ABSUЯD Single released at midnight

[Flayer]

3 minutes ago, Fozzie Bear said:

Dude, nobody cares about 4 journalist opinions anymore who are all hoping to get Axl interviews lined up.  Media are all shills now. 

You’re agreeing with me, so why are you arguing?

[Tom2112]

3 minutes ago, Fozzie Bear said:

Here's the problem with Axl's songwriting skills between 1999-2021...WHAT THE F#$K IS HE SINGING ABOUT?   His lyrics and songs are not relatable and just a bunch of gibberish. 

Take me down to the paradise city where the grass is green and girls are pretty - EVERYONE GETS THAT

Welcome to the jungle, we got fun and games, we got everything you want, honey we know the names - EVERYONE GETS THAT 

Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place where as a child I'd hide - EVERYONE GETS THAT 

 

Hard school - WTF is that? 

Pussy full of maggots - Such a lovely everyday thing 

My sense of rejection, is no excuse for my behavior, you pulled the gun, that shot a crucified my savior - Um...ok, what? 

 

Axl tries to be so deep and meaningful and in the end, it's the simple stuff that people can relate to that has the most meaning and power in music.   When you finish listening to AFD you know what the band stands for and what they are trying to say.  After Chinese D, it's like, WTF was all that shit?  Some very cool stuff, but nothing means anything.  It's all over the place.   But hey, way to win back the fans with pussy full of maggots! 

If you think he's thinking "how do I win back fans and be relatable" you are out of your mind.

Also, who says he has to write relatable lyrics? Plenty of artists don't but... if you go through CD the lyrical theme is clearly heartbreak and love... pretty relatable subject that musicians have been singing about for a long time! Not sure how you missed that🤣

[Fozzie Bear]

Just now, Flayer said:

You’re agreeing with me, so why are you arguing?

Am I being - ABSURD?! 

Just now, Tom2112 said:

If you think he's thinking "how do I win back fans and be relatable" you are out of your mind.

Also, who says he has to write relatable lyrics? Plenty of artists don't but... if you go through CD the lyrical theme is clearly heartbreak and love... pretty relatable subject that musicians have been singing about for a long time! Not sure how you missed that🤣

Where is the "LOVE" in Chinese D?  It's all so melodramatic heartbreak.  I wish it had more SWAGGER and BADASS lyrics.  

[GNRfan2008]

1 minute ago, RussTCB said:

It seems to be really mportant to the people that don't like it to convince others they shouldn't like it too. 

Whereas the people that like it are just happy and don't feel the need to force others to like it 

 

I mainly find the release itself pretty damn funny. Axl himself called it a joke while introducing it to the live crowd the other day. The title of the song is pretty perfect, given the content is bound to be pretty polarizing to the audience. 

[Blackstar]

10 minutes ago, Flayer said:

As much as so many people on here hate it, it’s been getting some surprisingly positive critical reception.

“High octane rocker … neo-punk” https://www.musicradar.com/amp/news/guns-n-roses-absurd-single

“Explosive” https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nme.com/news/music/guns-n-roses-release-explosive-new-track-absurd-3012768%3famp

“Mixes some of that energy from the Chinese Democracy sessions along with the fiery material that marked the band’s raucous early years.” https://www.spin.com/2021/08/guns-n-roses-new-song-absurd/

“Heavy handed guitar solos and bombastic drums” https://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-absurd-song

”Rose’s voice is deep and booming and the band is quite aggressive, laying into a rolling groove…” https://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-new-song-absurd-live/

I personally have always enjoyed this song, but I can’t help but see this as a sign of corruption in the music press, or perhaps cowardice. Whether you like the song or not, Absurd would not rank in the top five tracks if it were on Chinese Democracy. It would struggle to even place in the top ten.

That album got savaged and dismissed as a joke by much of the music press, while the self-proclaimed ABSURD is being received with a tone of respectful seriousness across the board.

Quite simply, Chinese Democracy was released when Axl Rose was out of favor with the label, the press, the industry at large. Now he did the reunion, now he’s back in favor, now Absurd gets good press. So do all the live shows since the reunion, even when his voice sounds horrible, while you can go back to concert reviews from 2010 when his voice was at its peak and find critics dissing it.

The press are cowards, by and large. They lavish praise on whoever the industry favors at any given moment and heap scorn and derision on those who have displeased the powers that be. This is true on all things. I’d just never really thought of it before in the context of the music business.

