Vocal Montage in Madagascar: Superfluous?

[Ana_1991]

The vocal montage is the main reason I skip over Madagascar when I'm listening to CD.

Me too!

[Liquor & Whores]

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=6D9QKEZE

Maddy without vocal montage

[Demon Wolf]

No!

It's the best part of the song. It's phenomenal, I get goosebumps everytime I hear "Thank lord almighty, we are free at last!" and Axl comes back for another "I won't be told anymore..."

[Count Drugcula]

No!

It's the best part of the song. It's phenomenal, I get goosebumps everytime I hear "Thank lord almighty, we are free at last!" and Axl comes back for another "I won't be told anymore..."

Yeah but it's kind of like Axl's comparing his plight--Losing Slash--to MLK Jr's and the black race's plight in the 1960s. It's kind of insulting, because Axl's troubles were NOWHERE near that of Kings and the civil rights marchers. Axl lost a lead guitarist. King lost his life and his followers had dogs sicked on them, firehoses put full blast on them.

It kind of diminishes the Civil Rights movement by a rockstar comparing his troubles (many of which were self induced) to the troubles the black race faced. Axl takes music way too seriously. He should try to be more like Mick Jagger.

[eye2eye]

WTF? How could you know that Axl is singing from personal perspective and moreover that it's about Slash. It's so Easy to simplify it that way to find another reason to bash Axl. And maybe, maybe Axl is singing from universal perspectice that noone should me told what to do and thinking of those lyrics in that way makes perfect sense as it is exactly what MLK was telling his followers. So Axl is playing tribute to MLK. And even if it's very personal song and message is directed to particular person - drawing conclusions that it's directed at Slash is laughable as it could be about is relationships and that kind of stuff could leave scars for whole life and as MLK message is universal it also makes great sense( and yeah, yeah crying over some girl is so uncool, but everyone have such problems for example Jerry Cantrell wrote "Heaven Beside You" after being trully heartbroken as well, and that's also a great song)

[Binge_And_Slash]

Here is a version of Madagascar with an alternate vocal montage.

http://www.mediafire.com/?6a796x7exd84oam

That was actually brilliant! You should have ended it with J.R doing a 'STONE COLD STONE COLD STONE COLD!!!"

[batman007]

I like it. I remember I read that Axl wouldnt do the song without it.

[jenst]

I think it's essential. It gives it such a weird, unique vibe. Very overwhelming. Totally love it.

The 2001 vid makes me think that band should've started under another name. No comparisons, a lot less pressure, not the senseless hate just because slash isn't there. A missed chance.

Never been a Bucket fan, but this is tasty stuff.

[uzi your illusion]

It's things like these that really elevate Axl's music for me. I can imagine that to secure the rights to these quotes was probably quite a headache and that a good number of record execs. probably told Axl that this part weakened the song and the casual fan wouldn't appreciate it. It's the fans who dig into the lyrics a bit more and get the meaning of the song that the title and the lyrics reference, that really appreciate the extra step Axl took to add this to the song. I think its clear that Madagascar is a metaphor for himself breaking away from a much bigger entity (the original band) as the island of Madagascar was once part of the African continent and drifted to become it's own land mass. When he sings of not being brought down in the storm, I think its clear he's talking about the breakup and everything surrounding it as well as rumors of his musical demise being greatly exaggerated. The quotes I believe lay out the old band and there trials fairly clearly.

"How can a person grow up with all this around them" , could be talking about how hard it would be move forward while all the rumors and fights between band members

"failure to communicate" , this is the most clear example taking a direct quote that the band used in "Civil War" , this seems like it was done to show you for sure who he's talking about

"Everybody's acting like we can do anything and it don't matter what we do. Maybe we gotta be extra careful because maybe it matters more than we even know." , This is the most interesting quote added, I think it is talking of how after the Illusion albums with the changing musical landscape Geffen was pressuring the band to get busy on a follow up. A real one not just a thrown together covers album, telling the band that no matter what they put out it would sell. Axl always had an ear for new music before it caught on and knew that the classic GNR sound wouldn't of gone over as well as it had previously. That is why he wanted to push the sound a little bit forward and Duff agreed with him, whereas Slash wanted to do an album just like Appetite, which if it came out in 1995 or 1996 may of went unappreciated.

"All men betray. All lose heart. I don't want to lose heart!...I want to believe" , This speaks to Axl's 25 year vision as Ron put it, where everyone else one at a time walked away and lost faith, for better or worse this is Axl saying that hes still here and still going strong.

You can take what you want out of the quotes, you can hate that they go over the solo, but for the fan that really digs into it and gets the story and why its there... it's really awe inspiring.