Vincent Vega Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 One of the most common complaints I've gotten from people about GN'R, from casual music fans to hardcore rock fans alike, is actually Axl's voice. They feel he sounds like a dying cat or that he "screeches" too much and that his voice is grating and painful to listen to--and this is talking about vintage, raspy Axl. And these same people love Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin and Janis Joplin despite the singers there having very raspy voices.Does anyone else agree Axl went a little overboard on the rasp a little bit back in the old days? Compare him with Janis Joplin or Steven Tyler or Robert Plant...All had similar, raspy voices and a bluesy sound, but mixed their rasp with their normal voice or a different voice. Axl at times will just stright rasp...Do you think he should've used his regular singing voice and blended it with his rasp, or used one of his other voices and blended it in more often? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bacardimayne Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 His singing on the UYIs is too hoarse for the most part. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnar Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 No rasp made Axl very distinctive vocalist it`s his trademark sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick83 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I don't think he had a choice back then, he he emphasize the rasp and other sounds, which may have been too much for some, but I love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crash Diet Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Without rasp, Axl is a shit singer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trqster Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 IMO on the records Axl uses the exact ammount of rasp needed. Sometimes in live performances he overdid it, as often during the UYI era.On some song clean vocals work out great, like Catcher in the Rye but on most without rasp they sound crap, like YCBM... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rendestroi95 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Without rasp, Axl is a shit singerYou never saw him singing dont cry nowdays, right?The first part of the song until lhe solo sounds awesome Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gibbo Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Iv never heard this.Would you rather mickey mouse Edited January 31, 2013 by Gibbo 27 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trqster Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 For those not aware of what's exactly rasp and mickey mouse voice, here it is an example:YCBM with RASP (as it should be sung...) YCBM without RASP (as Axl started singing from 2011...) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCv9k6aL494 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I dont he meant to sing with rasp. he was just drinking and abusing his voice. It probably was damaging his voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndreCC Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Without Rasp it's a dead horse....Axl's vocals are distincitive because of the rasp... imagine Brian Johnson of AC/DC without the rasp? would it be worth it? No...Same with Axl... 1988 -1993 was the peak of his voice, it's normal, he was young in shape and had much more energy and stamina then now... we all get old no matter how hard we try to hide that. 2006 was the recovery year for the most part but there was still some work to do. 2010 was his return in 100% full shape for the most part, but it had some bad moments as well. He's back out of shape now. I don't know if it has to do with cardio or whatever, but he seems to not hold his voice for most part of the show.It's been very inconsistent throughout the last 10 or so years, but it's normal he's 50 years old! He doesn't have the same kind of stamina he once had, and i don't mind if he continues to make a mess on the live shows as long as he keeps a fresh raspy voice in studio recordings.I think it's acceptable if he has a bad year on live performances. What's not acceptable is to have songs on a record like Shacklers where it doesn't seem like he has re-done his vocals when he was actually half recovered in 2006. Axl should have re-done all his vocals on the album! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trqster Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) Without Rasp it's a dead horse....Axl's vocals are distincitive because of the rasp... imagine Brian Johnson of AC/DC without the rasp? would it be worth it? No...Same with Axl... 1988 -1993 was the peak of his voice, it's normal, he was young in shape and had much more energy and stamina then now... we all get old no matter how hard we try to hide that. 2006 was the recovery year for the most part but there was still some work to do. 2010 was his return in 100% full shape for the most part, but it had some bad moments as well. He's back out of shape now. I don't know if it has to do with cardio or whatever, but he seems to not hold his voice for most part of the show.It's been very inconsistent throughout the last 10 or so years, but it's normal he's 50 years old! He doesn't have the same kind of stamina he once had, and i don't mind if he continues to make a mess on the live shows as long as he keeps a fresh raspy voice in studio recordings.I think it's acceptable if he has a bad year on live performances. What's not acceptable is to have songs on a record like Shacklers