Nice Boy

On 1/24/2018 at 12:42 AM, Gnrcane said:

I admire that he was able to write a song in the first person perspective that espoused the hateful views that Trump's base has been accused of holding yet somehow get people to ignore it and respect his current political views (which he really doesn't espouse that much outside of a few between song comments).

 

I've never ignored what he wrote in "One in a Million." Far from it. It almost turned me away from the band for good. 

I've don't doubt that Axl held the sort of bigoted views that Trump has capitalised on, what he was a young scared kid from thew mid West hitting LA. that's exactly how he was describing himself in the song.

The point is, I do not believe that Axl is an ideological racist or homophobe, far from it; and he has more than done enough to show this. If you want me to give my reasoning / evidence for this I'm happy to, though i think you probably know the answer and it's a subject that's been discussed a million times (pardon the pun) , so unless you do want to go into it I'll leave it at that..

On another note, It's so Easy is the perfect opener for a vocalist who needs a warm up to spend several hours doing or attempting a high-pitched rasp - the song begins on the low register and gradually builds to the high rasp. 

I believe this is why Axl choses to open with ISE and Brownstone so often. It's much easier for him to warm up on the low notes than dive straight in to a high register song.

The thing about this band is, with their debut album they wrote two songs that really are the perfect opening and closing songs for any hard rock set ! - But that causes is a problem in itself, because how could they ever better it ?

Welcome to the Jungle is a definitive opening sound - the tense build up, the wailing siren vocal, the killer riff and the lyric that essentially says welcome to the spectacle of the show - how could they ever come up with a better opener?

Paradise city is the perfect closer - it's a feel good song but still rocks fucking hard, goes nuts at the end in a kind of Bohemian Rhapsody headbanging way, and the lyric essentially says ok it's home time now, end of the show haha

After you've written the two definitive opener and closer songs, where do you go (now) ?   

Also:

There is a bootleg (UYI era) where Duff has a 'rest' for about 5 minutes during Knockin on Heavens Door, that is he has to lie down on his back on one of the ramps for a very long time, lol. 

Can't remember which concert it is, would like to see again though.

Yep it was Matt's fault, not Slash.

I've had this debate before.

If you listen carefully to Slash's descending note intro and tap along to where the first beat of the bar should be, you can hear clearly that Matt's first hit is a half-beat off. It was his mistake. Then slash looks around alarmed, they have another go at it and Matt comes in on time the second go round.

I like that he speaks his mind about his disdain for Trump and the Republican government, without caring if that potentially alienates some of his followers.. 

Of course he was always outspoken, but now his opinions are more well formed when it comes to politics and he doesn't hold back.

none of the others are very vocal about U.S. politics as far as I know. Duff might have said some stuff in his columns, I'm not sure.

On 12/25/2017 at 7:24 AM, Sydney Fan said:

When the terroist bombing at ariana's gig in Manchester this year happened, how many people were asking for GNR to play in the city as part of the fundraiser?

What?

That's a daft comparison. Manchester is Oasis's hometown, its where their biggest fan base and support is. The people of Manchester wanted "their" band back, in that time of sorrow. Why on earth would they be clamouring for GnR to play?

I have always wondered something about the Lies album cover - it's clearly a spoof of a British Tabloid newspaper since it has the exact style and even contains mock headlines based on British T.V. shows ("Dinky Den in the Pen" /"Westenders Star" is clearly a spin on 'Dirty Den' from 'Eastenders'.) So given that these references would have meant nothing to an American, how come the design is based on a British paper and who created it? None of the band or people in Geffen etc would have known exactly what it was spoofing, except maybe Alan Niven, as he is a British ex-pat ?

Also, when image searching for the cover I found these apparent prototypes were up for sale a few years ago. Are they legitimate? If they are as rare as the seller indicates then surely they'd be worth more than a couple of hundred dollars?

http://www.rootsvinylguide.com/ebay_items/guns-n-roses-lies-prototype-original-album-artwork-insert-one-of-a-kind

http://www.rootsvinylguide.com/ebay_items/guns-n-roses-lies-prototype-original-album-artwork-insert-one-of-a-kind--2

Anyone noticed how Slash used to have that weird habit of rolling his t-shirt sleeves up over and over during interviews? He does it in this one too. Maybe it's a subconscious junky thing..

This is a great interview, cheers sidman ! She has some classic stories and insights, from a unique perspective..

I was a bit tentative opening this thread for the first time as I thought everyone would be talking shite, but thankfully it seems there are some fairly knowledgable contributors here..

Nice one keep it going

Hi all,

A while ago I remember watching a concert bootleg in which Axl starts talking about how he met Chuck D of Public Enemy, and that Chuck said he was into the band and they had a discussion about doing some shows together (which evidently didn't materialise.) - I thought it was interesting in the context of all the post-'One In a Million' accusations, considering how forthright Chuck D is on race relations and so on. I guess one of the reasons Axl brought it up was to make a point about this, just as he seemed to make it known that he was down with the N.W.A. lot too. - Unfortunately I can't recall which concert it's from. I'd like to check it again.. I think it was shot from the right of the stage on an upper tier, late AFD or UYI era, and the audio isn't great but good enough to listen. Does anyone know which concert video that was?

That's odd, I specifically remember being bummed cos I couldn't watch it as we didn't have satellite.. to make things worse, I could *hear* my neighbours watching it next door, but I couldn't go round as I didn't know them..! -- Maybe the Channel 4 showing you mention was a repeat, I dunno. 

I did manage to get a copy of Ritz 88 recorded from the UK version of MTV Headbanger's Ball I think. But I don't think that concert was shown on terrestrial either. Man it really was hard work following bands back then, even when they were at the top of their game!

