El Nono Pololo

Brian has always sounded like a pirate when not singing, even when he was much younger, so his vocal cords must have a lot of natural scar tissue. He's denied ever having nodules, though. Also, Brian apparently hates vocal coaches (thinks they're all fakes), and his technique boils down to never actually warming up or practicing (except by screaming "whooooOUP!" before going onstage, as he demonstrated to Jim Breuer during one of his radio shows). In any case, Brian's lost a LOT of power, range and flexibility over the years (esp. after Flick on the Switch), and his increasing nasality made him start sounding Donald Duck-esque during the Blow Up Your Video years onwards. He did sort of learn to make the best of what's was left. He came back with force with Stiff Upper Lip, IMHO. Over all, probably not the best singer to get technical tips from. (Not so long ago an interviewer asked him how he could sing like that for so long and he basically just said something like: "Ah me son, you've got to be very STRONG, you see", which is probably as detailed as he's willing to go).

The Stones did a lot of promotion themselves, appearing in some of the biggest talk shows in America and abroad, red carpets, photo shoots, interviews, premieres, etc., etc. No comparison, really. You'd say Axl and not Mick is the one in his 80's, judging by how much they each move their product personally.

I can't think of a single blues song by GNR, actually. Although in all fairness I probably will have a hard time finding many actual blues songs in Slash's blues album.

"GNR releases their new acoustic album... Truths". A properly recorded acoustic cover of Sailing would be amazing.

I really like Monsters, but 10-15 years is a shitload of time. A lot of classic bands and artists that showed great diversity wrote, recorded and released their whole catalogue in less time than that. In fact, I wouldn't say Axl's output is very impressive in, er, calendar-terms, if you know what I mean. That being said, I love how he goes from that hiccupy "oh, oh" thing at the start to that extreme part later on, it's certainly a very quirky and original vocal.

I don't think the demographic for those bands overlaps with the demographic for Guns that much. NuGNR would have been a hard sell for both casual GNR fans of the 80's/90's and for younger audiences, IMO, at least in their 2001/2 incarnation. It was just too over the place. I think they'd have def. moved tickets and done OK, but more based on the band's previous legacy than on the legs of CD or new teenage fans. That being said, we now know there was obviously enough material by 2003/4 for CD being MUCH better than it ended up being, I think.

I don't think the fact that rock's biggest bands are retirement age, touring on the strenght of material they put out a third of a century ago or more, is indicative of rock being alive and well. Dinosaurs and nostalgia acts are raking it in, yes, but they probably wouldn't if they were competing with huge, new acts in the same genre. 80-year olds like the Stones can confortably outsell and outshine rock artists in their 20s and 30s, partly because it would seem the genre's main audience has shifted from young people to older people nostalgic about their younger days.

To be fair, it IS way easier for Slash to just noodle over a song off the cuff than to learn a solo note for note. Anyone who plays an instrument can attest to that, I think. But I do disagree about his supposed lack of interest in Guns material. If that were the case, he would still be playing legendary, NR-level solos on his recent solo records, and that's not happening either. For good or for bad, he's just on a different place nowadays than he was thirty or even twenty years ago.

Do you really prefer having Herbert the Pervert and Mickey Mouse singing those songs instead of Eddie Vedder?

I see less than 0 per cent chances of that happening with Brian back on board - who was less than happy with the whole Axl/DC run. Also, AC/DC have never been too prone to guest spots on their shows to begin with, nor are they known to keep in touch with people who once played with or for the band.

I don't want to say this but 2016 was... SEVEN years ago. That's a long time. Especially if you consider Axl toured throughout most of those seven years, and his age. Hell, seven years is roughly what the original GnR line-up lasted, and think about how many vocal hiccups and damage Axl went through in the 80s and 90s, and he was in his absolute prime then. I mean, a little rest won't hurt his vocals, sure, but anything less than rethinking his whole approach to singing at this point won't make much of a difference IMHO.

That is a HUGE difference, though. Also, the Pumpkins were always Corgan plus the rest, while Guns were always more of a band, both writing-wise and image-wise in the public's eye. Corgan ditching everyone and Axl doing the same is quite different in that respect.

I'm one of those ppl who think Axl should sing lower whenever possible, but what the ever fuck, I just checked out Nightrain from this show and I burst out laughing when I heard him sing "Tonight" at 5:26: I had to check out other uploaded videos to see if it was real lol (it is). It's making me laugh every single time.

Nah

GNR has released exactly one studio album in thirty years. Surely in that time period artists have released music without losing money? Hell, you have members in GNR right now releasing music on the side. Are they going broke? Someone tell them!

To be fair, as hard as it seems to be for Axl to write new stuff, it doesn't seem to be as hard for him as actually recording vocals, and even that is a walk in the park for him compared to finally RELEASING what he's recorded. Let's face it, he's set the lowest possible bar for himself at the moment, which is simply telling Slash and Duff to re-record and embellish some of the stuff he's had in the can for decades, and even getting him to put THAT out is like pulling teeth. An album of covers from scratch would be uphill in comparison. Stop kidding yourselves.

No, please...! I mean, the original is much, much better than GNR's live cover IMHO. Besides, Slash and Duff already play on the original, and I doubt Frank is going to add anything to it, so it would only serve to answer the question "How would Axl sound singing this song instead of Scott?". And we know the answer to that... which is: "Surprisingly, not too good". And I doubt he's going to change his singing approach or sound much different in the studio on this one. Just my two cents. If they decide to do studio covers (which is what fans and the general public want from GNR, of course — that's why TSI was such a huge, huge, huge... succeess?), I think there are more interesting or fitting choices out there. That being said, I do think it's pretty cool that Axl has embraced Slash and Duff's legacy outside GNR to this extent.

Ah, all the legendary blues legends lol I could actually see Rod Jackson working pretty well in a blues album, but Slash would never call him in a million years. That ship has sailed, sunk, and possibly started luring multimillionaires in shoddy submarines by now.

The glam rock and boy george generation?

He released 117 solo studio albums in 2015 alone, so... He's technically closer to quadruple digits since CD dropped, even without counting his bands, collaborations, side projects and live albums.

Now try to imagine how Buckethead must have felt...

Let's be positive people, there is still time for GNR to do it posthumously!

I thought it was a reference to that Bon Jovi song that they kept playing everywhere in the early 2000's. "It's my life/ It's now or never/ But I ain't gonna live forever", sth like that...

This is what we all have been asking ourselves for like a quarter of a century now, give or take. Probably a mix of all of the above. I doubt even Axl himself truly knows at this point.