Is Axl a good writer on his own?

[YOUCOULDBEMINE.]

Go figure, none of the post Illusions songs would have made any of the first 4 albums, objectivly.

Actually, yes they would. I'm not a huge fan of CD but some of those tracks could easily replace some songs on UYI.

Edited June 12, 2014 by UcudBmine

[Terzyo]

Axl is a great ballad writer, but i prefer Izzy or Slash to write rapids songs.

[Yesterdays-Civil-War]

I could never quite understand the stigma of how Axl was a bad songwriter, because I've yet to find one who is better.

John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits...in the field of like, 'big names', in terms of songwriter, Axl is somewhere near the bottom for me.

Out of interest though, what about the lyrics you posted make you think that they are evidence of Axl being an exceptional songwriter? Seemed kinda trite to me, just sayin'.

Coincidentally, the artists you've listed wouldn't even come close to the top of my list. (Maybe with the exception of Lennon, but I'd have to sit down and think for a while).

I don't know exactly how to answer your question. I don't think there is really any way to. You could post some Dylan lyrics, and I could ask you the same question. We are dealing with a very subjective subject matter; there's no evidence per se to support point A or B.

Axl's an exceptional songwriter, to me, for the same reason I imagine the artists you listed are to you. I am attracted to how Axl writes and sings a story. His rhyming patterns, his distortions of certain words--all genius to me--and I'm no stranger to poetry. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like Axl and I are parallel characters in the same book. It's kinda hard for me to get my rocks off to Lennon's Imagine, while I might agree with his message, it doesn't hit me. Estranged hits me; it's my life on display. It's everything I had ever felt at one point in time just thrown into song.

The only thing I find trite about Axl's lyrics is in AFD, and Axl on some level would agree with that. He spent years trying to get away from it, there were more important matters to write about than booze and loose women. The Illusions records show a departure from that a great deal, and CD there's virtually no trace of it.

To wrap this up, I guess at the end of the day Axl is just the guy for me.

[Lio]

I could never quite understand the stigma of how Axl was a bad songwriter, because I've yet to find one who is better.

John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits...in the field of like, 'big names', in terms of songwriter, Axl is somewhere near the bottom for me.

Out of interest though, what about the lyrics you posted make you think that they are evidence of Axl being an exceptional songwriter? Seemed kinda trite to me, just sayin'.

Coincidentally, the artists you've listed wouldn't even come close to the top of my list. (Maybe with the exception of Lennon, but I'd have to sit down and think for a while).

I don't know exactly how to answer your question. I don't think there is really any way to. You could post some Dylan lyrics, and I could ask you the same question. We are dealing with a very subjective subject matter; there's no evidence per se to support point A or B.

Axl's an exceptional songwriter, to me, for the same reason I imagine the artists you listed are to you. I am attracted to how Axl writes and sings a story. His rhyming patterns, his distortions of certain words--all genius to me--and I'm no stranger to poetry. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like Axl and I are parallel characters in the same book. It's kinda hard for me to get my rocks off to Lennon's Imagine, while I might agree with his message, it doesn't hit me. Estranged hits me; it's my life on display. It's everything I had ever felt at one point in time just thrown into song.

The only thing I find trite about Axl's lyrics is in AFD, and Axl on some level would agree with that. He spent years trying to get away from it, there were more important matters to write about than booze and loose women. The Illusions records show a departure from that a great deal, and CD there's virtually no trace of it.

To wrap this up, I guess at the end of the day Axl is just the guy for me.

This. Thanks for this post. I can't possibly word it any better than you.

[DannyVinyard]

Didn't Axl pass out writing Coma? Estranged, November Rain, Coma, and There Was a Time...some of the best written songs ever.

[Babooshka]

When people heralded him as one of the greatest, what body of work are you even basing that on? He's not a Dylan, who writes stuff by himself. He didn't even write all the lyrics on Afd, so you can't hold that up as a shining example. I think he's overrated.

[DannyVinyard]

Well I think Dylan is overrated, cause he is super boring.

[magisme]

He's talented, but he has no internal quality control meter. He needs people to guide him and complement him.

[45miles]

I'll admit the lyrics on CD disappointed me a little because they seem so measured or "perfected." For the most part, they seem to be purposely left open to multiple interpretations. It's probably a sign of better writing, but the thing I loved about the Illusions was the way the lyrics were so dense: there weren't a whole lot of possible meanings. I know the lyrics weren't all Axl's, but it did seem like he was just pouring everything in his head out at times and spelling his emotions and thoughts out in the clearest, most passionate way.

I loved that as a frustrated teenager, and I still respond to it now.

[magisme]

Axl has turned into a bad lyricist, imo. No way around it. Isolating yourself for a decade can do things to you.

[Nosaj Thing]

Axl has turned into a bad lyricist, imo. No way around it. Isolating yourself for a decade can do things to you.

Nah. It was because Slash, Duff and Stephanie bullied him during the UYI tour. They called poor little Axl an idiot so he couldn't write for years!

I agree though, he's turned into a bad lyricist. Lyrics on CD are terrible.

[Guest Len B'stard]

I could never quite understand the stigma of how Axl was a bad songwriter, because I've yet to find one who is better.

