The "Axl's Voice" Thread - Please Keep All Discussion Here

[ChristianGNR]

Axls mickey voice is horrible and im curious if he knows that

[IncitingChaos]

Ok so a difficult voice for Axl to use at this stage in his career is the one on the ending on Sin City. At 1:33 he’s gotta start working. He’s compressing these notes to get that sharpness and rasp out. In my opinion this is where he could take the vocals used on this song and apply it to a YCBM performances.

especially that part “bring on the dancing girls and put the champaign on ice” imagine instead he sings “I’m a cold heart breaker fit to burn” 

theyre not identical in their tempo and 1:1 for vocals but still very close and in my opinion that ending is harder to sing than the first few lines on YCBM 

and again on the US tour he almost strengthens that ending with more power on those sharp notes. 

There just needs to be a different approach to YCBM. This mickey stuff isn’t working. 

2014 Axl sounds terrible but they open with YCBM and you know what the guy gives it a go (1:10) and sings the first two lines with rasp and power...listen to how different that is than this 

at 1:04 

this is where the show gets better. It’s taking your hits and giving them their power back. YCBM sucks at the moment 

Edited June 10, 2018 by IncitingChaos

[nycgunner]

15 minutes ago, ChrisMaciel said:

Axls mickey voice is horrible and im curious if he knows that

He must. If there is one thing we can all agree on is that Axl always seemed like a relatively smart guy

What makes no sense to me is how can a guy who had some much pride and vision for Guns N Roses between 1996 and 2006 devolve to this?  Bad vocals, terrible physical shape, and playing the same set list show after show. 

It can’t be for money at this point.  His cut of the profits from this tour must be well north of 8 figures post taxes  

His physical appearance - beyond the vanity - is also concerning.  It’s not healthy  

lastly, what the heck is up with his stage presence?  I loved the NILT shows I attended but Axl didn’t really try to connect with the audience whatsoever.  Now he sort of limps around on stage 

Don’t mean to be too critical.  I just love this band and want the best for them!

 

Edited June 10, 2018 by nycgunner

[IncitingChaos]

16 minutes ago, nycgunner said:

He must. If there is one thing we can all agree on is that Axl always seemed like a relatively smart guy

What makes no sense to me is how can a guy who had some much pride and vision for Guns N Roses between 1996 and 2006 devolve to this?  Bad vocals, terrible physical shape, and playing the same set list show after show. 

It can’t be for money at this point.  His cut of the profits from this tour must be well north of 8 figures post taxes  

His physical appearance - beyond the vanity - is also concerning.  It’s not healthy  

lastly, what the heck is up with his stage presence?  I loved the NILT shows I attended but Axl didn’t really try to connect with the audience whatsoever.  Now he sort of limps around on stage 

Don’t mean to be too critical.  I just love this band and want the best for them!

 

Axl gets unfairly criticized in the 00’s for not changing. He did everything we asked besides reunite then. We didn’t like 02 vocals so he adjusted and we got the classic vocals in 06, and he maintained that when he came back in 2009-2010.

now we know something happened after that tour. We know the rumors that the label didn’t accept the next album, or Axl’s demands, we know the reception of CD hadn’t been what Axl wanted and the tour did nothing to change that. Who knows what Axl’s anger or stress levels were at this time but it quickly changed to idgaf and that’s when he gained weight and lost vocal strength (Rio 11). And that pre-2011 fire didn’t return until ACDC 2016. 

[Gibson87]

So this is kind of a dumb question, but is 3:12 Axl's lower voice or his mid ranges? The voice sounds fucking cool 

 

[TheFormerSoul]

 

Axls  performance I think, seem to be a mix of no/low prep for touring/fitness, and negligence of taking care of his vocals with the right technique. 

 

Watching any videos from 2016 on, he’s basically yelling and screaming to even get any bit of raspiness in his voice..  His vocals are shot, and it’s not going to get any better with time if he continues this way.  I don’t know why they would want to keep Axl in the position of touring when he’s not prepared vocally and is probably continuing to damage his vocal chords this way.  

