jah772

It looks ok, it's retro, that's for sure

No, their AFD logo (the 'bullet') is retro. Don't make me go into a definition.

The new logo, I'd also like to point out, is marketing GENIOUS. Whether you like it or not, people in the music world are going to associate the star with GNR... just like a football fan would associate the star with the Dallas Cowboys. It's well designed with a modern look and the use of the star as an across-the-board theme is really, truly textbook marketing.

Think about that Vonage commericial (is Vonage worldwide?). Us folks in North America know what I'm talking about... they use that song 'Woo Hoo' by The 5678s (also on the 'Kill Bill' soundtrack). Most think it's highly annoying... but whenever somebody hears that song now, they think of Vonage. In fact, the song grew on me and now I don't find it all that annoying (because their commercials are so damned funny now I think... lol).

The star visually has or will have the same effect with GNR, especially when they go mainstream again.

This is a really good point. I think the band needs to choose a definative style for the star, though. Right now they have

1. the "old west" star design which is line based, and has a lot of those decorative french curve things

2. The red star design from 02 which is easy to identify as the gnr star because of its blood red on black scheme

3. the "weathered" star from the new band official logo.

I think they should either go with the old west version or the weathered version. Both are kickass, and hearken back to the old image of GNR being a band of "outlaws." I'd love to see some consistant fond and graphid design principles used in their stuff too. oh well.

Right now its basically like the UYI single covers, where each one had its own style - some of them had the really "candle wax dripping" skull shit (Civil War, Bad Apples) and while some went in a modern art abstract direction (Coma), and then some, like NR didnt seem to fit anywhere. I think a consistant design style would help the band create a visual brand (because a lot of people wouldnt recognize a picture of the members, right now, as being gnr, while the weathered logo or the old west one, with the classic roses and revolvers, ties the new linup to the old legacy.

I agree that sucks. The KERNING is fucked up, isnt even, and the font is too bloated for the size of the rebolvers.

It seems to me that a lot of these new logo things were just slammed together really quick, and it doesnt seem like they really have a decent graphic design guy doing this stuff. For example, the "2006" in the background logo on the official site looks like someone took a dump or a crap on the page. I think the new 3d "old west" star logo from the hammerstein shows has potential, but the 3d effect makes it too broad in my opinion. I dunno, I just wish theyd make stuff half decent looking.

How can anyone not be a fan of songs like Slither!? VR has some great stuff, and I'm sure axl likes some of it, even if hes bitter about his relationshp of some of the members of VR. I hope VRs new album is 10x better than the first... they certainly have the talent to make some fucking good rock songs

Yo. So Slash is and was the fucking man. Im pissed hes not in GNR any more, but I can appreciate Robin for what he is, and I like his style. Hes not the same as slash in any right. Hes probably not as good a composer, and his laid back, groovy style seems out of place sometimes. but slash never really played in time with the music either. he had his fuckin blues groove that just worked. and i think fink works too. i miss slash sure as hell, but finks fucking cool too, and I cant wait to see him rock out in baltimore on the 13th. Slash has the personality that rockz, and fink has one too. i dont see why all you slashites, and all us axlfanz cant get the fuck along. we all want amazing rock music, and this band is trying to give it to us. they dont got shit against us. theyr trying to make a living, and tryin to have fun while they do it. so lets all enjoy the new linup, and pay our dues to Slash aka God and Fink. They both have their place in history, and i can appreciate them both.

Lets all get along, and cheer this band as they release the album. If we dont, noone will, and they end up in shitland with fucking panick at the cocksucking disco and all those other shitters.