where it doesn't seem like he has re-done his vocals when he was actually half recovered in 2006. Axl should have re-done all his vocals on the album!Agree with the most part, but mind that GnR is pretty much a nostalgia act and as such live performances are of extreme importance for the fans and to...well make money.New music is always welcome but GnR is not really relevant in that sense any longer as seen by the much anticipated CD reception.Although 2010 was all in all the best year for Axl's voice in the last decade or so, I actually believe that he was at his peak (nu GnR era) vocally and also in terms physical fitness by the end of 2006. He had some good and some not so good shows that year, but by the end of the year his voice was simply mind-blowing as you can see in the last show Axl did in 2006 (Izzy's was there as a guest). He even sang SCOM and NR(!!!) full of rasp. Just a quick preview... Edited January 31, 2013 by trqster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tyler Drama Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 He never overused it. I can't imagine him ever using "too much" rasp. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guns n' Swedes Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 My favorite voice is definitely the UYI voice. It's much more unique too. Sympathy for the devil and Ain't it fun are awesome too, with regards to his voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magisme Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Rasp = AxlPure and simple. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimMorrison4 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I don't think he overused it. There are alot of shows you can look up where his voice is torn to shit (Indiana 1991, St Louis 1991 for example) on alot of songs, but I doubt it was intentional. It's just how he sounded back then.Is it just me or did he develop some kind of accent in the 00s? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) I couldn't care less about your buddies and their criticisms of Axl's voice, which is acclaimed because of 'the rasp'. What a completely retarded dicussion to have on a GN'R fan board, ask some pretentious pricks on a music critique board, this is not the place to debate the credentials of the voice associated with Axl Rose, which responsible for his fame/fortune and legion of fans who will never ever go away, even if he physically pisses on them. Edited January 31, 2013 by NGOG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
magisme Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I couldn't care less about your buddies and their criticisms of Axl's voice, which is acclaimed because of 'the rasp'. What a completely retarded dicussion to have on a GN'R fan board, ask some pretentious pricks on a music critique board, this is not the place to debate the credentials of the voice associated with Axl Rose, which responsible for his fame/fortune and legion of fans who will never ever go away, even if he physically pisses on them.This whole "you can't talk about that stuff on this forum" attitude from certain members is getting a bit tiresome and ridiculous. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimMorrison4 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I couldn't care less about your buddies and their criticisms of Axl's voice, which is acclaimed because of 'the rasp'. What a completely retarded dicussion to have on a GN'R fan board, ask some pretentious pricks on a music critique board, this is not the place to debate the credentials of the voice associated with Axl Rose, which responsible for his fame/fortune and legion of fans who will never ever go away, even if he physically pisses on them.It's still better than talking about what he wears, or how big his "boat" is (if you saw that thread). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saber_ Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 One minute people are bitching about him not using rasp enough, and now... and now, he 'used it too much.' Gimme a fuckin break. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
volcano62 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 He used too much rasp during the UYI tour and in 2010. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest NGOG Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 I don't like Axl's iconic raspy voice. But I still like Guns N' Roses. Said noone, ever. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trqster Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 (edited) He never overused it. I can't imagine him ever using "too much" rasp.Too much rasp is like this to me...from 1m20....it really fucks up the song up to a point where it becomes almost a parody.... Axl's screeching cat voice at its best! Edited January 31, 2013 by trqster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimMorrison4 Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 Since this show was brought up in another thread (Inglewood 1991), I looked it up since I'd never really listened to any of the songs. My thoughts were, "Oh, Locomotive. I think I'll listen." Then, "Oh, this is what it sounds like when Axl uses too much rasp." This is awful lol.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Freddie Mercury's Ghost Posted January 31, 2013 Share Posted January 31, 2013 He used too much rasp during the UYI tour and in 2010.If Axl still had the rasp today, you'd say he was in prime form.Come on now lolcano... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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