Underhardy

And furthermore, I find it interesting that the song is still called "The General." It was named after the chicken the band was eating when Brain wrote the instrumentals. Axl thought it was about Tommy initially. There were no lyrics then. Axl must've heard that song title, and wrote the song based off of it in a way. He had to have been inspired by that title to write a song around it. I'm so fascinated to hear the lyrics. 

It's rumored The General's lyrics center around child abuse. I've never seen anything to hint at this. I know the speculated lyrics say "Who did this, to you?" which would make sense. But where did this rumor actually start? There was one mention of a song about child abuse in a release from Globo the day after Rock in Rio 2001. 

"With 18 songs, the group's next album [...] which will be released in June [...] is a collection of songs, which, in Axl's opinion, are as good as 'November Rain'. Among them 'Madagascar', included in the show on Sunday. The CD will include a tribute to John Lennon [Catcher in the Rye], and another [song] about child abuse." (O Globo, 01/16/01)

Did someone just decide to assume, or guess, it was The General being referenced here and run with it? 

Ah yes. I’d like to see those emails again.. forgot about this

9 hours ago, Mikey Whipwreck said:

Perhaps is a traditional rock song

Oh no.. a piano lick intro and whiny nasally vocals are NOT a traditional rock song. 1 verse repeating itself is not a traditional rock song. The buildup to the bombastic chorus is cool, but the song does not have legs, and is not what a casual fan (the majority) wants to hear 

Those raspy vocals are some of Axl’s best, period. And personally I’m convinced those vocals were recorded around 2009, which really makes me hope he recorded a helluva lot more vocals during that time. 

5 hours ago, Bitchisback said:

Lol because it's so easy. Just take a riff from the 27 years ago and turn it into a song that will appeal to the masses.  Ok lol 

It’s only rock n’ roll… you don’t think these guys can write a rocker in a couple days? Lol.. build a song around a riff. It’s what they do. And by appeal to the masses, I mean put out a traditional rock song, something lacking today. Perhaps was not it. Perhaps had 0% chances from the start of appealing to the masses. 

29 minutes ago, GoodOlJohnnyK said:

And Soul Monster, which is probably equally as hyped.

Though I’m of the belief that we’ve heard the backing track for Soul Monster - Me & My Elvis on the Village Leaks. It’s only okay, but it’s on the upper end of the Village Leaks, so that’s something.

I believe ‘Seven’ is another supposedly epic song that should have hype behind it, if ever heard. 

It's not discussed enough, but the band should just dig back to their mid 90s sessions that went no where. Find a badass riff, make a rocker that actually would appeal to the masses, write something new. Axl's Rock The Rock vocals were fucking great. He can still do it in the studio. I believe that. Check out this quote from 96.. "[The 1996 tracks are] not something I would want to approach (without Slash), because, at the time, there was only one person that I knew who could do certain riffs that way. [...] That's the reason why that material got scrapped." (Axl, press release, 08/14/02). REHASH THAT MATERIAL

Woah! Axl not skipping any lines! Ripping through the chorus! Impressed!

Can anybody link me to that Duff international interview he did in June where he said a new song would be out any week? Thanks..

2 minutes ago, guitarpatch said:

The only way this makes sense is that the song originated in the 90’s before the breakup 

Recording could mean there are some new vocals in there somewhere 

It’s just trickery man. Slash adds some new guitar and duff adds a couple things and boom, “new” song! It’s just lame 

40 minutes ago, Dangom1 said:

Did people consider November Rain, Back off bitch, you could be mine appetite left overs since they were written before Appetite came out or does this only apply to Chinese era songs? 🤷

Such an apples to oranges comparison. Smh

Anyone else feel like Axl’s vocals are worse on the official version? The ‘heeeeey heys’ were already too much, but this version has his vocals mixed.. even whinier. And then the chorus, the best part of the song, buries the raspy vocals. The deep voice track on the chorus also feels much too high in the mix… the layering worked on Locomotive.. but here I wish they just kept his raspy vocals on the chorus to combat the Mickey ‘You’re all alone” lines. My eyes are already just on The General..

8 minutes ago, Millions said:

Does anyone know what style of song this is supposed to be? A ballad? An up-tempo rocker?

I'm assuming that if there's  orchestra backing, its not going to be one of the heavier GNR songs.

I think it will be a song with multiple different sections. A soft section, a mid tempo section, and a very heavy, climax-like section. A true ‘epic’

If anyone has the fake CD tracklist from early 2008, could you please reply with it It had Perhaps on the tracklist.. 

Had to re-upload on a new channel due to copyright issues with my old channel. Included a couple more Axl highlights.

31 minutes ago, kingcanyon said:

its classic axl sounds what are you talking about

It’s classic Axl yes, but it always struck me as a little much on Perhaps.. it was my immediate reaction to it when it leaked years ago. It doesn’t work as well as it did KOHD, for example. 

7 minutes ago, Skamos66 said:

If there is anything eventually after Perhaps, Atlas or State of Grace etc, what if we get blessed with re-recorded vocals from 2010 that we don't know about?

I highly doubt that ‘This I Love’ raspy version was the only thing he recorded in 09/10… Hope we can hear more one day because that voice in the studio would be so immense. 

11 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

To be fair, it's kind of awkward for them (Axl especially) to talk about these songs. What to say about Hard Skool, for example? "I wrote the lyrics when I was angry at this guy with the tophat right here"? He may say something when he's in the mood to talk, which could be never.

I think their main problem with us finding out about linkfire links, test pages, setlists, soundchecks, etc. is that it messes up with the "narrative" they want to get across about these songs and the promotion they have planned to do. You would say "what promotion" since they barely do any. Well, exactly. They want to be as vague as possible in their press releases about the origins of the songs, who wrote them, who plays on them, etc.

And when we find out about these clues and then it gets picked up by the media, the news articles include all the known information about the songs, like that they are from the CD sessions, which diminishes interest among the general public, as the casuals who read it realize that the "new" song is in fact an old one and from an era that Slash was not in the band.

It's ultimately their own fault. The "surprise release" formula doesn't work with these songs, since after Absurd fans have been actively looking for clues. It would be better if they did it in the conventional way: announce it beforehand and send out a press release for the media. In that way the publicity would stem from the content of the press release, even if some media included additional information.

Really logical assessment there. With Axl and GNR for decades.. he or Team Brazil seem to be seeking out things to piss them off.. they love excuses and delays clearly. It’s like someone gets off on it with how pathetic this is

5 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

I thought he only did it once, in Greece. It sounds great though. I wonder when/if they recorded a studio version...

https://streamable.com/7u4s0i

You may be right. It’s been a year or 2 since I heard that, thanks!! Axl at his best.

5 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

No kidding. It’s probably a cover of The Doors song. 

I would say so.. Axl sounded amazing covering the song in 2006 live shows. Sang the verses a couple octaves higher.

23 minutes ago, megaguns1982 said:

This will be another embarrassment and more proof that GnR fluked it in the 80s and early 90s

If they were a fluke in their prime why the fuck are you on this forum?