Vincent Vega Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 (edited) I think the title, "Use Your Illusion", is actually a really inventive, deep sort of title. It isn't something simple like Lies or Appetite for Destruction; It has a message, I think. What does that message mean to you?For me, Use Your Illusion was a title directed at everyone: The fans, the media, the critics, the band themselves. Some of the lyrics in the song support this--That people hold on to illusions, to things that really aren't--either just for their own reasons, or to get by. Consider Locomotive's line:"I bought me an illusionAn I put it on the wallI let it fill my head with dreamsAnd I had to have them allBut oh the taste is never so sweetAs what you'd believe it is-Well I guess it never isIt's these prejudiced illusionsThat pump the bloodTo the heart of the biz "Isn't that what a lot of people do? Or some? Hang on to a dream, but the reality is never as sweet as the dream? Sort of living through "rose colored glasses", seeing the world--past or present--as something better than it really is. Not only that, but that line could apply to fame ("Oh the taste is never so sweet as what you'd believe it is"). It could apply to anything, really--to love, to your chosen path, towards your past, toward your day to day existence.And:"You can use you illusion-Let it take you where it mayWe live and learnAnd then sometimes it's best to walk awayMe I'm just here hangin' onIt's my only place to stay at leastFor now anywayI've worked too hard for my illusionsJust to throw them all away"And"How can I ever satisfy youAn how can I ever make you seeThat deep inside we're all somebodyAn it don't matter who you wanna beBut now I gotta smile I hope you comprehendFor this man can say it happened'Cause this child has been condemnedSo I stepped into your worldI kicked you in the mindAn I'm the only witnessTo the nature of my crimeBut look at what we've doneTo the innocent and youngWhoa listen to who's talking'Cause we're not the only onesThe trash collected by the eyesAnd dumped into the brainSaid it tears into our conscious thoughtsYou tell me who's to blameI know you don't wanna hear me cryin'An I know you don't wanna hear me denyThat your satisfaction lies in your illusionBut your delusions are yours and not mineWe take for granted we know the whole storyWe judge a book by its coverAnd read what we wantBetween selected lines""Your only validation is living your own lifeVicarious existence is a fucking waste of time""You know you're all aloneYour friends they aren't at homeEverybody's gone to the gardenAs you look into the treesYou can look but you don't seeThe flowers seem to tease you at the gardenEverybody's there, but you don't seem to careWhat's it with you man, and this gardenTurned into my worst phobia,A crazy man's utopiaIf you're lost no one can show ya,But it sure was glad to know yaOnly poor boys take a chance,On the garden's song and dance,Feel her flowers as they wrap around,But only smart boys do withoutYou can find it all insideNo need to wrestle with your prideNo you ain't losin' your mindYou're just in the gardenThey can lead you to yourselfOr you can throw it on the shelfBut you know you can look insideFor the garden""I ain't superstitiousBut I know when somethin's wrongI've been draggin' my heelsWith a bitch called hopeLet the undercurrent drag me alongLost in the garden of EdenSaid we're lost in the garden of EdenAnd there's no one's gonna believe thisBut we're lost in the garden of EdenMost organized religions makeA mockery of humanityOur governments are dangerousAnd out of controlThe garden of Eden is just another graveyardSaid if they had someone to buy itSaid I'm sure they'd sell my soul"I think again, same sort of stuff. I think that these lines about Axl's views on the band, on fame, on his life, at the time. He knows fame is only a passing illusion; He might've seen the demise of the old band--He's just hanging on cause it was his only place to stay--least for now anyway. It can apply to people in that you throw your heart or your hopes or your money or your passion at something that just isn't as beautiful as it seems--A gilded painting with shit underneath. That we live by maintaining certain points of view, certain ILLUSIONS, about ourselves, our lives, our pasts, our futures, others around us--and these illusions are what help us get by, keep us from caving in. The illusions--the lies, the package, the ideas-that the media sells us to color the world and fill the minds of others the way they want to. What our parents fill our heads with growing up; What dreams and illusions we fill our daily lives with just to keep on trucking.I think a LOT of the lyrics of the UYI songs--Coma (broken memories another man would need just to survive), Locomotive, Don't Damn Me, The Garden (a place which seems sweet and enticing but destroys