Unpopular Opinion: GNR's "My World" was a track ahead of its time - article by LA Weekly

[KeyserSoze]

http://www.laweekly.com/music/unpopular-opinion-guns-n-roses-my-world-was-a-track-ahead-of-its-time-7102358

Don't really know how i feel about this argument/article... The writer talks shit about November Rain, saying "It sucks, but the coda is kinda cool, and slash solo is impeccable." But then goes on to mention that "Shotgun Blues" was one of the best unknown songs from the Illusion records.... wut

His argument then becomes: "I would rather listen to My World than November Rain" ....double wut.

take a read for yourself: 

It’s not bullshit. I would rather listen to “My World” than “November Rain.” What’s more, I think “My World” is a criminally underrated track. When I first heard it, tucked all the way at the end of Use Your Illusion II, I had the same thought I think a lot of guys my age did: “Is this a joke? Is Axl joking around?” On first pass it sounds like Axl attempting to rap, but when listened to with 25 years of hindsight, you can hear it for what it really is: Axl attempting Nine Inch Nails.

The backing track is really what gives it away. Those keyboards are straight off of Pretty Hate Machine. It’s no mistake that sometime NIN guitarist Robin Finck clocked many years in the increasingly bizarre Axl Rose solo project known as “Guns N’ Roses.” In this song, we see not a throwaway track, a bizarre inside joke or even the rest of the boys indulging Axl. What you’re seeing is the shape of Guns N’ Roses to come.

 

“My World” is a window into where Guns N’ Roses would go nearly 20 years after the release of the lllusion records. It’s an often-overlooked track from the greatest rock & roll band of all time. Give it a listen and see if you can’t just appreciate it on its own terms. 

[EvanG]

It's subjective, you can't argue an opinion. Personally, I think Shotgun Blues is one of the few filler tracks on UYI and I never seriously listened to My World because I simply don't care for songs like that.

Edited July 5, 2016 by EvanG

[SoundOfAGun]

Sounds like GN'R fan click bait. That may genuinely be his opinion on My World and if it is, fair enough. 

My opinion on My World is that it is nortworthy of sharing album space with anything on UYI.  A lame little vanity piece that thinks it is much more clever than it actually is. It would have been the main turd on CD, let alone UYI II.

[maxpax]

has axl ever explained my world as the last track of UYI? was it really an introduction in gnr's next album / sound? for 1991 my world was definately above its time. axl tried to combine rock with rap and electro. sth bands like limp bizkit, korn, etc did years later. but this sound has absolutely nothing to do with gnr. it was a horrible idea by axl to even attemp this kind of sound evolution in gnr. as a side project: why not. with guys like buckethead, dave navarro, buckethead, finck, zakk wylde, dj ashba it would have been a perfect freak show in rock, but under the AFD cross of gnr -> no way.

[Słash]

[killuridols]

I think I can agree with the article. 'My World' is the kind of electronic turds Axl loves and seems to be into it so much.

No clue why he's so fixated in such horrible music.

But 'My World' is really bad, unlike NIN songs, he will never be NIN... why force it so much?

[Eric Cantona]

I actually like My World... It's good

[estranged_85]

Well Axl is one of the few in GN'R that listens to Everything and have a wide range of genres that he likes. And that's a good thing IMO. I have back in my head that i've read somewhere that My World was recorded/written in like 3-4 hours and after eating magic mushrooms

Edited July 6, 2016 by estranged_85

[RONIN]

3 hours ago, maxpax said:

has axl ever explained my world as the last track of UYI? was it really an introduction in gnr's next album / sound? for 1991 my world was definately above its time. axl tried to combine rock with rap and electro. sth bands like limp bizkit, korn, etc did years later. but this sound has absolutely nothing to do with gnr. it was a horrible idea by axl to even attemp this kind of sound evolution in gnr. as a side project: why not. with guys like buckethead, dave navarro, buckethead, finck, zakk wylde, dj ashba it would have been a perfect freak show in rock, but under the AFD cross of gnr -> no way.

