ABSUЯD Single released at midnight

[2020_Intensions]

2 hours ago, GoodOlJohnnyK said:

The song's a bit repetitive but, overall, I like it. For every accusation that this is a Prodigy ripoff, to me it sounds pretty much like what Guns N' Roses would sound like in 2021. This band was always only half of a 'classic blues based rock' band - the other half was *always* punk inspired, and this is that side of the band. If you really listen to it, in both sound and spirit, this song is a descendant of It's So Easy.

Fans complaining about what should and should not be the first single of a potential new album is ridiculous - we're not marketing executives for a record label. Who *cares* what would make a good first single or where it falls on the charts? All of that shit only matters to people in the music industry.

And never did I expect to read Guns N' Roses fans dissecting Axl Rose's lyrics for hints of misogyny or complaining that they aren't politically correct enough for the times. Axl Rose! Which band have you *been listening to* all these years? Shouting about a parasitic, syphilitic priestess baby with a pussy full of maggots sticks out so much because, honestly, there are a lot of bands who wouldn't even *dare* say that type of shit in today's climate. That's a certain type of ballsy, 'fuck you' swagger that I love from this band.

So to recap:

1. Mean, aggressive sounding punk tune? Check.

2. Axl ranting without a care in the world? Check.

3. Slash shredding away? Check.

I love it. Hard School is a bit too bland compared to this one. I'm an Absurd fan.

Lots of GnR fans I take it that are now older have really "woke" up .. lol

[SoulMonster]

Just now, GNRfan2008 said:

 

It was a major factor in the tension that existed. Axl didn't like Slash's old school classic rock ideas. Slash & Duff didn't like Axl's industrial ideas. Throw in Axl's dictatorial behavior and the implosion makes a ton of sense. 

Difference of opinion re: the band's direction was one of many reasons cited by Slash, and there is probably some truth to that although I wouldn't call it the main reason. He was at odds with Axl for many reasons at the time and found Snakepit to be an alluring "escape".

As for Duff, it wasn't a big issue at all. He quit because the band didn't go anywhere at the time and because it had changed too much. 

[Blackstar]

5 minutes ago, GNRfan2008 said:

It was a major factor in the tension that existed. Axl didn't like Slash's old school classic rock ideas. Slash & Duff didn't like Axl's industrial ideas. Throw in Axl's dictatorial behavior and the implosion makes a ton of sense. 

That Axl wanted to go to an industrial direction in the mid 90s is not a fact, but an assumption that doesn't have much factual basis. It's not supported by the sources of the time.

Edited August 7, 2021 by Blackstar

[calle_st]

I think it is a pretty smart decision to release Absurd as first single, of course not everyone will like it but everyone will think wtf is this and it will create a buzz. It shows that they are willing try different styles and not just try to make a new nighttrain etc. I guess we will get songs that are closer to what they have done in the past to please the fans.

[oneway23]

4 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

For me it's Big River and you and your blues. But blood and fire was such a kick in the head of a song! Amazing. Bullethead, China Town... relentless!

I promise I'll stop gushing over this one, but, one more F yeah post for your picks, too! LOL  

Big River has that HUGE rhythm section that's reminiscent of Runnin' With..., IMO.  Just grooves like a mug

You & Your Blues - One of my absolute favorites on an album full of absolute slammers.  Gets me every time.  The bridge is...mwaaahh!

China Town - God, relentless!  Prog-Metal meltdown! Aliens playing on this one.

Bullethead - What a freight train of a cracker this one is.  The first one they went back to when reconvening for the album.  Great!

 

OK, I'm done, me swears!

[Sosso]

2 hours ago, James Bond said:

The Pitman Incident

Or a synth driven album written entirely by Melissa called Reese's Pieces.

GN'R releasing a synth driven album with Slash is not even unrealistic with songs like that in his discography. 

[oneway23]

12 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Difference of opinion re: the band's direction was one of many reasons cited by Slash, and there is probably some truth to that although I wouldn't call it the main reason. He was at odds with Axl for many reasons at the time and found Snakepit to be an alluring "escape".

As for Duff, it wasn't a big issue at all. He quit because the band didn't go anywhere at the time and because it had changed too much. 

Didn't that Snakepit album come about because Axl roundly rejected all of the material initially, only to ask for it back after the record was already finished?

Granted, It's quite literally been decades since I've read any of these source interviews/books/etc., and, I'm sure you could pull a million quotes that will undoubtedly shame my off the top of the head recall, but, I remember reading things like Axl no longer wanted to play Aerosmith AC/DC hard rock style tunes, he wanted the band to sound like a cross between NIN and Pearl Jam, and only relented to reassess the Snakepit material in order to, in his mind, "appease" Slash.  

Duff?  You're surely right that it was likely much less of a reason for Duff's departure.  He seems to be much more of a "go along to get along" kind of guy, one not very much into confrontation, and he'll likely try to do everything within his power to make a situation workable.

