Your friends and family opinions of Guns n Roses through the years

[Ericstacey]

12 hours ago, jacdaniel said:

Most of my friends and family didn't realize that Guns were still a band between 1999 and 2015.   Most of them don't even know what CD is.  They barely did an interview or any PR work.  They didn't make it to Europe until 2006.

Others saw posters in town for Guns gigs and wondered why I wasn't excited.  They assumed it was my favorite band playing.  Had to explain the story a few times about how I wouldn't go without Slash and Duff there.

 

Actually this was my experience with most people. I have a friend who goes to concerts like Ozzy, Poision, Journey, stuff like that. When I went to the show in Detroit in 2011, she asked "Was Slash there?" I was stunned. I think by then most just were not paying attention to them at all. A lot just did not know CD existed, or even cared.

[Kwick1]

i became a fan in '88 and for those 4 fun years my fandom was encouraged. But my life after school started in '92 and since then I've been that "crazy GnR fan". Until joining this forum early this year, I didn't know any other big GnR fan. 

 

[WhazUp]

Whenever I mention them now to my friends most of them go "oh yeah isn't Slash back in the band now?"

 

[Tucknroll]

My mom said they and every other rock band were devil worshippers.  I bought appetite 4 times after she kept throwing my cassette away. Remember her picking me up from guitar lesson and I popped it double talkin jive. She said if I hear the F word one more time I'll throw it out. I pushed eject fast!  Friends used to bust my balls for still liking them, now their all big poser fans. Several have said didn't the drummer die. Geez

[TheGeneral]

13 minutes ago, Kwick1 said:

crazy GnR fan

It's funny how many people think you are "weird" or "a freak" or "crazy" when you are more than a casual fan of an artist or a band. It's not like I talk about them 24/7, I might reference them in 1 out of 25 conversations.

I don't go "Ugh you're such a freak!" when somebody is talking about football or Formula 1 or something else I couldn't care less about

 

[janrichmond]

In the AFD/UYI days i had a group of mates who i got into GnR, they even came to a few concerts. After about 94 they had lost interest and went back to shitty chart stuff. Nobody i know wanted to go to NITL, they had no knowledge of nuguns or CD, i had never heard any CD stuff myself. I guess i went for nostalgic reasons. My friends n family are not fans. The only real fans i know are here, where we can discuss/argue about all things GnR and feel perfectly normal about it 

[Annabelle]

59 minutes ago, killuridols said:

No one in my family or friends take them seriously, and most think of them as "has beens", so I am alone in my fandom

This is me. I have nobody to share my gnr craziness. 

[janrichmond]

3 minutes ago, It’s So Easy said:

This is me. I have nobody to share my gnr craziness. 

You have us lot 

[killuridols]

2 minutes ago, It’s So Easy said:

This is me. I have nobody to share my gnr craziness. 

And the older you get, the weirdest it becomes to others

Welcome to the 'forever alone gunner' jungle!

[Annabelle]

Just now, janrichmond said:

You have us lot 

Yes ma’am! I love this place.

[Kwick1]

9 minutes ago, TheGeneral said:

It's funny how many people think you are "weird" or "a freak" or "crazy" when you are more than a casual fan of an artist or a band. It's not like I talk about them 24/7, I might reference them in 1 out of 25 conversations.

I don't go "Ugh you're such a freak!" when somebody is talking about football or Formula 1 or something else I couldn't care less about

 

Exactly! There's very seldom a GnR reference in my discussions with others. When in the right mood I may quote a lyric to see if it's picked up but I swear that's it. 😄

[Gold top 78]

44 minutes ago, janrichmond said:

In the AFD/UYI days i had a group of mates who i got into GnR, they even came to a few concerts. After about 94 they had lost interest and went back to shitty chart stuff. Nobody i know wanted to go to NITL, they had no knowledge of nuguns or CD, i had never heard any CD stuff myself. I guess i went for nostalgic reasons. My friends n family are not fans. The only real fans i know are here, where we can discuss/argue about all things GnR and feel perfectly normal about it 

Quite similar with myself. Around 92/93 there used to be a group of about 15 of us that hung about and were all heavily into GNR (I was 14 at the time ) and I even bought the Lies T-shirt off one of them. That’s when I started to learn the guitar myself because of Slash. Then around 95 quite a few of them went down the indie/grunge music route. I haven’t been to a show this tour but I know I’d be the only one that would be dying to see GNR on this tour out if all my friends. It’s good to be able to come to the forum and discuss the band. 

