ITG Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 I'll tell you, the most depressing thing of all was hearing Axl's mickey mouse voice. I actually didn't know about it until maybe 2006. It was a terrible shock for me. I never thought someone who had such a powerful, intimidating voice could sound so...let's be polite...weak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
classicguns4life Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 I was unfortunately not that surprised. He took an 8 year break and as one would expect, his voice suffered because of it. Its why he can't sing anywhere near his former glory, as opposed to someone like James Hetfield who does a pretty good job in that department (and I'm not a Metallica fan). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chunder Monkey Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 The thing I find odd about it is that he changes.If it had been weak since 2000 onwards I would assume he'd just destroyed his voice on the UYI tour.However in 2002 there's moments where he does power screams in Live and Let Die...even though generally he was using a rasp-less tone for nearly the whole show. Then in 2006-09 there's a lot of instances of classic power and rasp going on - the jungle intros and often on nightrain.So it was pretty surprising to me that in the last few years he's sort of mellowed out a bit closer to 2002 again.I'd put it down to age and damage except it does seem inconsistent with some of the 2006-9 shows which arn't all that long ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chewbacca Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 The "oh god why?" guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gordon Comstock Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 (edited) He was clearly going for an entirely different style in the early '00s with his clean voice, but it's almost like he never fully committed to it. There were a few times where he found that sweet spot where he could sing clean and still sound like his old self (The Blues from Boston '02 comes to mind). I read that his vocal coach around 2002 was from an opera background, trained opera singers and shit, but can't remember his name.Since '11 though, he seems like he's been able to switch from clean/rasp whenever he wants, but his clean voice has deteriorated. Say whatever you want about his '02 voice, but if nothing else at least there was some power behind it, now there's not nearly as much. His pronunciation with the "mickey" voice is also really bad, I think that's actually why he sounds so weak when he sings that way is because he doesn't even pronounce the words the same way. "Now we all know Better!!" vs "Now we all, n'Betta!!". Little things like that are annoying, especially when he does it through-out a whole show....My first reaction to his clean voice wasn't that bad though, cuz the first I heard of it was the new songs from Rio 3. It's when I heard the rest of the Rio gig that I thought "wtf!?" Edited November 14, 2013 by RickRoses Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sweetness Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 how the mighty have fallen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
saber_ Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 For most true fans, we noticed in 2001. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 You didn't know about it until 2006? From 2006-2010 he was every bit as vocally capable as he ever was, there's bucketloads of video evidence of him putting in amazing vocal performances from those years...When I heard him struggling in 2011 it saddened me a bit. because while he returned fully to form after 2001, there's no guarantee that he'll get it back this time. We'll just have to wait and see, and hope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johnny Drama Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 "Why can't he give more of a shit?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasted Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 To me its akways been there even in the 90s. Thwy do big shows, nobody really attempts the range or length of shows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ITG Posted November 14, 2013 Author Share Posted November 14, 2013 You didn't know about it until 2006? From 2006-2010 he was every bit as vocally capable as he ever was, there's bucketloads of video evidence of him putting in amazing vocal performances from those years...When I heard him struggling in 2011 it saddened me a bit. because while he returned fully to form after 2001, there's no guarantee that he'll get it back this time. We'll just have to wait and see, and hope.I really didn't an interest in hearing the new band. At most I might have heard him sing a few seconds but not enough to get a feel for what he was singing. I never watched the actual MTV thing live. It wasn't until YouTube that I saw and heard the 2001/2002 concert footage. My mind was blown. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom2112 Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 "what the fuck is going on!?" that's what i thought when I heard it first (02... I didn't have any internet in 01... for shame!!!) and then in 06 I saw them for the first time and was blown away by how good he sounded. I can get over the rasp not being there all the time, what I cannot accept is breathlessness/gasping and cutting held notes short, he can do it still he just has to try a little harder - that might seem tough but, Singing is his job just like playing guitar is mine... If I show up for a gig and I can't pull off the tracks I know I have to work on it for the next gig and that it's unprofessional (unless it's a song sprung on you there and then)... I also have people that will call me on it (don't think Axl has that). