Do you feel Snakepit could have been a worthy GN'R album?

[Rick Deckard]

As is well known,

After the end of the UYI tour, Slash, Gilby and Matt (with limited help from Duff and Izzy) began working on riffs and songs for the next GN'R album. By the LA Earthquake in late January 1994, the whole of Snakepit had been recorded as demos, and 14 fully fleshed out demos were presented to Axl and the rest of the band. While Duff had helped co-write one song, he and Axl both denied it, saying it was "too Southern Rock" for GN'R.

Slash went ahead and assembled a band consisting of himself, Eric Dover, Gilby, Mike Inez of Alice in Chains, Matt, Dizzy and Teddy ZigZag, and formally recorded the material in under a month in 1994. At this point, the story gets murky. Axl apparently changed his mind and decided he would be willing to work on three songs and develop them as GN'R songs; Slash at this point said, no, sorry, it's already recorded, too late. Axl got enraged and apparently a bit of a lengthy behind the scenes battle took place.

Slash claims Axl and his lawyers threatened a lawsuit against Slash, claiming that anything he wrote as a member of Guns N' Roses was a Guns N' Roses song and thus belonged to the band. Axl claims he had multi-hour conversations haggling over the material for months with Slash, and Slash told him he could use the material only if there were no alterations to it at all and to sing what he was told. Axl balked at this, and the Snakepit project went ahead, with the album finally being released in February 1995. It got mixed reviews, but went platinum.

Looking back, had Axl agreed to Slash's conditions, and the Snakepit material was released as is, with simply Axl singing the songs, do you think it would've been a worthy GN'R record?

[John Bonham]

Miser, I'm glad to see you back.

[arnold layne]

Definitely maybe.

[sweetness]

It would have been nothing like It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere, but if Axl, Slash, Duff, and Matt collaborated on an album with Slash playing in that zone he was in when he did Snakepit (in my opinion, his creative peak) it really could have been one BAD ASS Guns N' Roses album.

[ShadowOfTheWave]

Can't wait for another thread on the unfinished 1996 album.

[bacardimayne]

No. Most of the songs are filler trash, like the bad halves of the UYIs. The input of the other members wouldn't have changed the groundwork.

[bran]

no they were pretty bad.

[Silent Jay]

No.

[Chris 55]

Parts of it could have worked.

[D-GenerationX]

Absolutely not.

Axl may well be a crazy person, but not being impressed by that batch of songs was perfectly sound judgement.

[Nulla Lex Ink.]

Nah. Axl's heart wouldn't have been in it. Slash and Duff were doomed to eventually leave GN'R, that's just the way it is, and when they did, this album would have become the "One Hot Minute" of GN'R's discography. But who knows? Maybe if Axl had agreed to do it that way, Slash would have realized it wasn't a fit and said "Actually, sing it the way you want." But I don't know. I'd have to see which songs Slash actually showed Axl before I could say "Oh yeah, would've been a much better improvement if Axl sang this!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those three unrecorded/performed songs the ones Duff and Izzy wrote, one of which is "Down by the Ocean"? I have no idea where I read Duff and Izzy worked on three demos exactly, but I'm pretty sure I read it. God, the "What Could Have Beens" of this band are insane.

[wasted]

I think when you are that big you can have some shitty albums. It has a few good songs that could be played live for GNR. It would keep Slash happy for a tour. Maybe then he'd work with Axl on his songs?

[ZoSoRose]

I actually think it could have. It would have had to have the input of Axl and the gang, but it could have led to something GNR worthy for sure. Its a great album as is too, just not at the GNR level

[MEXzilla]

Not really but with Axls voice replacing that joke of a singer and also writing the lyrics, replacing that 5th grade mentality, it would have been better.

[realpoti]

Nah. Axl's heart wouldn't have been in it. Slash and Duff were doomed to eventually leave GN'R, that's just the way it is, and when they did, this album would have become the "One Hot Minute" of GN'R's discography. But who knows? Maybe if Axl had agreed to do it that way, Slash would have realized it wasn't a fit and said "Actually, sing it the way you want." But I don't know. I'd have to see which songs Slash actually showed Axl before I could say "Oh yeah, would've been a much better improvement if Axl sang this!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those three unrecorded/performed songs the ones Duff and Izzy wrote, one of which is "Down by the Ocean"? I have no idea where I read Duff and Izzy worked on three demos exactly, but I'm pretty sure I read it. God, the "What Could Have Beens" of this band are insane.

One Hot Minute is the only RHCP album I like. What is wrong with Navarro?

[DR DOOM]

I actually think it could have. It would have had to have the input of Axl and the gang, but it could have led to something GNR worthy for sure. Its a great album as is too, just not at the GNR level

Yeah, if it had Axl's vocal melodies (what if) plus Duff's bass I'm sure it could have been worthy, certainly better than TSI?

[SlashisGOD]

Beggars and Hangers On could have been a great GN'R song. A few other select songs could have worked well too. Now Ain't Life Grand on the other hand, that could have been a kick ass GN'R album. Slash's best post-GN'R work.

[Nulla Lex Ink.]

Nah. Axl's heart wouldn't have been in it. Slash and Duff were doomed to eventually leave GN'R, that's just the way it is, and when they did, this album would have become the "One Hot Minute" of GN'R's discography. But who knows? Maybe if Axl had agreed to do it that way, Slash would have realized it wasn't a fit and said "Actually, sing it the way you want." But I don't know. I'd have to see which songs Slash actually showed Axl before I could say "Oh yeah, would've been a much better improvement if Axl sang this!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those three unrecorded/performed songs the ones Duff and Izzy wrote, one of which is "Down by the Ocean"? I have no idea where I read Duff and Izzy worked on three demos exactly, but I'm pretty sure I read it. God, the "What Could Have Beens" of this band are insane.