[soon]

5 hours ago, killuridols said:

That's so interesting! We have Mennonites in Argentina but I guess they belong to that very strict, isolationist faction that you mentioned. The journalists visit them from time to time to check up on them, so that's how I know of their existence. I just hope they respect our laws, though.

I wonder how your family coped with the GN'R music you were listening to, like the lyrics, drugs, excess and imagery seems contrary to their beliefs? I don't know much about Mennonites, so I might be talking shite!

I thought you might have some Mennonite point of reference from being in Argentina. They also left here because the Canadian Govt offered them free land to settle - When Mennos were fleeing persecution - in exchange for allowing the mennonites to not be subjects of the State - no military service, no tax, no policing. The State wanted to settle lands to make more commanding claims to Indigenous territories. Its all very ugly. Once the Canadian Govt was the established ruler of all the and it wanted it began revoking the agreements of the Hamlet Clause with the Mennonites and other Anabaptists. Thos who left to go South were unwilling to accept this, in addition to the integration I mentioned earlier. So its entirely possible that they dont follow our laws as per agreement with State.

You are correct about Mennonites rejecting excess. I don't think any of us saw any of the imagery. But I recall having a lot of very formative conversations with Elders about GNR over the years. They would use it to expound on the ills of Empire. Especially teaching about the excess of the Reagan Era. And how excess doesnt create a more abundant life, but can even reduce what life can be. We talked about the devastating impact of the Cocaine industry, especially the poor villagers who are forced to grow it from childhood on. I remember them using it as an opportunity to compare what other denominations of Christians do in similar cases, like how Catholicism would say that one just takes the good and "leaves" the bad from pop culture, but that Mennonites accept that humanity lives in contradictions. That was then an entry into Marxist thought. They understood that I had no idea what the lyrics were about and just loved the music, groove and emotions. But it was the first time I ever heard the term 'misogyny' and they really voiced a lot of concern around that.

Smart folks, I got a lot out of those chats.

[killuridols]

18 minutes ago, soon said:

I thought you might have some Mennonite point of reference from being in Argentina. They also left here because the Canadian Govt offered them free land to settle - When Mennos were fleeing persecution - in exchange for allowing the mennonites to not be subjects of the State - no military service, no tax, no policing. The State wanted to settle lands to make more commanding claims to Indigenous territories. Its all very ugly. Once the Canadian Govt was the established ruler of all the and it wanted it began revoking the agreements of the Hamlet Clause with the Mennonites and other Anabaptists. Thos who left to go South were unwilling to accept this, in addition to the integration I mentioned earlier. So its entirely possible that they dont follow our laws as per agreement with State.

You are correct about Mennonites rejecting excess. I don't think any of us saw any of the imagery. But I recall having a lot of very formative conversations with Elders about GNR over the years. They would use it to expound on the ills of Empire. Especially teaching about the excess of the Reagan Era. And how excess doesnt create a more abundant life, but can even reduce what life can be. We talked about the devastating impact of the Cocaine industry, especially the poor villagers who are forced to grow it from childhood on. I remember them using it as an opportunity to compare what other denominations of Christians do in similar cases, like how Catholicism would say that one just takes the good and "leaves" the bad from pop culture, but that Mennonites accept that humanity lives in contradictions. That was then an entry into Marxist thought. They understood that I had no idea what the lyrics were about and just loved the music, groove and emotions. But it was the first time I ever heard the term 'misogyny' and they really voiced a lot of concern around that.

Smart folks, I got a lot out of those chats.