When Slash returned to GN'R he didn't only bring his guitar with him, but his good PR, too. And I'm not saying this in a negative way at all. Slash worked hard for that through the years.

[Tom-Ass]

7 hours ago, sofine11 said:

It also shows that everyone raging that “Silkworms” is the first single with Slash are basically screaming into a vacuum.

It was the first song with Slash and Axl in 30 years. Of course it was going to get the hell streamed out of it.  The quality of the song has zero to do with chart position after one day.  

[James Bond]

5 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

It seems to be really mportant to the people that don't like it to convince others they shouldn't like it too. 

Whereas the people that like it are just happy and don't feel the need to force others to like it 

Seems like just a few weeks ago we were being accused of being mentally unstable because we didn't just unconditionally agree with everything that the band does. Now that we're actually feeling more optimistic we're being told that we need to hate it.

I'm going to really confuse everybody now: I hate that I love the song that I hate.

[Flayer]

My brother couldn’t understand the words the first time through and thought it sounded like he was saying I’M SAD! I’M SAD!

[GNRfan2008]

17 minutes ago, Flayer said:

As much as so many people on here hate it, it’s been getting some surprisingly positive critical reception.

“High octane rocker … neo-punk” https://www.musicradar.com/amp/news/guns-n-roses-absurd-single

“Explosive” https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nme.com/news/music/guns-n-roses-release-explosive-new-track-absurd-3012768%3famp

“Mixes some of that energy from the Chinese Democracy sessions along with the fiery material that marked the band’s raucous early years.” https://www.spin.com/2021/08/guns-n-roses-new-song-absurd/

“Heavy handed guitar solos and bombastic drums” https://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-absurd-song

”Rose’s voice is deep and booming and the band is quite aggressive, laying into a rolling groove…” https://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-new-song-absurd-live/

I personally have always enjoyed this song, but I can’t help but see this as a sign of corruption in the music press, or perhaps cowardice. Whether you like the song or not, Absurd would not rank in the top five tracks if it were on Chinese Democracy. It would struggle to even place in the top ten.

That album got savaged and dismissed as a joke by much of the music press, while the self-proclaimed ABSURD is being received with a tone of respectful seriousness across the board.

Quite simply, Chinese Democracy was released when Axl Rose was out of favor with the label, the press, the industry at large. Now he did the reunion, now he’s back in favor, now Absurd gets good press. So do all the live shows since the reunion, even when his voice sounds horrible, while you can go back to concert reviews from 2010 when his voice was at its peak and find critics dissing it.

The press are cowards, by and large. They lavish praise on whoever the industry favors at any given moment and heap scorn and derision on those who have displeased the powers that be. This is true on all things. I’d just never really thought of it before in the context of the music business.

 

These are very fair points. Chinese Democracy is pretty underrated in some ways. Your comment about the 2010 live performances is pretty spot on too. If you closed your eyes, he sounded like 1991-1992 raspy voice Axl...even on the most demanding songs. If Slash was by his side, there would have been rave reviews from a lot of people. 

[Tom-Ass]

6 hours ago, Top-Hatted One said:

You’re not alone. Even Tomass likes the song. 
 

Tomass would you be ok with reworking and releasing OMG at some point? Or just brand new songs?

How the hell did you know that? lol 

I haven't heard the song in at least 15 years but I definately did buy EOD when it came out and played the shit out of that song! 

I would prefer all new songs even if that means reworking some of Axl's ideas from the NuGuns era for a few songs..  But actually rework. I don't consider Absurd reworked.. 

I don't see any need to rework Oh My God though even though it is a good song. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Tom-Ass

[RussTCB]

17 minutes ago, James Bond said:

Seems like just a few weeks ago we were being accused of being mentally unstable because we didn't just unconditionally agree with everything that the band does. Now that we're actually feeling more optimistic we're being told that we need to hate it.

I'm going to really confuse everybody now: I hate that I love the song that I hate.

GN'R does something right and it throws everything off! 

[surforia]

Now, I’m going back and listening to some of the locker leaks and am salivating at the thought of Slash (and Duff) on some of these tracks (zodiac, oklahoma, dummy, devious bastard).   Very excited for hardskool.

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

25 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

When Slash returned to GN'R he didn't only bring his guitar with him, but his good PR, too. And I'm not saying this in a negative way at all. Slash worked hard for that through the years.

Yep. Duff as well.

[StrangerInThisTown]

44 minutes ago, Flayer said:

As much as so many people on here hate it, it’s been getting some surprisingly positive critical reception.