John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits...in the field of like, 'big names', in terms of songwriter, Axl is somewhere near the bottom for me.

Out of interest though, what about the lyrics you posted make you think that they are evidence of Axl being an exceptional songwriter? Seemed kinda trite to me, just sayin'.

Coincidentally, the artists you've listed wouldn't even come close to the top of my list. (Maybe with the exception of Lennon, but I'd have to sit down and think for a while).

I don't know exactly how to answer your question. I don't think there is really any way to. You could post some Dylan lyrics, and I could ask you the same question. We are dealing with a very subjective subject matter; there's no evidence per se to support point A or B.

Axl's an exceptional songwriter, to me, for the same reason I imagine the artists you listed are to you. I am attracted to how Axl writes and sings a story. His rhyming patterns, his distortions of certain words--all genius to me--and I'm no stranger to poetry. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like Axl and I are parallel characters in the same book. It's kinda hard for me to get my rocks off to Lennon's Imagine, while I might agree with his message, it doesn't hit me. Estranged hits me; it's my life on display. It's everything I had ever felt at one point in time just thrown into song.

The only thing I find trite about Axl's lyrics is in AFD, and Axl on some level would agree with that. He spent years trying to get away from it, there were more important matters to write about than booze and loose women. The Illusions records show a departure from that a great deal, and CD there's virtually no trace of it.

To wrap this up, I guess at the end of the day Axl is just the guy for me.

So its significantly to do with the way he sings as opposed to like, his writing or...?

[Yesterdays-Civil-War]

I could never quite understand the stigma of how Axl was a bad songwriter, because I've yet to find one who is better.

John Lennon, Joe Strummer, Harry Nilsson, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits...in the field of like, 'big names', in terms of songwriter, Axl is somewhere near the bottom for me.

Out of interest though, what about the lyrics you posted make you think that they are evidence of Axl being an exceptional songwriter? Seemed kinda trite to me, just sayin'.

Coincidentally, the artists you've listed wouldn't even come close to the top of my list. (Maybe with the exception of Lennon, but I'd have to sit down and think for a while).

I don't know exactly how to answer your question. I don't think there is really any way to. You could post some Dylan lyrics, and I could ask you the same question. We are dealing with a very subjective subject matter; there's no evidence per se to support point A or B.

Axl's an exceptional songwriter, to me, for the same reason I imagine the artists you listed are to you. I am attracted to how Axl writes and sings a story. His rhyming patterns, his distortions of certain words--all genius to me--and I'm no stranger to poetry. As I mentioned earlier, I feel like Axl and I are parallel characters in the same book. It's kinda hard for me to get my rocks off to Lennon's Imagine, while I might agree with his message, it doesn't hit me. Estranged hits me; it's my life on display. It's everything I had ever felt at one point in time just thrown into song.

The only thing I find trite about Axl's lyrics is in AFD, and Axl on some level would agree with that. He spent years trying to get away from it, there were more important matters to write about than booze and loose women. The Illusions records show a departure from that a great deal, and CD there's virtually no trace of it.

To wrap this up, I guess at the end of the day Axl is just the guy for me.

So its significantly to do with the way he sings as opposed to like, his writing or...?

It's as if you didn't even read my first two posts.

[Guest Len B'stard]

I didnt, just this one here replying to me, at any rate i was attempting to ascertain which aspect you felt was his strong point.

[Russel Nash]

Yes he is but not as good as Kanye West.....

[wasted]

CD proved to me that although I like Izzy song and Slashs guitar I'm more fascinated by Axls songwriting. Something like Catcher is the real deal.

[SlashisGOD]

He's ok. In my view, Slash's guitar really made Axl's songs stand out. The perfect example of this is CD. Had Slash been on there, holy hell some of those songs would have been absolute masterpieces.

[estrangedtwat]

'Estranged' is awesome, but what is is without the guitar parts? We've all heard that original instrumental piano demo.

Slash got jobbed on a writing credit, in my view.

You mean the cover recorded by a fan in 2003?

[wasted]

Slash has never written a GNR song?

[D-GenerationX]

'Estranged' is awesome, but what is is without the guitar parts? We've all heard that original instrumental piano demo.

Slash got jobbed on a writing credit, in my view.

You mean the cover recorded by a fan in 2003?

No, I don't know what that is.

[estrangedtwat]

http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?/topic/207679-estranged-axl-rose-piano-demo/

[Crash Diet]

http://www.mygnrforum.com/index.php?/topic/207679-estranged-axl-rose-piano-demo/

That is a fake one

[SoulMonster]

To me he is a good composer on his own.

[SR_GR]

To me many of the melodies on CD sound like they were composed by Axl. When you

just listen to the melody like this one and the lyrics, I think it is quite brilliant. One can have

many opinions about how the song was developed or produced from this, but the original

spark is classic material. I would like to hear Axl do this with a soft voice and acoustic

instruments:

Naturally the old hits like NR and SCOM are hits because they are exceptionally good and Axl

was the main engine behind them.

[Guest Sleeping Like An Angel]

Yeah I like his work but he definitely works best with Slash and Izzy - vice versa too. They all need each other to get to their best.

Edited June 12, 2014 by Sleeping Like An Angel