One Hot Minute is the only RHCP album I like. What is wrong with Navarro?

I actually enjoyed One Hot Minute too. I just meant that after Slash and Duff left Axl would probably never play most of that material live again, like what Red Hot Chili Peppers did with that album, except for "Pea" I think. I think most people dislike Navarro because the musical direction of the album was so radically different from what came before it. I do admit that they changed rather quickly, but what's so bad about that? It's good to have a newer sound, and to be honest I could still clearly hear the roots in that album. I dunno, maybe it's just me, but I really wish he had stayed on a lot longer.

Sorry if that got a bit off topic, I kinda gush when I get to talking about stuff like that. But anyways, to clarify what I was saying, I think that if they had got together and recorded it with Axl recording it as he was told, they would have played the material for a few years, and once the rest of the band had moved on or been fired, Axl would have quit performing most or all of the songs off the record altogether. I know he still performs songs done with the old band, but he had a hand in that stuff at least. From what I understand, the Snakepit stuff was without his involvement, but then again, he did come back later and say he'd like to do it, so I don't know, maybe he'd have kept doing it.

Also, can somebody please tell me what the 1996 album was? Like, was that just a few songs they toyed with or wrote, or did they really record an entire album only to scrap it later on?

[tinyrobot]

Why should Axl sing it as "he was told"? Is he Slash employee?

I can't imagine Axl singing lyrics he didn't write or singing as "he is told". What the fuck is that? Utter lack of respect on a performer like Axl.

Haven't heard the Snakepit but I'm sure it sucks.

[supercool]

Both albums are awesome

[Hollywood Zombie]

I think

neither can I

Baggers

Take it away

Serial killer

And landslide would have fit Axl.

Also

Set me free

[Rick Deckard]

Nah. Axl's heart wouldn't have been in it. Slash and Duff were doomed to eventually leave GN'R, that's just the way it is, and when they did, this album would have become the "One Hot Minute" of GN'R's discography. But who knows? Maybe if Axl had agreed to do it that way, Slash would have realized it wasn't a fit and said "Actually, sing it the way you want." But I don't know. I'd have to see which songs Slash actually showed Axl before I could say "Oh yeah, would've been a much better improvement if Axl sang this!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those three unrecorded/performed songs the ones Duff and Izzy wrote, one of which is "Down by the Ocean"? I have no idea where I read Duff and Izzy worked on three demos exactly, but I'm pretty sure I read it. God, the "What Could Have Beens" of this band are insane.

Izzy co-wrote one song on Snakepit and Duff co-wrote another.

The "Down By The Ocean" sessions were AFTER Snakepit was released, in April 1995.

Izzy came back twice to GN'R--Sporadically throughout 1995, (including the full week where he and Duff wrote a dozen songs in April '95) and then, for several weeks with the whole band in the summer of 1996 (according to Marc Canter).

Nah. Axl's heart wouldn't have been in it. Slash and Duff were doomed to eventually leave GN'R, that's just the way it is, and when they did, this album would have become the "One Hot Minute" of GN'R's discography. But who knows? Maybe if Axl had agreed to do it that way, Slash would have realized it wasn't a fit and said "Actually, sing it the way you want." But I don't know. I'd have to see which songs Slash actually showed Axl before I could say "Oh yeah, would've been a much better improvement if Axl sang this!"

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't those three unrecorded/performed songs the ones Duff and Izzy wrote, one of which is "Down by the Ocean"? I have no idea where I read Duff and Izzy worked on three demos exactly, but I'm pretty sure I read it. God, the "What Could Have Beens" of this band are insane.

One Hot Minute is the only RHCP album I like. What is wrong with Navarro?

Also, can somebody please tell me what the 1996 album was? Like, was that just a few songs they toyed with or wrote, or did they really record an entire album only to scrap it later on?

1996 album was a half finished album that was blues based in sound yet mostly Axl's material. It was described as having a sound in between AFD and UYI, but with a groove, and Duff said there was to be 12 4-minute long rock songs (no ballads). Axl described it's sound as basically a modern day Aerosmith Rocks. According to Matt, the band had 7 songs done as of summer 1996 and were going to write 7 others. The album was set to be released in 1997 but Slash's exit led to the project being shelved. There was a ton of stuff written but who knows how far they got? Slash said in an August '96 interview to MTV that between himself, Duff, and Axl, the band had written around 80 new songs.

Fun fact: Dave Navarro was the first choice to replace Izzy, before Gilby. Axl desperately wanted him in GN'R, and he was asked to join, but never showed up to audition (he had a terrible heroin habit at the time), and so Gilby was a last minute compromise given his history with and similarity to Izzy.

Edited June 6, 2014 by Rick Deckard

[Free Bird]

Even if the first Snakepit is a great album, it's nothing like GNR. I don't think Axl's voice would have changed that.

But if Slash had agreed back than to let the whole band work on his ideas and Axl to write new lyrics and melodies, it could have been an awesome GNR album full of kick ass rock tunes with some middle tempo tunes in it like Beggars and Back and Forth Again (which include some of Slash's best solos EVER, not only post GNR!)

Edited June 6, 2014 by Free Bird

[Jakey Styley]

Too little Axl input for it to be GNR to me.

[Lies They Tell]

It's just like Axl said. The songs had some potential, but needed more work.