I might be wasted right now, But I know Uncle Bill Bailey isn't fucking afraid to release the album. Its gonna come soon, and although we might have heard the traxXx, its going to be fucking awesome. Ok, sure management might be pullin our cocks right now, and the whole HTGTH shit is pissing us off, but come the next few weeks well have the long awaited disc in our hands, and for fucks sake, Ill love it no matter what, and ill play it up to my friends so they like it too. Axls got enough money to live his life the way he wants. he doesnt need this shit, but he believes in the music, and hell release it, and i know itll be a fuckin hit. so fuckin believe in the album, and dont get hung up over the fuckiong bullshit of waiting to update the official site, or sittin around in the mud while we listen to traxxx we heard a million times and dont belive will make it. GNR did it before, and theyll do it again. ROCK ON~!

I've never heard anyone use 'genny' in place of 'generator'.

off topic

well make a long story short my drug addict brother stole the generator and gived it to a drug dealer for more drugs and my mom and dad had to buy the generator back from the drug dealer plus the cops was there and the drug dealer did not go to jail and pasco county cops r so dumb and the drug dealer hide the generator so my mom and dad never got it back and plus we only use the generator when a tropcial storm or a hurricane comes

and that why i can not go to the tampa concert cause of my dumbass brother

Off Topic:

My fam calls it a genny (maryland, from DC originally)...weird

Anyways, I hope the concert went well last night even with poor attendance.

Last year I did the UYI bike shorts look, and noone knew who the hell I was supposed to be. Got a friend to draw the tats, and I painted the Manson shirt. I dont really look the part, but here's a pic of me and one of my buds at the beginning of the kegger we threw:

Hopefully Trent will be happy for his former bandmate, and will support GNR. Axl used to wear NIN shirts back in the day, and hopefully all those photoshoped pics were just Reznor's way of having fun. Fink is the fucking man!

At least it is for a cool product, and isnt for a Toyota Scion commercial or something.

EDIT: Whoops, I was wrong about being able to download the trailer, the swf links to the video file to load externally, instead of simply containing both of them. Sorry for the stupid idea.

Ok, this is a long shot, but did anyone happen to save the page when the original commercial was up?

These things can be downloaded usually, if you have the address of the shockwave file, for example the PC commercial is at www.harley-davidson.com/en_US/Media/flash/TV_Commercials/blacksheep.swf, and could be downloaded by creating a link and right clicking save as. The old commercial is probably still on the server, and I was wondeirng if anyone had saved the page, because it could probably still be viewed if we just had the address.

Totally different vocals... more rasp

NO

I'm pretty sure its the same tracks, (for the most part, maybe - drums) as the demos. I'm trying to find a way to record the sound from the commercial so i can open it in protools and compare the wave forms, but im pretty sure theyr the same recordings.

I was dissapointed when i first heard it, but its probably compressed for web, and I found some better headphones and it sounded a little better. I wish it was "fuller" though. Even AFD has a fuller, more produced sound than this...

Umm... The axl voice is the SAME recording as the demo, just remixed. It is EXACTLY the same. I dunno what I think of this stuff right now, I wish there was more "BODY" to it, but it puts the "CD WILL BE OVERPRODUCED" neighsayers to rest, (at least promises to)

I'll copy it to my hard drive for personal use, but no way in hell am i bootlegging the album for others. I'll give copies to all my friends and stuff. Hopefully it will be one of those albums (like SMILE or the white album) where ppl need to own it just because its a requirement for any kind of respectable music collection.

There was a time when I woke up every morning to my stereo blasting Chinese Democracy. Then, while I make breakfast, Id skip to I.R.S. and blast it. Then, while I am eating my wheaties, I watch my Rock AM Ring recording of Better. On the way to class, I walk to the beat of "the blues," and while sitting through lectures, I play various 2002 concerts on my laptop with the volume set to mute. After classes, I listen to TWAT on repeat while i'm lifting at the gym. Then I come back to my flat and cupcake the forum for a few hours while listening to the instrumental versions of better, irs, and twat. I take a break from being a couch potatoe, and rock out on my keyboard to my piano arrangement of the 1999 version of irs. While cooking and eating dinner, i listen to TWAT 99 and irs 99, but there is an incident with the spaghetti where i am making tea and spill splenda all over the ground, while outside the rain pours down, and it is the month of november. At parties that night, I am sure to play the radio recording of irs from 05, and once in bed, I play all the abridged leaks on repeat through my headphones.

