appetite4illusions

I only drop in to mygnr once a year, these days…but I was at last nights show and THANKGAWD I bought cheap, grandstand seats - I was protected from the rain, the entire show.

I will say, I had a great view of everyone exposed to the elements and the crowd was totally into Guns, despite the discomfort. Axl I felt, in particular, tried extra hard to overcome the crowd’s suffering and the audience appreciated him, for that. “Y’all are some loud motherfuckers!” He said, at one point.

The best and funniest reference to the rain came midway through the set, when Axl said “And now!…the moment you’ve all been waiting for - Duff McKagan on vocals!”…Axl knew the crowd was dying to get out of the rain, and introducing Duff’s Stooges song, was his invitation for the crowd to take cover.

Pisses me off. 
 

Axl Rose never pretended to be a perfect person and was always very up front about being tortured. That behavior came out in its own way, but he was never anything but completely sincere about who he was.

I’m a lawyer and in law, we call this the “tu quoque” defense (you too). It means you accuse the other party of the same misconduct they are putting on you. It’s a shitty defense, because it doesn’t exonerate you from anything. It’s the type of thing you use when you can’t wash the blood off your hands.

It’s sad to say, but he never really did, and, all the executives who ever worked on this album must have more or less, known this.

Axl didn’t really aim to write commercial songs, it was just having people like Izzy and Slash, assembled the songs in such a way that they were palatable on a massive scale.

The GN’R formula, anyway you cut it, is anthems. Big choruses, big hooks, big riffs.

Outside of the title track, Chinese Democracy, Axl didn’t write any anthems. 
 

I don’t know if this was really deliberate, but I’m sure he was well aware of this limitation - he just didn’t care.

There were numerous times that the record label and it’s people, would make suggestions that Axl keep working on the album and material. I think they knew they were dead if they released the album and there wasn’t one song that lived up to GN’R’s place as a classic anthem.

Tom Zutaut once publicly expressed doubt that Axl was going to have a strong enough, commercial enough single to carry Chinese to mass success.

Indeed, the album got great reviews, but didn’t have that single song built for the radio and the album did suffer for it.

Did Sean have the same doubt? Did he ever feel Axl had a single that would climb the charts and stay there? If so, what was it and if not, did he ever voice that concern?

This isn’t a “single” because it’s beyond radio airplay. The pure vulgarity of the song goes against commercial marketability.

Honestly, if I had to guess, I think Axl sat Slash and Duff down, had them listen to the majority of the Chinese material and asked them which ones they responded to…as out and out “rockers,” it only makes sense to me that they chose a song with a pure rock vibe to it. In other words - I bet Slash and Duff helped select this song because they know that people expect “rockers” from them and not mid-tempo ballads.

I actually really dig this song and always kind of did…the chorus riff is killer.

There’s a fair amount of unreleased songs that just flat out disappointed me, including Hard School (was better as a 20 second clip that we ruminated on for years) and Atlas Shrugged (just yuck…poorly written song that never gets off the ground).
 

Silkworms has that kind of pure rock vibe to it that outside of Rhiad and CD (title track), is just missing from this lot of material. 
 

On another note, remember back in ‘06 when HisRoyalSweetness crashed Axl’s after party and got him to talk a bit about Silkworms? Apparently, it was his former GF Sasha’s favorite song and Axl’s quote was that Bucket’s solo on that song would “blow us all away.” 
 

What an ending this wound up being. Eat my Silkworms!

It would have sold well because albums still had a chance, back then and something like a GN'R comeback would have been very big for its time.

It would have been reviewed much more divisively and would not have gotten the kind of warm reception that came with eighteen years of anticipation, finally rewarded.

It would have actually have been "of it's time" and that would have been both a big plus and a point of derision, for the band. 

David Prowse once spoiled the ending to Empire Strikes Back in an interview...two years before the film would even premier....talk about a world before the internet.

Second to last paragraph - he drops the dime, very nonchalantly. 

I've fallen out of exploring pop princesses since Lorde came on the scene, some years ago. 

Billie Ellish is definitely the flavor of the minute and the pop artist most critics point at for being legitimate.

Does the girl do anything but whisper seductively in her songs? Does she sing, conventionally?