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nosaj Thing Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 What the fuck happened to Axl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graeme Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 You didn't know about it until 2006? From 2006-2010 he was every bit as vocally capable as he ever was, there's bucketloads of video evidence of him putting in amazing vocal performances from those years...When I heard him struggling in 2011 it saddened me a bit. because while he returned fully to form after 2001, there's no guarantee that he'll get it back this time. We'll just have to wait and see, and hope.I really didn't an interest in hearing the new band. At most I might have heard him sing a few seconds but not enough to get a feel for what he was singing. I never watched the actual MTV thing live. It wasn't until YouTube that I saw and heard the 2001/2002 concert footage. My mind was blown.Have you at least watched some of the great stuff from '06-'10? There's a lot of good viewing from those years to be honest, I don't see why anyone would waste too much time with '01-'02 other than Buckethead's guitar playing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tippin Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 (edited) '01-'06 I had pretty much given up hope that he'd ever sound the same..then came '06..He was in shape, looked like a rock star, and sounded damn near how he did in his heyday..the next 4 yes were great for the most part..then '11 just crushed all hope again..now, to be honest, I don't think well see it again..Keysee Soze style.. Edited November 14, 2013 by tippin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chainsforalice Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 2013 has been pretty great tbh, live show i went to he was in top form Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColdHeartBreaker Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 It was a shame but there were points where he turned it into a great thing, just listen to The Blues from Rock in Rio if you don't believe me. To me, he was still the most exciting rock star around with an amazing voice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ohlovelyrita Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 The shows I saw the voice was there. If I saw a show where a couple songs are not as strong, I would still be satisfied with the show as a whole.I wonder if Axl ever had to get his vocal chords shaved. I understand Freddy Mercury had a lot of polyps and didn't sing the high notesin the second half of his career. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lies They Tell Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 The first time I was disappointed with Axl's voice was actually the first time i heard him sing live which was on the Lies album. It was only later that I found out that he actually sounds pretty good live sometimes. So the way he sounded on the VMA:s wasn't really that much of a shock to me. The look of the band was much more unsettling. He's proven time and time again that he's still got it, so I'm not really all that concerned about his voice honestly. Especially in 2010 he sounded incredible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulMonster Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 I'll tell you, the most depressing thing of all was hearing Axl's mickey mouse voice. I actually didn't know about it until maybe 2006. It was a terrible shock for me. I never thought someone who had such a powerful, intimidating voice could sound so...let's be polite...weak?To me it was the grating sounds he produced in the 90's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alfierose Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 In my early morning state I read the title as Axl's weekend voice and was about to remark I didn't know he had one. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trqster Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 (edited) Late '06 was imo the golden era for Axl's vocals - he could hit whatever notes he wanted and use controlled rasp (without screaming) pretty much everywhere he decided to.Best show from that era - LA (with Izzy as a guest). SCOM and NR with full rasp! Edited November 14, 2013 by trqster Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
November_rain Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 The voice is a muscle and I´ve heard that the results depend on how you work/train it. I don´t know, I´m not a singer but I don´t think he´s lost his voice, I think it depends more on the day because it´s not like he always sings "weak", as you call it. Some shows are better than others and sometimes he sings better and sometimes he doesn´t. Even in the old days he wasn´t perfect in all the shows. I guess alcohol, cigs and lack of sleep didn´t help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J Dog Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 (edited) Dude is 50 and has been hitting crazy notes for 25 years, some weakness is expected at this point in his life I think. Edited November 14, 2013 by J Dog 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussTCB Posted November 14, 2013 Share Posted November 14, 2013 Dude is 50 and has been hitting crazy notes for 25 years, some weakness is expected at this point in his life I think.I think a lot of people never stop to think about stuff like this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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