Vincent Vega

For all here:

Do you believe we will see a new GN'R record anytime soon?

What about From Dusk Till Dawn?

Like True Romance, it was written by Tarantino and originated with him but was directed by someone else. But the whole idea was by him---He came up with it even before Pulp Fiction was filmed. John Travolta was offered the choice of either the role of Seth Gecko in From Dusk Till Dawn or Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction apparently.

I have a really hard time believing anything after Salma Hayek's dance in that movie was written by Tarantino.

If you include True Romance and FDTD, you might as well include Sin City, Four Rooms, Natural Born Killers, etc.

They have a special 2 disk edition of Pulp Fiction which includes on set interviews from 1993 when it was shot. John Travolta is interviewed in his costume (as are all the other stars) and he says he was offered two parts by Quentin Tarantino--One a movie involving vampires, or Pulp Fiction. He chose Pulp Fiction cause he didn't want to be in a vampire movie. So Tarantino wrote the whole thing, including the second half, and it goes back as early as '93--Before Rodriquez was even on the movie scene--and the movie wasn't produced till '96. And there are several Tarantino trademarks in the film, such as the "inside trunk" camera angle and things like Big Kahuna Burger and Red Apple Cigarettes (Tarantino inventions) are mentioned.

Here's a later interview on the subject:

[Disclaimer: I am NOT knocking Slash or the solos on the UYI records. Anyone who knows me knows the UYIs are my favorite GN'R records, and I love all the solos. I'm trying to be objective]

If you notice, almost EVERY SINGLE SONG on the UYIs has an epic or prolonged solo by Slash. Literally every solo is done in a Page or Taylor-esque "epic" sort of style.

I mean even on songs where an epic solo isn't truly necessary, there's the obligatory epic solo by Slash. I love guitar solos, and I love the guitar solos on all the songs...But...from a certain point of view, couldn't all that soloing, all the epic solos on almost every song, be considered sort of like, showboating, showing off on Slash's part?

Add the solos on every song to the fact that Slash plays 90% of the guitars on the UYIs (two rhythm tracks and his lead tracks)...It just seems a little much. Like, the UYIs (musically, not in terms of credits) are sort of the Axl and Slash Show. Even the songs by Izzy mostly feature Slash on guitars and feature prolonged epic solos by Slash.

Does anyone in GNR besides Bumblefoot want to put out new music? Seems like the rest of them think its this big chore and they don't mind just playing the same songs over and over again that they didn't write. I mean, do they not know what wanting to be in an actual band is like? Shouldn't you want to be putting out music instead of spending your life playing the same 40 songs?

DJ and Bumblefoot seem to be the only ones who want to actually DO something as members of GN'R other than tour on the back of other people's material.

My World is far from being an epic...But people act like it's the worst song of all time. I actually think it's a lot funner than a lot of the industrial stuff of the era. The song has an atmsophere drenched in fucked upness and sleaze, created by the instrumental parts and the backing vocals. The song itself just feels like a musical mindfuck.

Like, you could picture degenerate dangerous pimps straight out of a Tarantino film listening to songs like My World. I bet if Drexel from True Romance was real he would've loved My World. It's a fun, crazy track that I wish the rest of the band had contributed to.

So...what makes it a bad song? Not a bad GNR song, but a bad song IN GENERAL?

CD is the St-Anger of gnr. Hope they learned and they make their Death Magnetic for the next album.

And you thought CD had mixing issues?

What I meant was that St-Anger was different than what Mettalica used to be. Lars decided to modified his drums sound, no solo, the songs weren't even that good. Some people liked St-Anger but Metallica couldn't continue that path, and they didn't: they returned to their roots. That was the best thing they could do. Some people like CD but it's not the path they should take, they should go back to their roots: hard rock. I say "they" but I should say "Axl"...

I think some middle ground can be found though.

I mean, is it really that inventive or interesting to do the same type of record over and over again?

I'm one of the few people who LOVES Load...While its imperfect, at it's best, it shows the band had a real talent beyond just thrash metal. That they could do different things and not just recycle riffs and the same shit over and over.

I mean look at how different the UYI records are in many ways from AFD...And how different Lies is from AFD...Such change keeps things fresh and interesting.

The problem isn't Axl experimenting or changing the sound. The problem is CD isnt a real record. It was cobbled together from bits and pieces, cut and pasted from a thousand different sessions ten years apart and numerous takes. Entire solos were "constructed" by taking different tiny pieces from different takes. There's nothing real there. Nothing organic, just a cut and pasted protooled mutilation of what had the potential to be great

There's also no hooks, no riffs, nothing that grabs you. No catchy songs. Nothing badass either--No "Perfect Crime" or "YCBM" to be found here. Add into this bad Axl vocals on many tracks.

Take a band like Yes. They were an amazing progressive rock band...Then they came out with Owner of a Lonely Heart, totally divorced from their main sound, but it was a hit because it was catchy, it had a hook, good lyrics, etc.

Or take The Rolling Stones...Best known as a rip roaring hard rock band....Yet their biggest selling album ever and one of the best received of all their albums was an album full of Disco, Punk, Country and R&B songs.....

My World >>>> Blood in the Water.

Yep, not even the guitars sounded like real guitars.

What do you mean?

Are you going to ask your girlfriend, Miser?

I played her Riad after I made the thread here. GN'R is one of her favorite bands, but she doesn't know the history or anything--none of the drama. She just loves the band/the music and is sad to see what Axl has become. But with Riad, she had no real reaction. She basically said it's neither bad nor good. It's whatever. I've not played her any others...I'm not going to bombard her with CD songs. Just slow over time.

