jacdaniel

I’m the opposite. I have zero interest in any of the CD era material. Couldn’t be further from why I got into Guns.

They wouldn’t have been successful without Axl, just as they weren’t without Slash.

The sad thing is, I watched a bunch of videos from the last 2 SMKC shows and the band was really tight and Slash was awesome. But I guess most people here will just listen to that 30 second solo on Don’t Damn Me.

The whole Slash noodling thing is way, way, WAY overstated on here. I think he mainly stays very loyal to AFD material, ballads, the new Guns releases. It’s mainly the Illusions deep cuts where it stands out. I don’t know what he’s trying what those songs

Yeah that solo really sucked.

Slash touring and promoting new album. Axl tweaking some frog sounds to maybe include on a song that we might hear in 2 decades

As an album, it would be a pretty poor album that I wouldn’t really bother with.

Simplicity was the key to success. The original band were great. But things got so bloated and over the years that’s just gotten worse and worse and worse.

Funnily enough, what killed this band creatively was Axls obsession with public perception and mainstream etc. He wanted to be grunge, industrial, ballads, Nu metal etc, whatever was popular. Im pretty sure Slash, Duff and Matt etc were happy to just carry on as a hard rock band and they would have always had a following and integrity to their own fan base.

I love the long shows. I think it shows that they really care. In the last couple of years I saw RHCP and Arctic Monkeys do less than 2 hours and not even play half of their big songs.

Slash should ditch the top hat more often

Anything 87 - 91 is usually really good. That’s when they were a really tight rock n roll band and a gang of friends. After that things got very bloated and remained that way until today. Id love to see them tour again one day as a 5 piece on smaller stages

I don’t think being on tour or hiatus makes a difference to releasing music. Perhaps and The General came right at the end of the tour anyways. There was almost no promotional benefit to releasing them when they did. So I think more could come even with Slash on the road.

I’ve had a Spotify account for 6 years now. I’ve probably listened to each of the new songs over 50 times each. They are new and fresh and I want to give them a chance. I’m sure people on this forum have listened way more than me. In the 6 years, I’ve probably only listened to Locomotive, PTU, Down on the farm 50 times. They’re deep cuts. I gave them plenty of spins back in the day but I don’t listen to them much in the last few years. And I think they are much better songs than the latest songs. If there’s a new music platform 20 or 30 years from now, then we’ll get a better idea how popular then new songs are.

Imagine if Spotify was around in the 80s when AFD and Lies were both in the charts? Or 91 when people were queuing up overnight for the Illusions? How many listens would those songs be on now? As it turns out, Spotify is a fairly new platform and people mainly listen to the hits, AFD and the new material Guns promotes on their social media etc. It’s hardly a surprise that deep cuts that might not have ever been played live are not getting many streams in 2023.

Wow, casual fans are not listening to 32 year old deep cuts over the songs that Guns are pushing on their social media and playing live at their shows?

Releasing Monsters next would make sense so we’ll likely get Eye on You or Atlas

One more thing to mention, for those that think that Axl doesn’t release music because he’s some perfectionist constantly tinkering with the songs… I completely disagree. It sounds to me like these songs were more just ideas that haven’t been touched in years. Axl asked the band to record them but had no interest in making any changes himself.

I think for the good of everyone, the band just desperately needs to move on from the CD era. It’s been 25 years… It seems like most people would prefer original music with Slash and Duff. Those that want the CD stuff don’t want it with Slash anyways so nobody is really gaining here.

I love this forum sometimes

He’s probably living the dream. No kids or responsibilities etc Id say he watched lots of sports and has parties. Maybe occasionally works on music not related to Guns for his own enjoyment. Maybe he just tours for money and who could blame him?

It’s actually really sad to see people calling one of the greatest albums of all time generic blues based rock and cock rock etc. I often wonder if Metallica fans call Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning generic thrash metal…

Agree. I don’t love CD but there are at least some songs that I don’t mind. CD, Better, Twat in particular. Catcher is not bad. The new songs are just really a level below any Guns material.

You’re basically agreeing with me. The songs are not really guitar driven. There’s very few riffs. Not many if any solos that young guitarists will be practicing for years to come. Not many hooks. A lot of mid temp songs with too many layers. These are the reasons that the newer material isn’t doing well like the classic material. The leftovers in particular are just poor songs. Slash’s playing has actually been good on most of them but the songs are just not strong. You can say that’s just my opinion. But i can guarantee it will be backed up by stats like YouTube, sales, Spotify etc

Yeah I don’t think anyone disagrees with that. He should have went solo to do his solo stuff and just accepted playing theatres/arenas etc. He made a choice to keep the brand though to get all the benefits it brings. The fanbase certainly didn’t hold him back or prevent him from doing what he wants.