But really, I don't understand the whole staving off listening to the demos until the album drops. I listen to the demo Dont Cry, and SCOM all the time, and I appreciate the master recordings just as much. What if you die before chidem gets released? You should enjoy the time you've got, and listen to those leaked tracks! After all, isnt that what the whole rock n roll lifestyle is about!

axl will keep releasing stuff and making music for the rest of his life, it just wont be the same style as everything from before. each gnr album has been different, and i think the biggest changes are yet to come

im almost as excited to see bach as I am gnr!

Well like Axl said on Trunk, they had 2 albums of material they were getting organized at the time, PLUS he said that night they had been working on recording a song for the THIRD nuGNR CD (with Bumble) I assume, and even tho He wont be on CHIDEM, I can't wait to hear him on CD2 or 3!

I think we are all hoping that this IS the week! I'm excited, at least.

I hope this isn't too stupid a topic, but I was listening to my copy of the Osaka Japan bootleg from 2002, and near the end of the Blues, when axl sings "What I thought was beautiful is only memories" he hits a higher note than I have heard in all other performances of the song, and I think even though the particular performance isnt spectacular, the harmony he makes at that moment is just incredible.

So, for discussion, what does everyone think of the different versions of the new songs, and what is your favorite for each?

Some people seem to prefer the '99? demos to the earlier leaks, while others like the additional changes that have been made to those songs since then. We have heard a lot of variation between live performances of songs, much in the way Axl would sing different versions of November Rain during the tours after the illusions, changing the pitches of some of his regular notes.

Personally, aside from the Osaka moment i mentioned, and the Boston '02 performance, I have not really liked the end of The Blues with all of those "aah aah aaaaa ah aaahh"s, but I really like the way it is sung in the short studio clip from the 2002 tour promo.

Anyway, what does everyone think about this, and which versions of these songs do you all think we will hear on CD (live versions from 06 might be different from what was recorded on the CD) ?

I miss the NR scream during the finale too. At rock AM ring he did do a lot of "cha"s during KOHD during the little jam thing. I think he did like two, so that I guess makes up for the lack of "cha" in WTTG. Id like to see more of that snake "siisisiiisisiisissss" and more "aahh"s too.

I agree with everything you said, cept I feel you were a little harsh on slash, who I think still has it. You did a great job of pointing out reasons ppl should get off their asses and get out to a show. Thanks for gettin the word out

There is little doubt in my mind that Axl has been able to pull of the rasp since the 80s. But in 2002 he choose to try and be something he's not. Just sing with a high pitch clean sound. Unfortunate for him it was a major set back.

And I do think he originally planned that the "micky mouse on helium" voice would be on chinese democracy. But he changed that after the reveiws and talk on the net after 2002.

I also think he was exploring that option becouse it don't wear out and damages his voice as much as the rasp does.

Dead on.

You guys are seriously fucked in the head if you think Axl CHOSE to sing the way he did in 2002. It's a simple fact: he had no voice, that's why he sounded like that.

I think this could have been a little bit of a choice. When Axl was heavier, and out of stage shape, if you listen to his speaking voice, it is generally higher than his normal pitch. Now that he has lost some weight, and has been performing regularily, his speaking voice seems to be back at its normal low level, and he seems to have pretty much the meat of his old range back. I think 2002 was part expiramentation, and part adaptation to his body's state at the time. Now that he is back in touring shape, as long as he doesnt start having throat problems, which still only generally effect the rasp, he should be able to maintain his normal range, and will keep kicking out killer performances.

All my friends, even the emo dweebs, are getting Chinese Democracy this Christmas! rock1

ungrateful fucks! you should be happy that you're helping axl purchase the rest of his warhol painting. do you know how much money he got paid to hand over your email addresses for baseball promotion?

this is probably true about the painting...