TiedHands

I'm confused. If he auditioned in early '06, that would have been Bucket's spot that Ron got. Robin was already filling the lead guitar spot, not to mention Richard there as well. So he wouldn't have been auditioning for "Slash's spot".

14 hours ago, Skamos66 said:

Axl made a comment before The General at Hell & Heaven "I'd like to tell you why it is a new song, but, whatever."

I don't know of course, but I'd like to think Axl was going to introduce it as "This is a new song, "The General", which was going to be on the follow-up record to Chinese, you'll hear the rest of the album next year"
But I feel like Fernando or some management told him to not announce it. 
No facts on that, just my opinion.

It seemed to me that they were just having technical issues at the time and he was pissed because of it. These conspiracy theories on here are just dumb lol

1 hour ago, jackparker123 said:

No Monsters then, that sucks.

GNR could have ended 2023 with a bang by dropping Monsters as a hidden third track but I guess that was never going to happen really!

People are STILL holding out hope about this? Good Lord. 

2 hours ago, rumandraisin said:

Not nessecarily. I love The General, every part of it, I think it lives up to the hype and it's fierce and dark and really a perfect blend of all the CD elements I liked. But I'm not a fan of everything he does or has done on the locker discs. I think Nothing is abysmal for example. 

Even the scratch demo of Nothing is much better than the finished version of The General, easily.

26 minutes ago, Miden34 said:

I also love being right. I said from the start there was a 0% chance we got monsters on the B-side too.

All of those theories about how they were one long song or a song split in two or a hidden track or whatever, is easily some of the dumbest stuff that's been discussed in forever in GNR fandom lol

I fucking LOVE the song lol. Its right up my alley. I love hearing Axl sing different shit, it sounds like the last thing you'd ever hear GNR do but it's pretty fantastic. 

I simply refuse to believe that anyone could seriously think the released version of Hard Skool is in any way better than the demo lol

Further proof that backs up my opinion that TB is a cancer to Axl and GNR. 

Still can't believe people think "Monsters" is about child abuse lol. It's clearly about a break up. Those aren't lyrics that an adult male is singing to his father that abused him as a child. I would argue that the bridge *could be* but it would make no sense for that to be the only part of the song that is. 

Also, I firmly believe the bridge from Monsters originally belonged to The General but got turned into a different song at some point. Lyrically, it fits in much more with The General than Monsters. Monsters is clearly about a scorned lover, while The General is clearly about child abuse. The lyrics from the bridge fit much better with the abuse theme than a song about a woman that broke his heart. 

1 hour ago, Amir said:

I've dug out my old laptop which had the Vienna 2010 afterparty phone leak, and it's interesting seeing how you can now tell it's the "I was there for you" chorus up to 0:18 and the bridge of Monsters matches up with 1:28 to 1:58 of that... but there's a lot that sounds so different? I'm not sure I can hear the "monsters in my head" refrain at any point? And man, those guitars go fucking HARD in that phone leak, the final cut seems neutered in comparison :/ Hopefully we get a leak of that version one day.

Oh man, I'd kill to hear whatever that version of the song was. I REALLY love "Monsters" but it's clearly changed a lot over the years. I want THAT song. I'm pretty fascinated by the fact that maybe what we heard in the cell phone clip was at one point The General? Or maybe the clip was just labeled wrong all of these years. The cell phone clip always sounded more like what I thought The General would actually sound like, based on the comments through the years. 

Who actually is that on the keys? The camera showed him a few times during Absurd lol. A tech or something filling in?

While I do enjoy the live version because I really don't like the vocal effects on the leak, all I can think about is how we fucking missed out by Axl not performing these songs in '06-'11. I can't imagine how Axl would have sounded on this song around '10 or '11 especially. Holy shit. 

10 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Never heard about this other tune that was combined to make Shacklers. I've always assumed the chorus was just something Caram, Axl (and maybe Robin, as he was credit if I'm not mistaken?) came up with. 

Bootsy Collins and Bucket did a song called "Shackler", and if you listen to it, it's clear where the inspiration came from lol

Pfft. I seen them times when they didn't even come on stage until midnight. That was fucking rough. But yes, always worth it in the end. Ive NEVER had a GNR experience where I left disappointed. 

Live version sounds so much better. Those vocal effects on the studio version kill it for me. 

Monsters is fucking fantastic. It's the kind of "big gun" I've been waiting years to hear. All those people who have spoken over the years about how Axl has all of these amazing songs in the vault, thats where this song sits for me. I cannot get enough of it. I love the guitars, the lyrics, the vocal delivery, those fucking ear worm vocal melodies, and that vocal breakdown at 2:50 is the most Axl Rose thing since I don't know when. 

The General, eh. I think I would be more okay if I hadn't built the song up for so long. Having been obsessed with the cell phone clip, I always felt like The General would be THE big gun. Come to find out, it wasn't even from that song lmao. I get the point of the song, but the vocal effects really kill it for me. I can't make out most of what Axl is even singing. Its definitely not an epic like we all assumed. I dont hate it and I have to hope that what we've heard isn't the final version. 

2 hours ago, Underhardy said:

‘For the hell I let you put me through’ I believe on the bridge of Monster 

Thats what I originally thought but im pretty sure it's "hell on Earth you put me through" after listening to it a billion times lol

I too believe he is saying various things in Monsters. I hear "monsters can't kill me, get me, have me, etc." 

2 minutes ago, Grayfox said:

My take on The General and the usage of distortion is to create that buried down sound. Like you’re screaming for help and no one can hear

That was what I took from it, even upon first listening. I think its intentional that Axl is wailing and he's very distressed and discernable. I think that's the point of the song.

41 minutes ago, Underhardy said:

You know, Taylor swift gets a lack of flack for her amount of breakup songs. Axl gives her a run for her money with the Seymour songs haha. Not hating, I love how he writes his deepest emotions into songs. Monsters lyrics are basically an extension of There Was A Time, same vibe, about a crazy narcissistic woman who is emotionally and mentally tormenting Axl. ‘I would do anything for you, there was a time.’ And ‘I was there for you, it’s all that I could do.’ And of course a couple lines about the promiscuous sexual nature of the lady. I wish I could make out what Axls deep vocals are on the song. ‘The Monsters have _____ me,’ is what I hear, there’s a super heavy robotic effect on those deep vocals, unlike the more raw deep vocals on TWAT and Shacklers. 
 

Really hope we get State of Grace soon… it’s interesting that The General at the end has the same vocal scatting melodys as State of Grace in the climax of that song. Half of the parts, Axl seemed to not have the lyrics for yet. He’s 100% switching between singing words and just the Melodies at the end of The General and I can’t imagine that’s what Axl wanted the final outcome to be. Just like how he eventually found the right words to end Street of Dreams.

Sounds to me like he's saying either "Monsters can't help me" or "monsters can't have me", but he might actually be saying both. Both make sense to me in the context of the song. The song seems to be about him going through shit but then finally overcoming it on the other side. 

I'm just finally glad I was able to decipher the lyrics from that Axl breakdown from the cell phone clip after all these years lol. I'd obsessed over that this entire time. 

34 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

The outto if the General is undoubtedly 100% Slash. That's as safe as it gets. Monsters on the other hand might have Richard at the end, which I'm still not convinced about it.

Unless the titles of my songs are backwards, that is 100% Bucket shredding during the outro on The General. Monsters is 100% Slash though. 

The General is somewhat disappointing and seems to be more like a demo to me but I'll be damned if Monsters isn't fucking FANTASTIC. That is honestly what I wanted from Guns N' Roses in the new millennium. This is the big gun for me. God damn.