Just a project to see what your casual person--your casual rock music or your casual music in general fan--introduce your significant other, or your friends or your family, to Chinese Democracy. Do a mixed study--of people who don't even know about (original) GN'R or don't know much; and also people who know and like them only casually.

See if you can get their thoughts on Chinese Democracy, as their thoughts would probably be the most objective reviews--These would be the people who don't know the whole Axl v. Slash history/drama,, the whole "I waited 15 yyears for this album" baggage, etc. They'd be judging the music purely on it's own merit as music, without knowing really any backstory or drama involved. No external factors prejudicing their listening experience outside of the quality of the music itself as they see it.

For people who have already done something like this, write here the reactions you got from whoever you introduced CD to.

Also look for The Germs soundtrack...or listen for Lions Share i believe.

The songs by Willy DeVille from that film are awesome too, IMO.

What about From Dusk Till Dawn?

Like True Romance, it was written by Tarantino and originated with him but was directed by someone else. But the whole idea was by him---He came up with it even before Pulp Fiction was filmed. John Travolta was offered the choice of either the role of Seth Gecko in From Dusk Till Dawn or Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction apparently.

I've actually started this same thread before.

Open your PM box.

In GN'R's career, SFTD is among the most loathed songs they ever recorded. It's also the last that the Classic Era GN'R recorded and released.

Do you think most of this hatred comes from all the trashing of the song Slash has done since 1994?

Is it a good song, or a bad song--good cover, bad? Good

It reminds me of mid period Led Zeppelin meets the 1990s.

Simple. No melody.

All the classic GNR songs would still sound good with just one guy singing with an acoustic guitar. Rhiad doesn't have a strrong melody - its all just clever production and noise to cover up the fact that there's nothing really going on.

And those 'Ah-ah-ahhhhhhh' lyrics (if you can call it that) are cringeworthy.

Shotgun Blues?

Riad and the Bedouins seems to be one of the most criticized and hated songs on CD...Without just saying "cause it sucks", can the people who dislike it elaborate on just what is bad about it? Its just a good, driving riff, not bad lyrics by Axl. Musically it sounds like The Immigrant Song meets Industrial meets GN'R.

How do you feel about musicians ranting on stage? By "rant" I don't mean only angry chatter, but also some banter with the audience--little chit chat or the musician speaking their mind to the audience?

Also, post some examples of what you feel are awesome on stage rants by musicians.

Mine: Elvis, 1974. Funny shit. He references and mimics Fat Albert and Bill Cosby and gets pissed about rumors that he was doing Heroin:

Let's say (God Forbid) that Axl died suddenly tomorrow....What would the music industry's initial reaction be to his demise, for one? And say, 20, 30, 40 years from now, how do you think Axl will be remembered--What will his legacy be once he's gone?

Wildly inaccurate...Elvis wasn't that out of touch with reality or the outside world, especially not in 1970...A lot of BS.

These also sound suspiciously like those comments Sebastian Bach (Axl's butt buddy) made. The exact perfect comment he knew wasn't true but he knew people would love to hear "the album has the rawness of Appetite and the grandiosity of November Rain." You couldn't manufacture a better fake comment to drum up interest if you tried.

What interest would Brian May, who is a rockstar by his own merit, have for drumming up interest for CD by saying they had two albums worth of material?

Or one guy who was rejected from the process saying they had 40 albums in the can?

Also, James Barber is an A&R man who was kicked off the project. He didn't have to say that. Nothing gained for him in saying that.

Not really. I'm sick of post Slash GNR being all Chinese Democracy stuff. I get it, the guy did NOTHING except for that. But who cares, we have one version of the album that was released. The others won't be THAT different. Its ridiculous that all we have in this 20 year period is variations of the same fucking album.

"I'm not sure what Axl is doing right now but when I was there, he had around 40 songs... I'm not sure this record will ever see the light of day." (Rob Holliday, Vagabond Hearts, 2004)

"We wrote and rehearsed and argued and laboriously recorded several records worth of musical material, which to the best of my knowledge Axl is still finishing. But my work was through. We had dozens of finished songs, as far as I was concerned, and we were waiting for Axl to complete the songs." (Robin, 2000)

"There's a whole album of vocal parts [in late '99]. In fact, there's two albums worth that they've got there, at least." (Brian May, Radio One Rock Show, 05/10/00)

We keep "hearing" that, but there really isn't any proof. You honestly have to have faith in Axl, which is stupid because he's outright lied countless times over the last 20 years. Or you have to believe other people that could very easily just not want to get on Axl's bad side. I'm not saying its not true, but we got 14 songs on Chinese Democracy. There are maybe 6 others we know exist. So it seems there are 20 songs that have been truly worked on since 1993. All this talk about 40 songs just seems unbelievable to me that we wouldn't have heard ANY of the other 20. Right? We got the same 10 songs over and over again throughout the 2000s, but there's 30 more that just so happen to be very heavily guarded. Seems unrealistic to me.

I guess Brian May is a liar? Or Robin, who had quit the band already when he made those comments and at the time had no interest in coming back?

Not really. I'm sick of post Slash GNR being all Chinese Democracy stuff. I get it, the guy did NOTHING except for that. But who cares, we have one version of the album that was released. The others won't be THAT different. Its ridiculous that all we have in this 20 year period is variations of the same fucking album.

Read these interview excepts with people who worked with Axl from 1997-2000. The album as described then sounds like an almost utterly different record from what we ended up getting. Where did THAT album go?:

Would anyone else kill to hear that album?

I'd love an album that was full of songs like OMG. Make it like, OMG meets Physical Graffiti era or Presence era Led Zeppelin.