What do you think of Axl Rose as a songwriter?

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

One of the greats? Too little output stretched over too many years to be deserving of the acclaim he gets?

I get chills during the ending lyrics to Coma (especially after hearing the story of how he wrote that part)

I LOVE the reference to the classic AFD track during that verse:

"It's so easy" to be social
"It's so easy" to be cool

[mizzystar]

I think he is a great songwriter!

[tberrie007]

i think axl has a great way of expression through words...as a song writer, simplicity is often the key to success ( insert CD over produced/mixed/layered comment here) pick almost any song of appetite and the illusions and listen to the chorus of most of them....simple, repetitive and emotional

[Jakey Styley]

Are we just talking lyricism?

[niceguy]

He's a superb songwriter.

But, he functions best as a collaborator, not an auteur.

[IncitingChaos]

He's great! But not that good on CD. His earlier stuff is really good. I think when you are in an element and writing well that you should just keep writing bc once your moment is gone it's hard to be in that mindset, that drove those brilliant lyrics.

[Bono]

I think he can be great but he needs help from the right people. He's not "Great" on his own. I can fully amit the ideas are there on Chinese Democracy but the execution is horrible. If Axl had surrounded himself with complimentary musicians and not just "all stars" CD could've beena great album. Instead Axl wantd full control and it had a negative impact on the album. I mean can anyone seriously sit there and say that CD would not have been infinitely better had Axl brought these ideas to Slash and co and allowed them to work on them and mold them? Axl has great ideas but he needs the proper help bringing them to fruition.

[Swedish]

I get chills during the ending lyrics to Coma (especially after hearing the story of how he wrote that part)

I LOVE the reference to the classic AFD track during that verse:

"It's so easy" to be social

"It's so easy" to be cool

What is the story?

[DieselDaisy]

Not prolific. The truly great songwriters compiled an extensive body of work.

[bacardimayne]

The greats are Lennon, McCartney and such. Axl is nowhere near those.

[DieselDaisy]

Lennon/McCartney? Axl is not even close to Richard Starkey.

[double talkin jive mfkr]

lennon is by far the best far and above everyone

then jim morrison/robby krieger

then robert plant

then maybe axl

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

I get chills during the ending lyrics to Coma (especially after hearing the story of how he wrote that part)

I LOVE the reference to the classic AFD track during that verse:

"It's so easy" to be social

"It's so easy" to be cool

What is the story?

Axl had a difficult time thinking exactly how to do the song and the ending part just came out in a few hours one day. His overdose on drugs helped shape the tone of the lyrics. here are some quotes from Axl about it:

"I tried to write that song for a year, and couldn't. I went to write it at the studio and passed out. I woke up two hours later and sat down and wrote the whole end of the song, like, just off the top of my head. It was like, don't even know what's coming out, man, but it's coming. I think one of the best things that I've ever written was maybe the end segment of the song "Coma." It just poured out."

This is definately one of GnR's heaviest songs, perhaps even the heaviest. Axl really hated Slash for writing this music (Slash wrote the music, Axl wrote the lyrics), cause it was hard to write lyrics to this music.

^^^^ I don't have a source for these quotes but I've seen these remarks from Axl and this story passed around the internet quite a bit

This is from an interview with MTV:

A little over 10 minutes long, this is the closing track on Use Your Illusion I. It's credited to Axl Rose and Slash, but Axl described it as Slash's "baby" in an interview with MTV. Axl said he wrote the song about when he overdosed, which he says was brought on by stress. "I just grabbed this bottle of pills in an argument and gulped them down," he said. "I ended up in a hospital, but I liked that I wasn't in the fight anymore. My first real thoughts were, 'you haven't toured enough, the record's going to be forgotten, you have work to do, get out of this,' and I woke myself out of it. But in describing that, people could take it wrong and think it means go put yourself into a coma."

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=6235

I think he can be great but he needs help from the right people. He's not "Great" on his own. I can fully amit the ideas are there on Chinese Democracy but the execution is horrible. If Axl had surrounded himself with complimentary musicians and not just "all stars" CD could've beena great album. Instead Axl wantd full control and it had a negative impact on the album. I mean can anyone seriously sit there and say that CD would not have been infinitely better had Axl brought these ideas to Slash and co and allowed them to work on them and mold them? Axl has great ideas but he needs the proper help bringing them to fruition.

I'm hoping a reunion could provide an awesome album that gives GN'R a fitting ending. I agree that Axl works best with the right sort of people. I think thats the tragedy behind all this. This talented guy who is dead-set on doing it on his own, squanders his potential by refusing to work with the right people

Edited October 16, 2015 by Caught_in_a_Coma

[tberrie007]

axl wrote his best work with slash because what he sang ( melody and word wise )was the perfect match emotion wise to what slash played through his guitar. i really think its that simple.

[Tom-Ass]

I used to think of him as an amazing songwriter.. Then I heard CD... That was the first time I heard music from him that I just didn't like aside from maybe 3 songs. I still think he is a good songwriter who has written some amazing songs but benefited greatly from the chemistry he shared with Izzy, Slash, Duff and even Steven... Together they released some amazing shit..

[Chewbacca]

He's good.

[wasted]

One of my favorite lyric writers because he doesn't get too hamfisted. It all sounds feels and natural. Megadave or metal lyrics sometimes a bit awarkward. Throw on vocal melodies and vocals and he's already top flight.