The ones here said they left Mexico because it became uncool to live there. Government wanted their kids to join the military and they couldn't stand the drugs problems. So they think they are living in heaven now, in the Pampa argentina

Apparently, they all have the argentine ID and everything under control, since they created some factories to be able to work there. They live like in century XVIII but they do use electricity for the work devices. They speak dutch and some weird German among themselves. They only use Spanish for their commerce and administrative stuff. The kids go to their own schools but they only do the primary school.

Are you saying your Mennonite commune was concerned about misoginy in GN'R lyrics?? I don't want to mix up topics but the ones living here are totally patriarchs. Not that misoginy and patriarchy are the same, but kinda go hand in hand, sometimes... Don't know.

I guess we are derailing here, right? If you want, we can talk via PM

 

[soon]

9 minutes ago, killuridols said:

The ones here said they left Mexico because it became uncool to live there. Government wanted their kids to join the military and they couldn't stand the drugs problems. So they think they are living in heaven now, in the Pampa argentina

Apparently, they all have the argentine ID and everything under control, since they created some factories to be able to work there. They live like in century XVIII but they do use electricity for the work devices. They speak dutch and some weird German among themselves. They only use Spanish for their commerce and administrative stuff. The kids go to their own schools but they only do the primary school.

Are you saying your Mennonite commune was concerned about misoginy in GN'R lyrics?? I don't want to mix up topics but the ones living here are totally patriarchs. Not that misoginy and patriarchy are the same, but kinda go hand in hand, sometimes... Don't know.

I guess we are derailing here, right? If you want, we can talk via PM

 

Well, I do want to state publicly that, no they weren't patriarchal or misogynists!! LOL! And yes, the Elders were very concerned about the misogyny in the lyrics and what they saw as celebrations of Reaganomics, the drug trade, etc.  Just Like Jesus would be.

Its one of the reasons they choose to live on their own away from all that mess. And fostering a horizontal power structure is why they use consensus decision making.

But, yes will leave it at that to not risk derailing.  

[Ericstacey]

2 hours ago, WhazUp said:

Whenever I mention them now to my friends most of them go "oh yeah isn't Slash back in the band now?"

 

People who knew I followed closely would ask through the years "are they getting back together or what?" more than about Chinese Democracy. I must say in the early 2000's I was surprised at how much casual fans didn't care about the new lineup.  I thought people would be more curious about the project.

[marlingrl03]

4 hours ago, It’s So Easy said:

This is me. I have nobody to share my gnr craziness. 

You aren't the only one.  This forum rocks that is all I can say!

[WWEROSES]

The most common thing I'd hear from people I'd go to school with or talk to people who were teenagers during GN'R's younger days is "They're still around?", Isn't Axl dead or something? I read that on the internet".  Even most recently, with the current tour going on I still hear people say "Axl's pretty fat now isn't he", "Axl is such a douchbag", "Axl was on so much drugs back in the day", "Axl is still alive?"  I can't say how many times I've tried correcting them that Axl wasn't on drugs, that GN'R was still a band from 99 til now. Most never heard of Chinese Democracy. I get surprised looks when I mention they've been on a reunion tour with the original big three for the last couple years and how they've been selling out football stadiums.  Then I hear stuff like "Oh, I love Paradise City", "I love Welcome to the Jungle". During the New GN'R era, most casual fans went along with everyone else with what was being said and considered them to be a joke, even the local rock station here would call them a joke, despite playing the radio hits immediately after.  I remember when CD came out and I kept calling the local rock staion and requesting Chinese to be played or Better to be played...out of the dozen times I've called, they played Chinese once.

 

I realize that most of the tickets being sold is bought by casual fans, but I seriously can't stand them sometimes and the ignorance they give off about the band...If you're going to blow that much money...at least know your shit....Don't be fucking screaming "Paradise City" after every song during a show, especially after the first couple songs. I remember the 2nd night I was at Foxborough, this couple standing next to me (probably in their 50s), the guy was very knowledgeable and I could tell he was following how the tour was going based on saying what song was coming next, but the woman he was with, completely unimpressed throughout the show, the only song she liked was November Rain. Then the Boston show I went to last year, a few older women in their 40s was sitting next to me, quiet throughout most of the show, pretty much sitting on their hands until the opening notes of Paradise City started and they screamed "oh yeah, finally!" It blew me away that such a fantastic show has been going on for 3 hours and this was the only thing you get excited about? 

