Axl's 2013 voice - is it really that bad?

[IncitingChaos]

I know most people are tired of waiting for his 2010 voice to come back and probably sick of watching YouTube videos where it's not there yet but it's not like anyone said these videos are perfect. They are just examples of small moments in concert this summer that Axl showed rasp or a more powerful voice on parts of songs he normally hasn't in the past 2 years. Nobody ever mentions how he sings the first 5 songs of every concert perfect for whatever reason.

There's just such little optimism here and maybe that's because of lack of music or having to watch the same YouTube videos over and over again, but it's exciting to hear Axl nail You're Crazy in the Brooklyn video. It's cool to hear paradise city have the rasp back in it. I wish his voice was more consistent but it's not. He's still doing great shows though, and I'm hoping these moments of rasp and power translate into something great for his voice down the line. I don't think it's fair to label his voice as dead though, clearly he's got more to give.

[Young_Gun]

Still sucks in 2013. Saw him live twice this year, wasn't impressed.

[mixk]

It's not consistently terrible. Sometimes it's ok. But as a singer that's not good enough imo. As a fan it's a total gamble on whether he'll be terrible or not. That puts people off.

And that's been the case since forever.

[Haters Gonna Hate]

Haters gonna hate

Edited August 25, 2013 by Haters Gonna Hate

[username]

It's not consistently terrible. Sometimes it's ok. But as a singer that's not good enough imo. As a fan it's a total gamble on whether he'll be terrible or not. That puts people off.

And that's been the case since forever.

Well, yes. To a certain extent. But it does seem to be getting worse. Especially in the last 3 years.

Plus, in the 90's it could go from 6/10 on a bad day to 14/10 on a good day. I mean when he was on, he was ON.

Now you get 2/10 on a bad day and 6,5/10 on a good day.

Edited August 25, 2013 by username

[jimb0]

I think Axl has retired the rasp. We will always have the bootlegs to remember the good times. He just isn't trying anymore and to be honest with the toll his technique takes on his throat I can't blame him. He's given us so many years of amazing shows, I should be more grateful... Thank u Axl. Maybe we will get a soundboard of Dublin 2010 one day.

[SR_GR]

No, getting better and stronger every year. It is not only about the rasp, it is now a mix of the rasp

and the strong clean voice. His voice and ability to entertain is unique even on those days when

he is not well, if you are there watching it live.

GNR has the best live songs for 3 hours+ shows, a charismatic singer with a unique voice

and a show were everything works from sound to lights. There might be slight differences in

Axl’s voice from 2010 to 2013, but it is like comparing the best champagne from one year to another;

it is still the best rock/pop voice there is at the moment.

[jimb0]

No, getting better and stronger every year. I

There might be slight differences in

Axl’s voice from 2010 to 2013, but it is like comparing the best champagne from one year to another;

it is still the best rock/pop voice there is at the moment.

Only a 'slight' difference from 2010-2013. I couldn't disagree with that statement more. One champagne to another? Are you serious.

Listen to the Crowd Roar at 4:20. OMFG!!!

Listen at 4:15. You want to say that this vocalist is the best pop / rock voice at the moment. LOL. Use You Illusions I guess. There is NO Comparison!

Edited August 25, 2013 by jimb0

[Dariablue]

He still sounded good for a lot of 2011. I was at Kansas City and the videos from that still hold up pretty well.

I was there too and I didn't think he sounded great at all. Although, some of the videos sounded better than live. Nighttrain was fairly good.

[bacardimayne]

Mostly terrible, sometimes bearable.

[Tom2112]

The couple of videos posted above actually sound pretty good. I had kind of given up watching the youtube videos as his voice seemed to only gte worse... I'm glad there's some rasp again.

I think he can't do 4 year tours anymore... that's a no brainer, he should do his world tour but split it up. he's killing his voice by over working it.

The above videos are the first evidence of some recovery in the vocal department... in general his voice has been off for the majority of the CD tour, especially on the televised performances, be it: no rasp, breathlessness, out of key... all of the above!

