GoodOlJohnnyK

All I know is if read any posts criticizing Merck Mercuriadis, my Greek ass is rioting.

6 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Is anyone actually saying they are? Seems you just throw out a red herring. 

What? Are you arguing in good faith now or are you just being contrarian?

The discussion started because Voodoochild said that he wondered if criticism of Beta and Fernando would be the same if they were an American family. I said I don’t believe there’s a racial component to the criticism of them. They replied “I do because I am Brazilian and I notice the small nudges and heal shots. I remember how people behave when Merck or whoever was in charge. Sure there are lots of criticism still, but it’s different. It feels different.”

I was debating that and you weighed in with your take. That’s not a red herring. It’s quite literally how the conversation started. I understand disagreeing with someone’s viewpoint, but don’t just completely ignore the previous posts in the thread to try and discredit what I’m saying.

2 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I see no legitimate reason why people should focus on her nationality when referring to her. "That Brazilian family," "Brazilian grifters," etc. Obviously, her past nationality doesn't matter at all, but equally obvious, to some it does. 

Again, did they? Someone a few posts back called them grifters. They didn’t say Brazilian grifters.

5 minutes ago, axljungle said:

People could hear a clear version of the jukebox song? Or people are talking about the first that leaked?

I was fortunate enough to go to an empty bar late at night on Sunday and get a pretty good listen to a “clear” version on TouchTunes before it was taken down.

Still, even at the bar I was reliant on their sound system and I was sat closer to the left channel speaker, so I may have missed whatever Slash was doing during the verses and choruses.

but the vocals, bass, rhythm guitar, and solo were loud and clear to me, if you have any questions.

1 minute ago, Voodoochild said:

It's a job title that she had 30 years ago. 

Right, and the discussion is about her and her son’s merits as managers of a rock band. In the same article that she recounts her time as Stephanie Seymour’s nanny, she calls herself Axl’s personal assistant. That’s relevant because the underlying theme of the discussion is “these people aren’t doing their jobs properly, and that’s probably because they should have never gotten them in the first place - they’re unqualified.”

Is that my opinion? Not necessarily. Their client seems satisfied with their work and, ultimately, I believe the buck has to stop with him.

I’m just saying that I don’t believe the criticisms leveled at Beta and Fernando around here, justified or not, are racially motivated.

8 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

BTW, not so underlining when you have to call her "housekeeper/nanny". 

I think he’s referring to her actual stint at Stephanie Seymour’s nanny. Those are Beta’s own words, not just his.

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

Not at all. As I said, I haven't seen anything that could be interpreted as racism against them on this forum in many years. 

The point in bringing it up isn't to shut down criticism but present context for why Team Brazil are not very fond of the fanbase. People have stated they detest us, and there is something to that. 

Understood. I used “your” instead of “you’re” anyway, so my point is null and void.

30 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Yes, I have. Can't give you examples, years ago and different forum, I can't even remember the specifics. Also, of course racism can be an underlying component when it is so pervasive in humans, it would almost be strange if it weren't. Racism, mysoginy, jealousy, etc, but of course mostly legitimate criticism. 

Well I can’t speak for what happened years ago on another forum. But I haven’t seen any Brazilian racism here. There was mention of a Latino maid meme, which would obviously be racist. But I haven’t seen that here in the time I’ve been visiting, since 2016 or so.

You’re right - racism is pervasive in the human condition. I’ve noticed a lot of criticism of Slash’s guitar playing lately that I disagree with. But I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s because Slash is half black while Robin Finck is white.

It just seems like the conversation is moving towards “you can’t criticize Beta and Fernando or you are promoting anti-Brazilian sentiment” which is just absolutely ridiculous.

I don’t even really criticize them. Check my post history, I’m the first to point out that they’re just doing what their boss, Axl, tells them to.

But I have to call it like I see it, and it seems like resorting to accusations of racism is just a way for our more optimistic forum members to shut down any criticism of the band and management.

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

Or perceptive. 

I’ve never detected any racism in the criticisms of Beta and Fernando. Have you?

Or is this a situation where I’m not Brazilian, so I must be wrong because I can’t possibly comprehend?

24 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

Except it does. First and foremost, Beta was an immigrant. I can't find any background info, but it's very common for people with degree here having to work with low-income jobs in the US. Nonetheless, she would never been seing as "housekeeper/nanny" for the eternity if she wasn't from Latin America. It would be a success case, for her to become a manager after having to restart her life after a divorce.

Except these exact same complaints are common whenever anyone is managed by someone close to them who doesn’t have traditional experience in their line of work.

For a case in point, Lamar Jackson of the NFL team the Baltimore Ravens has no agent. His mother was handling all negotiations for him, and it was messy. As a result, people were knocking him for using his mother as an agent.

Same thing happens whenever someone’s wife or husband is their manager and things don’t go well.

It has nothing to do with ethnicity and everything to do with the fact that it seems like the manager doesn’t know what they’re doing.

30 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

I do because I am Brazilian and I notice the small nudges and cheap shots. I remember how people behave when Merck or whoever was in charge. Sure there are lots of criticism still, but it's different. It feels different. 

