The history of GN'R as told by GN'R (A4D)

[rumandraisin]

On 8/29/2023 at 6:26 PM, Cosmo said:

Wow started reading it all some days ago, and continue every day before bed. That's amazing material you put together @SoulMonster. Congrats, man. It was a great read.

Exactly. People go on about Chinese Whispers or the gnrevolution posts but this is by far the best biography and detailed making of CD out there

[SoulMonster]

It's finally time to publish another chapter, the 38th, in this massive undertaking: (52) 38. MAY 2017-JULY 2018: MORE TOURING AND THE RELEASE OF APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION: LOCKED N' LOADED (a-4-d.com)

This chapter deals with the period spanning May 2017 to July 2018. Not much happened here; the band continued touring, Dizzy finally released his solo album, and the band celebrated Appetite for Destruction's 30th anniversary by releasing a remastered version in various packages (including the Sound City demos) about one year too late. Fernando didn't manage to get many fans among the fans and Alan Niven and Doug Goldstein were not impressed. 

It is slow progress now because I have to transcribe a lot of interviews. The good news is that you can now read many of the great interviews Brando and Sid have done over the years (all interviews can be found here: That's a fucking lot!). I have also spent quite a bit of time re-arranging and updated older chapters, adding more quotes and images and generally improving language and structure. While doing all this I have realized what a gargantuan project this has become. If the entire history section was to be printed out in books it would be a bigger book series than George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire (but perhaps not as entertaining) and thrice as thick as the bible (but hopefully make more sense). In short, it is a ridiculous endeavor. I hope people enjoy it and that it can be used as the source for anyone wanting to learn more about the band in the future.

The index to the entire history section is here: THE HISTORY OF GUNS N' ROSES AS TOLD BY GUNS N' ROSES 

[rumandraisin]

As ever, thank you! Lost count of how many times I've read 97 onwards. 

[Dacroix]

The work you did is impressive. You probably already have this information, but since I haven't read it yet, I'll give you this case: apparently Axl's father was murdered when he was discovered with a married woman.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/il-court-of-appeals/1472590.html

Edited February 3 by Dacroix

[SoulMonster]

8 hours ago, Dacroix said:

The work you did is impressive. You probably already have this information, but since I haven't read it yet, I'll give you this case: apparently Axl's father was murdered when he was discovered with a married woman.

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/court/il-court-of-appeals/1472590.html

Yeah, Axl himself talked about what happened to his father:

Like I found William Rose. Turns out, he was murdered in 84 and buried somewhere in Illinois, and I found that out like two days before a show and I was fucking whacked! I mean, I’ve been trying to uncover this mystery since I was a little kid. I didn’t even know he existed until I was a teenager, you know? Cos I was told it was the Devil that made me know what the inside of a house looked like that I’d supposedly never lived in. So I’ve been trying to track down this William Rose guy. Not like, I love this guy, he’s my father. I just wanna know something about my heritage....weird shit like am I going to have an elbow that bugs the shit out of me when I get 40 cos of some hereditary trait? Weird shit ordinary families take for granted. [...] he was killed. It was probably like at close-range too, man. Wonderful family..... [Kerrang! April 1990].

As fas as my history work goes, it is just an interesting anecdote. I would probably write more about it if I could figure out when Axl was informed of the murder and how it affected him at the time (like what show he is referring to). Axl was most likely informed in 1987 since the press talked about the murder (Sep '87) back then.

Edited February 4 by SoulMonster

[Blackstar]

It looks like Axl found out about his real father's death in 1989 ("around the Stones shows"):

Where is your real father?

His brother called me right around the Stones shows, and I had my brother talk to him. I didn't talk to him, 'cause I needed to keep that separation. I haven't heard from him since. But I confronted my mom, and she finally talked to me a bit about it, and they told me that he was dead. It looks pretty much to be true that he is. He was pretty much headed for that anyway. A very unsavory character. I've had a problem with not wanting to be him. I had to be macho. I couldn't allow myself to be a real man, because men were evil, and I didn't want to be like my father. Around the Stones shows, some paper in L.A. wrote this piece about how "The truth will come out about Axl's anger," and they were making it look like I was trying to hide something. I wasn't trying to hide it. I didn't know what had happened to me. I wouldn't allow myself to know. I wouldn't have been able to handle it.

https://www.a-4-d.com/t544-1992-04-02-rolling-stone-the-gn-r-leader-discusses-his-appetite-for-destruction-axl

[SoulMonster]

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

It looks like Axl found out about his real father's death in 1989 ("around the Stones shows"):

Where is your real father?

