What was Axl's vision for newGn'R?

[seagullview]

This is being referred to in so many posts it would be nice to clear it up. So what was his vision? Did he say so directly what it was or are people putting words in his mouth?

Not saying he didn't have a vision or that he haven't said anything about it, just curious as to precisely what it was

[Bono]

Who knows but I think it boils down to not wanting to be a classic rock band who made kick ass rock n roll songs anymore. I think he was so afraid of being pigeon holed as a rock band that he tried so hard to become something GnR wasn't. he had the most kickass rock n roll band ever and he just wanted to go different routes. He wanted to be Elton John,.Queen, Nine Inch nails, probably wanted to do a rap album and maybe collaborate with more alternative acts too. I don't think there was ever a specific vision other than to be anything other than what GnR was.

[Ragnar]

He should have started a new side project where he could experiment whatever the fuck sound he wanted with like Maynard does in " Puscifer". Then he should have gone back to Guns` but you can`t ask from Axl to do something normal.

Edited March 27, 2015 by Ragnar

[Nosaj Thing]

Who knows. All I know is that he failed miserably.

[SoulMonster]

Who knows but I think it boils down to not wanting to be a classic rock band who made kick ass rock n roll songs anymore. I think he was so afraid of being pigeon holed as a rock band that he tried so hard to become something GnR wasn't. he had the most kickass rock n roll band ever and he just wanted to go different routes. He wanted to be Elton John,.Queen, Nine Inch nails, probably wanted to do a rap album and maybe collaborate with more alternative acts too. I don't think there was ever a specific vision other than to be anything other than what GnR was.

Axl always wanted to branch out into new musical territories. He didn't want to be pigeon-holed based on Appetite. He talked about these ideas before Appetite was released, I just don't know if his band mates took him seriously or realized how intent Axl was on progressing GN'R beyond the sleazy rock of Appetite.

Axl: We’ve got our progressions already planned out. How we’re going to grow. This record’s going to sound like a showcase. I sing in, like, five or six different voices, so not one song is quite like another, even if they’re all hard rock. In the last year I’ve spent over thirteen hundred dollars on cassettes, everything from Slayer to Wham! – to listen to production, vocals, melodies, this and that.

Axl: With this particular album, Appetite for Destruction, we wanted to put the rock and roll out first, the hard stuff out first [interview after show, October 1987].

Axl: There will be a lot of variation on the next records, all kinds of material. We don't want to give up the hard stuff, but we will venture into all kinds of material territories [interview after show, October 1987].

As for his vision for "new GN'R":

I believe when he decided to continue with the band despite the gradual dissolution of the UYI lineup, he wanted to do it right, not a weak attempt, but an attempt to really show that GN'R was more than Appetite and more than "just" the UYI lineup. He wanted to realize the vision he had all along, and spent quite a lot of time to put together a new lineup that could realize his artistic ideas. Unfortunately, to a large extent due to himself, this lineup fell apart, too, before he had done what he wanted, and right now, I believe, he is a bit disillusioned by it all and don't really know what to do or what he can bare doing.

Edited March 27, 2015 by SoulMonster

[wasted]

Grow or die.

[Rovim]

[Crowebar]

Whatever his vision is, I wish he'd hurry up and get on with it. I don't ever want to see Axl go out with a wimper... Like a chump... I want the dude to say fuck it and just start opening the floodgates with new music...

[Silent Jay]

yep...

Edited March 27, 2015 by Silent Jay

[wasted]

Seeing as the lyrics seem so personal to Axl I always wonder how much he has to say outside of just endless hardrives of riffs. CD had a specific reason to exist and CD II have similar theme. So I think it's not about just putting out cds of rock music. Axl has something to say and wants to express it the best he can. My guess is that limits what he puts out. He's got songs he wants to put out but maybe not like unlimited amount.

Edited March 28, 2015 by wasted

[ludurigan]

This is being referred to in so many posts it would be nice to clear it up. So what was his vision? Did he say so directly what it was or are people putting words in his mouth?

Not saying he didn't have a vision or that he haven't said anything about it, just curious as to precisely what it was

vision?

are you kidding me?

[Lies They Tell]

Well here's Axl's own words:

"Rose: I origianlly wanted to make a traditional record or try to get back to an "Apeetite (For Destruction)" thing or something, because that would have been a lot easier for me to do. I was involved in a lot of lawsuits for Guns N' Roses and in my own personal life, so I didn't have a lot of time to try and develop a new style or re-invent myself, so I was hoping to write a traditional thing, but I was not realy allowed to do that.

Loder: What prevented you from doing, like a traditional rock record?

Rose: Slash.

Loder: (Laughs) But you could have found another guitar player or something, right?

Rose: Well not really... Not to make a true Guns record. It's kind of like, I don't know, if you know somebody has a relationship, and there's difficulties in that, and Mr or Mrs. Right doesn't kind of just stumble into their path, or they don't stumble across that person, they can't really get on with things. Somebody didn't come into my radar that would have really replaces Slash in a proper way."