I had a huge problem with how small Batfleck’s ears were.

Combined with his broad alcoholic face, it ruined the Batman aesthetic. No soup for you.

I don't know...I had always heard that the band was reluctant to go with Slash as lead guitar player, when he first auditioned. 

He was undoubtedly, one of the most talented guitar players of the time and place, but it was his personality that the band found "questionable." Axl tells it that people kept recommending Slash to him and his attitude was "nah..."  Robert John backs this up, saying back in those days, Slash was a "little creep" and it was his advice not to hire Slash, as he was very much the type of guy who was only in business for himself and wouldn't be there for long.

If you look at it, Slash was a star right out of the gate. He had bands which didn't even have a vocalist (Tidus Sloan, Road Crew) which allowed him to be the alpha and the sole focus of attention. Slash was also very enterprising, joining bands left and right - he clearly thought very highly of his talent. It's not hard for me to imagine that he was low-key cocky and maybe, a little bit unreliable. 

These guys had to circle each other for a period of time before they became comfortable and saw the potential in one another. It's a little hard for me to believe that Paul Huge saw Slash and advised Axl that he had found the pot of gold.

Well, he plays aimless solos on Axl's new material - no doubt. It's like he has no sense of what he wants to go for, so he just rips a scale and plays every note of it. Not so great.

On 7/3/2020 at 1:06 PM, JONEZY said:

What made the original Beavis and Butthead great was them making fun of the music videos on MTV.  Along with some scenes with them and Mr. Anderson, at school, etc..  Can't do the video thing anymore.  I'll give it a chance, love Mike Judge.  

They brought it back, ten years ago, for one brief season. Occupying its original home on MTV, B & B had to riff on clips of Jersey Shore and other reality programs - to reflect the scarce videos on MTV's own programming.

It was kind of bittersweet, because even though the episode plots always lived up, it was obvious that the culture had turned over and the show was no longer cutting edge. I'm not sure it's a great idea to bring them back again. 

4 hours ago, Basic_GnR_Fan said:

Burton's Batman films are where it's at. Nolan did a great job, but went way too realistic (damn Anglo's and their empiricism). 

Nolan's films didn't have any moments like this

 

Burton's Batman films are just dripping wet with atmosphere and German expressionism.

Nolans films are very entertaining....but yes, they are realer than real and in a way, suck all the fun out of the comic-book experience.

I'm old enough now to see the strengths in Nolan's storytelling and some of Burton's weaknesses at narrative storytelling...but the visual experience of Burton's films are as good as Batman ever got.

2 hours ago, Padme said:

I think Christian Bale was his "curtain call as Batman" Sure Keaton is the lesser evil compare to Kilmer, Clooney, Afleck and Pattison. But his Batman was even more campy than Adam West Batman t.v. show. Not Keaton's fault. Jack Nicholson was not what the Joker should be. And Batman Return was just horrible. That movie wasted a great cast

Really? Campy? And campy beyond Adam West? Did we see the same movies?

Michael Keaton can be very ha-ha, but his two Batman movies didn't even have a joke in them. Not a quip or even a whiff of that eyebrows up stuff.

His Batman was exactly what I want(ed) - silent and deadly serious. Where Christian Bale's Batman ranted and raved like a hungry lion at the criminals, Keaton would just stare at them....I love that. He would stare the criminals down and psychically drain them of all their confidence before he physically fought them. He didn't speak and that was the coolest thing about Keaton. 

Actually, Michael Keaton knew enough to know that Batman needed to be enigmatic and mysterious. He frequently told the writers of Batman Returns that while he loved much of the dialog they had written for him, having Batman verbalize himself gave the ghost away. He specifically instructed them to keep his dialog to a minimum, to protect the mystique of Batman. This...was one of the reasons people always claimed the villains overshadowed Batman - because they got all the dialog - but to me it was a stroke of genius.

This news put ants in my pants, awakening the six-year old in me like few things have the ability to.

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/micheal-keaton-talks-return-as-batman-flash-movie-1299668

Although it's not a "Batman" movie, per say, the idea that Keaton could return to play the caped crusader has been one that has lingered around for decades. It only makes sense to bring him back as an "old Batman" in a mentor role.

