talking to some people its as though the minute these shows were announced the rest of the tour ceased to exist. Fair enough if you live in or near New York, its the perfect oppertunity.

But I've spoken to, or read posts by, people from all over the world who are planning to go to absurd lengths to get there. Flying in from other countries, including ones they will be playing in later.

Why are these particular shows so important?

I don't have the password. I never even tried to get it because I never had any intention of trying to get to either of the NYC shows, I'm perfectly happy with my Download ticket. Does that mean I'm not a 'true fan'?

Anyway, the point of all this rambling is that if getting tickets to these shows is so difficult why not just get tickets to another one instead? (Again this doesn't apply to people for whom the NYC shows are the most convinient.)

Sure it would be great to see this band in such an intimate venue, but then you should have been a fan way back in the day and you would have been able to see that.

Just wanted to pick up on this one quickly: Remember that for a lot of us this simply wasn't an option.

I was born in 1985, in England. If there was any way I could have been at one of GNRs early club gigs I would have been, but its physically impossible.

IMO my age and location has absolutely no effect on how much I love the music, I don't consider myself any less of a fan than someone who is old enough to have seen the original band (and I know a few people who did see them who I'd say are less of a fan than me because they just went along because their friends were going, not because they were really into the band).

So saying that if you were a true fan you would have been at one of those gigs isn't really a logical argument.

The general public does NOT wait for Axl Rose, it's ridiculous to think that!

Hell, most of the general public still believes it's the original line-up.

If the MUSIC is top-notch, then Axl will rule the music scene again, but nobody's waiting for "that rock dude from the 80s"...

Agreed.

I've told pretty much everyone I know that I'm going to see Axl at Download.

99% of the time I've had to explain why thats such a big deal, and a lot of the time I also had to explain that its not the original line-up.

In my experience most peoples perspective of Axl and GNR is like my perspective of...I don't know...Madonna or someone.

I can match a name to a face, I know a hell of a lot of people like her and if I tried I could probably name a couple of songs. But that doesn't mean I care.

I think most people will listen to CD when it comes out in the same way they'd listen to anything else that got released and got air play. A lot of them probably won't know, or appreciate, how long its taken.

For them it'll just be new music by a guy who's been around for ages who they've vaugely heard of.

Having exactly the same problem. I'm in NYC from the 19th to the 21st (seeing people I met on a VR board of all things).

Just in time to miss the show.

Very, very cool that they went through with the pre-sale though.

I care and Wild Rose cares.

And personally I really can't see whats wrong with it. Maybe its because I've grown up with mum using astrology as just another way to get to know someone but it really doesn't seem like anything stranger than reading something like a 3rd party biography of the band.