Axl once described the first half of Use Your Illusion II as having a very southern sound to it, thoughts on that?

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

A more exact quote is back in the early 90s, Axl described the sound of the first half of UYI II as "the South will rise again" but I feel in the context of what he was getting at, he just meant it has a more southern sound, not a controversial political statement, so I edited the comment in the title a bit to avoid people misunderstanding what Axl was getting at, potentially derailing what this thread is about

 

He says it at about 4:50 in this video;

 

 

I found this comment interesting since UYI II seems to be the most beloved GN'R record after Appetite, which isn't saying too much since Lies is a shorter record (two EP's put together?), Spaghetti is a cover album, and the mileage on if ChiDem is a 'true' GN'R record varies. 

 

I feel in general the two UYI albums have instances of kind of a bluesy-rock sound (Dust N Bones, Bad Obsession, Bad Apples, You Ain't The First, Knockin' On Heaven's Door, 14 Years, Yesterdays, Breakdown) that I feel point to the direction of where another amazing Guns N' Roses record could be found.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Caught_in_a_Coma

[-W.A.R-]

I'd say its pretty accurate.

14 Years, Yesterdays, & Breakdown in particular are very southern influenced.

[wasted]

I feel like the two UYIs are sonic mirrors of each orher.

I is lit and II is low. 

[Silverburst80]

I suppose but it was there on Appetite ( thinking Paradise City and You're Crazy) so it's not like it was a new sound for them.

[UsedYourIllusion]

The bluesy influence is definitely there, stands our a lot on 14 years, and Breakdown is just a weird hodgepodge of different sounds that somehow works

[Free Bird]

Pretty much Breakdown

[default_]

Id say he didnt really knew southern rock that well back then lol he said the same about 5'oclock and theres little of that genre on the album. 

[wasted]

Lynyrd Skynyrd Rose Again.  

[Towelie]

Surprised nobody has mentioned Bad Apples in this thread, seeing as it's the most obvious Southern rock track on UYI.

[Gackt]

There's some southern rock vibes there, even if it's a stretch.

Not sure I'd say Get in the Ring sounds southern, but we can just roll with what Axl says.  

[soon]

Civil War is the most Southern sounding one to me. The sample of Cool Hand Luke featuring a southern manner of speaking, which is set in Florida, drives that home. And isn't that melodic line that Gilby handled live at the start a nod to old timey American Civil War songs too? Breakdown is very southern along with Yesterdays to my ears. 14 Years has a hiccup rhythm that is countrified and southern-fried. It also has a gritty working class feel, which could play into a southern identity. I suppose one could shoe horn in reasons why Shotgun Blues and Get in the Ring have tones of Southern identity to, like gun culture and wrestling, or feeling like a perpetual underdog but always working ones way up.

Axl also has talked about listening to lots of Lynyrd Skynyrd to get in the zone for Sweet Child O Mine

 

[Caught_in_a_Coma]

2 hours ago, Towelie said:

Surprised nobody has mentioned Bad Apples in this thread, seeing as it's the most obvious Southern rock track on UYI.

It's mentioned in the original post of the thread, or at least it was meant to be if I forgot to put it in

[Tom-Ass]

I really don't hear any Southern rock influence on those records.. Nothing really noteworthy anyway..

[RONIN]

By southern rock is he basically referring to "roots" rock? There's quite a bit of that on UYI...

[shotsfired cro]

funny in your comments nobody mentioned dixie at the end of Don't cry, doesn't get more southern than that.

 

Although the best southern rock by far were The Black Crowes

[Tom-Ass]

13 minutes ago, RONIN said:

By southern rock is he basically referring to "roots" rock? There's quite a bit of that on UYI...

I dunno.. Just reading from the title it says "a very southern sound"..  There isn't one song on them that have a prominent southern sound to them that I hear.. Maybe a couple minuscule parts like the intro of Breakdown or maybe even the intro of Civil War.

8 hours ago, default_ said:

Id say he didnt really knew southern rock that well back then lol he said the same about 5'oclock and theres little of that genre on the album. 