Since they've got multiple versions of characters and universes going on, it seems like the perfect time to get Keaton back to put the rubber on. He never had a curtain call as Batman, now's a good time.

It reminds me of what Sony/Marvel did in bringing Robert Downey Jr in as an attraction and mentor in the Spider-Man films. It's only smart to leverage a character that has yet to prove itself with a character that has a giant legacy.

On 6/12/2020 at 11:24 AM, Voodoochild said:

I didn't know he was that short.

Also, he kinda looks like a cardboard there haha

You have to be 5' 10" or over to work at Norman's.

Unless, you're Norman.

On 6/10/2020 at 6:20 PM, rocknroll41 said:

I agree that the “grainy” look of older films made them more charming, and that newer films are too “clean” looking now. Sadly, I don’t think this will change.

It's, sadly, the way the brain can instantly perceive and identify video over film.

Film is tactile. It's an intermediate. It's real and it has flaws to it - but the brain can see the canvas of it. High Definition video does not have the same effect on the brain. It's perceived as reality, which can be strange and a bummer when your mind is trying to wrap it around a story.

Film is majorly expensive in comparison to video, which isn't expensive at all - so 90% of all movies made are made with video or a combination thereof. It won't change. The only thing we can hope for is that video advances to a place where they can really simulate the canvas of film - but it will still be a fugazi.

As far as Bill and Ted go...yeah, putting something that heightened and weird on something your brain tells you is supposed to be real, generates feelings of ambivalence. 

For me, it spoke so much when Robin Finck bailed for the second time in the months that preceeded the release of Chinese Democracy.

I don't believe he ever would have done that unless he knew that a part of Axl was over and was not going to rise to his ultimate moment...and he didn't.

Mick is one of the best, if not the best rhythmic guitar player of the eighties. His riffs and grooves always stood out and I dare say that he gave Motley some respectability with his prowess.

I know he's been at work at his solo album for years now, so I am very intrigued to see where he takes it.  

He's got a bit of the 'cunt' persona to him.

It might just be how he has that high-horse mentality and is thoroughly outspoken about it. The kind of guy who has no problem turning his nose at something. 

He undoubtedly helped the band navigate the early pitfalls and created opportunity for them to get the music across to a national audience.

As it pertains to Niven, I've always wanted to know what exactly it was that caused Slash to turn his back on his management. In Slash's book, he claims Niven, himself, Slash's wife and Alan's wife were partying one night and Alan got extremely weird as it pertained to Renne. In a very Slash move, he says in one sentence "I don't remember exactly it was he said..." but then, several sentences later, he says "...it was very weird and I never forgot it..."

Which was it it? Does Slash remember what Alan said/did or doesn't he? Either way, must have been bad.

Tommy Stinson came from The Replacements and had Paul Westerberg as a model for behavior and success.

There’s no doubt why someone who would be no-frills, so to speak, would look at a completely eccentric guy like Buckethead (whom could become his character at any moment and disrupt all order) and sneer. 

It’s very old school values versus one person’s bizarre process of creativity.

I’m sure he looked at Bucket and saw someone who was Uber talented but forced his uncompromising way of working on the band. 
 

Bucket really is an individual unto himself and you can see how someone who was so “band oriented” wouldn’t appreciate that.

I think it took them many years (decades) to reach the same place in life that Axl settled into: just don't give a fuck.

They had a lot to accomplish after 1996 and 1998 - namely, trying to create another band whose music was big enough to become a household name. They kinda did that - even if Velvet Revolver was only relevant for their debut album, they touched the sky with that band with the two singles which were pretty ubiquitous.

After that...

Well, Rock N Roll is built on memories, not on the path of tomorrow.  They did their own minor things for periods of time but came to realize that if they wanted back into the tent of the big circus and the glamour of that - that they would have to develop an attitude of apathy and an acceptance that there is no forward momentum.

Guns N' Roses is a lumbering touring machine and nothing more. It's a well oiled stage act that can command the highest ticket prices but cannot figure out what its identity is independent of its original albums.

I think they both know that and they reached a place of apathy where there are very weak expectations as to anything else.