19 minutes ago, WindsorBoy147 said:

Almost other than Paris 1992 on channel 4 my earliest memory of the band.

Paris 1992 wasn't on terrestrial, it was on pay per view satellite.. maybe you're thinking of the Freddie Mercury tribute? That was on terrestrial.

I agree, the album version isn't that good compared to live versions. The mix on the album version is just not right. the live version though - one of my favourite parts in the set, time for Slash to really shine on a nice fast rocker. Favourites would be Argentina 92, Tokyo 92 is good too. 

A few interesting points about the live versions: they often played a riff section of Metallica's 'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)' during the intro. There are also some versions where they play a bit of Led Zeppelin 'Communication Breakdown'. (I've been trying to find the videos for that, post it up if you remember which one/s it is.)

The outro on the album version sounds almost identical to Pink Floyd's 'Spanish Piece'. The whole outro solo Slash does live is played in something called 'Phrygian mode' so I've been told by guitarists. Gives it that Latin feel.

The NITL version have been interesting, Slash's intro is updated, he starts off with an interesting sort of 50s rock n roll type riff near the beginning, that's the only way i can describe it, if you know what I'm sayin...

(Home fuck?) 

7 hours ago, Stress Fracture said:

I saw and recorded this at the time. It probably sits somewhere on a long lost VHS with a bunch of Raw Power episodes. I always used to record that show as it was on at some ungodly hour.

Raw Power, lol. That was on about 2 a.m. on ITV.. I was about 11 years old at the time and used to sneak the TV on very quiet to watch it as I wasn't allowed to be up. It was basically the only chance of seeing any GnR on TV if you didn't have satellite, which we didn't. Most of the time I'd watch the whole show only for there to be no GnR feature. But at the very least there was always the snippet of Axl chucking his shades off from the Paradise City vid, which they including on the intro montage to the show, with the Aerosmith 'Love in an Elevator' solo as backing track. God the lengths we'd go to to catch anything at all GnR related. Ah those were the days.

here it is!

Rubber maid has got to be a slang term for a woman with whom one has sexual intercourse, surely? Using a 'rubber' (condom)?

Fuck knows, tbh.

Anything goes is a really good track though. I was listening to people's guitar covers on youtube, and the whole thing is great with several different sections and different tempos. The only thing that detracts from it a bit is that the vocals on the chorus are a bit cheesey, sound a bit too glam-rock, but I can live with it. The guiro percussion on the intro more than make up for it! 

I've been wondering about the lyric on Anything Goes "panties round your knees with your ass in.." 

Is it "your ass in da breeze" or "your ass in debris" ?

It could be either, like her ass waving around in the air, or parked in a load of trash (debris) while gettin it on. GnR sleaze, lol.

When I google it I see both listed on the various lyrics sites. I don't actually have a copy of the album inlay to check what the actual lyric is, can someone who does have a look please?

It's of utmost importance, ya know.

I do remember around 1991 I saw a GnR documentary advertised in the TV listings for the night, and I frantically tried to tune my TV and VCR to record it but couldn't get them to work and was really annoyed. There wasn't much GnR-only stuff on terrestrial TV at the time. This is most likely that documentary. The one I saw listed was on a station called Channel 4, I think, if that helps.

On 11/13/2017 at 6:59 PM, Derick said:

I believe it wasn´t a question of gender. They lost Pitman just before the tour began, she was there, she was able to do the job so they hired her. I don´t think they were philosophizing too much about the fact that she was a woman.

Well as it goes, apparently Axl was very enthusiastic to hire a woman as a member of the band. (I read that on this website in the last few days but can't remember where to reference it, sorry.)

But the point is, he at least was keen on the idea of there being a woman as a member, so he had obviously 'philosophised' on it somewhat. 

One thing's for sure, this RIR show will never be a DVD

I've said "so what" about under par vocals for most of the tour, but listening to this is making me cringe tbh

I actually breathed a sigh of relief when Duff took over for "Attitude" 

The funniest ever Jungle intro for me is back in '88 when Axl goes "Do you know where you are? .... Good, then go home" lol

Then he says "I'M JOKING!" as if to pacify the crowd in case they take it the wrong ay and riot, haha.. check it -

Watching it on youtube, a recording from 'Rock in Rio Multishow'.

Not sure where the audio feed is coming from, there is something up with the sound though. Slash is very loud in the mix and his tone is very rough. Can't hear Richard at all.

Axl seems to slip out of sync with the band a few times on ISE and Brownstone, not sure why that happens. His voice is shaky to say the least on high parts.

The intro to DTTJ seems unusual and very improvised. I noticed Axl makes a signal with his hand, possibly to Frank, to say "I'll come in on the next verse" ?

Better intro is awesome as usual, is this riff take from the song or has it been written since by Slash and Duff? If so it should be extended into a new song, it's great.

Well I'm up to Estranged so far, will see what else of note happens.

Did you notice any of the above things?

On 8/12/2017 at 0:21 AM, trqster said:

Weird thing about Axl's voice is that most singers when aging their voice gets deeper and more 'raspy'. A good example is Steven Tyler. I've heard the guy live recently circa 70yo and his pipes were as good as ever...lots of rasp everywhere, so is the age thing really an excuse for Axl...? 

I've thought about this before and actually there is an excuse, well a reason. Basically, compare the speaking voices of the two. Tyler's natural speaking voice is high pitched and hoarse, his rasp is his regular voice but amplified. Axl's natural speaking voice is really deep, low and clean; when he rasps (or used to) he was always forcing it hard. So it's much more difficult for Axl to pull off.