"My love/hate affair with Axl Rose"

[Guns n' Swedes]

What's the point with the article?? Listen to it if you like. Everyone going to concerts have a good time and so does the band.

Axl has always done music the way he like and not something made just for the likes of fans. He is the real deal, an ARTIST, and not some kind of main stream person.

Not even appetite was liked during the first year..probably not even by the loser who wrote this article.

[WARCAT]

What's the point with the article?? Listen to it if you like. Everyone going to concerts have a good time and so does the band. Axl has always done music the way he like and not something made just for the likes of fans. He is the real deal, an ARTIST, and not some kind of main stream person. Not even appetite was liked during the first year..probably not even by the loser who wrote this article.

Damn Straight Nice Post!

[Black Horse]

Well, well , well FUCK MICHELE!

Oh by the way, I want my five minutes back

[The Glow Inc.]

So basically Michele hated Lies, UYI1&2, TSI?, Chinese Democracy and only liked AFD.

Her opinion on GnR is worth listening to because...?

[WARCAT]

So basically Michele hated Lies, UYI1&2, TSI?, Chinese Democracy and only liked AFD.

Her opinion on GnR is worth listening to because...?

Oh,after reading that magificent piece of literature I'll have to reevaluate all my favorite music that I've been listening to for years, I may have to disburse my music collection, doing away with everything except AFD-such a great article and its had a profound effect on me

[jellyzero]

The truth is the "general public" really doesn't know who the guitar players or any other band members are in a band. The singer is who they fixate on and since video is dead most of the GP have never seen what their favorite groups look like. Can any of your moderate music fan friends name anyone but Bono in U2, Brandon Flowers in The Killers, Chad Kroeger (vomits) in Nickelback, or Tom Petty from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. No offense to Slash but that's just the way things are now. IMO only the fans give a damn and everyone else just cares if they like the music or not.

Apparently, you've never heard of Youtube.

You should check it out.

Thanks! I had never heard of youtube. Great find!

[SunnyDRE]

The truth is the "general public" really doesn't know who the guitar players or any other band members are in a band. The singer is who they fixate on and since video is dead most of the GP have never seen what their favorite groups look like. Can any of your moderate music fan friends name anyone but Bono in U2, Brandon Flowers in The Killers, Chad Kroeger (vomits) in Nickelback, or Tom Petty from Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers. No offense to Slash but that's just the way things are now. IMO only the fans give a damn and everyone else just cares if they like the music or not.

Apparently, you've never heard of Youtube.

You should check it out.

Thanks! I had never heard of youtube. Great find!

No prob.

Happy to help.

[Nintari]

My love/hate affair with Axl Rose

By MICHELE CATALANO

I was reading a few articles this morning about Axl Rose being sued and it got me thinking about my long, on again-off again relationship with Axl and Guns N’ Roses and how I never got to tell anyone how much I hated Chinese Democracy and everything that went into it. Old story? Sure. But hyperbolic hatred loves a new audience.

My history with Axl and company is a long and complicated one. I imagine that most metal fans who hooked on to the early GnR bandwagon followed the same path I did. Think of the seven stages of grief in reverse. From acceptance (Appetite for Destruction = welcome to my record collection!) to denial (I swear to you I never owned The Spaghetti Incident), we watched – and in some ways participated in – the slow death of a once great band. But it wasn’t their years of putting out head banging, fist pumping music that was the greatest show. No, it was watching Axl Rose trying in vain to raise the Phoenix from the ashes that offered the most jaw dropping, car-wreck kind of entertainment this side of the November Rain video.