His voice is NOT that bad though... the reason we complain is that he's the only original member in the band and it sounds like he's half assing (I'm aware he does 3hr shows, and runs around etc, etc). I love the new guys but they are not enough of an attraction on their own merit... I want Axl to sing well too, not ok, but good. there's plenty of aging rockers still doing the rounds and they put him to shame *steven tyler, brian johnson, geddy lee, Sammy hagar* to name a few.

If the above videos are a sign of things to come I'd be pretty happy, I like his CD clean voice but I also love his gritty 'appetite / Illusions' voice, i'd rather a best of both worlds... but I'm aware he's 51 and he may not have it in him to give that much energy consistently on world tours.

[cheesecake]

His singing and voice in the vid by Sonofabitch above is cringeworthy. When I watched the vid last year during the Residency I didn't think it was as bad as I think it is now though, probably due to the excitement of them doing the Residency going on at the time.

[Tom2112]

I know most people are tired of waiting for his 2010 voice to come back and probably sick of watching YouTube videos where it's not there yet but it's not like anyone said these videos are perfect. They are just examples of small moments in concert this summer that Axl showed rasp or a more powerful voice on parts of songs he normally hasn't in the past 2 years. Nobody ever mentions how he sings the first 5 songs of every concert perfect for whatever reason.

There's just such little optimism here and maybe that's because of lack of music or having to watch the same YouTube videos over and over again, but it's exciting to hear Axl nail You're Crazy in the Brooklyn video. It's cool to hear paradise city have the rasp back in it. I wish his voice was more consistent but it's not. He's still doing great shows though, and I'm hoping these moments of rasp and power translate into something great for his voice down the line. I don't think it's fair to label his voice as dead though, clearly he's got more to give.

Nobody mentions him singing the first couple of songs perfectly because he usually doesn't. I haven't heard a good version of "Jungle" in a long time, 2006? chinese is always pretty good (but it's not a stretch for him to sing to be fair), brownstone is ok for the most part and so is it's so easy. the problem is that he's messing up the hits! If you don't sing Sweet child well even the guys and gals who don't really know GnR will notice. he hasn't sang sweet child well for a long time, probably 2006 again. there's a few old songs that it suits them to have the new clean rasp free vocal but sweet child is not one of them.

I agree with you that it's great to hear him nailing you're crazy, I too hope it's a sign of things to come. I want a new record in the not so distant future with Axls voice balancing somewhere between gravelly and clean. There's still hope, he's not that old that he can't still whip himself into performance shape... the age thing gets thrown around way to easily, lose the extra weight and most if not all of the vocal issues would be helped tremendously (obviously I don't know that as fact, but as a musician I know that a healthy body = a healthy musician /performance ability).

[IncitingChaos]

Well we agree on most things but I thought it was common knowledge that Axl is consistently good on the first few songs...especially welcome to the jungle. There's only a handful of bad WTTJ in the last 2 years.

I think paradise city and sweet child are big test for Axl. When I hear the whole song of each of these with rasp then there's something special happening. Until then it's fun to find moments of great vocal ability and I guess for others to find the poor moments. It's up to Axl to get consistent all we can do is criticize and hope for the best.

[The Real McCoy]

Axl sounds pretty damn good to me in all of the above posted videos.

[trqster]

Axl's still got strong clean vocals and the mighty rasp at his disposal (he turns it ON/OFF at will). I'm happy that there's still something 'special' there. Rock on Axl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5EQzaXeo-A

Edited August 26, 2013 by trqster

[Apollo]

I believe that Axl has found made some noticeable improvements on his vocal shape during the last summer shows, proving that he's still got a strong raspy voice when he wants to show it.

Agree? Some examples below...

Best Estranged performance (energetic and very strong vocals with rasp at times and a mighty 'raspy' end - first one I've heard since '92...)

Best Rocket Queen performance since Philly's 2012 with also a 'raspy' ending

I thought we weren't supposed to use youtube videos to judge Axl's voice?