But his songwriting, it's hard to tell?

I'll give him SCOM on AFD.

One in a Million on Lies.

On UYI

Nov Rain, Dead Horse, Shotgun Blues, Estranged, Breakdown, Back off Bitch, My World.

CD - This I Love, SOD, Catcher, TWAT, Madagascar, Prostitute.

He can write rockers and ballads. So he's got it all.

Of course you need your favorite guitarist to like him though. But I think he's exceptional if you look at it. Plus he can collab and get into various other musicians songs like 14 Years or Better or Coma.

But SCOM, Nov Rain, Estranged, This I Love puts him way up there.

[maynard]

Hard to tell. CD damaged him as a songwriter.

[Nosaj Thing]

Used to be great, made a fool of himself with cheesy bitter crybaby out ta get me my expense lyrics on Chinese Democracy.

[Georgy Zhukov]

He is really good. Just wish he had more confidence in himself as a songwriter.

[Bumblefeet]

He is really good. Just wish he had more confidence in himself as a songwriter.

This, and I'd also add he needs to get more confidence in his bandmates and shouldn't be so controlling and neurotic about his songs.

[ludurigan]

axl is a great songwriter (see November Rain)

its just a shame that "great" becomes "average" when he writes with "professional, hard-working musicians" (see Chinese Democracy)

the good thing is that "great" becomes "magic" when he writes with rockers (see Guns n Roses)

[wasted]

It's banal point but that is subjective. Catcher is great song played on ice cream boxes and a speak n spell.

[Rovim]

One of my favorite lyric writers because he doesn't get too hamfisted. It all sounds feels and natural. Megadave or metal lyrics sometimes a bit awarkward. Throw on vocal melodies and vocals and he's already top flight.

But his songwriting, it's hard to tell?

I'll give him SCOM on AFD.

One in a Million on Lies.

On UYI

Nov Rain, Dead Horse, Shotgun Blues, Estranged, Breakdown, Back off Bitch, My World.

CD - This I Love, SOD, Catcher, TWAT, Madagascar, Prostitute.

He can write rockers and ballads. So he's got it all.

Of course you need your favorite guitarist to like him though. But I think he's exceptional if you look at it. Plus he can collab and get into various other musicians songs like 14 Years or Better or Coma.

But SCOM, Nov Rain, Estranged, This I Love puts him way up there.

It's unfortunate really. I remember Ashba talking in his most interesting interview about Axl imo, about how Axl played him many, many unreleased songs and his reaction was "this is amazing, why don't you release it?" like Sebastian with Democracy.

He's a great songwriter. He never released a bad album. His lyrics and vocal melodies and especially his voice are unique. Together they form something very powerful imo.

With Paul, Robin, and Bucket I imagine there are many, many great songs Axl has written that remain unreleased and he plays them on his piano and listens and tinkers and fucks models and drinks. Rich, insecure, and talented. Too bad he wasted so much time on what others think, but I think it also helped with the quality of the music. In old Guns as well. Axl was always the real deal.

Edited October 16, 2015 by Rovim

[wasted]

One of my favorite lyric writers because he doesn't get too hamfisted. It all sounds feels and natural. Megadave or metal lyrics sometimes a bit awarkward. Throw on vocal melodies and vocals and he's already top flight.

But his songwriting, it's hard to tell?

I'll give him SCOM on AFD.

One in a Million on Lies.

On UYI

Nov Rain, Dead Horse, Shotgun Blues, Estranged, Breakdown, Back off Bitch, My World.

CD - This I Love, SOD, Catcher, TWAT, Madagascar, Prostitute.

He can write rockers and ballads. So he's got it all.

Of course you need your favorite guitarist to like him though. But I think he's exceptional if you look at it. Plus he can collab and get into various other musicians songs like 14 Years or Better or Coma.

But SCOM, Nov Rain, Estranged, This I Love puts him way up there.

It's unfortunate really. I remember Ashba talking in his most interesting interview about Axl imo, about how Axl played him many, many unreleased songs and his reaction was "this is amazing, why don't you release it?" like Sebastian with Democracy.

He's a great songwriter. He never released a bad album. His lyrics and vocal melodies and especially his voice are unique. Together they form something very powerful imo.

With Paul, Robin, and Bucket I imagine there are many, many great songs Axl has written that remains unreleased and he plays them on his piano and listens and tinkers and fucks models and drinks. Rich, insecure, and talented. Too bad he wasted so much time on what others think, but I think it also helped with the quality of the music. In old Guns as well. Axl was always the real deal.

I think in some ways he's right though. He found the right songs for CD. You've got the songs which are the core that were toured and tested. But then you have shots are the current market with Shackler's and If the World. Then you have some future songs like Scraped and Sorry. But thematically he has to stay inside the GNR world. That's what CD became, his side of the feud. That was the market he was given. That was the essence of the project in the end.

but he could have another CD stacked with similar tracks, further on down the rabbit hole? But he seemed like he had come out of all that. Seemed not as angry or unhappy anymore. Fun time Axl at Vegas rocking the hits. Eating Chili Burgers giving zero fucks. His dictator demons were exorcised by the release of CD.

Would he really put out a cd of CD type songs now in full vampire slayer in vegas mode?

"livin' the dream"

Or has he been working on the follow up with Fortus since before CD came out. Time is irrelevant. Axl could have finished II and be working on a self titled record.

Edited October 16, 2015 by wasted