bdinan

I personally thought Ashba was a guy who always seemed generally thrilled and enthusiastic to be in Guns N' Roses. Maybe that wasn't necessarily "cool" to some people.

Short answer; he's not Slash.

I personally preferred him to Robin Finck, especially on the older material - notably November Rain, where Finck was just an absolute shit show(in my opinion). I don't think classic songs like that are open to interpretation. Ashba played it a bit more by the book. 

All of the guys had their ups and downs. I was lukewarm on Ashba, but never particularly liked Finck. I guess Music, just like everything else is an acquired taste.

Haven't heard yet, but there really hasn't been this much excitement around GnR since the pre-chinese leaks. The tour and the "reunion" are nice, but at the end of the day, nothing beats previously unheard songs.

Don't particularly care who or what the song is about. It would have been a top three cut on Chinese, and I actually have a mostly favorable opinion of the record. 

It embodies more of a GNR sound without a ton of overdubs, layers and effects. 

Kind of just cuts straight to the point like IRS. 

1 hour ago, kever20 said:

Loved Ron. Personable, hell of a player. Responsible for bringing Don't Cry and Yesterdays back to the stage. 

I have been a fan of the myriad lineups over time, but had only seen them in 2011, 2014 (today, five years ago in Vegas, in fact!), and in 2016 with Slash, Duff, and Melissa. 

Ron was awesome. I don't think anyone did as much to promote the GnR brand as Ron did during his tenure. Spent a lot of time with the fans, was as open and vocal as he was legally allowed to be. Nothing but a lot of love for that man. 

Pitman is the only acceptable answer. MOTHER F'N GOOSE. 

2006 would have been incredible with someone better than Robin Stinck on lead. That was your real window to have a real killer "reunion" - as Axl was in phenomenal shape in all facets - most importantly, vocally. 

It's nice that you all want what you want - new music, obviously, but at the same time isn't Axl a human being, too? Maybe this type of shit is what he wants? To explore different things, and do things he has yet to accomplish in his life. I thought when he did the voice work for Grand Theft Auto years ago, that was pretty cool. Maybe that's the type of stuff that interests him on the side?

 

That Rocket Queen in Houston was great. Would take that vocal effort at 85% every time. 

20 hours ago, GNR 1991 said:

That opening Jungle scream was honestly the best part of the entire performance (followed up by a pretty good Madagacar) and probably where he blew his voice out unfortunately.

Madagascar was good, and PC was a shit show. 

13 hours ago, life_247 said:

Yeah but he'd clearly lost his voice - he said so before hand and if you look at other performances around the time that could clearly be pointed out.

This was 2002, Youtube wasn't a thing - peoples only access to this new GnR was that performance. I remember at the time a lot of people were really interested in Madagascar.

I feel it was the wrong move to disappear, they needed some more TV spots and maybe Maddy as a single around that time. Just so people could go "meh not one of their best" - loads of bands of had terrible award show performances - rather than it being the only proper view of new Guns that most people had over the next 4 or so years.

Bridge school to me isn't as much the voice as it is during jungle... you don't want... WHAT YOU NEEEED, IF YA GOT THE MONEY HONEY WE GOT WHATCHA NEEED! 

What. the. fuck. 

19 hours ago, moreblack said:

I thought it was going to go down as that, but then Bridge School benefit happened.

Thanks for reminding me about bridge school. How do you write welcome to the jungle, perform it at literally every show you've pretty much ever done, and then go into singing it and start randomly singing part of "you're crazy" LOL... 

Now to go watch bridge school 

19 hours ago, moreblack said:

I thought it was going to go down as that, but then Bridge School benefit happened.

Bridge school and the yellow raincoat rio incident were definitely lower on the totem pole, but Axl running around and winding himself when he clearly sounds OK on paradise city in the rehearsal footage was an embarrassment. I get it, Rock shows are a "show" and the visual performance gives it energy, but I would have preferred a stronger vocal performance than him being winded 30 seconds into jungle with that ridiculous scream he let loose at the beginning, followed by laps around the stage... if not for Maddy being a slow song, the guy may have had an aneurysm 

Seems like every time Axl sounds like ass, it's "he's sick." LOL... how often is this guy sick. 

 

I think at $499.99, I may bite on one of these... still a little too rich for my bones. If there was more actual new music instead of remasters and demos, maybe a bit more interest. I don't think people are interested in a few GNR trinkets for a grand. 