 

 

[Dean]

1 hour ago, IncitingChaos said:

Ok so a difficult voice for Axl to use at this stage in his career is the one on the ending on Sin City. At 1:33 he’s gotta start working. He’s compressing these notes to get that sharpness and rasp out. In my opinion this is where he could take the vocals used on this song and apply it to a YCBM performances.

especially that part “bring on the dancing girls and put the champaign on ice” imagine instead he sings “I’m a cold heart breaker fit to burn” 

theyre not identical in their tempo and 1:1 for vocals but still very close and in my opinion that ending is harder to sing than the first few lines on YCBM 

and again on the US tour he almost strengthens that ending with more power on those sharp notes. 

There just needs to be a different approach to YCBM. This mickey stuff isn’t working. 

2014 Axl sounds terrible but they open with YCBM and you know what the guy gives it a go (1:10) and sings the first two lines with rasp and power...listen to how different that is than this 

at 1:04 

this is where the show gets better. It’s taking your hits and giving them their power back. YCBM sucks at the moment 

You Could Be Mine is one of the hardest for Axl to sing as he's mentioned in previous interviews. I reckon the last 7 years he's found a way to sail through the song and not fuck his voice, though it's not to the liking to some fans. I reckon he can get away with it at shows that aren't professionally filmed, as when you're there, his high voice seems to sit well in the mix, at least to my ears. I love the tune, but it's something I always skip when I listen to bootlegs.

 

[IncitingChaos]

23 minutes ago, Dean said:

You Could Be Mine is one of the hardest for Axl to sing as he's mentioned in previous interviews. I reckon the last 7 years he's found a way to sail through the song and not fuck his voice, though it's not to the liking to some fans. I reckon he can get away with it at shows that aren't professionally filmed, as when you're there, his high voice seems to sit well in the mix, at least to my ears. I love the tune, but it's something I always skip when I listen to bootlegs.

 

 

 

it wouldn’t matter how it’s filmed it sounds bad and has no power. How can you say “I’m a cold heartbreaker fit ta burn” in a Mickey Mouse voice...it doesn’t even fit the song. 

[nycgunner]

4 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

Axl gets unfairly criticized in the 00’s for not changing. He did everything we asked besides reunite then. We didn’t like 02 vocals so he adjusted and we got the classic vocals in 06, and he maintained that when he came back in 2009-2010.

now we know something happened after that tour. We know the rumors that the label didn’t accept the next album, or Axl’s demands, we know the reception of CD hadn’t been what Axl wanted and the tour did nothing to change that. Who knows what Axl’s anger or stress levels were at this time but it quickly changed to idgaf and that’s when he gained weight and lost vocal strength (Rio 11). And that pre-2011 fire didn’t return until ACDC 2016. 

Very interesting viewpoint. Makes a lot of sense, actually. 

One would think that fire would come back organically, given they are performing to sold out stadiums and arenas globally.  I am actually surprised how well the tour has done given “true” Gn’R had been silent for 23 years. Goes to show how big of an impact they made in such a small amount of time. 

I loved Chinese Democracy era Axl (he was a badass in 2006) until Bridge School-ish and RIO yellow raincoat debacle.  Even the Vegas residency was cringe worthy.  

Getting off topic.  I am not a singer, so I don’t know if he can ever get it back.  I hope he does.  But Angus has to be wondering if this is the partner they went to take on the road and record an album 

I’d be curious to know what Slash + Duff think

 

 

[IncitingChaos]

56 minutes ago, nycgunner said:

Very interesting viewpoint. Makes a lot of sense, actually. 

One would think that fire would come back organically, given they are performing to sold out stadiums and arenas globally.  I am actually surprised how well the tour has done given “true” Gn’R had been silent for 23 years. Goes to show how big of an impact they made in such a small amount of time. 

I loved Chinese Democracy era Axl (he was a badass in 2006) until Bridge School-ish and RIO yellow raincoat debacle.  Even the Vegas residency was cringe worthy.  

Getting off topic.  I am not a singer, so I don’t know if he can ever get it back.  I hope he does.  But Angus has to be wondering if this is the partner they went to take on the road and record an album 

I’d be curious to know what Slash + Duff think

 

 

I'm not so sure Axl can really appreciate the big crowds coming to see their band now. It's like acknowledging that nugnr wasn't GNR enough...so he may have mixed emotions towards everything. I'm sure he's grateful to be doing this with Slash and Duff again, but he's possibly just numb to the whole GNR thing at the moment. I don't think any things excited him for a while in terms of GNR. 

Slash and Duff are dealing with Axl like they always have, they are very tolerant of whatever it is he wants. He's showing up on time, he's singing for 3 hours..I'm not sure they would have expected this from him and so asking for a better vocal performance from him would almost be pushing their luck. 