Yeah -- he did try to explain it during his 2008 mygnr chats. Basically he said that Duff and Slash gave him a thumbs up but that Duff genuinely liked it while Slash knew it would make him look stupid and knowingly gave his stamp of approval. In other words, it was all Slash's fault.

What's the probable truth? Axl stuck My World on Illusion 2 without the band's permission (he has a history of doing this, see "Sympathy for the Devil"). Predictably, it blew up on him once every critic slammed that song and it became a huge blemish on Use Your Illusion just like how One in A Million became for Lies.

Izzy Stradlin':      "There was one song on that record that I didn't even know was on it until it came out, 'My World' (the closing song on Illusion II, written and sung by Rose)," Stradlin continues. "I gave it a listen and thought, 'What the fuck is this?' " 

Edited July 6, 2016 by RONIN

[nonok]

My World is such a comical piece of...not even music, that I can't dislike it. I don't care for it, I find it funny and sometimes I listen to it just for the lolz. It sounds like Axl on drugs and experimenting and that's exactly it, he never intended it to be a serious track anyway. I don't get all the hate considering the UYIs were stuffed with material and a filler track isn't really that big of a deal.

As for the article, it's obviously clickbait. 

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

I can't take anyone seriously who thinks November Rain is a bad song

[Draguns]

"My World" better than "November Rain"???? WTF is this guy on? Wow! It's either clickbait or this guy is using his illusions. pun intended.  lol

[Evan442]

This song never bothered me.  It's barely over a minute long and I always saw it as an outro anyways.

[darkknite63]

I dont hate it just never cared enough to have any feelings for it.

[uncivil war]

Of course Axl was on drugs while recording My World. You can literally hear the click of the lighter, the bong or pipe or whatever it was being inhaled, and Axl exhaling while he says "guess what I'm doing now".

Can we say that Axl  is the only recording artist to have both his own live sex sounds (Rocket Queen) and illicit drug use (My World)  committed to an album?

[estranged_85]

2 hours ago, nonok said:

My World is such a comical piece of...not even music, that I can't dislike it. I don't care for it, I find it funny and sometimes I listen to it just for the lolz. It sounds like Axl on drugs and experimenting and that's exactly it, he never intended it to be a serious track anyway. I don't get all the hate considering the UYIs were stuffed with material and a filler track isn't really that big of a deal.

As for the article, it's obviously clickbait. 

Agree!

[Jakey Styley]

It's not a serious song and isn't meant to be discussed as one.

[killuridols]

1 hour ago, uncivil war said:

Of course Axl was on drugs while recording My World. You can literally hear the click of the lighter, the bong or pipe or whatever it was being inhaled, and Axl exhaling while he says "guess what I'm doing now".

Can we say that Axl  is the only recording artist to have both his own live sex sounds (Rocket Queen) and illicit drug use (My World)  committed to an album?

[-W.A.R-]

this is a guy trying too hard to be edgy/different

Edited July 6, 2016 by -W.A.R-

[moreblack]

Ha, nice try. But I couldn't sit thru the song back then. Why would I even contemplate putting myself thru that now?

[Juventino]

2 hours ago, uncivil war said:

Of course Axl was on drugs while recording My World. You can literally hear the click of the lighter, the bong or pipe or whatever it was being inhaled, and Axl exhaling while he says "guess what I'm doing now".

Can we say that Axl  is the only recording artist to have both his own live sex sounds (Rocket Queen) and illicit drug use (My World)  committed to an album?

Further to this is an Axl quote: "We were also on 'shrooms. A friend of mine had stuck some mushrooms in my tea and I didn't know it. All of a sudden we were being really mellow. So it was kind of a socio-psychotic state of bliss."

[wasted]

I said it before Axl invented industrial hip hop. 