His brother called me right around the Stones shows, and I had my brother talk to him. I didn't talk to him, 'cause I needed to keep that separation. I haven't heard from him since. But I confronted my mom, and she finally talked to me a bit about it, and they told me that he was dead. It looks pretty much to be true that he is. He was pretty much headed for that anyway. A very unsavory character. I've had a problem with not wanting to be him. I had to be macho. I couldn't allow myself to be a real man, because men were evil, and I didn't want to be like my father. Around the Stones shows, some paper in L.A. wrote this piece about how "The truth will come out about Axl's anger," and they were making it look like I was trying to hide something. I wasn't trying to hide it. I didn't know what had happened to me. I wouldn't allow myself to know. I wouldn't have been able to handle it.

https://www.a-4-d.com/t544-1992-04-02-rolling-stone-the-gn-r-leader-discusses-his-appetite-for-destruction-axl

Yes, seems like it from that quote. If I remember correct, the murder happened in 1984 but investigation startet in 1987 after a witness of the murder came forward, with sentencing in 1989. It sounds weird to me that Axl wouldn't be told in 1987 of the alleged murder (the body was not found), still, his family wasn't normal. That his uncle would reach out to him in 1989 was possible also to inform him that a person (Faulkner) had been found guilty. As far as I know, the body was never found. 

[SoulMonster]

Further to my previous post: the verdict fell in August 1989 with the Stones shows in October. So it is not unreasonable his uncle tried reaching out to Axl as a result of the sentencing. 

[Voodoochild]

On 2/3/2024 at 8:43 AM, SoulMonster said:

 It is slow progress now because I have to transcribe a lot of interviews.

Great work, as always. Did you try to use some AI to transcribe those interviews? When I was a journalist, I sometimes used Google Pinpoint with my own interview recordings. It's not perfect, especially considering my field had a lot of technical terms (telecommunications) and most of those interviews were in Portuguese, but it helped. 

https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/about

There's several other tools out there that may have better results, tho. 

[Blackstar]

51 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

Great work, as always. Did you try to use some AI to transcribe those interviews? When I was a journalist, I sometimes used Google Pinpoint with my own interview recordings. It's not perfect, especially considering my field had a lot of technical terms (telecommunications) and most of those interviews were in Portuguese, but it helped. 

https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/about

There's several other tools out there that may have better results, tho. 

I just tried this

https://riverside.fm/transcription

and it certainly saves a lot of time.

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, Voodoochild said:

Great work, as always. Did you try to use some AI to transcribe those interviews? When I was a journalist, I sometimes used Google Pinpoint with my own interview recordings. It's not perfect, especially considering my field had a lot of technical terms (telecommunications) and most of those interviews were in Portuguese, but it helped. 

https://journaliststudio.google.com/pinpoint/about

There's several other tools out there that may have better results, tho. 

AI or AI. I use some algorithm from Google, typically. The problem is that it typically don't distinguish between different voices, and you have to listen through everything to make sure punctuation and all the words are correct. I have been waiting for the newer AI software to come.

[SoulMonster]

54 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I just tried this

https://riverside.fm/transcription

and it certainly saves a lot of time.

I spontaneously ejaculated. 

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

AI or AI. I use some algorithm from Google, typically. The problem is that it typically don't distinguish between different voices, and you have to listen through everything to make sure punctuation and all the words are correct. I have been waiting for the newer AI software to come.

I think as advanced as the software may be, you still have to listen through because there'll still be some mistakes especially in names.

Microsoft Office 365 distinguishes voices, but it makes mistakes in the transcription, especially in punctuation.

[SoulMonster]

Anyone know when this photo was taken?

I need to put it at the right place inn the history, together with this quote from the band's chiropractor, Stephen Thaxton:

"Truly mind boggling to me [that they didn't injure themselves]. [Axl and Slash] came off of those ramps, and you know, in the show, in the heat of the moment, just, I guess all the adrenaline must've really been beneficial to them because to this day, I still think about on a regular basis coming off of those ramps, jumping, it was pretty impressive athletic athleticism on both of their parts. It really was."