Call me crazy, I think a Chinese era box set with the rerecorded appetite, unheard demos, unreleased songs, stuff no one has heard before - that would drum up more interest than hearing appetite for the billionth time. We've already heard everything in this box. Just in varying degrees of lower quality. 

If you really want a cash grab, throw out some stuff people haven't heard. 

8 hours ago, moreblack said:

I remember that gig ending with "round one" but was there ever a round 2?

Ax going back into hiding for 4 years for people making fun of his weight, his botox, his ridiculous wig, and generally sounding like shit at that performance? I guess that counts as round 2. 

2006, he brought the fire. I went to a lot of shows in that era, and he was good. The VMA performance is a lowlight for GNR in any incarnation. Wheezing out Jungle and the "IT'S GONNA BRING YOU TO YA KNEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES" was just utterly pathetic. 

Glad there was some sort of vindication to follow a few years later.

That was a fun era to be a Guns fan. 

He looks like he should be behind a wok.

I never really loved their cover of Live and Let Die - especially live during the nuGNR and post-NuGNR eras. SCOM is so overplayed it's an "I can take it or leave it" thing at this point.

1 minute ago, Sydney Fan said:

True, though credit to metallica as they are interested in still doing albums because I've read in an interview they enjoy making music in the studio and still enjoy the creative process. So its not about the money for these guys. I hope guns can have that same mindset. Mind you i put guns on a higher stand than bon jovi, his voice is done.

I hate to criticize JBJ or Axl too much. I sing a bit, and at 36, my voice isn't what it was at 26. I can only imagine how horrible it will be at 46. So kudos to those guys for being able to keep it going at a respectable level for as long as they have. 

Axl was so good in 2006, that I went out of budget to see all four hammerstein shows. He was amazing. Really vindicated himself in my mind, after a pretty substandard 2002 era. 

I don't think any piece of art in any medium - which is what music is, really ever needs "validation." It exists. There doesn't always have to be a reason it exists. For better or worse, Chinese Democracy was released under the Guns N' Roses brand. I think now that it has been released a decade ago, the lore and the mythology about it before hand overshadows the final product. What we got was a decent Rock album, that is probably not for everyone. If anything, you can argue that going backwards in terms of a reunion has ruined any sort of validity that the record may have had. For years, all we heard was there was never a chance of any sort of reunion - hence, "Not in This Lifetime."

I'm not unhappy with the way anything went. It provided entertainment, humor, stress, a lot of different emotions leading up to lineup changes, announcements, and eventually the record. 

The reunion took me by surprise, and I've enjoyed it for the most part - hope it leads to more down the road, or it will look like a one off cash grab. 

36 minutes ago, Sydney Fan said:

I think 2006 nitl reunion would have been great, when axls voice was so much better and he looked so fit.

Definitely would have been the peak window for a better product. I hate to sound like I'm complaining, but the human voice is a finicky "instrument," and even the best singers slip with age. We've reached a point where GNR is more of a nostalgia act. Much like Bon Jovi, or Metallica, or pretty much any group from that generation. 

 

No knock on Myles or anyone, but I find it hard to listen to Guns song sung by anyone but Axl. Either current Axl is a big change over vintage Axl. 

Myles sounds great on his own stuff, Alter Bridge, love his stuff with Slash, but just sounds off on GNR songs.

Never, but you can't blame them as artists for that being the goal. Whether or not you fail - regardless of what medium(s) you work in, your goal should be for your next work to be better than the last one, and the one after that to be better than the one before. That's all subjective. I personally like the Illusions as a whole better than Appetite. That's not the general consensus though. Appetite was the right record for the right time when records still meant something. We're in a completely different era of music nowadays, where even attempting to "bury" something from 30 years ago is foolish. 

Guns will never move on from that album, nor should they. It's what made them a household name. It's what made them wealthy. Most of those songs are classics - and should be celebrated for as long as possible by the band, and other artists after them when they are long gone. 

I think $500 after Christmas, and I'd bite on it. $1,000 is a bit hefty. 

I've had no issues with Slash on NR.

Axl? Yeah, it's one of the Mickiest songs on the set. 

Slash doing the Solos over Stinck, Fortus(who was OK) and Ashba is a huge improvement.