[Blackstar]

Judging from other "unpopular opinions" of the guy, he is not to be taken seriously. But it it's not the first time that My World is considered underrated. There was a similar argument at Spin's ranking of all GnR songs, where it was placed at #58, above Michelle, Anything Goes, Reckless Life, Move To The City, Shadow Of Your Love, Shotgun Blues, Back Off Bitch, 9 covers and 4 CD songs.

http://www.spin.com/2016/02/every-guns-n-roses-song-ranked-axl-rose-slash-appetite-for-destruction-list/

7 hours ago, RONIN said:

Yeah -- he did try to explain it during his 2008 mygnr chats. Basically he said that Duff and Slash gave him a thumbs up but that Duff genuinely liked it while Slash knew it would make him look stupid and knowingly gave his stamp of approval. In other words, it was all Slash's fault.

What's the probable truth? Axl stuck My World on Illusion 2 without the band's permission (he has a history of doing this, see "Sympathy for the Devil"). Predictably, it blew up on him once every critic slammed that song and it became a huge blemish on Use Your Illusion just like how One in A Million became for Lies.

Izzy Stradlin':      "There was one song on that record that I didn't even know was on it until it came out, 'My World' (the closing song on Illusion II, written and sung by Rose)," Stradlin continues. "I gave it a listen and thought, 'What the fuck is this?' " 

I don't think Axl lied about this (I mean the fact, not the conspiracy theory about Slash). He said specifically that Slash and Duff approved it, he didn't say anything about Izzy. The fact that Izzy didn't know (probably because he had left before UYI was released) doesn't mean that the other two didn't know either. If Axl had put My World on the record without asking them, they would have mentioned it in their books or in interviews, as Slash did about Paul Huges's solo on Sympathy For The Devil.
And I don't remember it being slammed so much. Most critics, at least at the general rock music press (I don't know about the metal magazines), ignored it or passed it with a quick mention as an "oddity", because there was a lot of other material in the albums for them to write about. But even if the song had been bashed, there could be no comparison to the shit the band got for One In A Million. One In A Million wasn't just a blemish, it was a song with offensive lyrics. My World could just be criticized for being a bad song or a song below the band's standards.

 

10 hours ago, maxpax said:

has axl ever explained my world as the last track of UYI? was it really an introduction in gnr's next album / sound? for 1991 my world was definately above its time. axl tried to combine rock with rap and electro. sth bands like limp bizkit, korn, etc did years later. but this sound has absolutely nothing to do with gnr. it was a horrible idea by axl to even attemp this kind of sound evolution in gnr. as a side project: why not. with guys like buckethead, dave navarro, buckethead, finck, zakk wylde, dj ashba it would have been a perfect freak show in rock, but under the AFD cross of gnr -> no way.

The same could be said at the time for songs like NR and Estranged though. Even Slash and Duff disliked them and thought that this kind of epics had nothing to do with what GnR was. The "Illusions" had received mixed reviews at the time (in most album of the year lists they weren't placed in the top 10) and they remain underrated til now (see here and here ). The songs that were mostly bashed in the lukewarm and negative reviews were, believe it or not, the "bloated" piano ballads (and "Get In The Ring" for obvious reasons).

Personally I don't consider My World worse than Shotgun Blues or even Back Off Bitch. And the Illusions have so many different styles of songs, so it doesn't bother me in that sense either.

 

Edited July 6, 2016 by Blackstar

[Silent Jay]

I don't think it was meant to take it seriously, it's short a bit abstrait and effective, My World is more punk in spirit than say Get In The Ring.

[stella]

Apart from discussing the merits of the song, the author is right that "My World" seems like Axl's attempt to go for a NiN sound and explore industrial music. It IS a preview of the type of music Axl was veering toward after UYI.

As to "November Rain," it's not my favorite song but not my least favorite. I hate the video with the sappy wedding. To each their own, though.