Thierry-Henry

Izzy's return is crucial for songwriting

Its not like GNR were the only band to have morally dubious lyrics. 

The live version of Stones' Stray cat blues from the brilliant Get yer ya ya's out goes like this:

I can see that you're thirteen years old

No I don't want your I.D.

I can see you're so far from home

But it's no hanging matter

It's no capital crime

Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat

Oh yeah, don'tcha scratch like that

Oh yeah, you're a strange stray cat

Bet your mama don't know you scream like that

I bet your mother don't know you can spit like that.

You say you got a friend, that she's wilder than you

Why don't you bring her upstairs

If she's so wild then she can join in too

It's no hanging matter

It's no capital crime

On 16/06/2019 at 5:05 PM, Free Bird said:

With all due respect but I don't think anybody thinks that way.

Yes I don't see how anybody can think that way.

For me GNR are what we call the combination of Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff and Steven. Now maybe you can substitute Steven for Matt or Frank. But anything short of this combination is not GNR. In other words, there is no thing called GNR that exists independently of it five member. GNR are the point at which those five members intersect and interact. To conceive of it any other way seems to be a way of using your illusion.

On 7/10/2018 at 5:18 PM, Tom-Ass said:

It is because he sounds like shit sometimes and but the live experience can mask that. Not just for him but for any rock musician. There is so much going on at a live show. It is so loud, so much saturation from the PA and the instruments, the crowd singing a long in harmony and the excitement. It is very easy to overlook imperfections. These cell phone videos are a fair representation of what he sounds like.  The Pro Shot videos are even more telling. He just can't sing in certain ranges anymore and it comes off unflattering at times. I saw 3 shows this tour and I could hear when he did and didn't sound good. Some shows were better than others, it just is what it is.  Overall he can still perform good enough for the shows are a success and go over well which they have been for the most part. 

I think this is a fair estimate. He doesn’t hit the high notes quite like he used to, but in the deeper range he can still roar just like he did in his heyday.

In 2009, Axl talked to Billboard magazine:

"Is there any chance you'll work with the former members of Guns N' Roses in the future?

"I could see doing a song or so on the side with Izzy [Stradlin] or having him out [on tour] again. I'm not so comfortable with doing anything having more than one of the alumni. Maybe something with Duff [McKagan], but that's it, and not something I'd have to really get down into, as I'd get left with sorting it out and then blamed on top of it. So, no, not me."

I guess since this time he has become comfortable with 2 alumni. But this quote tells me that it is likely that Axl doesn't want to take on a third alumni (Izzy) because then it becomes less his band, his vision. Just a thought. Maybe Izzy just doesnt want to join them but I think this is more likely.

He looked like he was about scream with a voice full of rasp...

Hey bro...here is a lot of good rasp for you...

If I ever sit front row, instead of requesting songs, I'm gonna request more rasp.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdSRn_yI8cw

You wanna talk about rasp.. 4:02 in this video

So....much.....rasp.....can't....take it........

Guess what? I got a fever, and the only prescription is more rasp!

Here's an interesting interview with John, where he compares himself to guitarists like Steve Vai:

In a preview excerpt from Feeding Back, MusicRadar presents an interview Todd conducted with John Frusciante in June of 2009, six months before the guitarist announced his departure from the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

In the past, you've talked about guitar "antiheroes." What do you mean by that?

"Well, I grew up dedicated to the guitar, so I studied all the flashy players when I was kid. And I think I grew up with a misconception – which is pretty normal for a person who plays any instrument, but especially the guitar – where the physical action that's taking place on the instrument seems to count for something more than it should.

"It's such a complex thing, making music, and I feel like when flashy guitar players get really good, a lot of the time they lose sight of the fact that really slow notes and really simple notes, just because they fall in strange places, can create various types of space with the other instruments.

"People have the tricks that they do – they have their little techniques and riffs – and they forget about trying to shape music into something that depicts an energetic picture, a picture in sound that arouses all these feelings inside you. With the flashy guitar players, it becomes more about demonstrating something.

"So, you know, I lost interest in that as a teenager, and I became fascinated by people like the guitarist from the B-52's [Ricky Wilson]. I started to find more meaning in people who played simpler, because these people seemed to have a better grasp on the complexities of that, you know. A lot of people who are really good technically don't give that same kind of care to each note."