you basically), Garden of Eden (paradise is just another graveyard, basically), Don't Cry (Alt. Version), Dust N' Bones, Double Talkin' Jive--all have this sort of "living under an illusion" or realizing it and getting away from it--or keeping the illusion alive just to survive, whether that illusion be the grand visions of success or drugs or rose colored memories, or false hope in something you know is dead ("I thought I could live in your world as things all went by, but with all the voices I've heard, something has died").If you look at a lot of the Axl penned lyrics on the UYIs, a lot of it is about death, loss, longing, loneliness. Something has died. Something needs to be saved. Something's changed, and he's holding on to the illusion of what once was, just to survive.It's a deep sort of album...If it wasn't for some of the filler, you could almost say it was a concept album of sorts. There definitively is a running idea or theme in quite a few of the songs: The Illusion. The Dream. The Impossible fuckin' Dream. The shit you feed your head or the media or world feeds you and you hunger for it cause it sustains you and shields you from bleaker reality. Sensationalism, dreams, hopes, desires, longing...Illusions. Edited September 14, 2012 by Vincent Vega Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hellobeatle Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I always enjoyed how Axl explained the musical themes of UYI in that unedited MTV interview (the one where he's inside and on a couch). He explained that the four LPs (each UYI has two vinyls) all represent different themes.UYI I, LP 1 (Right Next Door... - DTJ): represents the old aggressive GNR sound and serves to help segue the old fans into UYI.UYI I, LP 2 (Nov. Rain - Coma): represents a more experimental and creative sound for GNR.UYI II, LP 1 (Civil War - Breakdown): represents the "Americana" sound, with the songs sounding big and expressive.UYI II, LP 2 (PTU - My World): represents the new GNR sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bumble's Bridge Pickup Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I didn't read your essay but IMO its up to interpretation. I think it works like as a negative sarcastic remark about people not being able to deal with reality or holding on to their own conceptions of what things are or shit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dalsh327 Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 To me, it just means standing by what you do, using the experiences in life to create something you think is beautiful, or ugly. Art can be anything you want it to be, and we're all artists to an extent. You're kind of throwing different songs together as one long running commentary, but you have to keep in mind songwriting is a different animal than writing a story or a poem. Even Elton has to tell Bernie when he needs to trim the song down, and I'm sure they've debated about things like that for 40 years. This is from Kostabi, so if you were wondering what it meant from him, it's pretty clear here. Rock n' Roll in itself takes something familiar and artists try to create their own spin on it. "My painting is an interpretation of a detail from Raphael's School of Athens, it gives me an amusing personal doorway into learning more about art history." http://www.artnet.com/Magazine/features/kostabi/kostabi11-19-01.aspDear Mark,I believe that you are insane. Your work is obviously so horrible -- yet you insist on endlessly making more of it. All you do is paint that same, stupid, faceless figure over and over and over again, sometimes sticking it into bad copies of famous paintings hoping to give your imagery some kind of credibility. And then God knows how you convinced Artnet to let you misguide all those poor, untalented junior hustlers to follow your twisted, self-serving "advice." Your work is so bad it even subverts the good name of bad painting. What do you honestly think you're doing?SimonDear Simon,I want my paintings to be so good that people will go against their better judgment to look at them. I want people to beg for my paintings. I want my entire oeuvre to be scrutinized fanatically with unprecedented intensity, even my few bad paintings. I want legions of art students, scholars, critics, collectors, dealers and art historians to seriously consider why on one particular morning I decided to drink Twinings English Breakfast tea instead of Jacksons of Piccadilly Earl Grey and what the ramifications were on that day's creations.My relentless desire exists in part because of my anger and frustration of working with certain dealers. My great art would not exist without my desire for power and revenge through success. And I am determined to fill the world's museums with it.Simon, I am not the first to say that a little insanity can help one be successful. Almost all of the most successful