BangoSkank

I want to participate, but I know maybe 50% of these.

I went with Sorum . 

I just have never liked him on drums with GNR. Oddly enough I think he's great in Velvet Revolver, but I never got into his sound on the Illusion albums or tour.

1 hour ago, darkside259 said:

how did you axl laugh?

I was in the front two rows and during Nightrain we locked eyes and I started dancing to make him break character. There's video of it on YouTube, but I don't think I can post it here.

Use Your Illusion, for all its brilliance, also had riots, a worn-out band, a miserable lead singer, and drug-abusing members. It also had extravagant costs and was just so big. I would imagine this is where the late starts really became a problem too.

Give me the raw, hungry, angry tour of AFD before all of that became a problem. 

I have to say Illusions. I think it started off great, but by the end Axl's voice was worn, he was miserable, and the rest of the band were in the throws of their addictions. 

Skin N' Bones they sound weirdly better on - makes little sense, but I stand by it.

38 minutes ago, ssiscool said:

Skin n Bones or AFD for the win. S&B has some of the best shows off the band period. Afd has the raw down n dirty feel.

I honestly agree - if Skin & Bones wins I will have no complaints.

06/07 was fucking awesome. I know it shouldn't win, but I just cannot vote for it.

Bold statement: UYI tour also should not win. Axl was miserable and the rest of the band were in the throws of addiction. 

17 hours ago, downzy said:

Out of all the tours, how do you vote for the on that included the most new material, three hour shows almost every night, and Axl sounding like his old form? 

I'd argue this was the best tour of the CD era, even with Ashba weighing down its average.

Because while it had Osaka & Tokyo it also had Rock In Rio 2011 & East Rutherford 2011, which I was there for and saw the half filled arena, Axl going on three hours late, a roooough opening act (Asking Alexandria) who had nearly half of the real estate on all promo material, and Axl had to drink from and prominently display a Monster can before November Rain. It was also when the internet seized on the images of him in the raincoat and, I think, cruelly meme'd him because of his weight. 

Whatever happened between December 2010 & October 2011 that caused Axl to lose inspiration is kind of sad enough for me to vote for it. This was also the first tour without Robin. 

That said, I did make Axl laugh from the pit in Rutherford, which I'm pretty proud of. And looking at the setlist for it now I am floored that I apparently saw Shackler's & Madagascar and have no memory of it.

I want to vote for '09 - '11, but it's hard because it contains some great stuff and some veeeery not great stuff.

I've never been a huge Stones fan (blasphemy, I know), but I think the Guns version is just objectively better. While the Stones one does sound more sinister, the Guns version has everyone sounding in top form - the build on Axl's voice to where he's unleashing at the end, Slash's ripping it at the same time - just awesome. I think the song works really well for Axl's baritone too.

As an aside, it's always had a tinge of sad irony to it because they were initially heralded as "The next Rolling Stones" and for this to be one of the last things they did as a band just has a sting to it.

1 hour ago, Tom2112 said:

It's not really comparable to now in that he did have a lot more power, control and seemingly more range... in other ways you can draw comparisons, but Axl has always been inconsistent from night to night.

2016 was a decent year for him vocally, but I wasn't listening to it thinking "this is a return to form". I thought the end dates at the hard rock in 2014 were a return to form.

I just listened to two Jungle performances - Pittsburgh 2016 and Hollywood, FL 2020 and I do see what people are saying now. Kind of a shame but it is what it is.

I skipped voting because I don't remember 2016 being that great. I actually remember it being comparable to now (with the exception of Axl/DC which was great).

Is there a performance from 2016 I should look up for context? Surprised people remember it this way.

I have to say though I feel for the guy - yes, it's Father Time, but he's said that he knows that fans don't much like his clean voice, but it hurts him to sing with rasp, so he's kind of stuck between a rock and a hard place.

40 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:

I remember you mentioning elsewhere in the forum about Friday night spins. Sounds so fun. I love discovering new music, and also rediscovering classics, seeing where the night takes you depending on what music people start playing. 
 

As for CD, I always go back to Chuck Klosterman’s review. He nailed so much about what Chinese Democracy represents and what it is and isn’t.

“Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn. Should I primarily be blown away that it exists at all? Am I supposed to compare it to conventional horses? To a rhinoceros? Does its pre-existing mythology impact its actual value, or must it be examined inside a cultural vacuum, as if this creature is no more (or less) special than the remainder of the animal kingdom?”

”Here are the simple things about Chinese Democracy: Three of the songs are astonishing. Four or five others are very good. The vocals are brilliantly recorded, and the guitar playing is (generally) more interesting than the guitar playing on the Use Your Illusion albums.”

“Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we'll ever contemplate in this context—it's the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file. This is the end of that.”

“The final truth is this: [Axl] makes the best songs. They sound the way I want songs to sound. A few of them seem idiotic at the beginning, but I love the way they end. Axl Rose put so much time and effort into proving that he was super-talented that the rest of humanity forgot he always had been. And that will hurt him. This record may tank commercially. Some people will slaughter Chinese Democracy, and for all the reasons you expect. But he did a good thing here.”

I always think about this review. I'm pretty sure I read a two line summary of it somewhere that said something like: "Worth 13 years? Questionable. Worth an hour of your time? Definitely."

I'm about to get controversial:

ESTRANGED

8 hours ago, History2010 said:

Prostitute....is gone!

 

You people are insane. 

Maddy.

Madagascar, while good, does NOT belong in a spot over Prostitute. I am writing my congressman to make sure this doesn't happen.

17 minutes ago, Ratam said:

Sorry..

Prostitute again.

Again?!

[faints]

Anyone voting for "Prostitute" before "Madagascar" is out of their fucking mind. 

6 hours ago, ©GnrPersia said:

Yeah, that's something I don't understand. There's been negative comments about the song since round 1. It's such an amazing Epic song with very deep lyrics.

Agreed - to me that's in the top two or three songs, easily.

I no longer care because we finally did the right thing and eliminated the weakest link. Goodbye "This I Love" - I peed during so many of your performances.

Anyway, I like/love all that's left so now it's very hard. I held my breath and picked "Street of Dreams".

"This I Love" should have been first - smell ya later.

6 hours ago, BingBing said:

Hi everyone, first post here having loomed over the forum for many a year! Just a quick thought and apologies if anyone has suggested this already but after these polls would be an idea to put all the #1 tunes into a final poll to see which tune is the champion of champions? 

I'll be sad when this is over. It's been such a refreshing break actually talking about/joking about the albums and songs.

Guys, This I Love should have been first. Everything about it is good except the rhyme scheme is which is just... woof. It's the only song that I choose to go to the bathroom during, whether I have to go or not.