axlsalinger Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 We all know Axl does not take the easy road, or look at things the way most people do. And a lot of artists seek some kind of "muse" for inspiration. A kind of artist's alternative to writers block, if you will. The question is, does Axl take this literally? Is he literally waiting for a muse to show up, even if months, years, decades go by? Is this still connected to Stephanie Seymour in some way? There were several mentions of "the muse" in Merck's 2006 letter, see the excerpt below.I thought it made sense on some level with Chinese Democracy - the incredible amount of pressure and weight of expectations were surely enough to suppress creativity and prevent him from getting truly inspired. However, once the album came out (though I still believe Axl changed his mind and tried to prevent it from happening), with this tremendous weight off his back, and the follow up essentially ALREADY RECORDED, that the next one would be easy. Even for a perfectionist like Axl.It has now been 5 years of silence and bullshit.Is Axl waiting for a muse that will never come back?A segment from Merck's Letter - 2006 The reality is all of this year's touring was planned and agreed between Axl and myself, with a view to the album being in the stores before the 31st of December '06. This was confirmed by Axl in numerous interviews - most famously at the MTV Video Music Awards. We planned the tour in February, just after Axl's birthday and we were supposed to finish the album in May, before it started. We sent our engineers to New York, where we all waited, for over a month, for the muse to come but she never arrived. We then scheduled sessions in London in August and had our engineers meet us there at the end of the English tour. August came and went and once again the muse did not show. We postponed our proposed radio date of Labour Day for the first single and we came back to LA and tried to finish before the San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles shows but yet again she eluded us. Axl then asked me to postpone the North American tour which was due to start on 24th of September by a month and finally, early in that period after the euphoria of Inland Invasion, Axl made a break through and got two or three very productive days under his belt.At this point we were very excited as Axl's feeling was that we had two or three days of work left to tidy things up and we still had three weeks before the tour started, so we were in good shape. Unfortunately the muse disappeared just as fast as she came and the tour started with no single at radio to support it and the album still needing two or three days of work. Despite this, it was a break through period as Robin, Bumblefoot and Frank had all made important contributions to the album that made it even stronger. By the way none of the above is meant as a criticism of Axl. It is the reality of trying to create something special under incredible pressure from the public - that wants and DEMANDS the record - and the record industry - that NEEDS it. The creative process is not something you can dictate and Axl is a true artist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flayer Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Seems likely. Probably with two or three other problems piled on that as well.Maybe we can turn this into a Muse forum while we await her return. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jimb0 Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 I think that if Axl can't get his voice back there will be no more GNR. At least in terms of future writing and recording. He'll probably finish mixing what he has recorded, put it out and tour maybe another five years on the Mouse voice. After that, I think he's done. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguy Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Wow. All those months of delays, and all Axl got was "two or three" productive days?Look at musicians like Billy Corgan, Matthew Bellamy, Brandon Flowers----they're all hugely successful in rock music and will forever be remembered, and they're notorious workaholics.Two or three productive days? God, what a fucking joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apollo Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 Wow. All those months of delays, and all Axl got was "two or three" productive days?Look at musicians like Billy Corgan, Matthew Bellamy, Brandon Flowers----they're all hugely successful in rock music and will forever be remembered, and they're notorious workaholics.Two or three productive days? God, what a fucking joke.But it clearly wasn't Axl's fault. Haven't you been a member of this forum long enough to know that it's always somebody else's fault!!!!!WHO is the muse? Is it Beta? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfierose Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 (edited) A muse is always feminine which is why it is referred to as she. I don't think Merck is referring to a person in that letter, it's just the way language works.As far as Axl's muse goes I don't think we can second guess whether she eludes him or not as we officially know nothing! Edited August 7, 2013 by alfierose Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Randy Lahey Posted August 7, 2013 Share Posted August 7, 2013 I think we are waiting on his confidence. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axlsalinger Posted August 7, 2013 Author Share Posted August 7, 2013 (edited) It definitely seemed like Stephanie was his muse on some level. If she had not left, would we have 5 or 6 additional GNR albums by now? Aw, who are we kidding, Axl will always find some excuse to not get anything done. Edited August 7, 2013 by axlsalinger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.. Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Axl should definitely work with Muse, yes. GN'R and Muse are the two best bands in Rock History (with Queen). (and Nine Inch Nails and Pink Floyd if we can consider them remotely rock). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I think in this case he means inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mina1788 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 I think in this case he means inspiration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ll_tj1 Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) We all know Axl does not take the easy road, or look at things the way most people do. And a lot of artists seek some kind of "muse" for inspiration. A kind of artist's alternative to writers block, if you will. The question is, does Axl take this literally? Is he literally waiting for a muse to show up, even if months, years, decades go by? Is this still connected to Stephanie Seymour in some way? There were several mentions of "the muse" in Merck's 2006 letter, see the excerpt below.I thought it made sense on some level with Chinese Democracy - the incredible amount of pressure and weight of expectations were surely enough to suppress creativity and prevent him from getting truly inspired. However, once the album came out (though I still believe Axl changed his mind and tried to prevent it from happening), with this tremendous weight off his back, and the follow up essentially ALREADY RECORDED, that the next one would be easy. Even for a perfectionist like Axl.It has now been 5 years of silence and bullshit.Is Axl waiting for a muse that will never come back?A segment from Merck's Letter - 2006The reality is all of this year's touring was planned and agreed between Axl and myself, with a view to the album being in the stores before the 31st of December '06. This was confirmed by Axl in numerous interviews - most famously at the MTV Video Music Awards. We planned the tour in February, just after Axl's birthday and we were supposed to finish the album in May, before it started. We sent our engineers to New York, where we all waited, for over a month, for the muse to come but she never arrived. We then scheduled sessions in London in August and had our engineers meet us there at the end of the English tour. August came and went and once again the muse did not show. We postponed our proposed radio date of Labour Day for the first single and we came back to LA and tried to finish before the San Francisco, Las Vegas and Los Angeles shows but yet again she eluded us. Axl then asked me to postpone the North American tour which was due to start on 24th of September by a month and finally, early in that period after the euphoria of Inland Invasion, Axl made a break through and got two or three very productive days under his belt.At this point we were very excited as Axl's feeling was that we had two or three days of work left to tidy things up and we still had three weeks before the tour started, so we were in good shape. Unfortunately the muse disappeared just as fast as she came and the tour started with no single at radio to support it and the album still needing two or three days of work. Despite this, it was a break through period as Robin, Bumblefoot and Frank had all made important contributions to the album that made it even stronger. By the way none of the above is meant as a criticism of Axl. It is the reality of trying to create something special under incredible pressure from the public - that wants and DEMANDS the record - and the record industry - that NEEDS it. The creative process is not something you can dictate and Axl is a true artist.I know I'm being very repetitive in multiple threads, but, if Axl really turned over a demo of a fully completed album with all new songs in 2010, as we have been told by what i believe is an extremly reliable source in MSL, and the label has chosen to sit on it, how is that Axls fault? And I know a lot of people over hear don't think of MSL the way I do. He has always been up front and honest with me, and of all the various sources of GNR info we've had over the years, he has by far given us the most info, and the most info that has been proven. Therefore when he says something, especially reporting it of his own website, I believe him 100%. Which leads me back to, how is no new material Axls fault when he has very likely already handed over new material to his label 3 years ago. Edited August 8, 2013 by ll_tj1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
axlsalinger Posted August 8, 2013 Author Share Posted August 8, 2013 (edited) I don't dismiss MSL as a source for information, but that just seems highly, highly unlikely. If it were true, what would stop Axl or someone in the camp from saying so? Sounds like the best reason for a rant he's ever had. Perhaps MSL can clarify, as this is the first time I've even heard of this and something may have been lost in translation.It is far more likely that this story is untrue.Was this the Chinese Democracy re-issue you're talking about? That's a whole different beast, than a new GNR record. Plus, we have no idea what happened there. Edited August 8, 2013 by axlsalinger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wfuckinga Posted August 8, 2013 Share Posted August 8, 2013 Why don't we just try to ask MSL? Someone send him a PM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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