Axl vs. Kurt Cobain

[Guest Len B'stard]

Songwriter is no fucking contest. No one writes more personal, and real than Axl Rose.

I think songwriting is where Axl lacks the most and a lot of it has to do with when he seems to be trying too hard. Seems anyway.

Agreed. He verges on melodrama which ironically to me is only saved by just how sincere he is in his vocals and performances.

To be honest I bet I could find my post from the Morrison vs. Axl thread with the same criteria and it would probably match up. Cobain seems more of a 'writer' than Axl, but Axl definitely has the singing chops over Cobain - although I would totally get why the way Cobain sings could resonate with someone far more than Axl does, almost for that exact reason. I mean I love Johnny Rotten even more because he isn't Pavarotti you know? Its what he is doing and what it means, not just what he could do on some immeasurable scale that doesn't really matter to me.

An occasional problem I have with Cobains lyrics at times is, he tends to sort of sketch out ideas, fragmented lines and so on. Overall it might be more all-encompassing but I think Axls effect is far more immediate. At the end of the day I prefer Guns to Nirvana so if I was pressed I would always side with Axl, but I could happily argue the other way.

EDIT: Also, someone mentioned it earlier, but yeah very early Axl does have alot of similar vocal habits to the guy from Nazareth. First time I listened to Nazareth I could totally hear the influence. Never really gone back to them though so can offer no further insight than that immediate familiarity.

I 100% agree, even down to the bit about Kurt sketching out ideas, it works brilliantly for him in terms of giving you a sort of interesting image but, on the flipside, to cast a critics eye, you could call that a half done idea or a lack of a fully formed lyrical idea. The fact that it worked for him just is what it is i suppose.

Also, in criticism of Kurt, although again it worked for him on the basis of being part of Generation X thing, he seemed almost incapable at times of following through on certain things because he seemed to be trying to desperately avoid being corny. in his own words, i'll write a few sincere lines and then i've got to make fun of em, now that could be considered as being like too cool for your own good or trying desperately to not be...atypical in anything you do and in certain aspects of his songwriting, it shows through it's just that when you take him in the context of his time, as you should with any art, it worked. It's a terribly cynical approach though.

[batman007]

Kurt had talent, but Axl blew him away. I always thought and think to this day the only reason Kurt is soo huge is because he died. End of story.