artists actually believe, either secretly or openly, that they are the greatest. This seemingly insane self confidence contributes enormously to real world success. Trust your lust and use your illusion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James Bond Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I've always seen it as things are not always what they seem. Art in any form is up to interpretation. To use your illusion is to create something as you see it. It kind of reminds me of an impressionist sort of saying. For example, think of how children draw the sun. It's a little circle with lines coming out of it. Of course, it truly looks nothing like the real sun yet we are almost programmed to make the association that a sun indeed looks like this kindergarten drawing. Art should not be taught so to speak, but rather interpreted. I've always seen the arts as a way of moving forward. Take influence from the past, sure, but aim to look at something in a new sort of way. Don't paint the sun as a circle with lines coming out. Paint it as you see. The Use Your Illusion albums don't give us Guns N' Roses as expected, but rather a Guns N' Roses that is in the process of evolving. Taking the old (Appetite) and doing something new with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnar Posted September 14, 2012 Share Posted September 14, 2012 I think the title, "Use Your Illusion", is actually a really inventive, deep sort of title. It isn't something simple like Lies or Appetite for Destruction; It has a message, I think. What does that message mean to you?For me, Use Your Illusion was a title directed at everyone: The fans, the media, the critics, the band themselves. Some of the lyrics in the song support this--That people hold on to illusions, to things that really aren't--either just for their own reasons, or to get by. Consider Locomotive's line:"I bought me an illusionAn I put it on the wallI let it fill my head with dreamsAnd I had to have them allBut oh the taste is never so sweetAs what you'd believe it is-Well I guess it never isIt's these prejudiced illusionsThat pump the bloodTo the heart of the biz "Isn't that what a lot of people do? Or some? Hang on to a dream, but the reality is never as sweet as the dream? Sort of living through "rose colored glasses", seeing the world--past or present--as something better than it really is. Not only that, but that line could apply to fame ("Oh the taste is never so sweet as what you'd believe it is"). It could apply to anything, really--to love, to your chosen path, towards your past, toward your day to day existence.And:"You can use you illusion-Let it take you where it mayWe live and learnAnd then sometimes it's best to walk awayMe I'm just here hangin' onIt's my only place to stay at leastFor now anywayI've worked too hard for my illusionsJust to throw them all away"And"How can I ever satisfy youAn how can I ever make you seeThat deep inside we're all somebodyAn it don't matter who you wanna beBut now I gotta smile I hope you comprehendFor this man can say it happened'Cause this child has been condemnedSo I stepped into your worldI kicked you in the mindAn I'm the only witnessTo the nature of my crimeBut look at what we've doneTo the innocent and youngWhoa listen to who's talking'Cause we're not the only onesThe trash collected by the eyesAnd dumped into the brainSaid it tears into our conscious thoughtsYou tell me who's to blameI know you don't wanna hear me cryin'An I know you don't wanna hear me denyThat your satisfaction lies in your illusionBut your delusions are yours and not mineWe take for granted we know the whole storyWe judge a book by its coverAnd read what we wantBetween selected lines""Your only validation is living your own lifeVicarious existence is a fucking waste of time""You know you're all aloneYour friends they aren't at homeEverybody's gone to the gardenAs you look into the treesYou can look but you don't seeThe flowers seem to tease you at the gardenEverybody's there, but you don't seem to careWhat's it with you man, and this gardenTurned into my worst phobia,A crazy man's utopiaIf you're lost no one can show ya,But it sure was glad to know yaOnly poor boys take a chance,On the garden's song and dance,Feel her flowers as they wrap around,But only smart boys do withoutYou can find it all insideNo need to wrestle with your prideNo you ain't losin' your mindYou're just in the gardenThey can lead you to yourselfOr you can throw it on the shelfBut you know you can look insideFor the garden""I ain't superstitiousBut I know when somethin's wrongI've been draggin' my heelsWith a bitch called hopeLet the undercurrent drag me alongLost in the garden of EdenSaid we're lost in the garden of EdenAnd there's no one's gonna believe thisBut we're lost in the garden of EdenMost organized religions makeA mockery of humanityOur governments are