Sympathy for the Devil

[Blackstar]

18 hours ago, Ant said:

There was a post on Reddit a year ago from an account called u/ghostwhoknows 

The gentleman with Axl in this video is Dave Lank, truly Axl's oldest friend. Dave, Paul and Axl all grew up together in Lafayette.
Fun fact - Paul Tobias was present when Slash auditioned for GNR. Paul said that Slash was the guy and Axl agreed. There is so much more to the Paul, Axl, Slash story that you all will never know. So much speculation that the truth would settle once and for all. But truth is also silencing so you all wouldn't have anything to talk about. 

Dave Lank is a genius writer. Paul is extremely talented as well. They teamed up once before. Hopefully they will again sometime in the future.

I’m not Dave. I just know. I have facts

It was the account’s only post! A little... mysterious 🧐

There is an account on facebook and youtube (probably elsewhere, too) that posts demos of the band Mank Rage that Tobias and Lank were in.

I have also found a couple of old threads at htgth where there were a couple of posters who knew things about them, probably their friends or even someone from that band. One of them handled their myspace then and posted lyrics by Lank, saying he was a poet, a genius etc. The account on reddit may be the same person.

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=32150.0

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/board/index.php?topic=37216.0

(It seems that a few posts where deleted and threads were merged, so you can't always follow the conversation).

Regardless of what the reddit account said, Slash definitely must have met Paul before 1994, since he was in L.A. (and according to the comments in the htgth thread he was already living there when Lank moved to L.A., which must have been in 1989 or 1990). Probably Slash disliked all Axl's friends from Indiana.

 

 

[k12]

I remember being in a record store and seeing a new Guns N Roses single out and I didn't even know they had a new song so I of course bought it and I thought it was an awesome song, than a year or so later I was in my friends car and their dad was listening to the classic rock station, and what comes on the radio? a "different/mellower" version of that Guns N Roses song that I only than found out was the original song by the Rolling Stones and that GNR song was a cover

it is funny since than I have become a pretty big Rolling Stones fan and I would say Sympathy for the Devil is probably my favorite song of theirs, I am not sure if it is because of the GNR influence or cuz it is just an awesome song

 

[papashaun]

On 8/19/2020 at 2:35 PM, jackparker123 said:

It's very weird that Estranged wasn't a single in the US or UK. Especially considering they made the outrageously expensive video for it.

For some reason it was only released in Europe and Australia / NZ.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estranged_(song)

It did reach #16 on the US Billboard Mainstream Rock Chart, but like you said, it appears the "single" version was released in Germany and Australia with "The Garden" as the B-Side.

I myself was a little confused when the video for Estranged was released on MTV. I was 12 years old at the time, and at that point on MTV, I had never seen a musical act put out a "New" Album (The Spaghetti Incident in this case) that featured a New Video, for a Newly Released Single off the Album....Only to then release a music video for a song off a previous album that had been out for a couple of years. I was thinking, "Ok? We have the Spaghetti Incident, and now we're going back to Use Your Illusion 2 for a "New" video?" I didn't know the story behind the video, and just wondered if this was a way to drum up more sales for UYI-2, and help bolster sales for TSI as well. I've always really liked "Estranged" as a song...but always thought that video was too over the top, a little strange, and outdated at the time as well.

[ToonGuns]

To coin another comparison with Oasis,  All Around The World is the only other c. 9 minute single I can think of. Although the Oasis track was an official charted single.

[Len Cnut]

1 hour ago, ToonGuns said:

To coin another comparison with Oasis,  All Around The World is the only other c. 9 minute single I can think of. Although the Oasis track was an official charted single.

They also had a radio edit out.  

[allwaystired]

7 minutes ago, Len Cnut said:

They also had a radio edit out.  

I thought this too....but recently I got the CD single out and it is the full version. The radio edit only featured on the 7" single, weirdly. 

[jordaan1]

I love the song, but prefer the version performed by Janes addiction above the GNR or Rolling Stones version. 
 

 

[jordaan1]

Now there’s some rasp for ya ^^^ 

 

[lame ass security]

1 hour ago, jordaan1 said:

Now there’s some rasp for ya ^^^ 

 

Wow, that's interesting. Some parts I really like and some not so much. I think it has more to do with Perry's cadence and enunciation more than anything. It sounds different than the original and I think it was a bit of a jolt listening to it for the first time. But I think it sounds better when he cuts loose and belts it. I have to say it took me a long time to appreciate Jane's Addiction and Perry's singing. I remember seeing the Classic Girl vid and thinking how beautiful it was.

[ToonGuns]

Motorhead also did a version. Got it on limited green vinyl from record store day I think back in 2016.

[TrixAreForKids]

Never really listened to the Spaghetti Incident front to back until this past weekend, and I gotta say that it's really really good. Black Leather and I don't care about you just stand out for me.

[DTJ80]

1 hour ago, TrixAreForKids said:

Never really listened to the Spaghetti Incident front to back until this past weekend, and I gotta say that it's really really good. Black Leather and I don't care about you just stand out for me.

It has this ‘bad reputation’ which is quite unjust - I think it’s pretty good and don’t think there are any bad songs on there. Production wise it’s ace too.

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, TrixAreForKids said:

Never really listened to the Spaghetti Incident front to back until this past weekend, and I gotta say that it's really really good. Black Leather and I don't care about you just stand out for me.

Well... after all it's the fifth best record of GNR. 

[jamillos]

10 hours ago, Free Bird said:

Well... after all it's the fifth best record of GNR. 

Wait, do you count UYI as one or two records? 

[Free Bird]

5 hours ago, jamillos said:

Wait, do you count UYI as one or two records? 

