meadsoap

I wonder why this show is flopping so hard when all the other Middle East/Europe shows have decent to great attendance. Was there a lot of competition in the Netherlands this summer? Maybe GN'R announced too late.

At any rate, I find it wonderful that Slash is doing Barbie, much like I thought it was cool that he did Phineas & Ferb. I also thought it was nice when Axl did Looney Toons and Scooby Doo appearances. It's a sign that they are able to have fun with their public images and aren't taking themselves too seriously.

The quote was about Axl being worried for Slash's personal legacy, not GNR's ''I never said that I was bitter,'' Rose explains, characteristically concerned with making fine distinctions. ''Hurt, yeah. Disappointed. I mean, with Slash, I remember crying about all kinds of things in my life, but I had never felt hot, burning tears like that...hot, burning tears of anger. Basically, to me, it was because I am watching this guy and I don't understand it. Playing with everyone from Space Ghost to Michael Jackson. I don't get it. I wanted the world to love and respect him. I just watched him throw it away.'' But keep in mind that Axl also said this about slash's collaborations "It's like the first time I met Slash, I said, "The world's gotta see this guy." That's why when he plays with other people or does solo things it totally gets me off and makes me happy. It secures his place in rock history as a guitarist." [Hit Parader, June 1993.] To me, it seems like Axl was more bothered by who Slash was collaborating with, not by Slash doing a lot of collaborations in general. Particularly the Michael Jackson songs, considering people close to the band have (Sorum and Goldstein) have both said that collab was a particular sore point. To be fair to Axl, if MJ had actually gone down for those child molestation allegations, it would have been a huge stain on Slash's career (much like actors being buddy-buddy with Weinstein was a stain on their careers). Thankfully that didn't happen.

Historically, being an meathead asshole is 80% of his public image and the other 20% is exactly this lol. These days it's closer to 50/50 between those two views of Axl, which explains the increase in those types of comments. The sudden flip in some people's opinion of him since the reunion is a little jarring though.

If you're using AFD as the measuring stick, most other people would fall short of that too. No one in the band has put out an album as great as AFD, but that's not due to them having shortcomings as a musician. It was lightning in a bottle. The main problem with Chinese Democracy is not the basic songwriting (which is really great imo, even if very different from what people wanted him to make). He just tinkered with it too long and added too many bells and whistles that ultimately detracted from the experience. There's a reason most of those songs sound much better in the demo stages or when played live. Axl was never lacking in good ideas for music. What he needed was a person to snatch his hands away from the work and say "enough is enough". Without it he just ended up chasing his own tail trying to find a version of the songs that he would be satisfied with, never realizing that his lack of satisfaction wasn't really because of the songs or how they sounded. They were just a scapegoat, a representation of turmoil within himself. Once you begin to understand that the route cause of Axl's anxiety was really never about the music, you can understand why it's manifested in contradictory ways over the years. Absent and careless in some places, controlling in others. They're all coping mechanisms. Ones that sadly obscure the great musical talent that Axl really is.

Axl didn't know about the passing of Dan McCafferty (lead singer of Nazareth and one of Axl's idols) until days after it was announced. I don't know when Billy White Jr's was announced, but it's probably the same situation here.

If Slash is only posting his tribute to Billy White Jr. today, the band must have just found out about his passing this morning too. RIP to the artist who made such a great contribution to the GN'R legacy.

The "general public" usually doesn't care about more than a couple members of most bands anyways. The casual Metallica fans don't care about Rob, the casual Motley Crue fans barely ever paid attention to Mick Mars, the casual Bon Jovi fans didn't talk about anyone other than Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora... That doesn't mean all those people aren't/weren't important to their bands. Half of GNR's biggest hits involve significant amount of piano. Having a great pianist/keyboardist like Dizzy is extremely valuable, and the other people in the band obviously appreciate that. Trying to reduce musicianship down to a popularity contest is asinine.

It's also worth noting that just yesterday, Politico put out a story about the mansion Berlusconi hosted his sex parties in (https://www.politico.eu/article/the-berlusconi-bunga-bunga-museum-would-join-list-of-oddest-tourist-attractions/), saying that some people wanted to make it into a "Bunga Bunga Museum". I would bet anything that this news story is where Axl got the idea for the joke in the first place. It would also explain why Axl knew about the parties, despite not knowing other basics like how to pronounce the man's name (if he didn't purposely get it wrong the second time).

This is exactly what I was thinking as well. Either Axl genuinely doesn't know his name properly (which indicates he barely knows anything about the guy). OR he knows his name perfectly well and decided to purposely mispronounce it (which would be a blatant show of disrespect). Either way, I don't know why someone would believe Axl's a Berlusconi fan from this clip.

He looks good here. But I still think Axl dresses so much better off the stage than on the stage.

Is this really what people were having an aneurysm about? He made a joke about a dead guy's sex parties and then sarcastically dedicated KOHD to said dead guy, without even bothering to say his name right. This is the least serious thing ever. People jump to conclusions like crazy on here

Definitely. I think a book from Axl would still make a huge impact. There's so many people (men especially) of Axl's generation living with the effects of abuse that they're afraid to acknowledge. There's also people who battle depression/other mental health issues and feel like it's a fight they may lose in the end. I feel like Axl's book/life could serve as an example to some of those people and really help them (it certainly did for me, but that's a whole 'nother spiel). It's to my understanding that he's already used some of his experiences as a means to help others (like in his 1992 interview, where Axl said he had helped counsel a child who had escaped an abusive home like he did). If Axl spoke so clearly and powerfully about it then– when he had only started to go to therapy and begin to understand himself and his life– imagine what he would have to say now. Sadly, the reunion seems like it will prevent this from happening. Axl has chosen to silence himself for Slash and Duff's sake, which is pretty disappointing. Especially since I feel like there's much more to the story than either of them are willing to let on.

Career ≠ life. Axl doesn't have much to show for his music career, but I don't think that matters much to him. That's the real difference between Axl and the other people you mentioned. For them, making music is life to them, it's part of their purpose on earth, it's part of their identity, and it's what makes them happy. In contrast, Axl has obviously found his fulfillment/happiness elsewhere in his life. If he doesn't need to make music to be happy, then why would he try? Axl's at a point (aka rich enough) where he doesn't have to do anything that he doesn't want to do. There's no incentive for him to put himself through the stress of making music and then releasing it to be dissected and likely rejected by people with years worth of built-up expectations. It only puts his hard-earned peace of mind at risk for little to gain in return. I also think the only reason he hasn't retired and disappeared from the public eye completely is that he still enjoys being on stage and performing for the fans. The minute that stops being enjoyable for him, I think we won't hear from him ever again tbh.

The difference is, the people on this forum follow the band and can tell when Slash is not trying. He seemed motivated and energetic at Glastonbury, so I'll give him his props. But that doesn't change the fact that on a lot of performances, he clearly on autopilot. People are going to be annoyed by that when everybody else on stage (including Axl, despite the decline in his vocal abilities) is giving a 100% for the fans every night. Axl's voice is the topic of conversation here 80% of the time anyway, so it's not like people are being unnecessarily focused on Slash.

Mike Jackoff is an ass, but that second leak is a little concerning. So is the other story. I feel like there's a lot people don't know about Axl's life, despite how famous he is. I don't know if he'll ever write a memoir. If he did, I don't know if I would have the heart to read it. I'm sure it would be interesting but not "fun" to read, just like these stories are very interesting but hard to get through at times.