dangerousAnd out of controlThe garden of Eden is just another graveyardSaid if they had someone to buy itSaid I'm sure they'd sell my soul"I think again, same sort of stuff. I think that these lines about Axl's views on the band, on fame, on his life, at the time. He knows fame is only a passing illusion; He might've seen the demise of the old band--He's just hanging on cause it was his only place to stay--least for now anyway. It can apply to people in that you throw your heart or your hopes or your money or your passion at something that just isn't as beautiful as it seems--A gilded painting with shit underneath. That we live by maintaining certain points of view, certain ILLUSIONS, about ourselves, our lives, our pasts, our futures, others around us--and these illusions are what help us get by, keep us from caving in. The illusions--the lies, the package, the ideas-that the media sells us to color the world and fill the minds of others the way they want to. What our parents fill our heads with growing up; What dreams and illusions we fill our daily lives with just to keep on trucking.I think a LOT of the lyrics of the UYI songs--Coma (broken memories another man would need just to survive), Locomotive, Don't Damn Me, The Garden (a place which seems sweet and enticing but destroys you basically), Garden of Eden (paradise is just another graveyard, basically), Don't Cry (Alt. Version), Dust N' Bones, Double Talkin' Jive--all have this sort of "living under an illusion" or realizing it and getting away from it--or keeping the illusion alive just to survive, whether that illusion be the grand visions of success or drugs or rose colored memories, or false hope in something you know is dead ("I thought I could live in your world as things all went by, but with all the voices I've heard, something has died").If you look at a lot of the Axl penned lyrics on the UYIs, a lot of it is about death, loss, longing, loneliness. Something has died. Something needs to be saved. Something's changed, and he's holding on to the illusion of what once was, just to survive.It's a deep sort of album...If it wasn't for some of the filler, you could almost say it was a concept album of sorts. There definitively is a running idea or theme in quite a few of the songs: The Illusion. The Dream. The Impossible fuckin' Dream. The shit you feed your head or the media or world feeds you and you hunger for it cause it sustains you and shields you from bleaker reality. Sensationalism, dreams, hopes, desires, longing...Illusions.Too damn long did n`t read Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vincent Vega Posted September 15, 2012 Author Share Posted September 15, 2012 I always enjoyed how Axl explained the musical themes of UYI in that unedited MTV interview (the one where he's inside and on a couch). He explained that the four LPs (each UYI has two vinyls) all represent different themes.UYI I, LP 1 (Right Next Door... - DTJ): represents the old aggressive GNR sound and serves to help segue the old fans into UYI.UYI I, LP 2 (Nov. Rain - Coma): represents a more experimental and creative sound for GNR.UYI II, LP 1 (Civil War - Breakdown): represents the "Americana" sound, with the songs sounding big and expressive.UYI II, LP 2 (PTU - My World): represents the new GNR sound.What interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DizzyReedsexmachine Posted September 15, 2012 Share Posted September 15, 2012 I always enjoyed how Axl explained the musical themes of UYI in that unedited MTV interview (the one where he's inside and on a couch). He explained that the four LPs (each UYI has two vinyls) all represent different themes.UYI I, LP 1 (Right Next Door... - DTJ): represents the old aggressive GNR sound and serves to help segue the old fans into UYI.UYI I, LP 2 (Nov. Rain - Coma): represents a more experimental and creative sound for GNR.UYI II, LP 1 (Civil War - Breakdown): represents the "Americana" sound, with the songs sounding big and expressive.UYI II, LP 2 (PTU - My World): represents the new GNR sound.What interview Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nathanhall Posted October 8, 2012 Share Posted October 8, 2012 I do a lot of reading here and skip a lot of bullshit.I read it all and enjoyed it. Good job.Although, you mentioned 'fillers'. Why do people think there are fillers in the Illusions? There is only one; My World. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lit_up Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 I grew up with both records, they mean a lot to me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris 55 Posted October 18, 2012 Share Posted October 18, 2012 Good thing Sandy tagged that video she never made to begin with. It sucks when people steal your stuff...oh, wait. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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