Billy Cundy

Ooh interesting. I could argue you one further and say it’s actually in G major… the ol’ Sweet Home Alabama debate…. and the solo/outro is just in the relative minor! The only fly in the ointment with your D mixolydian argument is slash’ liberal use of harmonic E minor scale in his solo (that classical sounding D# leading tone). But I could totally be convinced! Maybe a new thread is brewing haha. Btw - i am loathe to call SCOM and Sweet home Alabama G major .. it’s never felt right to me to call it that. I agree D major mixolydian makes a lot more sense. Though I’m compelled by the harmonic content of slash’ solo to call the outro a true key change. Happy to be proved wrong though, it’s six of one and half a dozen of the other!

Led Zeppelin dealt with it beautifully. For the o2 reunion, they pretty much dropped everything a whole tone, and tuned to D. As @Powderfinger said, the GNR equivalent would be dropping to C#, a particularly flappy stringed endeavour. And let’s be honest, tuning to D standard (one semitone below where they are now) isn’t going to do Axl a tremendous amount of good. im sat at my piano playing SCOM - reaching the opening Ab in my mickey falsetto in the key of Db (where axl sings it) … ouch, what a brutal starting note. But then I’m transposing up to F natural (a whole 4th up), and starting on a C natural in my full voice. And I’m not at all singing in my boots like Barry White. Makes a lot more sense to sing. However… as I mentioned… Getting old rock dudes like slash and duff to transpose and essentially relearn the songs they’ve been playing since they were 20 year old isn’t really gonna fly.. so… yeah.. ultimately I agree with @Powderfinger… nowhere to go 🤷‍♂️

So it’s not always a case of tuning down. All music can be transposed to a different key without ‘tuning down’. You could even go up a few keys and have axl sing an octave lower, in a higher key that achieves a middle ground where he’s still in his upper range but in full voice. Very common for jazz/pop etc. Western music is equal temperament so any arrangement can be played in any key and still sound like that song. However, because guitar rock and riffs get a lot of their ‘sound’ from where it’s played on the neck of a guitar, and those songs are drilled into everyone’s psyches, keys and all.. it’s not easy for rock bands to do. Imagine telling slash to start playing sweet child o’ mine in F? It’s totally possible, but he’d laugh you out of the room. That’s the trouble with riff-rock. D major (though technically C#major but in D position) sounds and feels great on a lespaul. And then the key change to E means they can play those girthy open bottom strings in the outro. for example, billy joel could probably rely on his band to transpose New York State of Mind from C to Ab 10 mins before a gig and no one has to tune down or even bat an eyelid. But GNR? Less likely.

Sweet Sour by Band of Skulls is a great modern rock album.

Now they come out around whenever. they used to come out on time. etc.

Check Liam’s twitter. Reunion hopes dashed… unless they’re acting to throw us off the scent… if they are acting, they deserve Oscars. or at least a bafta.

I too succumbed to a parka and desert boot phase! I would’ve loved the courage to have a bandana and assless chap phase, but I’d agree… harder to pull off… totally agree with your points btw, in the UK, Oasis are a ubiquitous property, baked into culture at this point.

Also very well put, totally agree. Glad I’m not the only one who has equated the two!

Interesting, are you saying they’re defo bigger than Guns here? arms park or CIA? Would love to time travel and see Cardiff in 97.

Interesting! What great gigs to attend. Jealous!

Whilst I find most of the music bland and pedestrian, the hits have endured. There’s no denying cuts like ‘Times Like These’ or ‘My Hero’. With regards to comparing them to GNR… Dave Grohl has always been an absolute content warrior. He’s consistently churned out documentaries, interviews, podcast appearances, albums… comparing any act to Dave would be unfair. I’ve seen World War II documentaries where Dave Grohl pops in to give his version of events. He’s mad for it. Sadly, for me, I think Taylor was the spark in the Foos I was most drawn too. His Coattail Riders album was far more interesting to me than anything Dave has ever done. It pulls from Queen, Van Halen, The Police, Supertramp, Jane’s Addiction… it’s just far more experimental and nuanced (and up my street) than Foo Fighters. He had a lot more opportunity to groove and stretch out musically. A real loss. Josh Freese is a miraculous musician. He’s pretty much the Jeff Porcaro of Gen X - someone who is not only technically superb, but also has tremendous taste, feel, and has had his fingerprints all over some of the biggest pop/rock hits (and tours) of the 90s and 00s. Is that conducive to the ‘live for the band die for the band’ camaraderie the Foo Fighters pride themselves on? I know they’ve always had side projects but Josh is a bonafide hired gun… who knows.