I count them as two records and I count Lies as a lp too.

[The Holographic Universe]

On 9/2/2020 at 12:27 AM, jamillos said:

Wait, do you count UYI as one or two records? 

Why do you consider Lies an LP? I’m not against the idea, I do as well, but I’m curious. I kinda consider UYI one album because it was its own recording session. It just happen to produce two albums.

Edited September 4, 2020 by The Holographic Universe

[jamillos]

1 hour ago, The Holographic Universe said:

Why do you consider Lies an LP? I’m not against the idea, I do as well, but I’m curious. I kinda consider UYI one album because it was its own recording session. It just happen to produce two albums.

Not me, @Free Bird. I was just trying to figure out where TSI stands in you guys' opinion. 

Edited September 4, 2020 by jamillos

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, The Holographic Universe said:

Why do you consider Lies an LP? I’m not against the idea, I do as well, but I’m curious. I kinda consider UYI one album because it was its own recording session. It just happen to produce two albums.

When I discovered GNR in '94, Lies was a CD with 8 new songs to me. A short but full album. Later on I read about the early release of the Suicide EP, which was even limited.

I guess it's because it's a physical copy I can touch and so it's countable. Like UYI I and II. Regardless of their simultaneously release, these were to albums to me.

 

[DeadSlash]

On 8/18/2020 at 10:23 AM, DurhamGirl said:

I apologise iff this has already been discussed...ignore me if it  has

I have just listened to Sympathy for the Devil and feel excited about it, I love it!  It is just so great to hear Axle's voice from way back when (1996 I think) singing something 'new' (it is for me) and wow what a voice with such energy and then the electricity of Slash's guitar playing.  It must have been amazing to have been around back then and seeing them in concert.  

Did you hear this single in 1990s and if so did you like it?  Also did you know Guns was splitting up at the time or were you expecting to see them again?

 

 

 

I've shared it before here, but it's one of my favorite GnR stories to tell:

 

I was driving to class, I was a freshman in college when it came on the radio.  This was long before the internet (or at least what it is now) and I had NO IDEA there was anything incoming from GnR.  The DJ was like "This is the new song from Guns N Roses..." and I was like "What?!" and I pulled over to the side of the road and say there as I listened to it right there as traffic passed me by!

At the time, if I remember correctly, it was unclear what the future of GnR was.  I 100% know it wasn't officially "over" the rumors of a new album lingered for a few years after Sympathy dropped.  I *THINK* at that point everyone knew they were on a "break" at the very least, Snakepit was on it's way and Duff's album was already out, so nothing was expected from GnR, BUT it wasn't clear that they had broken up either.  Always loved that song!

[papashaun]

On 8/21/2020 at 12:59 AM, Ant said:

There was a post on Reddit a year ago from an account called u/ghostwhoknows 

The gentleman with Axl in this video is Dave Lank, truly Axl's oldest friend. Dave, Paul and Axl all grew up together in Lafayette.
Fun fact - Paul Tobias was present when Slash auditioned for GNR. Paul said that Slash was the guy and Axl agreed. There is so much more to the Paul, Axl, Slash story that you all will never know. So much speculation that the truth would settle once and for all. But truth is also silencing so you all wouldn't have anything to talk about. 

Dave Lank is a genius writer. Paul is extremely talented as well. They teamed up once before. Hopefully they will again sometime in the future.

I’m not Dave. I just know. I have facts

It was the account’s only post! A little... mysterious 🧐

I just read this post again....If there is any truth to this Reddit post, what if Paul Tobias is actually the "Oz Behind the Curtain" of GnR all these years, while Axl has been the "Great and Powerful Oz Apparition" appearing to all of us "Brainless Scarecrows." Wouldn't that be a huge plot twist revealed, as we're winding down the story of Guns n Roses. 

[F*ck Fear]

This like most of TSI!?, get played the least.

I rarely go out of my way to listen to any of them.

[appetite4illusions]

I don't know...I had always heard that the band was reluctant to go with Slash as lead guitar player, when he first auditioned. 

He was undoubtedly, one of the most talented guitar players of the time and place, but it was his personality that the band found "questionable." Axl tells it that people kept recommending Slash to him and his attitude was "nah..."  Robert John backs this up, saying back in those days, Slash was a "little creep" and it was his advice not to hire Slash, as he was very much the type of guy who was only in business for himself and wouldn't be there for long.

If you look at it, Slash was a star right out of the gate. He had bands which didn't even have a vocalist (Tidus Sloan, Road Crew) which allowed him to be the alpha and the sole focus of attention. Slash was also very enterprising, joining bands left and right - he clearly thought very highly of his talent. It's not hard for me to imagine that he was low-key cocky and maybe, a little bit unreliable. 

These guys had to circle each other for a period of time before they became comfortable and saw the potential in one another. It's a little hard for me to believe that Paul Huge saw Slash and advised Axl that he had found the pot of gold.

[papashaun]

Talk about a case of misheard lyrics with this song...I was a teenager, and really listened to the original Rolling Stones version for the first time, (Keep in mind, this was back in the 90s, when we had no google, no internet, and if you heard a song of this age at the time, it was either on a classic rock radio station, or through an old cassette/LP as a lot of older albums were just becoming available on CD,) I really misunderstood one of the song's lyrics.....

When I heard the lyric:

"When the Blitzkrieg Raged, And the Bodies Stank,"

I thought Mick Jagger was singing:

"When the Blitzkrieg Raged, I ate the Finest Steak." 

You can't un-hear that, not that I put it in your head. LOL....

Thankfully, we're a click away from clearing up some embarrassing mis-heard lyrics now.

Edited September 6, 2020 by papashaun
mis spelled word