WhazUp

If these songs are demos from the 2000s and Slash isn't playing on them, then how come Slash is playing on them?

Even though he didn't outright say "Monsters is Soul Monster" I do think it is the one reasonable conclusion: 1. We know for sure Marco cited 4 songs outside of the released material on Chinese: Leave Me Alone, The General, Thyme, and Seven 2. He remembers working on the track Monsters but not that it was called Monsters, which means it was called something else prior. We already know what Thyme and The General sound like, which leaves just Leave Me Alone and Seven as candidates 3. Leave Me Alone is confirmed by Axl to be Soul Monster 4. "Monsters" has both the words "soul" and "monster" in its lyrics and fits the description of Axl's own description of Soul Monster's bridge

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It reminds me of like, in Back to the Future II the alternate 1985 where the entire reality is just odd and off kilter

If this helps, I always do the Park and Ride for the Bowl! Round trip is like 7 bucks and there are a ton of locations you can park for it not far away from the Bowl so you can avoid the stacked parking I did that when I saw Sting earlier this month there and we probably got to our car faster doing that too than those who have to wait for their neighbors in the stacked parking chaos lol

Unfortunately due to my work schedule it is hard to find the time to go to these two shows, however I would have worked harder to free up my schedule if I didn't already spend a ton of money traveling to San Diego to see GNR because at that point no LA date had been announced lmao If these are the shows they bust out The General / Monsters I swear however I hope they do for those who will be there

It is pretty crazy that in one fell swoop two of the most name-checked "grail" tunes of the Chinese era are out there!

What would be the alternative explanation for "The General and Monsters" being a singular title when officially registered versus both separately in that case? I don't think it is unreasonable to treat it as one singular sonic journey made up of two compositions

That's because the soul was stolen by the devil's romances, its all a part of them theme man!

Take Slash's sound when he is shredding there at 5:04, add a few more runs and a wah pedal and there is the sound of The General's outro lead

Thanks for posting this, that is interesting! My own theory for the moment: maybe The General and Monsters/Soul Monster were always linked thematically and were going to be back-to-back tunes on an album but were considered two different compositions. But down the line Axl and co. got the idea to just join them as one singular saga a bit more decisively? And then took the orchestration stems and combined that together to make the concert intro Considering the lack of resolution of the story told in The General, what can be interpreted as the similar subject matter in Monsters, and the sense of closure in Monsters I really think they at the very least were seen as linked in some way from the outset

I can't speak for other people's thoughts, but for myself I really have enjoyed most, if not all, of Slash's additions so far (the most controversial being I like his Perhaps solo). So for me, regardless of who originally crafted the song's basic ideas first, I think Slash's presence gives the material a sound that I have missed for quite some time in GNR land Slash and the AFD lineup "GNR-ified" the previous existing Hollywood Rose material not all of them were a part of writing initially. It's So Easy was originally a West Arkeen open E tuning acoustic tune before Slash did his thing with it. So for me, taking songs Axl still wants to work on that he did with other writers, and Slash-ifiying it, is a great blend of some old with some new (or rather, "new" as of 2002 lol). And perhaps his additions adds some of that "classic GNR legitimacy" to it in the eyes of some

I personally am of the mind that if Chinese Democracy was destined to "save rock music" it would have found a way to. It isn't like there wasn't a TON of publicity around the album because of its reputation and infamy - by 2003 and certainly still in 2008 The thing with Chinese, while it may have great stuff on it, even the catchier hooks on the album IMHO were never destined to be mainstream huge blockbuster hits. Nothing wrong with that, art doesn't have to be made for commercial viability, but I am of the mind that nuGNR would have ended up with the same result, no matter what promotional stuff they did in the lead up to Chinese. People wanted hard rock, they wanted Slash's guitar riffs and leads, and they wanted Axl to sound like the madman high pitched demon they last heard he was like in the 90s and virtually none of that was present Don't get me wrong I love the Chinese era myself, but there definitely is a reason why GNR went back to stadiums/arenas after Slash rejoined and it isn't because CD never got proper promotion

I like Buckethead too, and Finck and honestly all the guys from that time period and think they all have stuff to offer musically and artistically to any projects they are a part of so I totally get the Bucket love I think it is only natural that Slash be the favored guy by most, the band got famous in part due to his licks and solos just as much as Axl's voice and so hearing that sound again in GNR feels like home for many of us

To be fair, even if you may disagree with this, adding a guitar tone and presence to music from the nuGNR era, does change the overall sound. And since for many people a lot of GNR's whole thing is Slash on guitar, it makes sense that people would be more excited hearing Axl's songwriting with more of the sounds and guitar tones of the guy from 1987-1993 on them So I don't think it is ridiculous at all, all you need is "Monsters" to hear the results. Some great Slash licks that blend his tenure in classic GNR to Axl's songwriting to make it more "GNR feeling" to most people Agree or disagree, I think that point of view should at the very least be respected - no matter what "classic GNR purists" people you have argued with in the past regarding your own preferences

What exactly is your point on here besides just being really shitty to people because they don't agree with you that nuGNR is the best version of GNR?

1. Slash isn't the problem regarding delivering new tunes and them actually being finished 2. It isn't a "rip-off" if mostly everyone going to the shows wants to hear the oldies and know they are getting the oldies going into it lol. You not liking their touring doesn't count as a "rip-off" Jfc I swear this forum I can't tell if the points made by some folks are intentionally obtuse or not

^^ Mygnrforum: the home of the only 5 people in the world who think Slash shouldn't be in GNR

It sounds like Slash to me personally, in particular the wah pedal section at the very start of the General, the solo at the end of The General (has many Slash-isms in phrasing when he does into shred-mode), the middle of Monsters in particular is SO Slash, etc. To me it is hard to fathom the guitar not being Slash for me honestly, save for the very end of Monsters, the 2nd half of the outro which sounds more like how Fortus solos

While that is true, but then you have just "The General" listed on the Perhaps single description promo - not "The General and Monsters". So I am just theorizing cool ways to explain that difference as well as the idea that "The General" also can fit easily on a side of vinyl where "The General and Monsters" cannot without sacrificing fidelity. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is one book, one singular journey. But the movies were split into two even though they are meant to be combined for the full story. Just saying, it is just a theory but one that is very much plausible and makes sense

It is presented as one long singular journey and I agree it is 1 song..... but that doesn't mean the idea that the one journey couldn't be split among two 7' inches, neither of which can house an 8 minute single song without sacrificing fidelity, is an impossible idea Anyways, just thinking about cool ways to present these tracks that's all- having fun with it

Obviously there is no concrete information to say this is what's happening, but I have seen people float around the theory that Monsters will be a B-side to Atlas and that is why it isn't listed on The General's title for the Perhaps single (and would explain the time constraints of the 7") If that ends up actually being what they do I think it is actually a pretty cool idea. Like, The General being this unsettling cliffhanger of a really dark and depressing situation and Monsters coming a while after finally giving the story some resolution, making it seem like a journey

My Holy Grail next is a future event rather than a past song - I would love Slash to write a riff on the same level of Locomotive-esque badassery as Anastasia and have the band record a fresh song with the rhythm section recording the basic tracks live