Yeah bloody autocorrect! Appetite for Destruction*

Greetings fellow nerds, just a heads up, Eddie ‘I’m Good Friends with all those guys’ Trunk is doing a special Van Halen 1 vs Appetite for Distortion radio show tomorrow. Normally gets some decent second tier rockstar callers in to contribute. My moneys on Navarro, John5 etc.

In the early days of the internet, I’m sure celebrities would occasionally dip into message boards and read comments and indulge in curiosity. But as the 2010s rolled on, and the internet spiralled into a sprawling toxic mess of hatred, psychopathy, vitriol, and bilge, I imagine the majority now just spare themselves the misery and stay off it. Slash might read a few instagram comments from time to time. Duff too. Axl I reckon is under strict instruction from TB and his therapist to completely avoid the comment section, haha. Tbh I reckon these hardcore fan forums are the last place they’d want to look.

I love ‘Shock of the Lightning’ off their last album, Dig Out Your Soul. Really cool track. Enjoy the b-sides too.. ‘Round Are Way’, ‘D’You Wanna Be a Space Man’… love a few tracks off Be Here Now, the production sucks but ‘It’s Getting Better (Man!!)’ and ‘I Hope I Think I Know’ are so catchy. ‘Rock N’ Roll Star’ is probably my favourite though. It’s a bit like ‘Welcome To The Jungle’, or ‘Good Times Bad Times’ by Zep. Just a barnstorming opening salvo, a mission statement that distills everything that’s great about the band from the off.

Hmm. I don’t know to be honest. Oasis are baked into the culture here - they were tabloid mainstays for many years, so in terms of the general population, more people have may have an awareness of them (the gallaghers) and their music. They’re pretty ubiquitous over here. GNR are a bit more specialist. People (and by people, I do mean casual music fans or people without a great passion for music) know the logo and the hits, but not the legacy or band dynamics in the same way they might with Oasis. It’s hard to say who carries more weight. Arguably Oasis are bigger ‘celebrities’ in the UK…. but then GNR can a headline rock and metal festival like Download, as well as a less genre specific festival like Glastonbury or Reading. Oasis couldn’t do Download… so there’s that? I also see far more GNR t-shirts than Oasis t-shirts in day to day life 🤷‍♂️

Interesting!! Yes definitely some overlap there.

Epic. Very much the mark Lewishohn approach then, a detailed compendium of quotes and historic sources .. the narrative tells itself. Awesome. If it is ever make a book though, I’m buying it!

Very cool. Reminiscent of Mark Lewishohn’s incredible work on Beatles history. Well done guys, will this ever be in book form?

Fair play, zero arguing with that 😂 😂

‘North Waleans are like haemorrhoids… it’s not the end of the world if they come down…. as long as they go back up!’ - anonymous south Walean Just kidding, lovely people and a beautiful part of the country. I’ve done some recording at both Monnow Valley and Rockfield studios down ‘ere in the south. There’s a lot of love for Oasis in Wales.

@usernameHey, I’m not awful. but I do fuck livestock. Can’t deny that one.

Just felt like you were calling me a cunt who championed violence against innocent people because I mentioned the very definitive Britishness of the oasis fanbase was endearing and interesting in the 2020s. Suddenly I was pro-mafia!! I’m not in any way nationalistic or pro-hooliganism, I love nice happy gigs where everyone is pure chill and everyone’s super nice. I’ve never even moshed. I was just commenting on the Britishness of it all. I like subcultures. I like seeing punks committed enough to music to have a Mohawk. Don’t condone them spitting and fighting, but that is a side effect of rock n’ roll. I like seeing jazz cats in roll neck jumpers and spatz. I don’t condone heroin use or pencil moustaches but some people go all in, don’t they? I am British btw, but I’m not English. I’ll leave you with that little conundrum. Cough.. welsh.. cough. The only country with as many sheep as yours I think.

Not reading that essay, sorry lad.

You’ve deeply misunderstood and misinterpreted everything I’ve said and subsequently cast weird aspersions on my character haha. No wonder you fall out with everyone on this forum, ya melt.