“High octane rocker … neo-punk” https://www.musicradar.com/amp/news/guns-n-roses-absurd-single

“Explosive” https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nme.com/news/music/guns-n-roses-release-explosive-new-track-absurd-3012768%3famp

“Mixes some of that energy from the Chinese Democracy sessions along with the fiery material that marked the band’s raucous early years.” https://www.spin.com/2021/08/guns-n-roses-new-song-absurd/

“Heavy handed guitar solos and bombastic drums” https://ultimateclassicrock.com/guns-n-roses-absurd-song

”Rose’s voice is deep and booming and the band is quite aggressive, laying into a rolling groove…” https://loudwire.com/guns-n-roses-new-song-absurd-live/

I personally have always enjoyed this song, but I can’t help but see this as a sign of corruption in the music press, or perhaps cowardice. Whether you like the song or not, Absurd would not rank in the top five tracks if it were on Chinese Democracy. It would struggle to even place in the top ten.

That album got savaged and dismissed as a joke by much of the music press, while the self-proclaimed ABSURD is being received with a tone of respectful seriousness across the board.

Quite simply, Chinese Democracy was released when Axl Rose was out of favor with the label, the press, the industry at large. Now he did the reunion, now he’s back in favor, now Absurd gets good press. So do all the live shows since the reunion, even when his voice sounds horrible, while you can go back to concert reviews from 2010 when his voice was at its peak and find critics dissing it.

The press are cowards, by and large. They lavish praise on whoever the industry favors at any given moment and heap scorn and derision on those who have displeased the powers that be. This is true on all things. I’d just never really thought of it before in the context of the music business.

Maybe they don't want Get In The Ring 2 written about them

[Live Like a Suicide]

29 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

When Slash returned to GN'R he didn't only bring his guitar with him, but his good PR, too. And I'm not saying this in a negative way at all. Slash worked hard for that through the years.

Yes, Slash's communications team certainly need a pay rise after everything they've done.

[Blackstar]

2 minutes ago, AXL_N_DIZZY said:

Yep. Duff as well.

Yeah. Favorable reviews are guaranteed now, especially by certain outlets like Classic Rock and Kerrang (both of which used to trash Axl in the past). Classic Rock had a positive review of the Hershey show a few days ago.

[Swedish]

I find it interesting that some people are still chocked that the band is releasing material written during the CD era even though EVERYTHING has pointed towards that being the case since the reunion started. 

1.) They've played more than half of CD on the tour.

2.) Axl said in 2016 that he's shown Slash and Duff CDII material that they liked.

3.) Slash has on several occasions (in regards to how he felt about playing CD songs live) said that he didn't think it was weird since he rejoined a band that has existed without him for 20 years. 

With these three things in mind, why would Slash and Duff want to throw out material written without them being in the band if they like it? I can only speak for my self but releasing something like Absurd or Hard Skool must feel a whole lot better from an artistic standpoint than trying to make a SCOM 2 or release a boring and unimaginative classic rock inspired song like every other legacy band does. Just my take though 

[Chester 524]

1 hour ago, ToonGuns said:

If GnR fans are expecting "genius level stuff" then I hate to say it but we will be sorely disappointed. Einstein only wrote E=MC2 once. Sometimes "alright" is good enough.

yeah but remember Einstein told us that time is all relative.  which basically tells us that Axl was actually never late.  

 

lol

[AxlRoseCDII]

6 minutes ago, youngswedishvinyl said:

I find it interesting that some people are still chocked that the band is releasing material written during the CD era even though EVERYTHING has pointed towards that being the case since the reunion started. 

1.) They've played more than half of CD on the tour.

2.) Axl said in 2016 that he's shown Slash and Duff CDII material that they liked.

3.) Slash has on several occasions (in regards to how he felt about playing CD songs live) said that he didn't think it was weird since he rejoined a band that has existed without him for 20 years. 

With these three things in mind, why would Slash and Duff want to throw out material written without them being in the band if they like it? I can only speak for my self but releasing something like Absurd or Hard Skool must feel a whole lot better from an artistic standpoint than trying to make a SCOM 2 or release a boring and unimaginative classic rock inspired song like every other legacy band does. Just my take though 

I’m surprised people think Slash wouldn’t think something like Absurd is awesome. Look at the man’s Instagram, he loves these freaky sort of things. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a nice breathe of fresh air over what he usually plays.

[Blackstar]

My guess is that of all the CD leftovers, Slash and Duff would be more keen to play on something like Absurd than on songs with complex arrangements and orchestration.