And like you said, it's all about Axl. He's the one in charge. He's the reason why TB does not work as they should, not the other way around.

I respect your perspective but, respectfully, I think that you’re maybe a bit sensitive on this topic because you too are Brazilian.

I myself am a first generation American, child to Greek immigrants. I get it. But that’s not what’s going on here. It might feel different to you, but Axl and the Guns management team have been laughable since long before Beta was running things.

18 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I revisited the 2019 thread about the Perhaps leak. It was hailed as if it was the second coming of Jesus, as were some of the other leaks. "One of the best GN'R songs ever", "one of the best songs ever".

10 minutes ago, General2112 said:

Who do we think will play the piano live Axl or Dizzy?

I’d imagine Dizzy would handle it live. Especially if Axl’s gotta try and tackle the chorus.

10 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:

“Absurd,” “Hard Skool” and “Perhaps” all could have used an additional verse rather than repeating. 

Absurd and Perhaps for sure. Hard Skool, I believe, has two different verses though, no? At least some sort of variation in the Absurd verses (other than the timing shift) would have brought a little more to it.

I think one of the issues with Perhaps is it just takes *so long* to get to that chorus. Those verses go on forever. I don't know that another would fix that - though some different lyrics might make it feel different, of course. I also think it's a mistake to 'stop' the song before restarting for the final verse and chorus. There needs to be a better transition there. 

7 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Beggars can't be choosers  Well, I like it. 

7 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:

I’ve really enjoyed your incendiary and hilarious descriptions of “Perhaps” and this band. However, I really like this song a lot. It was the one that immediately stood out to me on the locker leaks (along with “State of Grace”). 

I'm not saying this to be snarky - I'm legitimately happy that people like the song. I wish I did. I'd rather have a new song to listen to than hate on it.

It's just not for me.

My best case scenario is that this band goes nuts and releases 3 singles this tour - Perhaps, State of Grace, and Atlas Shrugged - so that we can just get them out of the way and I can look forward to hearing something newish in 2025 or whenever they reconvene for another NA tour.

14 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

And I fully agree with you other comment about Team Brazil being Axl. I always question: if the mgmt team was just some US family (maybe even Axl's family), would people vent their frustration towards them as much? I'm not so sure.

I don't think there's any racial component to it. People are just frustrated by wishing their favorite band would just function like everyone else's favorite band seems to be able to function.

The (rapidly shrinking) diehard U2 fanbase does the same thing. First it was "Paul McGuine$$" they took issue with, and now it's Guy O'Seary who catches their ire. And they've been way more prolific than Guns N' Roses have.

4 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

And we're getting a new single. What's not to be happy about?

The song itself, for one.

@SoulMonster gave me the idea to re-read the transcript of the China Exchange interview and I stumbled upon this line that I don't remember from listening to it. I guess I'd just never paid attention to this line of questioning, as I deemed it unimportant at the time of the interview, but now it says so much to me:

Quote

Interview: Has anyone asked you or have you thought about wanting to writing for a film?

Axl: Yes… No, I haven't been asked, it is something I wanted to do and it was kind of, more like, really hard not to just go in that direction. Forget about Guns n' Roses.

Interviewer: You would be interested?

Axl: I was more interested in that than in staying in Guns n' Roses.

I think that says it all.

This guy is not interested in writing new rock music anymore. He's going to push out what he's got in the vault and then it's over.

10 hours ago, GNFNRUK said:

Also, I see a lot of talk about The General here but as far as I’m aware the only thing that ever leaked was a shitty 10 second cell phone clip that could have been ANYTHING. How are we so sure this is a song that’s finished and due soon? 🤔  Genuine question, not meaning to sound like an ass.

Don’t say that here. They’re about to give you the corn.

Any unhappy fans should hold ears of corn into the air instead of your cell phones at the New Jersey show.

They give us the corn, we give them the corn right back!

3 minutes ago, Coma16 said:

He likely isn't aware.

How could he not be? Rolling Stone wrote an article about it. It’s his management’s job for him be aware.

He knows about this.

5 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Wouldn't count on it to be mentioned tommorow because I don't think it'll be played, or be out by then. Friday seems more likely, I mean how is he gonna mention this and then not play the song lol

Didn’t they play Absurd 5 days or so before it hit streaming services? Maybe it gets debuted tomorrow night, hence the week’s delay.

Axl’s gotta make some sort of joke about this on stage tomorrow night, right?

12 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

You’re all alone now

I’m out of likes, but this one made me chuckle.

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

It was more of a general advice  Yes, it is my site. 

Didn't mean to sound snappy - I've checked this site out before. The work you've done is exhaustive and comprehensive and whenever I want to jump down a GnR rabbit hole, I visit it. Good work!

2 minutes ago, dave94 said:

Not sure if posted already but the song is now showing in the UK TouchTunes  app 

Can’t share a screenshot on my phone to confirm, but it’s on there

Still down in the US.

29 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Why don't you go to A4D instead where you know you will find all interviews transcribed so it is easy to find? 

Is this your site or something?

I checked it out and, as I suspected, there was no mention from Axl in the China Exchange interview of having CDII done and ready to go. Could've saved myself some time.