Blackstar

I like it. But... AI-produced music video? Who does that?

At the time they said they left, but they were actually dropped.

VR were dropped from the label after they fired Scott Weiland.

Yes, it was in early 1988: FEBRUARY 12-13, 1988: AXL IS FIRED FROM THE BAND IN PHOENIX (The History of GN'R as Told by GN'R - a-4-d.com)

Yes, that's what I think, too.

This is great. And I like the guitars better than the original version.

I don't think I have heard the story about Axl losing his voice then. But Don Lawrence (Sebastian Bach's vocal coach) has mentioned that he first met Axl in a hotel room in Manhattan (after Bach recommended him): “If anyone’s serious about singing, they should work with Don,” says rock vocalist Sebastian Bach. When Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose asked Mr. Bach how he gets his pipes ready for touring, Mr. Bach recommended Mr. Lawrence and made Mr. Rose a copy of his warm-up tape. (Both singers are known for their high-pitched screams.) A decade ago, Mr. Lawrence met Mr. Rose in a Manhattan hotel room just a few hours before a gig. After some reluctance, Mr. Rose took to Mr. Lawrence’s exercises; they’ve worked two more times since. “To this day, Axl warms up to [a tape of] me—warming up with Don,” Mr. Bach says. https://archive.ph/KgpoM

Ron Anderson was also Chris Cornell's and many others singers' vocal coach (iMyles Kennedy's, too), so there's no question about his credentials. https://www.musicradar.com/news/ron-anderson-interview-singing-tips I think Axl often just forgot about the technique in the heat of the moment when he was on stage. He actually admitted it in this interview from 1988: https://www.a-4-d.com/t4361-1988-11-dd-blast-axl-rose-explains-how-he-has-guns-n-roses-by-the-throat

Axl started working with Ron Anderson when GN'R were signed in 1986. Sebastian Bach's vocal coach just gave him some vocal exercises. He didn't actually work with him.

Not directly GN'R related, but I wonder if Axl's vocal issues could be of a similar nature (likely not, because Bon Jovi couldn't sing at all, whereas Axl's lower register voice is still strong and relatively intact): https://loudwire.com/jon-bon-jovi-vocal-issues-touring-future/

There are two different things suggested/argued here. 1. That GN'R doesn't release music while Taylor Swift does. This is not factually correct. Because, even though GN'R has definitely released less music than Taylor Swift (and than most other artists in general) and the songs they have released in the recent years are rehashed old songs and not newly written, the fact remains that they have released something. 2. (Which is what you're saying) That the music GN'R has released in the recent years has not been as popular and relevant as the music Taylor Swift has released. Well, that goes without saying, and I don't think anyone has suggested otherwise. But that's a completely different matter. It seems that for some people (you being one of them?) it's not enough if GN'R releases music that they like for them to be satisfied, but it has to be music that puts GN'R on top of the world again. I don't understand this perspective - I only care about whether I enjoy the music or not. But anyway, I think people should come to terms with the fact that GN'R won't ever take the world by storm again, whatever they release.

https://publicrecords.copyright.gov/name-directory/Freeman, Jordan Patrick/associated-records https://www.linkedin.com/in/freemanjordan/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/mattgardner1/2019/05/19/meet-the-man-whose-creative-approach-and-dream-team-may-push-gaming-as-a-true-art-form/ It's someone in the video games field, who also seems to write music as a hobby. I don't think it's anything, he probably used a sample from a GN'R song or something like that. He also shares the same business manager with Axl (Bernie Gilhuly is the business manager in most of the companies owned by Axl), but I don't think that means anything either.

In short: In 2012, fans found out about a registration on ASCAP for a song titled "SDHFKSDJHFKSF" (a placeholder title, obviously) which was credited to Axl and a Richard Sanderson: https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/883512127 I gather that people then thought it was this guy: http://www.richard-sanderson.com/ Someone emailed him, and he said he had nothing to do with Axl. So it was left at that (some thought it could be an alias for Buckethead, lol). I came across it later (since I wasn't around on the forums in 2012) on ASCAP. It turns out there are more than one Richard Sanderson (one can tell from the different registration numbers). And the Richard Sanderson who is co-credited with Axl is this guy: https://richardsanderson.weebly.com/ Also people assumed that the song was registered on ASCAP around that itme (2012). And maybe it appeared then However, I recently got access to a copy of Axl's publishing deal with Sanctuary that was signed in 2004 and the song was included in there, so there were credits and copyrights before 2004.