Real music fans don’t just buy an album, get their groove on and put the album away until later. We invest a part of ourselves in each record we buy. And, by extension, we invest a piece of ourselves in the bands we love. We form a relationship, so to speak, with the band as a whole. And it’s a tenuous sort of relationship, because the only thing that ties us together is the actual music. A new album comes out, you listen for the first time and each perfectly crafted song is tantamount to being embraced by a passionate lover. Every lyric that resonates, beat that you feel in your bones, hook that captures your soul – it’s like making love to the music and those who made the music (metaphorically speaking, of course). The better the anticipated album or single, the more intense the action is. So each new album we wait for is like the promise of hot, dirty sex after your partner has been away for a while. And in that essence, Chinese Democracy was a years long cock tease.

My real lust for the band kind of faded right around Civil War. It was then I realized that Guns N’ Roses was the equivalent of the girl who teases you with her perky breasts for years and when you finally manage to get under the hood, you grab hold of three inches of padded bra. All that music before Use Your Illusion II was just a ruse to get us to this point. They gave us the good stuff first so they could later on sit back and make this pretentious, melodramatic drivel that they called art. There was nothing left to them. Empty D cups.

I never held a grudge against the rest of the band like I do Axl. He was – and is – a self indulgent monster whose posturing bravado could never hide the fact that he was really nothing more than a wimp, a nancy boy, a withered soul of a human being who couldn’t handle criticism or competition. Yet somehow, he managed to convince himself that he was the king of the mountain and deserved every indulgence he demanded – something the attempted creation of Chinese Democracy made all so evident, especially since during the recording of that disaster he surrounded himself with people just like himself.

He accompanied Buckethead on a jaunt to Disneyland when the guitarist was drifting toward quitting, several people involved recalled; then Buckethead announced he would be more comfortable working inside a chicken coop, so one was built for him in the studio, from wood planks and chicken wire.

That excerpt alone is what symbolizes both Axl Rose and the whole warped evolution of Guns N’ Roses. Ridiculous excess, indulgence, pretentiousness and the penchant for extending the idea of making an album to such ridiculous heights that, somehow, building a chicken coop for Buckethead seemed like a good way to spend money. The mere fact that Axl spent 14 years and 13 million dollars of someone else’s money making what amounts to a mediocre tribute to his own ego is all anyone needs to know about the mindset of the man.

Of course I listened to the album when it finally came out. I had to know. Was it worth the time and money? Would Axl regain my love? Does this band really deserve to be named Guns N’ Roses? And, like any great myth, the legend of Chinese Democracy was a tale bigger and grander than the sum of its parts. I thought it was bland, lifeless and sad, desperate attempt to recapture the hearts and minds of the people who swayed along to Sweet Child of Mine but who refused to acknowledge any Guns N’ Roses that didn’t include Slash. Sure, millions of people bought the album, but there’s only going to be so many people, most of them sporting mullets and sleeveless denim jackets, who will truly, honestly believe in their hearts that the band that put out Chinese Democracy, and the band that is currently touring under the Guns N’ Roses name is actually Guns N’ Roses. Because it isn’t. Not by a longshot. If Axl had any integrity at all, he would have ditched the band name and come up with something new. But ingegrity and Axl Rose have never gone hand in hand, have they?

I would say Chinese Democracy was the final chapter in the rise and fall of Axl, but it’s more like the rise and fall and fall and fall; he seems determined to make his plunge from rock star to “Where Are They Now?” last forever. Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise. But if it’s controversy and lawsuits that keep him alive, Axl will live forever.

I prefer to remember Axl the way I first loved him; all swaying hips and high decibel screaming, causing riots, forgetting to show up for concerts, making an ass of himself in ways that are forgivable in rock and roll. Everything from the original Guns N Roses on? As unforgivable as The Spaghetti Incident.

Every time Axl makes the news, I listen to Appetite for Destruction and yearn for the days when our relationship was so uncomplicated.

http://trueslant.com/michelecatalano/2010/03/26/my-lovehate-affair-with-axl-rose/

Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise whats that all about?

The mans 48 years old of course he's going to have a little extra weight, can't expect him to look like he did when he was like 20

Tell that to Iggy pop. There's TONS of rock stars that aged and didn't let themselves gain weight. Is it harder to keep your weight down as you age? Yes...but it's not impossible.