[Zeppelin]

48 minutes ago, oneway23 said:

Russ, I'm glad someone brought this up, because I've been thinking about that a lot this morning.  Fantastic album; honestly should have gotten infinitely more attention than it did.  For any fan of hard rock, please do yourself a favor and check it out.  I can put that on at any time over the past nine years, and it still blows me away.

 

That said, for me, the direct comparison doesn't hold, and, I'll tell you why:  For all the talk about Diamond Dave's vocals, brothaman re-recorded everything contemporaneously; he didn't use the vocal takes from the 1978 Gene Simmons demos.  In many cases, he wrote all new lyrics.  In other words, he put the damn work in.

Same for the band.  All fresh recordings, new arrangements, in some cases, and, most importantly, a few brand-new tunes sprinkled in.

Forget Absurd.  Gettin' heated all over again to blast that album...smokes!

 

Some of the best playing of Ed & Alex's career

Agreed with everything here. Tremendous effort by VH, and a wonderful swan song for the band. One of my top VH albums as well.

I still remember Tattoo being released and the reaction was quite mixed. Diehard fans looked at the track list right away and knew that there were older, reworked songs on the album. But at the end of the day, fans were elated that an album was in the can and about to be unleashed. With a proper release date, too.

Which brings me back to my disappointment about this song. It’s bad. But I could stomach it if I knew an album was imminent or if there was a track list like there was for the VH album. I could be wrong, and hope that I am, about no imminent album release. But I just can’t get excited about a 20-year old, reworked song that blows. The band needs more momentum than this.

[SoulMonster]

10 minutes ago, oneway23 said:

Didn't that Snakepit album come about because Axl roundly rejected all of the material initially, only to ask for it back after the record was already finished?

Granted, It's quite literally been decades since I've read any of these source interviews/books/etc., and, I'm sure you could pull a million quotes that will undoubtedly shame my off the top of the head recall, but, I remember reading things like Axl no longer wanted to play Aerosmith AC/DC hard rock style tunes, he wanted the band to sound like a cross between NIN and Pearl Jam, and only relented to reassess the Snakepit material in order to, in his mind, "appease" Slash.  

Duff?  You're surely right that it was likely much less of a reason for Duff's departure.  He seems to be much more of a "go along to get along" kind of guy, one not very much into confrontation, and he'll likely try to do everything within his power to make a situation workable.

Axl definitely wanted the band to move forward, also music-wise, and considered the songs Slash brought in as not good enough. Slash naturally disagreed. 

[oneway23]

5 minutes ago, Zeppelin said:

Which brings me back to my disappointment about this song. It’s bad. But I could stomach it if I knew an album was imminent or if there was a track list like there was for the VH album. I could be wrong, and hope that I am, about no imminent album release. But I just can’t get excited about a 20-year old, reworked song that blows. The band needs more momentum than this.

Great point, Zeppelin.  Maybe it'd be easier to get geeked about things if there were a proper track list with some track times.  As it stands, at least as we sit here and shoot the breeze right now,  fully acknowledging that things could change, at any moment, this is feeling like a pretty feeble attempt to justify taking the circus around the horn yet again.

[Tom2112]

31 minutes ago, oneway23 said:

I promise I'll stop gushing over this one, but, one more F yeah post for your picks, too! LOL  

Big River has that HUGE rhythm section that's reminiscent of Runnin' With..., IMO.  Just grooves like a mug

You & Your Blues - One of my absolute favorites on an album full of absolute slammers.  Gets me every time.  The bridge is...mwaaahh!

China Town - God, relentless!  Prog-Metal meltdown! Aliens playing on this one.

Bullethead - What a freight train of a cracker this one is.  The first one they went back to when reconvening for the album.  Great!

 

OK, I'm done, me swears!

Hey it's a killer record, everybody on top form too! What a way to wrap the career!

[Sosso]

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

Axl definitely wanted the band to move forward, also music-wise, and considered the songs Slash brought in as not good enough. Slash naturally disagreed. 

I dont understand why they couldnt have released both albums. Slash's songs in 1996 and Axl's songs in 1999 

Edited August 7, 2021 by Sosso

[Gunsdrummer63]

59 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

Hey, at least she didn't tell you that the world would be a lot better place without you in it like she did to some other guy. All because he pointed out facts regarding the songs lineage lol

What a privilege it was to be treated like an actual human by an absurd management group!

[RussTCB]

Just now, Gunsdrummer63 said:

What a privilege it was to be treated like an actual human by an absurd management group!

Dammit. This is the first time in 3 days where I was torn between using the laughing emojii and the absurd one. 

I settled on giving you the laughing one and telling you you're ABSURD! 

[oneway23]

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

Axl definitely wanted the band to move forward, also music-wise, and considered the songs Slash brought in as not good enough. Slash naturally disagreed. 

Would the ol' "creative differences" not then be one of the fundamental reasons for the split?  I know Huge's presence was also a massive issue, but, we can't really place percentages of likelihood on these things and how much each caused the breakup without going off into outer space. 