Here is the thread about it (from 2012): And a thread on GNREvo: https://www.gnrevolution.com/viewtopic.php?id=11466 But he isn't that guy they were talking about in those threads. There are two Richard Sanderson's on ASCAP, and the ASCAP ID number of the Richard Sanderson who is credited alongside Axl is the same as the old avant-garde guy.

I think the story about Axl and DJ Ashba writing a song together was probably a misunderstanding. Sebastian Bach supposedly said that in an interview with a Swedish magazine, but it was just paraphrased by a fan - I don't think we ever had the exact quote. In another interview (in English) Baz, talking about that song, said that it was something DJ Ashba had written and sent it to Axl. Regarding the unknown/mysterious song with a placeholder title that Axl has a co-writing credit for along with someone named Richard Sanderson: I have looked into it a bit, and it isn't the Richard Sanderson fans thought (a film score composer, I think), but someone who was in an obscure British post-punk band in the early '80s and then has done experimental/avant-garde stuff: https://richardsanderson.weebly.com/ I thought of emailing him, but then forgot. That song was written before 2004, because it was included in Axl's publishing deal with Sanctuary that was signed that year: https://www.a-4-d.com/t8176-2004-09-20-administration-exclusive-songwriting-agreement-between-axl-black-frog-and-sanctuary

I'm under the impression you have asked this question before, because I remember answering He has a writing credit for Sebastian Bach's Stuck Inside. If that counts, that's his last officially known credit.

There was also this (screenshots from Meegan's IG story back in April 2023):

It's not available for me, either. But this one is (I suppose it's the same as in @Rindmelon's link)

I think as advanced as the software may be, you still have to listen through because there'll still be some mistakes especially in names. Microsoft Office 365 distinguishes voices, but it makes mistakes in the transcription, especially in punctuation.

I just tried this https://riverside.fm/transcription and it certainly saves a lot of time.

It looks like Axl found out about his real father's death in 1989 ("around the Stones shows"): Where is your real father? His brother called me right around the Stones shows, and I had my brother talk to him. I didn't talk to him, 'cause I needed to keep that separation. I haven't heard from him since. But I confronted my mom, and she finally talked to me a bit about it, and they told me that he was dead. It looks pretty much to be true that he is. He was pretty much headed for that anyway. A very unsavory character. I've had a problem with not wanting to be him. I had to be macho. I couldn't allow myself to be a real man, because men were evil, and I didn't want to be like my father. Around the Stones shows, some paper in L.A. wrote this piece about how "The truth will come out about Axl's anger," and they were making it look like I was trying to hide something. I wasn't trying to hide it. I didn't know what had happened to me. I wouldn't allow myself to know. I wouldn't have been able to handle it. https://www.a-4-d.com/t544-1992-04-02-rolling-stone-the-gn-r-leader-discusses-his-appetite-for-destruction-axl

If there is a trial (doubtful) it will probably be in 18 months - 2 years. In Steven Tyler's NY case, his lawyer filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit. We'll see if Axl's lawyers follow a similar strategy, although the cases are different regarding the laws they rely on (so I don't know if there are potential legal holes in Sheila Kennedy's lawsuit that would allow an attempt to dismiss it in this stage or it will have to get to the next stage of proving or disproving the factual allegations with depositions from witnesses etc.

https://apnews.com/article/wayne-kramer-died-mc5-kick-out-jams-90d2858255bf18ae7758ccb9e453a3ca

It looks like he won't: “Funnily enough, while I was there, they had a book that was basically a bunch of anecdotes about all these different country singers over the years. And it inspired me to go out and buy a pedal steel, and I've been playing pedal steel. So, it definitely had a long-lasting impact.” That’s when Slash drops a hint for what fans can expect from the upcoming tour: the pedal steel is coming out for at least one song. “I actually am playing it on this tour,” he explains, “I've been woodshedding, you know, up to this point, and I finally decided I can get away with playing at least one song with it. So, it's part of the set.” https://themusic.com.au/features/slash-myles-kennedy-the-conspirators-australian-tour-4-album-interview/dATKZmloa2o/01-02-24

Another article: https://bnnbreaking.com/arts/guns-n-roses-leverages-generative-ai-for-new-music-video-the-general/ While the initial plan was to create a fully animated video using the Unreal Engine, the project took a fascinating turn when the band’s management introduced Creative Works to the DiffuseTogether generative AI competition. The contest, inspired by famed musician Peter Gabriel, set the stage for a new dimension of creative expression. I guess the idea had something to do with the fact that Peter Gabriel has always been a pioneer in the music video department, so someone from the GN'R camp thought that the use of AI would be a real novelty that could create some buzz. Interestingly, Peter Gabriel's Digging In The Dirt was the outro song played over the PA on the last tour, and the outro songs are usually picked by Axl.