Who are the 'idiots' Axl talks about on this interview?

[Apollo]

Can you imagine how awesome it would be as fan of Axl if he had put out six albums since the split and if he gave his fans updates on his music plans?

That would only be awesome if the quality of those 6 albums were great. Has it ever occurred to you that Axl might not be able to churn of great albums frequently?

Why yes. Yes it has.

Conversely, it has also occurred to me that Axl MIGHT be able to churn out great albums frequently.

Maybe it's just fandom on my part, but I have more faith in Axl than you do.

Let's say that from 1986 through 1991 he worked on material for four albums. I consider all of those albums top notch.

I don't think Axl is creating great literature that is going to stand the test of time for hundreds of years. He is a singer who fronts a rock and roll band. I don't believe that songs like Nightrain, Paradise City, You Could Be Mine, Back Off Bitch, IRS, Rhiad, Welcome To The Jungle, Catcher In The Rye, Pretty Tied Up, November Rain, Locomotive, and You're Crazy take decades to write and create.

I think you could put DJ and BBF in a room together, along with any of the other band members who like to write, with Axl, and they could come up with some really quality music.

Who knows. Maybe you are right and Axl has lost his ability to create music on a regular basis. I just have more faith in his abilities than you do, I guess.

[SoulMonster]

Can you imagine how awesome it would be as fan of Axl if he had put out six albums since the split and if he gave his fans updates on his music plans?

That would only be awesome if the quality of those 6 albums were great. Has it ever occurred to you that Axl might not be able to churn of great albums frequently?

Why yes. Yes it has.

Okay, because you never seem to allow for this possibility. You always argue AS IF he easily could have released numerous great albums. I tend to think that he knows this best.

[auad]

us.

[DieselDaisy]

I disagree. About a year ago I went through the whole of Chinese Whispers to try and make some sense of these confusing statements (''Axl has 100 songs''). It took me about three days and the conclusion I arrived at was that, Axl has one complete album in the vaults, and a third album that is semi-complete.

This is in disagreement with numerous statements from band members. We also have no contrary quotes (?). I see no reason why they would lie about this.

There's two records that the majority of the music's done, and the majority of the vocals are done. And there's another half of a record that's being worked on.

- Axl, Eddie Trunk, 2006.

[SoulMonster]

I disagree. About a year ago I went through the whole of Chinese Whispers to try and make some sense of these confusing statements (''Axl has 100 songs''). It took me about three days and the conclusion I arrived at was that, Axl has one complete album in the vaults, and a third album that is semi-complete.

This is in disagreement with numerous statements from band members. We also have no contrary quotes (?). I see no reason why they would lie about this.

There's two records that the majority of the music's done, and the majority of the vocals are done. And there's another half of a record that's being worked on.

- Axl, Eddie Trunk, 2006.

Yeah, "majority". As I said, they are not finished. Perhaps he could scramble finished songs from each and these to compile one finished record? I doubt it, though. From Bumblefoot it sounded like only Atlas Shrugged is completely finished and was ready for release in 2008.

[Apollo]

Can you imagine how awesome it would be as fan of Axl if he had put out six albums since the split and if he gave his fans updates on his music plans?

That would only be awesome if the quality of those 6 albums were great. Has it ever occurred to you that Axl might not be able to churn of great albums frequently?

Why yes. Yes it has.

Okay, because you never seem to allow for this possibility. You always argue AS IF he easily could have released numerous great albums. I tend to think that he knows this best.

Can you spell out exactly what you are saying here?

That Axl knows he isn't capable of putting out great music every couple of years?

That Axl knows if the music he has produced/created is good or not?

That we shouldn't expect things from Axl, because he (and his current management team) know what they are doing and what is best for the band? For that - just imo - I would disagree. With the old band and the old management team they were able to churn out several amazing albums, did lots of music videos, played awards/tv shows and kept in contanst contact with their fans. All things that Axl/Beta/Kids aren't doing now.

My guess/opinion is this. And it's worth nothing, as we all have opinions and NONE of us know what the truth is.

I think that Axl still has the talent to put out great albums every 3-4 years. But for whatever reasons, he just doesn't have the desire to do that anymore. And his management team - the Brazilians - are more family friends of his that just want Axl the person to be happy, and they don't really care about his musical career (and MILLIONS of fans).

Whereas a real management team would try and convince him to put out more music. "Dude, you're Axl Rose, most exciting rock singer of our generation. Let's give your millions of fans a treat and put out music every few years before you finally retire. The Stones have put out 50 albums, you've put out 6........lets boost that number up a bit. We went 15 years without an album from you, let's not put your fans through that again!!!!"

At this point Axl seems to have lost his desire to create new music (with a band) and to share new music with his millions of fans. And to me (maybe not to you), that is a sad thing for Rock music and rock music fans.

***************

As for your debate about the amount of music in the vault.

Axl says that there is an album that the "majority" of the music and vocals are done. He said that 7 years ago.

I think there is a quote from Beta from a long time ago talking about Axl having like 30 songs or something ready to go.

But your response to that actual quote from Axl is "Perhaps he could scramble finished songs from each and these to compile one finished record? I doubt it, though."

Do you not believe Axl's own words, or do you think that Axl just stopped working on all these songs, which were apparently in the 90% completed range...........and in the past seven years he hasn't tinkered with them to completion?

It would seem that if 7 years ago he had 90% of an album done...........and he has prolific song writers like DJ and BBF in the band.................putting out albums of new material wouldn't be that difficult.

I think there is something else to it. They have the songs. They have songwriters. They have millions of fans who would love to hear new music. But for some reason that NONE of us know - Axl/Beta/kids don't appear interested in going that route.

Edited July 11, 2013 by Groghan

[DieselDaisy]

I disagree. About a year ago I went through the whole of Chinese Whispers to try and make some sense of these confusing statements (''Axl has 100 songs''). It took me about three days and the conclusion I arrived at was that, Axl has one complete album in the vaults, and a third album that is semi-complete.

This is in disagreement with numerous statements from band members. We also have no contrary quotes (?). I see no reason why they would lie about this.

There's two records that the majority of the music's done, and the majority of the vocals are done. And there's another half of a record that's being worked on.

- Axl, Eddie Trunk, 2006.

Yeah, "majority". As I said, they are not finished. Perhaps he could scramble finished songs from each and these to compile one finished record? I doubt it, though. From Bumblefoot it sounded like only Atlas Shrugged is completely finished and was ready for release in 2008.

Bit pedantic really. The 'majority' of the 'music' and 'lyrics' - the lyrics are usually the last things to go down alongside overdubs (solos, guitar fills, orchestration) so I bet that music consists of overdubs. Listen, I am not sayin these songs are mastered and merely need handing into the record company but by the sounds of it, they are 90%-95% finished. Some of this material obviously has been mixed as in 2006, Axl held two imprompt listening parties of the material. At one of these:

"As a sign of his gratitude, Mullineaux said Rose sent someone to his hotel room to retrieve two CDs, each one containing 10 tracks. Mullineaux...said he manned the DJ booth and spun the discs for Rose...

- MTV, 02/23/06.

Twenty songs? Assuming all 14 songs of CD were played, that leaves six songs (i.e. half an album) with mixes that have not been released. Of course they could have been rough mixes but usually you only initiate the mixing process to begin with when all your tracks have been set down.