 

However on a positive note, after leaving each show...is hearing people talking about how good the band sounded, how good Axl sounded and how it was the best concert they ever attended. 

 

I'm pretty much known in my inner circle of friends, rather it be friends from highschool, internet friends, exes, family...whoever, whenever they hear a Guns song, they feel the need to tell me about it and how it reminded them of me. But I'm pretty alone in my fandom...which I'm perfectly ok with. 

Edited July 12, 2018 by WWEROSES

[GNRfanMILO]

4 hours ago, WWEROSES said:

I'm pretty much known in my inner circle of friends, rather it be friends from highschool, internet friends, exes, family...whoever, whenever they hear a Guns song, they feel the need to tell me about and how it reminded them of me. But I'm pretty alone in my fandom...which I'm perfectly ok with. 

Hahaha we all have been there  

[Ericstacey]

I remember going to a lot of Gilby Clarke concerts in the 90's, and most would respond with "who is he?" It should have been a telling sign that most people mainly knew and know GNR for Axl and Slash, and probably Duff.

[Dusty Bone]

16 hours ago, TheGeneral said:

I don't go "Ugh you're such a freak!" when somebody is talking about football or Formula 1 or something else I couldn't care less about

 

I have the feeling I have to admit I often show that all those K-Pop fans annoy me 

 

16 hours ago, It’s So Easy said:

This is me. I have nobody to share my gnr craziness. 

Me neither, at least not outside of my family. I think my sister would be an option but I can't even try and I don't know why  I tend to downplay everything that's more or less important to me (again, I have no logical reasons for that). It's a bit better on the Internet where I assume nobody knows me in real life but it still feels strange.

[Fashionista]

My dad was into GN'R from around 1988 or 89...Heard them on the radio and thought the Stones had a new song out and his girlfriend told him it was a new band called Guns N' Roses. Not long after he got Appetite on CD. I think he also bought Lies and the UYI on CD later; I don't remember now. My sister, who was into all things metal in the 80s and 90s, liked them, saw them several times including at L'Amour in I think 87 or 88, MSG in 91 and with Metallica in Giant Stadium. They were never her #1 band, which was Metallica, but along with Skid Row and some others Guns was up there. However, Axl's antics on the tour turned her off, and she never bought TSI as she heard Since I Don't Have You on the radio and thought it was cringey, and in 93 GN'R weren't hip anymore anyway. She was listening to Alice in Chains and whatnot by then. She did buy the first Snakepit album in 95 though.

I remember walking with her one day in the early spring of 2002 and asking what recent (as in within the past decade) rock bands I'd like and she suggested GN'R. Not long after I was hooked. Her husband worked at Radio City Music Hall at the time and so I got early word that they would be there and had my VCR ready. I remember her attitude being "what happened to him? (meaning Axl)" after the VMAs. It was embarrassing. I saw them at MSG 2002 and within a few days the rest of the tour was cancelled and I remember being at lunch at a diner w/ her maybe 2 days later and she wasn't surprised about what happened.

[Silverburst80]

I remember vividly one morning when i was a kid my mum saying " Hey that band you like , Guns n Roses?, yeah well i was watching some music awards last night and they made complete fools off themselves.....coudn't string a sentence together they were so drunk"... i was like "that's awesome!".

Edited July 13, 2018 by Silverburst80

[DieselDaisy]

Schoolchums,

''Poofs band''. ''Aal that metal shite. It is aal fockin gay like''. 

[soon]

I know this one guy who said "I like Guns N Roses, just not all the heavy metal guitar parts." 

Now my eyebrows can effectively communicate judgement. And my eyes bemusement. I didn't even have to reply in words. And I swear each and every time I've seen him since, I've had a Pavlovian response where my eyes automatically resume that pose. Nothing I can do to stop it. We can be having a chuckle and I ask how his family is, but I will still be scowling at him about that ridiculous comment all those years ago.