[AGS]

So basically Michele hated Lies, UYI1&2, TSI?, Chinese Democracy and only liked AFD.

Her opinion on GnR is worth listening to because...?

Also half Lies, UYI 1 & 2 where made at the same time as AFD xD

doesnt make sense

[Atlas Shrugged]

SHES JUST PISSED BECAUSE SHES A WOMAN

[chaos]

Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise whats that all about?

The mans 48 years old of course he's going to have a little extra weight, can't expect him to look like he did when he was like 20

Tell that to Iggy pop. There's TONS of rock stars that aged and didn't let themselves gain weight. Is it harder to keep your weight down as you age? Yes...but it's not impossible.

Yeah but Iggy looks like a deflated vagina.

[YOUCOULDBEMINE.]

she could have made her point in 1 sentence:

''i only liked appetite''

Edited March 28, 2010 by UcudBmineCD

[YOUCOULDBEMINE.]

Great article

Everything that was said in the piece is 100% true. Chinese democracy is a joke compared to all of GUNS other records. EVEN TSI IS FARE AND AWAY BETTER THAN CHINESE DEMCORACY. Axl of today is nothing but a running joke. How can he not be with his rediculous plastic surgery and terrible wigs, and joke of a band.

After this so called tour, dont be suprised if Axl retires. he has nothing left musically to give to the world. Just enjoy the rest of your days Axl as a regualr person.

The real GUNS N ROSES HAS BEEN DEAD FOR 15 YEARS..... RIP

and as soon as guns hit your hometown you'll be up front screaming like a 14 year old virgin getting pierced

[Orsys]

Great article

Everything that was said in the piece is 100% true. Chinese democracy is a joke compared to all of GUNS other records. EVEN TSI IS FARE AND AWAY BETTER THAN CHINESE DEMCORACY. Axl of today is nothing but a running joke. How can he not be with his rediculous plastic surgery and terrible wigs, and joke of a band.

After this so called tour, dont be suprised if Axl retires. he has nothing left musically to give to the world. Just enjoy the rest of your days Axl as a regualr person.

The real GUNS N ROSES HAS BEEN DEAD FOR 15 YEARS..... RIP

And yet you won't leave the wake.

[Nintari]

Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise whats that all about?

The mans 48 years old of course he's going to have a little extra weight, can't expect him to look like he did when he was like 20

Tell that to Iggy pop. There's TONS of rock stars that aged and didn't let themselves gain weight. Is it harder to keep your weight down as you age? Yes...but it's not impossible.

Yeah but Iggy looks like a deflated vagina.

Way to dodge the point.

[YOUCOULDBEMINE.]

Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise whats that all about?

The mans 48 years old of course he's going to have a little extra weight, can't expect him to look like he did when he was like 20

Tell that to Iggy pop. There's TONS of rock stars that aged and didn't let themselves gain weight. Is it harder to keep your weight down as you age? Yes...but it's not impossible.

Yeah but Iggy looks like a deflated vagina.

Way to dodge the point.

haha maybe, but it was a funny post

[chaos]

Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise whats that all about?

The mans 48 years old of course he's going to have a little extra weight, can't expect him to look like he did when he was like 20

Tell that to Iggy pop. There's TONS of rock stars that aged and didn't let themselves gain weight. Is it harder to keep your weight down as you age? Yes...but it's not impossible.

Yeah but Iggy looks like a deflated vagina.

Way to dodge the point.

The point is,

Axl knows that if he keeps his weight any further down, he could end up looking like a deflated vagina (as comparable to Iggy), and evidently, he can't bare to take that risk.

[Jakey Styley]

"Wah wah I like hard rock n roll music civil war sucks and cd was too soft for me"

EDIT: Just figured out a woman wrote this. Figures that she wouldn't be able to absorb and comprehend the complexity of Chinese Democracy or the UYIs.