Axl has shown the ability to regain vocal power. Not sure he has the ears and control to sing certain songs in an appeasing way for the fans but in a live setting he has the power to overcome much of that, if him and Angus get together again then there's no doubt he's going to find a way to be at his best vocally and deliver a tour and album that will be top notch. 

Again though you have to look at what GNR means to Axl at this stage in his career. I'm sure he enjoys the attention and crowds but it's more of a 9 to 5 chore for him now. There's no motivation to take this thing any further and no motivation to prep his vocals for this. 

[AFGnR]

TIL, Download 18:

Nashville 16:

 

[Lies They Tell]

10 hours ago, SWINGTRADER said:

Axl showed disrespect to his fan base when he joined ACDC right at the time the "reunion" was set to start. The fucker was giving interviews and doing promotion for ACDC before he even did one for GNR. He put everything he had vocally for ACDC, and gave the "leftovers" to GNR .Not all of 2016 GNR shows were good, a lot of it sucked. It is just that those bad 2016 performances sound great in comparison to the shit we are hearing now.

 

Or maybe he just doesn't care about GNR and intentionally sounds like shit. We'll see when he sings for ACDC again.

 

p.s  Don't give the "ACDC songs are easier to sing" bullshit.

What's with the "don't give the ACDC songs are easier to sing bullshit"? No one's saying that ACDC songs are easier to sing, but it's a FACT that ACDC songs in general fit Axl's voice better. There's just no room to even argue about that. Just look at Axl's Shadow of our love performance. Again, when he's singing a song where he gets to scream throughout the song, he sounds great. It doesn't matter if it's an ACDC song or a GNR song, as long as ge gets to scream the whole song from beginning to the end, he sounds great. That's the reason why he sounds good on Nightrain too. 

That's the reason why I'm 100% sure that he'll sound good when he's singing ACDC again, because that's like singing a setlist full of just Nightrain and Shadow of your Live type songs... well if you don't count the Bon Scott era songs, but then again Axl rarely sings those with rasp anyway.

Axl couldn't choose when Brian Johnsson lost his hearing. He couldn't choose when ACDC needed him. He had to do those shows at that point, otherwise ACDC would have chosen some other frontman. Axl had to do those shows at that point. If you call that disrespectful towards gnr fans, well you kinda sound like a crybaby. The fact is that it wasn't up to him when he could do those shows.

And even if you want to deny the fact that ACDC songs fit Axl's voice currently better than GNR songs do, it doesn't change the fact that ACDC songs DO fit Axl's voice MUCH better than GNR songs do.

[SWINGTRADER]

52 minutes ago, Lies They Tell said:

What's with the "don't give the ACDC songs are easier to sing bullshit"? No one's saying that ACDC songs are easier to sing, but it's a FACT that ACDC songs in general fit Axl's voice better. There's just no room to even argue about that. Just look at Axl's Shadow of our love performance. Again, when he's singing a song where he gets to scream throughout the song, he sounds great. It doesn't matter if it's an ACDC song or a GNR song, as long as ge gets to scream the whole song from beginning to the end, he sounds great. That's the reason why he sounds good on Nightrain too. 

That's the reason why I'm 100% sure that he'll sound good when he's singing ACDC again, because that's like singing a setlist full of just Nightrain and Shadow of your Live type songs... well if you don't count the Bon Scott era songs, but then again Axl rarely sings those with rasp anyway.

Axl couldn't choose when Brian Johnsson lost his hearing. He couldn't choose when ACDC needed him. He had to do those shows at that point, otherwise ACDC would have chosen some other frontman. Axl had to do those shows at that point. If you call that disrespectful towards gnr fans, well you kinda sound like a crybaby. The fact is that it wasn't up to him when he could do those shows.

And even if you want to deny the fact that ACDC songs fit Axl's voice currently better than GNR songs do, it doesn't change the fact that ACDC songs DO fit Axl's voice MUCH better than GNR songs do.

 

I counter your entire post with 2009-2010 Axl Rose. He's capable of sounding decent on GNR songs if he really wanted to. 

[Santacruz]

2 hours ago, IncitingChaos said:

I'm not so sure Axl can really appreciate the big crowds coming to see their band now. It's like acknowledging that nugnr wasn't GNR enough...so he may have mixed emotions towards everything. I'm sure he's grateful to be doing this with Slash and Duff again, but he's possibly just numb to the whole GNR thing at the moment. I don't think any things excited him for a while in terms of GNR. 

