2001-2002

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

Chris Pitman confirmed that the main Madagascar vocal was recorded with just him in Axl's studio way back in 1999-ish and remained unchanged, as did the french horns. It wasn't intended to be sung clean and then re-recorded later with rasp. The Blues vocal remained the same apart from the additional lyrics at the end which were likely done in 06 and amazingly sound nearly identical, even listening to the accapella.

Someone asked Axl backstage in 02 what was up with the singing and he said something to the effect of 'I'm just trying a different style of singing' and it's fair to assume the idea was to sing properly. The way he sang in 02 was far more natural and would have preserved his voice and especially range for longer. But after the endless abuse he got on the boards for singing that way he obviously made a point in 06 of attempting to sound more like people are generally used to him sounding. We're hearing the end product of that now with his voice built back up to being able to do a whole show sounding pretty close to a good 1993 Illusions show. It's great but it really worries me that within the next few years we'll start to hear the range and voice decay as a result, although given the rate of album releases and touring it seems like Axl is confident he can perform at this level for a good 10 years or more into his 60s.

However i've seen and heard the odd recent performance where he's really been struggling and you can start to hear what will someday become the norm. It's also interesting to hear the often vast difference between what sounds like an incredible vocal on a bootleg or youtube video that is strong, booming and effortless and to compare it to a soundboard or monitor mix of the same show where the dry vocal sounds a lot less great. He gets a lot of help from the PA and pro tools etc.

The thing that bothers me the most is that there are all these supposedly superb new songs to come, for instance The General, which Baz has described as having the hardest, highest screaming singing Axl's ever done and these things may not be released for years to come in which case how the hell is he gonna perform that when he's in his mid 50s?

I must admit, that's slightly worrying. I've yet to see GN'R live and I'd like to see them the next time they come round here and that might as well be after 2 or 10 years from now on, or maybe never.

Axl could do maybe one final tour after this one ends and the next album is released. This sounds pretty realistic to me.

Then he could pull off a NIN and quit all live performances? Maybe craft 1-3 more albums and retire completely from music at the age of 65-70? Then release autobiography.

[D-GenerationX]

Well he did say something like that the new album (CD) would sound a lot cleaner.

So I think that was done on purpose. Maybe he wanted to try something different vocally in 2002.

Probably.

Look at 'Prostitute' That's the stuff he was working on then.

Now, I love the song, but I'd love to hear a rasp version as well to comapre.

[ColdHeartBreaker]

Someone asked Axl backstage in 02 what was up with the singing and he said something to the effect of 'I'm just trying a different style of singing'

Never heard that before, that's interesting.

[J Dog]

I just think after 6-7 years of not singing live, especially the style Axl sings with, was the reason. Dude has put his voice through hell over his career, I'm kind of surprised he sounds as great as he does now.

[Cdlove]

He got lazy and wanted to sing in falsetto the whole time.

[Graveyard]

I just think he hadn't been using it. Ever since 2006, Axl has been a lot more active and been touring and performing regularly. Right now he is as good as he's ever been.

[nambis]

I wouldn't put too much into that basketball interview picture. i agree that it isn't the most flattering picture of axl, but the lighting was absolutely terrible AND it seems like the screen has been compressed horizontally. also, the screen shot that is posted above is probably the worst looking aspect of his face in the whole interview.

fuck, people take bad pictures sometimes. i wouldn't assume axl had cancer just because he looked pale in one interview.