"People fall into patterns at fast speeds, when really to have a clear musical thought – the kind of musical thought that makes a melody work – our brains just can't think that fast. At a certain point, you're going on automatic. When it comes down to it, when I hear somebody playing really fast, to my mind it doesn't sound complicated at all, and what somebody like Matthew Ashman in Bow Wow Wow or Bernard Sumner in Joy Division is doing sounds complex, because each note pulls you in a different direction.

"I like all kinds of guitar players, but it's people like the ones I just mentioned whose playing really amazes me, and it's because of their ideas, it's because of what they thought. It's because they approached the instrument differently than anybody else. It's people like Keith Levene from Public Image and Daniel Ash in Bauhaus who are exploring the possibilities of what you can do with the guitar, whereas other people seem like they're just exploring what you can physically do, and that serves no interest to me anymore. It did when I was 15 [laughs], but not anymore. Not since I was 21 years old."

What happened when you were 21?

"That was when I first started to really find myself as a guitar player, because a lot of things happened to me on the same day, and a lot of them had to do with me as a human being and my philosophy switching poles. I went through this change as a person, and I went through a musical change, too. Obviously, I'd been moving towards it, but I remember clearly the main part happened in like one day, you know?"

What were you listening to then?

"Tom Verlaine. I remember listening to [Television's] Marquee Moon and being dazzled by it. What he did with a sort of jaggedy guitar sound, the amount of beauty and expressiveness that came out of it, was really exciting for me.

"It made me remember that none of those things that are happening in the physical dimension mean anything, whether it's what kind of guitar you play or how your amp's set up. It's just ideas, you know, emotion. I'd grown up thinking, 'Well, a guitar player should be a good balance between technique and emotion,' and I just realized, that's ridiculous. It's only emotion, it's only color.

"And it took me like eight years of being really devoted to the guitar to realize that. [laughs] I kind of knew it when I started and then I gradually forgot it, and then when I realized it again, it hit me like a ton of bricks."

In general, the antihero types may be more instinct driven, with less theory than someone like you. Do you think that period when you were 21 was when your instinct and theory came together?

"Yeah. At the time, I thought it was because I wasn't thinking too much in terms of theory anymore - but I was. It was just that it was so… like the point of my first solo record, in my mind I was just throwing everything out the window. I was throwing all theory and technique out. But then after that, when I hadn't played guitar much for about four years, my playing felt quite different. Without that technique, I didn't know how to twist it as well.

"I don't have an extensive background in theory, but the amount of it that I've learned, I've applied, so I have a vocabulary of melodic and rhythmic relationships. And that's all theory is – it's symbols to help you identify those relationships. To some degree, somebody can perceive them just by playing the guitar a lot and seeing them in terms of shapes on the neck. But I notice that with those people, a lot of the time they have to fiddle around for a while to find a part.

"If guitar players don't know the modes, for instance, it takes them a while to figure out which notes they can play, whereas somebody who's practiced those scales knows immediately what notes apply. So for me, theory has always opened things up to where I can walk into a room and just by hearing something I know exactly where to go on the guitar. I have a better time playing because I have a variety of colors to bring to the table.

"To me, it kind of makes sense that so many people end up resorting to the physical part of guitar playing. People want to do something that they can conceive of, you know? Like, 'Oh, I'll practice scales all day and I'll be able to play really fast and impress people.' It's a real cut-and-dried, straight-ahead way to learn something.

"But when you start really boggling your mind with what can make something that's as simple as a Beatles song - when you actually examine it lyrically, rhythmically, and melodically, and chordally – something very complex, in some way an understanding of that is less intimidating, you know? To me, the only thing that makes music not intimidating is the ability to take it apart."

You say that you haven't studied theory extensively, but compared to most rock musicians, you break things down easily. Although it's obvious how much of your playing comes from an internal place, does this theoretical knowledge ever lead you toward more of a formalist approach?

"No, for me to enjoy making music, it has to generate an excitement in me, and form in itself doesn't generate any excitement to me. For instance, I don't feel that the way to make the most free music is through music that has no limitations, like if you don't establish a tempo and you don't establish a key.

"I feel like a lot of the time the music that can be the freest is the music that has a lot of limitations put upon it. All kinds of music – from sonatas to acid house to drum and bass – have real strict parameters, and for some reason that encourages originality rather than stifles it. So for me, working in a pop group like the Chili Peppers, working basically with the pop song format, I did everything I could to try to infiltrate that with musical ideas that were exciting to me, you know?

"But that's lost its interest for me at this point. It's been a couple years now that I just don't have any interest in writing those kinds of songs. I feel like I did some interesting things within those parameters, but I have more interest in exploring different things."