Slash and Duff are dealing with Axl like they always have, they are very tolerant of whatever it is he wants. He's showing up on time, he's singing for 3 hours..I'm not sure they would have expected this from him and so asking for a better vocal performance from him would almost be pushing their luck. 

Axl has shown the ability to regain vocal power. Not sure he has the ears and control to sing certain songs in an appeasing way for the fans but in a live setting he has the power to overcome much of that, if him and Angus get together again then there's no doubt he's going to find a way to be at his best vocally and deliver a tour and album that will be top notch. 

Again though you have to look at what GNR means to Axl at this stage in his career. I'm sure he enjoys the attention and crowds but it's more of a 9 to 5 chore for him now. There's no motivation to take this thing any further and no motivation to prep his vocals for this. 

Reg.having no motivation to take GNR any further is probably the biggest problem. Personally, I do not get too excited about the same old stuff over and over again although I love their songs. Excitement and true Rock N Roll is about trying something new, to be unpredictable , to surprise yourself and the audience. To have fun and to make people have fun.

For a lot of fans the maximum of exitement @ the recent concerts was Axl singing Slither. This is not what I consider raw and pure Rock n Roll or exitement, rather the opposite!  But I may be the only one..:-(

[Lies They Tell]

1 minute ago, SWINGTRADER said:

 

I counter your entire post with 2009-2010 Axl Rose. He's capable of sounding decent on GNR songs if he really wanted to. 

You could counter ANY argument with Axl from eighties. I guess he should be able to jump around just like he did when he was young, cause he could do that once. The fact is that he's getting older and there's no reason to believe that Axl's physically capable of singing like he did in 2009-2010. There's no evidence that he could pull it of today. He wasn't capable of that kind of singing even when he performed with ACDC. The Axl of 2009-2010 is a totally different beast than todays Axl. You can't counter my post with age old videos of Axl. We're talking about todays Axl. Todays Axl could easily sing the way he did with ACDC, but there's no way he could sing like he did in 2010 today. That's like asking him to sing like he sang in the eighties.

[KingPotato96]

https://youtu.be/7LHN2whoYFI

I've always found this Civil War performance from 2016 to be particularly great, especially during the first verse

[SWINGTRADER]

11 hours ago, Lies They Tell said:

You could counter ANY argument with Axl from eighties. I guess he should be able to jump around just like he did when he was young, cause he could do that once. The fact is that he's getting older and there's no reason to believe that Axl's physically capable of singing like he did in 2009-2010. There's no evidence that he could pull it of today. He wasn't capable of that kind of singing even when he performed with ACDC. The Axl of 2009-2010 is a totally different beast than todays Axl. You can't counter my post with age old videos of Axl. We're talking about todays Axl. Todays Axl could easily sing the way he did with ACDC, but there's no way he could sing like he did in 2010 today. That's like asking him to sing like he sang in the eighties.

 

Do you think 2001 Rock in Rio Axl could sing like he did in 2009/2010?  Age has nothing to do with it, and other rock singers that have lived a coked-up life have been able to sustain it at an older age than Axl. Nope, the age argument is a loser.

[ChristmasFnatic]

I think no one is expecting Axl to sing like the 80s/90s. But maybe if he just shows enough drive like he did with AC/DC. Even if AC/DC songs are made for his voice as some say, why cant he just use the same voice in his own band? Better than Mickey voice for sure.

[StrangerInThisTown]

10 minutes ago, ChristmasFnatic said:

I think no one is expecting Axl to sing like the 80s/90s. But maybe if he just shows enough drive like he did with AC/DC. Even if AC/DC songs are made for his voice as some say, why cant he just use the same voice in his own band? Better than Mickey voice for sure.

Maybe he does like how the mickey voice sounds to him

[ChristmasFnatic]

10 minutes ago, StrangerInThisTown said:

Maybe he does like how the mickey voice sounds to him

Probably. Slash and Duff and the rest probably tells him he sounds good too.

[Lies They Tell]

35 minutes ago, SWINGTRADER said:

 

Do you think 2001 Rock in Rio Axl could sing like he did in 2009/2010?  Age has nothing to do with it, and other rock singers that have lived a coked-up life have been able to sustain it at an older age than Axl. Nope, the age argument is a loser.