This... Or at least it appears that way anyway.. In reality though someone that is as into music as Axl most likely knows Southern rock.. It is just one of the many many things that comes out of his mouth that make no sense. But he said it so there will be people that will forever consider UYII to have a very Southern sound to it.

Edited October 26, 2018 by Tom-Ass

[Kwick1]

Maybe I didn't hear correctly but doesn't he say "a bit of the Southern rock feel"?  He's not saying they are Southern rock or even Southern rock based but have a little bit of the feel. I would say Axl is spot on in that description of KOHD, Civil War

[Lies They Tell]

This is kinda like when Sebastian Bach said Sorry was almost like Doom metal. Lots of people were like "OMG this is NOT Doom metal, Bach doesn't know what he's talking about!!11" Words like kinda or almost seem to be difficult words for some to grasp.

Or when Axl described This I Love as the heaviest song he's ever written, meaning lyrically heavy in an emotional way. Lots of people were like "OMG This is not heavy metal in any shape or form! Axl doesn't know what he's talking about!!11"

The UYI albums are clearly influenced by southern rock. Much more so than AFD. I don't know if it's harder for people from US to spot the southern rock influences, but as a European I can say that the UYI albums sound much more American compared to AFD and by that I mean all the southern rock influences. Obviously the albums aren't southern rock. But the influences are pretty clear.

 

[Sprite]

What is southern rock? If it’s defined as lynyrd skynyrd and the like than there isn’t much there other than a few influences here and there. Probably no more than a band like Van Halen had. I remember reading once axl said he listened to a lot of Lynyrd skynyrd before recording the vocal track to SCOM.. you can definitely hear that southern... yodel? Obviously not a yodel but I hear a similar tone a lot of lynyrd songs have. 

yesterdays first 12 seconds sounds like a slight steel guitar peppered country song. KOHD, 14 years, its all there. 

I think it was an Izzy thing. That ju ju hounds record was basically southern rock. 

[Kwick1]

Southern rock isn't yodeling. It's a base of rock, country and blues. Focused on electric guitar and vocals. Besides Skynard, there's ZZ Top, 38 Special, Molly Hatchett, Charlie Daniels is also considered Southern rock. 

Probably the biggest criteria is that it comes from the South. I think all Axl was really saying is those songs feel like they could have come from the South. Being from the South, I agree. 

Edited October 26, 2018 by Kwick1

[BlueJean Baby]

Also The Allman Brothers, Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Outlaws, newer bands that are considered to have southern rock influence are Saliva, BlackBerry Smoke, Three Doors Down, to name a few.

[Tom2112]

Dust n bones, yesterdays, breakdown, 14 years... a bunch of songs. The Piano playing has a lot of similarities to lynyrd skynyrd. Like it's a hard rock record obviously but there's definitely that influence. And I agree the influence was definitely there on Paradise city.

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

16 hours ago, -W.A.R- said:

I'd say its pretty accurate.

14 Years, Yesterdays, & Breakdown in particular are very southern influenced.

Yep. Pretty much this. Plus any time you have a song titled “Civil War”- and run around in a Confederate jacket singing it (regardless if the song itself is more straight-up hard rock and about all forms of human conflicts, etc.) you’re gonna channel the “American South” too...

Like so many things with the band (IMHO)- it’s not that it is literally “southern rock”- but rather it’s “southern rock Guns N‘ Roses style...”.

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

7 hours ago, BlueJean Baby said:

Also The Allman Brothers, Atlanta Rhythm Section and the Outlaws, newer bands that are considered to have southern rock influence are Saliva, BlackBerry Smoke, Three Doors Down, to name a few.

Yep- and of course The Black Crowes who were huge 90-94...

Edited October 27, 2018 by AXL_N_DIZZY

[wasted]

9 hours ago, Gackt said:

There's some southern rock vibes there, even if it's a stretch.

Not sure I'd say Get in the Ring sounds southern, but we can just roll with what Axl says.  

I think he said the first side of UYI II which was Civil, 14, Yeaterdays, Heavens.