Just to clarify, when you infiltrate that pop song format, as you put it, does that create any meaning—say, by having the music hit the audience differently?

"No, no, no. There are certain chord progressions I like that modulate in a certain way, or there are beats I like where certain drums fall in certain hits, but it's not as if they have any value on their own. The beat itself could be played really badly, that modulation could be terrible sounding – it's all about the person who's doing it. My knowledge of these things comes from the fact that I'm a person who likes to understand things, and because I'm obsessive, you know? [laughs] But my knowledge of those things doesn't have any musical value; my music is what it is because I'm who I am and I've lived life the way I've lived it. My sense of melody is my sense of melody."

"Even when I realized those things when I was 21, it's not as if I was thinking about them while I was playing. But I came up with drastically different types of musical ideas because of them.

"I mean, it's not luck that I make up a good guitar part, because I've got enough combinations of symbols and musical ideas swimming around in my head to where parts can be generated by referring to those things. And those coordinates where a word meets a musical moment, and the word meets the note, and those two things meet the rhythm that the word falls on, that's where the real meaning comes from."

You've covered a lot of songs, but is there one that's especially significant for you?

"My dad had Fragile on the shelf when I was a kid, so I was listening to Yes when I was like seven years old, so I heard Steve Howe and I liked him. And yeah, I love his playing on the first Lou Reed solo album. But for some reason, the chord progression that Ride Into The Sun is based on is very meaningful to me. There's something about the tonality of that song that I identify with a great deal.

"I have no idea why, but there are certain basic chord progressions that have been used thousands of times, and it's completely your interpretation of them that counts—it never sounds like the same song, you know? I feel like at various times in my life, especially when I haven't been making music, I see clearly that it's my job as a musician to explore the possibilities inherent in certain chord progressions or harmonic climates, and that's a really limited way to be thinking, which is probably why I've thought that way more when I wasn't making music than when I was." [laughs]

Not to categorize yourself, but if there are these two main schools of guitar players as we've been talking about them – the virtuoso approach and the post-punk approach, to use reductive terms – do you think of yourself as fitting into one more than the other?

"I definitely don't have any interest in aligning myself with a certain type of guitar player. But it is something I think about, and basically, I think of myself as somebody who put the same amount of time into guitar playing as a guy like Steve Vai would, but I used that time completely differently, in order to have a good grasp of a wide variety of musical colors, many of which I perceived through the study of people who played with very little technique but whose brains were nimble, whose brains in terms of creativity were exactly where you'd want to be."

"I studied those players and I applied them, so that while I was capable of doing something more based in the basic tradition – you know, I had that finger strength where I can play like a 'guitar hero' or something – but instead of using my ability that way, I tried to do something that was more based in the approaches of people who had less technique.

"And I tried to make mine a cohesive style, because like I say, a lot of these people just sort of stumbled on what they did without knowing what they were doing, and they had no control over it, which is what I like about it, but then I was able to come upon that and say, 'Well, what if I crossed Bernard Sumner's approach with Jimmy Page's?' You know? 'What if Jimmy Page tried to play like Bernard Sumner?' [laughs] 'How could I play in a rhythmic style but with no blues?'

"So yeah, I think that I'm kind of a learned guitar player who didn't have any interest in learning along the same lines as a lot of other people do. I was more interested in studying people like Fugazi and Bow Wow Wow."

Hahahahahaha do you guys really believe that Frusciane is up there with Jimmy, Jimi and Eddie?

Uhm, this is just a matter of personal preference. There is no right or wrong here. But yeah, I prefer Frusciante's solos to all of these.

Frusciante's albums are just brilliant. I started with the Empyrean, moved on to "To Record Only Water for Ten Days" and now I'm just hooked on his solo material....

When it comes to his solo material John Frusciante is absolutely amazing. One of the best artists of his generation. His solo material blows RHCP material outta the water in terms of quality and creativity in my opinion. It would've been an absolute shame had he joined Guns N Roses and been left to rot. Did Axl miss his chance. Fuck yeah he did but I'm so glad that never happened for John's sake.

John Frusciante >>>>>> Guns N Roses post 1993

Totally agree!

Furthermore, I think it is quite unlikely that John would ever have joined.

