Naupis

Got me to thinking about my favorite Slash ballad, and I still come back to his guitar playing on Elan's Street Child. Guy lays down his most epic non-GNR solo on a little known independent artist's track. Goes to show I guess he never mails it in. I always thought to myself that Axl would have given his left nut to build a song around this kind of solo during the period Slash was gone. To anyone unfamiliar with the song, here is 2:40 of pure Slash awesomeness.

I think I have read both Slash and Tremonti over the years say Myles is a better guitar player than they are, he just doesn't put it out there for all to see. I have no doubt Myles and Slash have talked shop when it comes to guitars, and it is probably part of what led to them getting on as well as they do. At heart Myles is a big guitar nerd who just happens to have a killer voice so he sings.

Here I thought you might take the angle that in GNR all future releases must be a minimum of 15-20 years old while requiring extensive cutting and pasting to cobble together. A true GNR fan in 2021 should know that Slash's approach of recording fresh ideas with the members of his current band has no place in today's music industry.

Guns N Roses would sound better live today if you had Fitz and Frank playing with Slash/Duff/ Axl. Musically (minus vocals) Slash's band plays circles around the current GNR when playing GNR songs. Fitz frankly might sound more like a GNR drummer than anyone they've had since Steven when it comes to nailing the sound. It is night and day listening to him vs Frank. Throw in the lack of Dizzy/Melissa littering the songs with stuff that doesn't need to be there and it just takes away from the sound.

I kind of hate that they are releasing the substandard crap like they have been instead of a true comeback single that sounds like the GNR people expect to hear. You never get a second chance to make a first impression, and this approach makes it seem like this is the best stuff they have. I can't believe after waiting so long how indifferent I am to this, but the cut and paste stuff just isn't working for me. I wish Axl would move on and stop trying to put lipstick on the pig that was the Nu-GNR era by continuing to force this crap instead of just recording some new songs from scratch. It is the only reason we have to put up with Frank and the rest of the holdovers from that era. Axl is still trying to convince himself he didn't waste 20+ of the prime years of his career on that, so he keeps refusing to just move on from it as if one day he will get a gold star and validation that it was all worth it. This half ass approach just kind of sucks and takes the fun out of what would otherwise be a wildly exciting time getting new music.

I am frankly embarrassed for Slash, and it crushes me to say that as I love the guy. I know divorce and alimony are expensive, but he is fucking better than this. The first true comeback studio song is fucking Silkworms? That he even entertained playing on that piece of shit makes me sad, but that he willingly recorded it in a studio and released it to the public is a black mark on his legacy. God forbid they release a banger of a studio song to announce they are back to the world. No, we get fucking Silkworms.

It just blows my freaking mind that 5 years into the reunion the level of despair among the fan base and band itself has reached a point that a reworked Silkworms was deemed something worthy of wasting any time on. Think of what they accomplished in a 5 year period between 86-91 when it comes to quality original material. We have fallen so far now that reworking Silkworms is a thing they thought the public needed to hear. God help us all.

The fact Axl thought it was worth dusting off Silkworms and putting even one second of energy into it tells me how far gone he is at this point as a creative entity. He's got nothing, and thinks that Slash reworking songs from 20 years ago will some how validate what a colossal waste of time that 20 year period of his life was. He should be freaking embarrassed that song ever existed in the first place. Yet his view of the world is so distorted at this point he not only isn't embarrassed, but commissioned the band to play around with the song and try to do something with it. People with a vault of golden material don't allow time to be wasted on excrement like Silkworms. He might as well put up a billboard with his face on it letting the world know he doesn't have crap, so we will be forced to listen to his by way of songs like Silkworms.

The fact they even waste time tinkering with crap like Silkworms tells me Axl is creatively busted at this point. Fussing with and re-arranging songs from 20 years ago that weren't any good in the first place screams "I've got nothing", and it makes me sad to realize that is the reality of GNR at this point. I know divorce and alimony payments are expensive, but I am highly disappointed in Slash for even considering playing with Silkworms. Is humoring a soon to be 60 year old man who hasn't created a damn thing in going on almost 2 decades now really something he finds worthwhile and worthy of the bands once proud legacy. That Axl is so stuck creatively that wasting time on 20 year old crap is seen as a victory by some makes me want to cry realizing how far the guy has fallen from what he was.

Can someone explain why November Rain has been allowed to go to hell? It is practically unlistenable now and I am embarrassed for him. How does he manage to sound so freaking bad when he's sitting stationary at a piano and all he has to do is sing. It's not a fast song, and yet he can't keep up with lyrics and sounds abysmal. It makes me sad what has happened to the live performance of this song.

Should probably sticky this on the GNR section so everyone sees it. Most people don't come down to this section.

Kind of looked like an upside down toilet seat at first glance.

For me it would be for Axl to wake up and forget he ever met Team Brazil and put an end to their grifting once and for all. When you look at the nose dive Axl's career took once they came into his life it is staggering. Beta tells Yoko to hold her beer when it comes to ability to break up a band.

He was trend chasing and sadly that is a very bad look for a guy who was once the world's biggest rock star. That was the beginning of a long, dark period for the band.

I listen to him playing something like this and it just makes it all the more mind numbing that Axl can't get inspired enough to make music with him and actually release it to the public. I've long thought if they just gave themselves 3 months in a studio and started from scratch they'd be amazed at what would come out of it as opposed to the convoluted process of re-recording everything a million times and trying to sooth Axl's ego with the CD leftovers to make him feel it wasn't the colossal waste of time it was (it's the same reason we have to put up with Frank and his sub par drumming).