That's been the mantra on here for years.

So if Axl's voice sounds good in a youtube video............that video can be used as a true example of Axl's voice.

But if Axl's voice sounds bad, then we can't use it, because it's obviously a bad cell phone recording.

Edited August 26, 2013 by Groghan

[Bansidhe]

Nobody mentions him singing the first couple of songs perfectly because he usually doesn't. I haven't heard a good version of "Jungle" in a long time, 2006? chinese is always pretty good (but it's not a stretch for him to sing to be fair), brownstone is ok for the most part and so is it's so easy. the problem is that he's messing up the hits! If you don't sing Sweet child well even the guys and gals who don't really know GnR will notice. he hasn't sang sweet child well for a long time, probably 2006 again. there's a few old songs that it suits them to have the new clean rasp free vocal but sweet child is not one of them.

Good one from 2010. Yes his voice is obviously a bit ragged but he gets the notes with a good blend of power and raspe and most importantly, it still sounds like Axl Rose.

Shame it's deteriorated so much in a relatively short space of time.

[volcano62]

Axl sounded amazing in Montreal and Quebec City

[rockerman]

I believe that Axl has found made some noticeable improvements on his vocal shape during the last summer shows, proving that he's still got a strong raspy voice when he wants to show it.

Agree? Some examples below...

Best Estranged performance (energetic and very strong vocals with rasp at times and a mighty 'raspy' end - first one I've heard since '92...)

Best Rocket Queen performance since Philly's 2012 with also a 'raspy' ending

The thing about Axls vocals is in his phrasing sometimes (reflection of his physical ability..out of breath approaching a part that needs the power)...to sing the classics you have to pour every ounce of energy into it...he gets to a point on some of these songs and backs off. Other times hes off in never never land on autopilot with some of them. In the estranged vid Im hearing ...he stays on pitch but he switches the gusto of the song into the mouthy kiddy voice...and for me that gets the job done and only that.He goes falsetto on much of the high note where as that was his normal voice with power behind it in the day.

[MrSoftie]

Axl's still got strong clean vocals and the mighty rasp at his disposal (he turns it ON/OFF at will). I'm happy that there's still something 'special' there. Rock on Axl!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_5EQzaXeo-A

I'm with you dude. If it's still there when he needs it, and the clean voice is so strong then I'm happy enough. Didn't like 2010's voice anyway, the rasp sounded forced and frankly painful.

Edited August 26, 2013 by MrSoftie

[Tom2112]

Nobody mentions him singing the first couple of songs perfectly because he usually doesn't. I haven't heard a good version of "Jungle" in a long time, 2006? chinese is always pretty good (but it's not a stretch for him to sing to be fair), brownstone is ok for the most part and so is it's so easy. the problem is that he's messing up the hits! If you don't sing Sweet child well even the guys and gals who don't really know GnR will notice. he hasn't sang sweet child well for a long time, probably 2006 again. there's a few old songs that it suits them to have the new clean rasp free vocal but sweet child is not one of them.

Good one from 2010. Yes his voice is obviously a bit ragged but he gets the notes with a good blend of power and raspe and most importantly, it still sounds like Axl Rose.

Shame it's deteriorated so much in a relatively short space of time.

Don't know man, certainly got some rasp going but he's totally sharp for a lot of the song. maybe he couldn't hear himself... it did look like a festival, and they're always a pain for sound.

[GNRmello77]

i don't think it is that bad at all, i mean it is not Always that good, but look at all the crap we get to hear these days this is still 100 times better and after freddie he is still the best singer ever (Steven Tyler is just something special what that man does on his 65th is rare)

[Jakey Styley]

Anyone who believes that Axl's voice is even acceptable- show some live 2013 videos to an average rock fan.

[RockerRoller]

yes it really is that fucking bad. just awful. go grab a random rock fan and play him that this i love clip or anything else from 2012 or whatever. its horrible. just straight shit.