I agree that 2001 Axl most likely could not have sung like 2010 Axl and I agree that age doesn't necessarily mean that your voice gets worse, but age DOES affect most people's voices. Some people's singing voice might even improve as they get older, but in many cases it gets worse. Age affects some people more than it affects others. It is what it is, but it's pretty ignorant to claim that age has nothing to do with your voice whatsoever. 

I don't know what the reason is why Axl can't sing like he did in 2010. Is it age? Did he damage his voice permanently? Some even speculate that he lost that raspy voice in a surgery. Who knows, but something happened to his voice in 2011 and if he could get that 2010 voice back with practice, I'm sure he would have done that. You can see in many videos how much he tries to sing those songs with rasp. If rehearsing was all it takes to sing like he did in 2010, he would do it for sure. But sometimes practice is simply not enough.

I could never sing like 2010 Axl, even if I practiced my ass off. Neither could you. Neither could Axl at the moment.

Is it possible that some day Axl could sing like he did in 2010? Who knows? It was pretty miraculous, what happened between 2002 and 2006. Maybe he would need a long break from touring? Maybe that would fix his voice? I honestly don't know. All I know is that currently his voice is much better suited for AC/DC type songs.

 

[Blackstar]

Axl's clean vocals in 2001-02 were a choice. He said that about the vocals on CD in China Exchange, but I believe it's true for the shows of that time too, as most of the CD vocals were recorded then and he wanted to sound live like in the album which was due to be released. And some of his live vocals weren't bad at all. For example, My Michelle at HoB was clean but good, imo.

But now I think it's not purely choice, and that's evident from the fact that his clean vocals are much less powerful than in 2001. And his raspy voice with AC/DC and on some GnR songs is still great, but different. His voice has weakened naturally due to age and probably other factors. I've noticed that many times he puts his hand on his chest when he sings with rasp. It looks like he puts a lot of effort.

I also think he's fully aware of how he sounds and has always been - it's ridiculous to say that he isn't and that he thinks he sounds good because people tell him he does.He knows when he has a good night, an average one or a bad one. He is also aware of what the fans think; that was clear as well in the China Exchange interview.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Blackstar

[Draguns]

3 hours ago, ChristmasFnatic said:

I think no one is expecting Axl to sing like the 80s/90s. But maybe if he just shows enough drive like he did with AC/DC. Even if AC/DC songs are made for his voice as some say, why cant he just use the same voice in his own band? Better than Mickey voice for sure.

This entire talk about showing drive is a bit ridiculous. You can tell when someone is mailing it  in and when a person isn't. Out of the concerts that I have been to, the only person that I can think of who mailed it in was Brian Johnson at MetLife Stadium in 2015.  I saw AC/DC twice before that show. There was a huge difference in the previous two times compared with the third time that I saw them. I don't know if it was his hearing issues, but the guy was just not preforming well. As a result, it seemed like the entire band was just lethargic and  going through the motions. 

Compared that to when I have seen Axl's performance  three times in two years, I can say that Axl is definitely not mailing it in. He is showing drive. Heck, they are doing different songs.

 

[Pedrolg]

Listening to all those recent leaks, damn it makes we wish he could have Axl back to some degree. Even a 2001 level such as in the Vegas gig, or something like the early 2006 gigs, before he even found the rasp again. Hell, 2016 level would be nice, since 2010 seems pretty much a thing of the past.

I find it surprising that Download's gig got rave reviews from most sites I found, with This I Love being considered the only vocal slump by Axl. It baffles me to see music critics saying that the falsetto (or whatever we call it this days) is Axl's trademark voice. Criticism seems centered on the set being a bit too long and how it drags a bit in the second half, but Axl's performance is complimented and well received.

Still hoping he somehow improves.

[Gnrcane]

4 hours ago, Blackstar said:

 

I also think he's fully aware of how he sounds and has always been - it's ridiculous to say that he isn't and that he thinks he sounds good because people tell him he does.He knows when he has a good night, an average one or a bad one. He is also aware of what the fans think; that was clear as well in the China Exchange interview.

Agree. He certainly knows what he sounds like. He hears himself in the IEMs even if he doesn't listen to recordings later. It's not a case where he is delusional and thinks he sounds like a 1991 UYI show.

Edited June 12, 2018 by Gnrcane