Frusciante's wikipedia page says:

In an interview with Blare Magazine Omar Rodriguez-Lopez, when asked about possible future collaborations with John, stated: "Maybe in the future, but John’s in a different place right now. He’s in a place where he couldn’t care less about putting things out or about something being a product. He’s living by different standards right now with a different philosophy, so he doesn’t want to be a part of anything that he knows is going to end up being a product. A Mars Volta record definitely ends up being a product".

In light of the fact that any GNR material would definitely end up being a product, the same applies.

Axl wants nothing to do with the AFD lineup but includes AFD era merch in the fan club "exclusive" merch for the current band???? Yeah, that makes sense.......

Who says Axl handles the merchandising decisions? I'm sure someone like him could care less.

I doubt George Lucas always has the final say on every Star Wars item out there that gets made and sold.

Don't you mean that he couldn't care less?

I got a fever, and the only prescription is more mickey mouse!

Thanks Eric for keeping forum alive for so long.

Although I don't post often I have spent countless of hours here and have gotten all my GNR news (fix) from this forum.

I appreciate you time and effort running this place.

"now that's a man that would never sell out and do car commercials".

I think Axl is taking a dig at Bob Dylan for one of his car commercials:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHGk_L6gl8&feature=related

Here is a funny fake-commercial.

Why are people even bringing Slash into this? What does the Moscow show have to do with him? Absolutely nothing. Having said that, why are you all making such a big deal of this? Do you all honestly believe that just because these people are wealthy that they are not allowed to enjoy a Guns N' Roses show?...That they are not capable of it? Let me guess, the wealthy couldn't possibly be fans of the music of Guns N' Roses...Right? Nonsense. So many posters make so much drama of nothing. Sides are taken (Axl vs. Slash) and useless, pointless arguments arise. This is complete absurdity.

Get used to it, this is a mainstream band. It's a cashcow. These kind of events come with the territory. Though, that does not take away from the musicianship; not one bit. What idiocy.

Guns N' Roses isn't mainstream.

They've sold over 100 million records globally. They've recorded some of the best known songs of all time (Sweet Child O' Mine, Paradise City, etc...). They have released the highest selling debut album of all time. The list goes on and on. This isn't some niche band/brand (whatever you wanna call it). They may not be all over the radio like Lady Gaga, but they are still very well known.

This source: http://www.helium.com/items/464465-the-best-debut-albums-ever-in-no-particular-order

lists Boston, Alanis Morisette and Hootie and the Blowfish above GNR in the highest selling debut albums. I think the list only takes into account the US market though. Wikipedia then says of Alanis Morisette: "Her worldwide debut album was the rock-influenced Jagged Little Pill, which remains the best-selling debut album by a female artist in the U.S., and the highest selling debut album worldwide, selling 30 million units globally." Have you seen somewhere that Appetite beats these albums in sales?

The solo is the best part of the song.

+1 Best solo on the whole album

Totally agree!!

You are in my prayers, keep the faith and my only advice is to keep your loved ones close by.

Here Axl says that the only thing GNR have in common with Kiss is that they like to make money and they like girls. But as far as their music goes the music plays second fiddle to their other desires... For us the music comes first.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-I5_aL5MoCc&feature=related

I see Perez Hilton is still using pictures of Axl with the cornrows: http://perezhilton.com/2010-05-18-axl-rose-claims-former-manager-tried-to-sabotage-him#respond

Thanks for the translation Deb. Great job!!

Estranged in The Ritz, 1991.

In never really liked live versions of estranged until I heard this one ! this SOOO damn good, from the introduction to the last note played...this is perfect.

http://www.youtube.c...h?v=xCiRXv_kgKo

Yes please, and play it in this fashion (civil war farm aid):

Before the tour started and things got so fucking electric, I was seriously down. I made a severely melodramatic post and said adios. I'm back today to say yes, GN'R lives for me. Sure there are issues with setlists and other such trivialities, but ultimately, I am excited to be a Guns fan again.

Hi bax, Sorry for posting that pic of Schwarzenegger, just thought it was funny. But to get on topic I totally agree with you. I was completely fed up with the lack of news and broken promises (Better video). But now being a Guns fan is good again. Axl is in the form of his life and looks happy (except for the unprovoked attack on his most loyal fan Madison). The great thing is that his voice has come back with a vengeance and this gives him the confidence to be himself onstage. I think he has found his Muse and it is only a matter of time until he starts making new songs with this great lineup. And what a lineup!!!

Estranged in The Ritz, 1991.

In never really liked live versions of estranged until I heard this one ! this SOOO damn good, from the introduction to the last note played...this is perfect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCiRXv_kgKo