So according to Axl he didn't really want to re-invent GNR, but he didn't really have a choice, cause he couldn't find anyone who could replace Slash. So he had to take GNR into a new direction with the guitarists that he could find. Whether people like it or not, I guess in Axl's opinion Ashba is someone who could replace Slash and that's why it seems like their going back to their sleazier rock n' roll roots. It's not that Axl would have abandoned his vision. This was his original vision, but he didn't have Ashba back then and that's why we got the industrial sounding GNR.

[Rovim]

Ashba was the missing piece all along.

[jbhutto]

Oh geez.

[wasted]

Dj has been writing classic GNR songs just in case.

[pockets]

axl's vision for nu gnr is a FAILED one - pockets

[DieselDaisy]

"Rose: I origianlly wanted to make a traditional record or try to get back to an "Apeetite (For Destruction)" thing or something, because that would have been a lot easier for me to do. I was involved in a lot of lawsuits for Guns N' Roses and in my own personal life, so I didn't have a lot of time to try and develop a new style or re-invent myself, so I was hoping to write a traditional thing, but I was not realy allowed to do that.

Loder: What prevented you from doing, like a traditional rock record?

Rose: Slash.

This whole passage makes no sense whatsoever considering it is Slash, with the five o' clock thing, that wanted to make the traditional record and Axl who wanted to imitate NIN. This is confirmed in the fact that Chinese Democracy sounds nothing like a 'traditional rock record'.

If Axl wanted to do a traditional thing back then, then he had potentially the greatest ally in Slash. Of course, nothing like this took place.

Edited March 28, 2015 by DieselDaisy

[magisme]

Axl's vision was to show that he wins, that he's the artist, that he's GNR. That all failed so now he just has visions of cash money.

[DieselDaisy]

Visions of, burgers.

[Bards]

[magisme]

"The truth is, they didn't want to be here for you at this level. They didn't want to take it farther," says a Strahan jersey and cornrows wearing Axl to a half empty arena in Albany in 2002 just before butchering another song written 1986.

[niceguy]

Axl's vision was to show that he wins, that he's the artist, that he's GNR. That all failed so now he just has visions of cash money.

Well just read that love letter from Doug Goldstein, where Doug dangles the idea of Axl raking in $10-20million by giving his name to Rose Fest and just sitting at home in Malibu eating burgers while beta lights candles.

You're not far off the mark.

[Słash]

Im having a feeling that Sixes will post Dee Snider knows what is Axl's Vision

[Nosaj Thing]

"The truth is, they didn't want to be here for you at this level. They didn't want to take it farther," says a Strahan jersey and cornrows wearing Axl to a half empty arena in Albany in 2002 just before butchering another song written 1986.

Well said.

Poor Axl all bitter and full of anger let his vision slip away.

[Iron MikeyJ]

Well here's Axl's own words:

"Rose: I origianlly wanted to make a traditional record or try to get back to an "Apeetite (For Destruction)" thing or something, because that would have been a lot easier for me to do. I was involved in a lot of lawsuits for Guns N' Roses and in my own personal life, so I didn't have a lot of time to try and develop a new style or re-invent myself, so I was hoping to write a traditional thing, but I was not realy allowed to do that.

Loder: What prevented you from doing, like a traditional rock record?

Rose: Slash.

Loder: (Laughs) But you could have found another guitar player or something, right?

Rose: Well not really... Not to make a true Guns record. It's kind of like, I don't know, if you know somebody has a relationship, and there's difficulties in that, and Mr or Mrs. Right doesn't kind of just stumble into their path, or they don't stumble across that person, they can't really get on with things. Somebody didn't come into my radar that would have really replaces Slash in a proper way."

So according to Axl he didn't really want to re-invent GNR, but he didn't really have a choice, cause he couldn't find anyone who could replace Slash. So he had to take GNR into a new direction with the guitarists that he could find. Whether people like it or not, I guess in Axl's opinion Ashba is someone who could replace Slash and that's why it seems like their going back to their sleazier rock n' roll roots. It's not that Axl would have abandoned his vision. This was his original vision, but he didn't have Ashba back then and that's why we got the industrial sounding GNR.

I do believe this to be true, Axl did want to make a "classic" sounding record in or around 1995/6. Before that I do think he wanted to do his Chinese Demorcay thing, but due to his personal life at the time, I do think he shelved that idea and wanted to do something easier, like a blues rock album. But the problem wasn't Slash, nor was it Axl, it was the lack of communication going on between the two of them at that time. Slash came to Axl probably in 1994, and showed him the songs he was working on, but at that time Axl was thinking grander scope type things. Which he probably didn't dislike those songs, he just wasn't feeling them at the moment. But sometime after that, Axl probably decided to just do the album Slash wants to do (he did make grand efforts like that towards Slash) but by that time Slash already took those songs and did Snake pit. So then Axl was probably like fuck it then.

That is why I feel they are both very much to blame for the downfall of gnr. Axl changes his mind so much and is very slow moving. While Slash wants to make an album and tour every year, and he doesn't seem to care with who, just as ling as he is playing. He seems like a guy that can't sit still for very long, while Axl is a guy that takes forever to move. So it's a very yin and yang type thing, But that's why they were so great together, they balance each other out. They just needed to really sit down and talk about these things, but I don't think they ever did. Slash went out and did his own thing, because he can't sit still. And Axl got all pussy because Slash was never around anymore, so the ball rolled out of control...

Edited March 28, 2015 by Iron MikeyJ