And The Moral Of The Story Is...

[Millions]

I was reading this week about an author (I can't recall his name right now) who had been working on a new novel for a couple of years. He had also been doing various bits of research whilst writing his previous novel, so there were piles and piles of backed-up paperwork on his desk, and lying around his study : research, ideas, half written sections, short segments, longer segments to be reworked........ He was overwhelmed by all this stuff - and ended up spending days, weeks and even months working and reworking on some sections.... sometimes only to eventually throw away those weeks of work and go with the original. He would read over and revise previous notes, spending hours and hours, with only a word or two being changed to show for his time. He was getting nowhere. This wasn't a creative process any more - more like an administrative job.

Then what happened? His house burnt down. Everything was destroyed. Absolutely everything. Every note. Every last piece of work. And he was absolutely devastated.

But then something surprising happened. Without this backlog of work to look over, rework , polish, edit then re-edit, he could actually get on with writing the actual novel. He was finally able to get the thing finished and published, and now acknowledges that the fire was a huge blessing in disguise.

(Man, I wish I could remember the article where I read this so it doesn't just seem like some tenuous made-up fairytale to make a point).

The point though (obviously) is this : if Axl has to sit in a studio on his own at 4am in the morning, sifting through Drum Track version 23, Drum Track version 24, Drum Track version 89.......... and then realise he doesn't even know any more which version he is listening to, is it any wonder he's getting nowhere in creating a new album?

[Facekicker]

That's assuming he has gone anywhere near the studio since CD was handed in to the record company. Personally I don't think he has. He is a busted flush.

[dalsh327]

It's probable that Axl got stuck a decade ago, but I don't think he's really made his focus and priority putting new music together. There's a lot of artists who haven't put out new music in over 5 years and said they have no intention of doing it. Axl said he has intentions of working on new music, but it's not something that we can do anything about.

[OJones90]

Yeah. We know there's a lot of material written/recorded from god knows when. I can't imagine the pressure involved in putting together a Guns N Roses album. Especially if you're Axl.

[star]

I was reading this week about an author (I can't recall his name right now) who had been working on a new novel for a couple of years. He had also been doing various bits of research whilst writing his previous novel, so there were piles and piles of backed-up paperwork on his desk, and lying around his study : research, ideas, half written sections, short segments, longer segments to be reworked........ He was overwhelmed by all this stuff - and ended up spending days, weeks and even months working and reworking on some sections.... sometimes only to eventually throw away those weeks of work and go with the original. He would read over and revise previous notes, spending hours and hours, with only a word or two being changed to show for his time. He was getting nowhere. This wasn't a creative process any more - more like an administrative job.

Then what happened? His house burnt down. Everything was destroyed. Absolutely everything. Every note. Every last piece of work. And he was absolutely devastated.

But then something surprising happened. Without this backlog of work to look over, rework , polish, edit then re-edit, he could actually get on with writing the actual novel. He was finally able to get the thing finished and published, and now acknowledges that the fire was a huge blessing in disguise.

(Man, I wish I could remember the article where I read this so it doesn't just seem like some tenuous made-up fairytale to make a point).

The point though (obviously) is this : if Axl has to sit in a studio on his own at 4am in the morning, sifting through Drum Track version 23, Drum Track version 24, Drum Track version 89.......... and then realise he doesn't even know any more which version he is listening to, is it any wonder he's getting nowhere in creating a new album?

The way Axl works gives the impression he has no idea what he wants until he finds it. Which means having to wade though hours and hours of material attempting to find something. A bit like searching for a diamond. Once he finds his diamonds he then assembles them. It take time, lots of time.

Edited December 9, 2012 by star

[Val22]

I would think that as long as Axl and GNR continue to tour and still have alot of fans attending those shows, he won't be in any rush to do any new music.

The GNR songs still stand the test of time and I never tire of hearing them of playing them, so I guess most fans feel the same way.

I have no musical talent at all, but my son can play drums, go figure. He writes music too. I don't know how anyone can do that so it's all a mystery to me.

I love music always have since I was little and living through the British invasion and the metal era, I've loved all kinds of music, but rock has always been my favorite.

I'm in awe of people who write music, perform and sing, so to me, it seems very hard to still keep coming up with ideas for new songs. I guess Axl takes from his life, but how long can you do that, especially if you're happy where you are?

I guess there's always political songs, but that gets annoying too.

Maybe Axl just enjoys performing the songs he's done and doesn't care to do anything new? I would be sorry to hear that, but hey, it's not like he doesn't have awesome fuckin songs to fall back on.

[dalsh327]

I was reading this week about an author (I can't recall his name right now) who had been working on a new novel for a couple of years. He had also been doing various bits of research whilst writing his previous novel, so there were piles and piles of backed-up paperwork on his desk, and lying around his study : research, ideas, half written sections, short segments, longer segments to be reworked........ He was overwhelmed by all this stuff - and ended up spending days, weeks and even months working and reworking on some sections.... sometimes only to eventually throw away those weeks of work and go with the original. He would read over and revise previous notes, spending hours and hours, with only a word or two being changed to show for his time. He was getting nowhere. This wasn't a creative process any more - more like an administrative job.

Then what happened? His house burnt down. Everything was destroyed. Absolutely everything. Every note. Every last piece of work. And he was absolutely devastated.

But then something surprising happened. Without this backlog of work to look over, rework , polish, edit then re-edit, he could actually get on with writing the actual novel. He was finally able to get the thing finished and published, and now acknowledges that the fire was a huge blessing in disguise.

(Man, I wish I could remember the article where I read this so it doesn't just seem like some tenuous made-up fairytale to make a point).

The point though (obviously) is this : if Axl has to sit in a studio on his own at 4am in the morning, sifting through Drum Track version 23, Drum Track version 24, Drum Track version 89.......... and then realise he doesn't even know any more which version he is listening to, is it any wonder he's getting nowhere in creating a new album?

The way Axl works gives the impression he has no idea what he wants until he finds it. Which means having to wade though hours and hours of material attempting to find something. A bit like searching for a diamond. Once he finds his diamonds he then assembles them. It take time, lots of time.

An album shouldn't take more than a few months if the band has worked the songs out before going in the studio, or at least throw some songs out to the public so they have something to listen to if you're planning on taking a long time on the album. Even if it's not a good song, you can dismiss it as something you're not putting on the album.

Bottom line - due to past successes, he was afforded all the time in the world to work on new music. I took the Greatest Hits as "you're taking too long, give us something!"

[wasted]

I just think anyone can mail in an average album with a couple of singles. To me CD is so much more, it doesn't necessarily fit in any pigeon hole or very commercial but each track is worth it's place. Most albums you can cherry pick one song off it. CD is a great big rock album, hopefully they will make more.