[Tom2112]

1 minute ago, SoulMonster said:

Axl definitely wanted the band to move forward, also music-wise, and considered the songs Slash brought in as not good enough. Slash naturally disagreed. 

Axl initially wanted to go into unchartered territories but after a while with lawsuits he changed his mind and then wanted Slash's material back.

The problem was that Slash wanted to release the songs as he presented them. Well that was the story at least.

Once Slash released his music and subsequently quit Axl went full speed ahead with Silkworms and all that other music so in a way it's all Slash's fault😜

[Modano09]

20 minutes ago, oneway23 said:

 

Duff?  You're surely right that it was likely much less of a reason for Duff's departure.  He seems to be much more of a "go along to get along" kind of guy, one not very much into confrontation, and he'll likely try to do everything within his power to make a situation workable.

In his book, Duff said that when he got sober Axl was really supportive and they actually hung out doing sober activities so their relationship seemed good. But he became frustrated with Axl wanting to work at night, if he wanted to work at all, and how the band just wasn't going anywhere. It seems like he would have stayed if anything was actually happening but it wasn't so he moved on. There didn't seem to be any hard feelings at the time.

 

[IrishgunnerII]

9 minutes ago, Sosso said:

I dont understand why they couldnt have released both albums. Slash's songs in 1996 and Axl's songs in 1999 

You’re trying to inject logic into the inner workings of GNR. Doesn’t always end well.

[oneway23]

5 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Axl initially wanted to go into unchartered territories but after a while with lawsuits he changed his mind and then wanted Slash's material back.

The problem was that Slash wanted to release the songs as he presented them. Well that was the story at least.

Once Slash released his music and subsequently quit Axl went full speed ahead with Silkworms and all that other music so in a way it's all Slash's fault😜

Could you imagine those Snakepit songs with Axl's vocals in 1996?  Kills me.  That singer blew.

Throw in a couple of Axl ballads and you might have had something back then.

[SoulMonster]

1 minute ago, oneway23 said:

Would the ol' "creative differences" not then be one of the fundamental reasons for the split?  I know Huge's presence was also a massive issue, but, we can't really place percentages of likelihood on these things and how much each caused the breakup without going off into outer space. 

You are right, we can't put percentages on this, and I am not saying it wasn't one of the reasons for the split. But having read all Slash said about this, and reading between the lines, and also Axl's and others versions of what happened, I don't believe creative differences were the main reason for why Slash quit. There were a lot of reasons, including but not limited to: Paul's presence, Gilby's "firing", Steven and Izzy's absence, the rejection of Slash's music, Axl's unwillingness to tour when Slash really needed it (hence why he so quickly got on tour with Snakepit), Axl's craziness, the dividing camps, etc. I probably forgot some.

Axl definitely wanted the band to evolve, but not to the extent that it was more important than Slash being in the band. So he tried to find some compromises that would make Slash happy yet also move the band forward from the somewhat dated music that Slash wanted them to release (in Axl's mind), which is why he suggested bringing in Zakk to compliment Slash's playing. When things didn't work, and Slash gradually disappeared more and more, he suggested working on some of Slash's songs, but then it was too late. 

[Modano09]

Just now, oneway23 said:

Could you imagine those Snakepit songs with Axl's vocals in 1996?  Kills me.  That singer blew.

Throw in a couple of Axl ballads and you might have had something back then.

Apparently Duff didn't like Slash's material for GNR either.

[drlaban]

13 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Axl considered the songs Slash brought in as not good enough.

Axl was right.

[oneway23]

2 minutes ago, Modano09 said:

In his book, Duff said that when he got sober Axl was really supportive and they actually hung out doing sober activities so their relationship seemed good. But he became frustrated with Axl wanting to work at night, if he wanted to work at all, and how the band just wasn't going anywhere. It seems like he would have stayed if anything was actually happening but it wasn't so he moved on. There didn't seem to be any hard feelings at the time.

 

Yup.  Duff seems like a righteous fella.  Let's be real, MOST of the hurt boo boo hard feelings over the years came from one direction, and most of the emotional "hardship" was self-inflicted.

[SoulMonster]

8 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Axl initially wanted to go into unchartered territories but after a while with lawsuits he changed his mind and then wanted Slash's material back.

The problem was that Slash wanted to release the songs as he presented them. Well that was the story at least.

Once Slash released his music and subsequently quit Axl went full speed ahead with Silkworms and all that other music so in a way it's all Slash's fault😜

Axl said something to the effect that when Slash had gone, and with Axl being unable to replace him with a similarly blues-based guitarist, the music of GN'R naturally changed. I think it was a bit of both: Axl wanted it to change and now he had no choice but to let it change.

[GNRfan2008]

12 minutes ago, Sosso said:

I dont understand why they couldnt have released both albums. Slash's songs in 1996 and Axl's songs in 1999 

 

I think if they had to do it all over again, they would have compromised in the manner you mentioned. Would have been a much more lucrative path for them from 1996 to 2016.