Edited March 28, 2010 by ItsSuchACrimeUKnowItsJAKE

[Naupis]

absorb and comprehend the complexity of Chinese Democracy or the UYIs.

Guns fans give themselves too much credit as having some sort of refined musical pallet. Truthfully there is nothing truly "complicated" about any of those albums. Different from Appetite, yes. Complicated, not so much.

[Nintari]

Currently, he’s at the bloated, hardly recognizable stage of demise whats that all about?

The mans 48 years old of course he's going to have a little extra weight, can't expect him to look like he did when he was like 20

Tell that to Iggy pop. There's TONS of rock stars that aged and didn't let themselves gain weight. Is it harder to keep your weight down as you age? Yes...but it's not impossible.

Yeah but Iggy looks like a deflated vagina.

Way to dodge the point.

The point is,

Axl knows that if he keeps his weight any further down, he could end up looking like a deflated vagina (as comparable to Iggy), and evidently, he can't bare to take that risk.

But, not everyone looks like a deflated vag. And even if Axl looked like that, who says he has to go shirtless?

[Cdlove]

absorb and comprehend the complexity of Chinese Democracy or the UYIs.

Guns fans give themselves too much credit as having some sort of refined musical pallet. Truthfully there is nothing truly "complicated" about any of those albums. Different from Appetite, yes. Complicated, not so much.

So you're saying it's easy to create 14 songs worth of 50 tracks layered on top of each other like Tiger Wood's hookers, I hope not.

[God of Thunder]

Honestly I think it is a little lame to consider Guns only as the AFD version of Guns...Obviously the writer hates TSI, dislikes the Illusion albums and cannot find anything of interest in CD.....

That is a very limited view of GnR and the more I hear opinions like these the more happy I am with the new lineup of Guns and their ability to create something new.

[WARCAT]

absorb and comprehend the complexity of Chinese Democracy or the UYIs.

Guns fans give themselves too much credit as having some sort of refined musical pallet. Truthfully there is nothing truly "complicated" about any of those albums. Different from Appetite, yes. Complicated, not so much.

So you're saying it's easy to create 14 songs worth of 50 tracks layered on top of each other like Tiger Wood's hookers, I hope not.

Nope, ain't easy is a very intricate time-consuming process, and yeah the songs are complex compared to what most ppl are releasing.

A basic knowledge of music composition and studio techniques might help some people know what they are talking about, and the article is complete rubbish.

[Mastodonny]

absorb and comprehend the complexity of Chinese Democracy or the UYIs.

Guns fans give themselves too much credit as having some sort of refined musical pallet. Truthfully there is nothing truly "complicated" about any of those albums. Different from Appetite, yes. Complicated, not so much.

So you're saying it's easy to create 14 songs worth of 50 tracks layered on top of each other like Tiger Wood's hookers, I hope not.

Nope, ain't easy is a very intricate time-consuming process, and yeah the songs are complex compared to what most ppl are releasing.

A basic knowledge of music composition and studio techniques might help some people know what they are talking about, and the article is complete rubbish.

You're right, the process of layering is not easy, but at the same time, it's not 15 years hard either.

[SunnyDRE]

absorb and comprehend the complexity of Chinese Democracy or the UYIs.

Guns fans give themselves too much credit as having some sort of refined musical pallet. Truthfully there is nothing truly "complicated" about any of those albums. Different from Appetite, yes. Complicated, not so much.

So you're saying it's easy to create 14 songs worth of 50 tracks layered on top of each other like Tiger Wood's hookers, I hope not.

Nope, ain't easy is a very intricate time-consuming process, and yeah the songs are complex compared to what most ppl are releasing.

A basic knowledge of music composition and studio techniques might help some people know what they are talking about, and the article is complete rubbish.

Umm no. You don't listen to much hip hop or rap, do you?