10 Songs that prove Axl Rose is Rock's Greatest Lyricist

[BlueJean Baby]

From Alternative Nation:

http://www.alternativenation.net/10-songs-prove-axl-rose-rock-greatest-lyricist/

[ChristmasFnatic]

Nice, but Locomotive is way low in the list.

[Rovim]

Axl is not Rock's greatest lyricist. Not even close. That's silly. I love his work, but that is a ridiculous statement. To be honest, some of his lyrics are not even that great.

And you... you can suck my ass. I think you're so low class. Your dad gets more pussy than you. Sorry for you. You wanna step into my world? gonna call the president.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Rovim

[EvH]

Not even close. 

[BlueJean Baby]

I love his lyrics, but everyone's entitled to their own opinions. All I know for certain is that they have helped me thru all the shit in my life and for that I am very thankful...

[BorderlineCrazy]

I think that's an overstatement but I appreciate the fact that the list only includes GNR songs and the top 3 is made of 3 truly epic songs instead of fn' November Rain. Axl was pretty inspired during the writing of the Illusions, wasn't he? 

[jettesnel]

I love november rain but the lyrics isn't really that good, prostitute should be on the list instead.

[Silent Jay]

He's a hit and miss kind of lyricist. I like his lyrics on Better, they sound authentic and inspired. Others like Shotgun Blues or Scraped are distinctly less inspiring which possibly, could have been triggered because of serious writer's block. 

[Zurimor]

I don't agree at all, I could easily present you 10 songs which proof that Daniel Wirtz is the greatest rock lyricist.

Ne Weile her, Mon Amour, Erster Stein, Richtig weh, Kugel,Kopf & Eins im Sinn, LMAA, Overkill, Meinen Namen, Geschichten ohne Sieger, Der Sog....

All songs with great lyrics, deep from the heart and you believe every word he sings. I sometimes pity all the people which don't understand German, we have really awesome lyricists. I know that feeling since I like some bands like French or Spanish ones and try to translate lyrics, they have some awesome songwriters, too.

Edited December 29, 2016 by Zurimor

[Carburetta]

I know there are only like four albums of their work, but it seems like there is so much more, when so many of their songs are long and lyrically dense, UYI is like four albums worth (in length). I mean Locomotive and Coma must have more words in them than whole albums by other bands. We feel short changed by their discography when really they've been generous and we've been fortunate to get such great material.

[Jane M.]

Just like any other top 10 list, click bait, boring and biased. 

[YeshuaGnR]

At least coma got 1st place in that top. Best GnR Song

[IncitingChaos]

Maybe not the best lyricist of all time but possibly the best in his genre or rock in roll. Idk it all depends on your taste...Axl did great 

[RussTCB]

8 hours ago, Jane M. said:

Just like any other top 10 list, click bait, boring and biased. 

What @Jane M. said.

Alt Nation is such a sad site. They'll do anything for clicks including outregous claims such as "Axl Rose is Rock's Greatest Lyricist".

Axl has written some great lyrics but he's also written lot of shit. What you get when you weigh it all out is an average lyricist. Even if the dude had only written the half that's excellent, that would take us down to like 10 GN'R songs at most. That doesn't make him "the greatest", it makes him a person with super low output that happens to be good. 

Nothing I just said is a slight against Axl, it's just to truth. There's just no need to wildly overstate the case in hopes of getting some clicks as Alt Nation does over and over.

[RussTCB]

9 hours ago, BlueJean Baby said:

From Alternative Nation:

http://www.alternativenation.net/10-songs-prove-axl-rose-rock-greatest-lyricist/

BTW, @BlueJean Baby please copy & paste any and all Alt Nation articles in the future instead of doing the lazy thing and starting a thread with a link. We're not here to provide them with the clicks that they're so desperate for, we're here to discuss GN'R.

[SoundOfAGun]

Axl Rose is Rock's Most Uneven Lyricist would be a better title. AFD has some great moments and Don't Damn Me, Coma, Breakdown & Locomotive are all brilliant lyrics, but this is in contrast to the likes of Anything Goes, Think About You, Back Off Bitch, One In A Million, Shotgun Blues, Get On The Ring, My World and all of Chinese Democracy, bar TWAT.

It always amazes me that the same guy wrote the words for Locomotive and This I Love.

[lilacmess]

He definitely is a great lyricist! IMHO his lyrics on Better are some of his best, yet hardly recognized.

Edited December 30, 2016 by lilacmess

[hsvhsv28]

Estranged is also missing...

[bigpoop]

He's not the greatest but he has come up with some good stuff for sure. I can remember when I first heard My Michelle back in '87, thinking whoa this guy is singing about some real shit here. I still think it's great, the imagery is very vivid and the words are well chosen, a line like "yesterday was Tuesday, maybe Thursday you can sleep," really says a lot with few words.

"Party till your connection calls, honey I'll return the key" is great too...he's checking out and returning the key, she's staying in the room to party, because she obviously has no place else to go.

He's painted a grim picture but then in the bridge it gets hopeful with the "someday you'll find someone that you can call your own" -- someday, but not yet...so "till then ya better"...better what? Doesn't say but we can bet it's not good. It's a great  song.

Edited December 30, 2016 by bigpoop

[DieselDaisy]

Sitting in a Chinese stew.

[Len Cnut]

Meanwhile Bob Dylan has a Nobel Prize for Literature over his lyrics.  But no, Axls the best, yep.

[BlueJean Baby]

On 12/30/2016 at 2:14 AM, RussTCB said:

BTW, @BlueJean Baby please copy & paste any and all Alt Nation articles in the future instead of doing the lazy thing and starting a thread with a link. We're not here to provide them with the clicks that they're so desperate for, we're here to discuss GN'R.

Was on not so smart phone sorry will do from tablet from now on .. my internet has been out so only had phone lately. But it finally came back today. 

Edited December 30, 2016 by BlueJean Baby
Added to it

[MrSoftie]

Coma is definitely #1, but I think there are some CD songs that deserve credit too. Prostitute, TWAT, Better, and (for me at least) TIL. Also Sweet Child might not be overly complex but it's poetic and catchy.

[Len Cnut]

Problem with rating lyrics is a lot of it has to do with context, they are not meant to be read off a bit of paper they are meant to be heard in their context so isolating them from the music doesnt help them.  When taken on their own 99% of lyrics in rock music are fucking awful, SCOM for instance is awful on paper but set to the music its fuckin' amazing.  There are probably 5 or 6 rock lyricists whoose work looks good on paper outside of the music, Bob Dylan is one, Leonard Cohen was another...struggling to think of any more.  Even my favourite folk like Lennon or Iggy Pop or Joe Strummer, on paper their lyrics suffer but then they're not meant to be read as one might read poetry.

[Joeypeeps]

Estranged, an Axl Rose MASTERPIECE