First UYI song that was finished?

[zepsun]

It's not hard to hear how Axl's voice has changed over time. Appetite was more raw and wailing, while UYI sometimes took on a bit of croon. The texture in Axl's voice also changed a little. I'm just curious, over a two year period if there were slight changes to his voice as well.

Do you remember the first song that was finished (I'm thinking it might have been Civil War or Knockin')?

Do you know the window of time in which Axl recorded final vocals?

Do you know which track was the last for Axl to lay down vocals on?

Cheers.

[recklessroad]

I don't know, I didn't hear UYI until it was all done. I know that sounds strange but I didn't make it down to the studio during the recordings. Axl's recording voice to me has always been the same.

[Gordon Comstock]

I think Civil War and KOHD were both released in '90, but I think Civil War was the first one done.

Coma was written (musically) in late '89 or sometime in '90, right? And Axl said it took him about a year to write the lyrics for it, so it'd be one of the last ones done...

[Vincent Vega]

I think Civil War and KOHD were both released in '90, but I think Civil War was the first one done.

Coma was written (musically) in late '89 or sometime in '90, right? And Axl said it took him about a year to write the lyrics for it, so it'd be one of the last ones done...

You Could Be Mine, The Garden, Bad Obsession, Don't Cry, November Rain predate the UYIs. Back Off Bitch predates GN'R and was written around 1982.

Civil War was one of the first UYI songs written as new material, first started during the Japanese leg of the Appetite for Destruction tour in December 1988.

Several songs like Don't Damn Me, Locomotive, Bad Apples, Garden of Eden and several others were first written in Chicago from September-December 1989. Yesterday was written as an acoustic track in 1989. Don't Damn Me, Locomotive, Garden of Eden and Dust N' Bones were first rehearsed at Mates Rehearsal on December 6th 1989.

Civil War was recorded around March-April 1990. It includes both Dizzy (who joined in February) and Steven. It was released around June 1990. So therefore we can conclude it was the first fully finished UYI track. KOHD was the first song recorded with Matt and was released in late June. Steven was officially fired July 11th but probably had been unofficially fired for some time before.

The first actual recordings of the songs, though they were rehearsed and jammed, didn't happen until the fall of 1990. Instrumental Tracks from September 21st 1990 include 14 Years, Estranged, Locomotive, Breakdown, The Garden, Attitude, Black Leather, I Don't Care About You, New Rose. Most of these tracks are 99.9% similar to the final album versions with some minor differences and no mix. The Axl vocals weren't recorded until 1991.

I believe one of the final tracks recorded was Get in the Ring. The audience sounds you hear, the Get in the Ring chant, was recorded live on June 10th 1991 at the Performing Arts Center in Sarasota, NY. Axl lead the audience in the chant. He also mentioned that the song had been finished the night before (June 9th 1991) in Toronto.

July 29th, 1991 - During the show at the Great Western Forum in Inglewood, CA, Axl mentions how Slash and himself finished the record yesterday. "The motherfucker is done".

So UYI's recording lasted from around September 1990-July 29th 1991, with the exceptions of CW and KOHD. Mixing, mastering, overdubs, etc from July 29th-September 1991.

Basically, with the exception of Civil War and KOHD, all vocal tracks were recorded sometime between Fall '90 and July '91.

Some songs, like Coma, were probably lyrically written in 1991.

Right Next Door to Hell wasn't written lyrically until late 1990/early 1991, as it is about the incident where Axl allegedly hit his neighbor over the head with a wine bottle, which happened in November 1990.

14 Years was written in 1991 and was a combination of two separate songs that Axl and Izzy both happened to write around the same time, called 14 Years. They wrote two separate songs with the same title by coincidence and decided to put the two together.

Don't Cry (Alt) wasn't written lyrically until around the tour. Axl had the lyrics spontaneously come to him one night and decided to record it then and there.

My World was likely among the last tracks recorded as well given that Izzy didn't know about it and the record wasn't finished until July 29th 1991 and Izzy exited less than a month later.

Estranged wasn't written lyrically until sometime between November 1990 and January 1991, as Axl said the song is about his breakup with Erin Everly; They broke up in late November 1990 and their marriage wasn't annulled until January 1991.

Double Talkin' Jive was partially written in '91. It is based on a true story. There was literally a headless, armless corpse found in a dumpster at Studio 56 in 1991 while GN'R was recording. The chorus dates of the song dates to 1989.

So summary:

Most of UYIs:

24 out of the 30 UYI songs were written between 1988 and 1991. Lyrically written between 1990 and 1991. Recorded between Fall 1990 and July 1991. Among the last songs worked on being Get in the Ring and My World.

The only "old" songs, as in predating Lies, are You Could Be Mine, The Garden, Bad Obsession, Don't Cry, November Rain and Back Off Bitch.

Vocals recorded in 1991 with the exception of Civil War and KOHD.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Vincent Vega

[netcord]

Perfect Crime is old too if I recall I saw it on a setlist in my Reckless Road book before Guns hit it big.