[Graeme]

27 minutes ago, GNRfan2008 said:

 

These are very fair points. Chinese Democracy is pretty underrated in some ways. Your comment about the 2010 live performances is pretty spot on too. If you closed your eyes, he sounded like 1991-1992 raspy voice Axl...even on the most demanding songs. If Slash was by his side, there would have been rave reviews from a lot of people. 

 

9 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Yeah. Favorable reviews are guaranteed now, especially by certain outlets like Classic Rock and Kerrang (both of which used to trash Axl in the past). Classic Rock had a positive review of the Hershey show a few days ago.

Yeah, it's absolute horseshit and throws any notion that GN'R were judged objectively on the quality of their shows and releases when Slash and Duff weren't in the band out of the window.

They sounded significantly better in 2010 than they do nowadays in a live environment, and Chinese Democracy has many songs that are much better than Silkworms (my subjective opinion, obviously, but I don't think it's baseless). The positive PR based just on who is standing up there, rather than what they're doing, is pretty blatant. 

I think that's a big part of why I wanted the CD-era line-up to succeed so much, I felt like everyone from the reviewers, to the Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame with their bullshit decision not to induct Tommy, Richard, Robin, Ron, Brain, Frank, Chris, despite inducting Rob Trujillo with Metallica and Josh Klinghoffer with the Chilis, to their own manager in Irving Azoff were willing them to fail.

That's why I was so pissed off when the reunion happened. It felt like those bastards had won.

 

[Chester 524]

12 minutes ago, youngswedishvinyl said:

 

With these three things in mind, why would Slash and Duff want to throw out material written without them being in the band if they like it? I can only speak for my self but releasing something like Absurd or Hard Skool must feel a whole lot better from an artistic standpoint than trying to make a SCOM 2 or release a boring and unimaginative classic rock inspired song like every other legacy band does. Just my take though 

totally agree.  I think of it like this.... your wife gives you a pair of pants that she originally bought for her ex boy friend.  you could say you don't like them out of spite, or tell the truth that you really like them and wear the shit out of them.....

 

.......until 3 weeks later when you realize there is alot more room for your shlong.  then you find out she took the pants to a tailor to make the crotch much more roomier and then you realize that she's been lying to you when she says your tallywhacker is the biggest she's ever had.

not that this happened to me recently or anything like that.  lol

Edited August 8, 2021 by Chester 524

[GNRfan2008]

10 minutes ago, youngswedishvinyl said:

I find it interesting that some people are still chocked that the band is releasing material written during the CD era even though EVERYTHING has pointed towards that being the case since the reunion started. 

1.) They've played more than half of CD on the tour.

2.) Axl said in 2016 that he's shown Slash and Duff CDII material that they liked.

3.) Slash has on several occasions (in regards to how he felt about playing CD songs live) said that he didn't think it was weird since he rejoined a band that has existed without him for 20 years. 

With these three things in mind, why would Slash and Duff want to throw out material written without them being in the band if they like it? I can only speak for my self but releasing something like Absurd or Hard Skool must feel a whole lot better from an artistic standpoint than trying to make a SCOM 2 or release a boring and unimaginative classic rock inspired song like every other legacy band does. Just my take though 

 

Record company should also be in favor of going this direction as well. They spent almost $15 million on the Chinese recording sessions of the 1990's and early 2000's. While they managed to get a lot of that money back via the Best Buy deal in 2008, it still makes sense to try to squeeze some more cash out of these old recordings. Add Slash & Duff onto them, and you've got some easy money in the record company's pocket. 

[Sosso]

13 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

I’m surprised people think Slash wouldn’t think something like Absurd is awesome. Look at the man’s Instagram, he loves these freaky sort of things. I wouldn’t be surprised if this is a nice breathe of fresh air over what he usually plays.

Slash put himself in a comfort zone with SMKC. 

I saw a gig of this band and Slash was great as usual. The songs were either good or average. Nothing to special. 

Coming back to GN'R puts him out of his comfort zone and that's great. That's why they released Absurd and not an average rock song like he does with SMKC. 

Edited August 8, 2021 by Sosso

[GNRfanMILO]

Axl literally said it at the show they debuted the song “It’s absurd we’re trying this”.

Get it? ITS A JOKE!!! And Slash and Duff are totally on board.

And the fact that people are getting triggered about it proves the whole damn thing. God move by Uncle Axl.

Edited August 8, 2021 by GNRfanMILO