Hard Skool Officially Released at Midnight - Sept 24

[Ak1nney]

Just now, El Guapo said:

Ok, when you listen to some of the old stuff and then Hard Skool...the production is kinda off. Sounds a bit like a demo still.

The old stuff is analog and just has a smoother, warmer tone. Most, if not all, of this is probably recorded on computers and with all of the mashing together, this is the sounds you will likely get.

[WhazUp]

13 minutes ago, El Guapo said:

Ok, when you listen to some of the old stuff and then Hard Skool...the production is kinda off. Sounds a bit like a demo still.

I definitely think Absurd has better production and mixing than HS, though I think HS is by far the better song between the two

[shepP]

I really love this song.  For some reason the mix sounds perfect in my car which has an excellent sound system and on my sound bar ( I know ... sound bar) which also has great sound.  Has anyone seen a 24bit version around?  I just saw a 16bit Flac for sale unlike Absurd which has a 24 bit.   I'm going to give Hard Skool a listen tonight on my highest quality sound system for more comparison.

[oneway23]

5 minutes ago, shepP said:

I really love this song.  For some reason the mix sounds perfect in my car which has an excellent sound system and on my sound bar ( I know ... sound bar) which also has great sound.  Has anyone seen a 24bit version around?  I just saw a 16bit Flac for sale unlike Absurd which has a 24 bit.   I'm going to give Hard Skool a listen tonight on my highest quality sound system for more comparison.

Ah, man...Same here, but, unfortunately, this one looks like the native bit-depth & sample rate is 16/44.  The one place that would definitely have it for sale as a single in its highest resolution is Qobuz, and they're selling it 16/44.

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/hard-skool-guns-n-roses/icex1lfcxmtta

[inho]

1 hour ago, GNRfanMILO said:

Trash post.

Not everyone is complaining about the song. And from those complaining about the song, some (most) are complaining about certain aspects of it.
Not everyone is worshipping the song. And from those that are worshipping the song, some (most) are worshipping certain aspects of it.

Do you wanna know why? Because it's a fan forum. And in a fan forum you are going to get either constructive criticism or constructive praise.

If you want absolute blind worshipping, you can try other places  

I mean to be fair at times the criticism is hilariously over the top.

guns n roses release a fantastic straight up rocker and instead of celebrating it you’ve got some bellend who lives in his Mams spare room and still wanks into a sock of an evening saying mad shit like “slash should be ashamed of his guitar lines on hardskool

or “we’ll if you listen to bar 86 you can hear that the cymbal is lightly muffled for around three milliseconds and I AM FUCKING OUTRAGED!”

get a hobby

try yoga or breathing exercises you massive weirdos

[oneway23]

32 minutes ago, Martin Riggs said:

As opposed to those prudish ones. 

Absolutely!  No dirty talk on the prudish line, all G rated.  They encourage you and give positive reinforcement while you jerk-off, instead of filthy talk in your ear, like the whorish GN'R one!

Edited September 24, 2021 by oneway23

[--DEA--]

1 hour ago, WhazUp said:

You have made multiple posts expressing as such, and I get it.  But this is a GNR forum where it is a trading of ideas both positive and negative.  I like the song for example but I think the mix leaves a bit to be desired from an audio engineering standpoint, especially when it comes to the drums.  Doesn't mean I hate the band

Yes a multiple post.. Just like all other post here.. Same thing over and over again 😉

[James Bond]

1 hour ago, Ak1nney said:

I've listened to it on Sennheiser headphones, two bose tower speakers, and a smaller bose color ii soundlink. The vocals stand out big time on the bose color ii soundlink. I think they just went for a balanced mix that works on various setups. I don't think they are buried by any means. The guitars and everything is super heavy, so I think that's why the vocal seems quieter. The original GNR albums have the guitars quieter, almost too quiet. Nightrain isn't nearly as heavy on Appetite vs every live performance. I don't mind this song being full balls to the wall.

While I don't necessarily disagree with your thoughts overall, I should note that my original comment was purely facetious.

[WhazUp]

All these people here talking about complaints (complaints, complaints) and here I am thinking that for GNR forums this has been a fairly chill thread  

[dontdamnmeuyi2015]

Just heard it on youtube.com

Love it! Love Axl sounded like Axl again. using different Axl voices. The music is cool too.

I do hope a new cd is done and released by or at least the beginning of next year.

it's a new era for GNR and we fans love it!

1 hour ago, Martin Riggs said:

Here’s a snapshot of it on today’s ITunes charts. Hopefully it has some staying power:

 

Thank goodness GNR beat out Ed Sheeran. Hate that guy's voice and his music is so damn lame.

[Beto 22]

17 minutes ago, inho said:

you’ve got some bellend who lives in his Mams spare room and still wanks into a sock of an evening saying mad shit

Said the wealthy womanizer that has time to trash other people!!

[RussTCB]

55 minutes ago, Tom-Ass said:

So you you are saying the song is on par with Nightrain, Jungle and PC?

I'm saying they made an effort to make great music. 

[Haters Gonna Hate]

why is there hardly any promotion for the song......Duff said on his radio that he will let the song do they talk well susan said it but still.....like idgi. It is being received much better than absurd at least.  Like they could have thrown together a lyric video like Shadow or MTTC. But we only get one post and nothing else, watch them ignore it on Sunday too lol. Very strange, if this is for an album or ep they would have announced that with the single release. Or if this is just for a tour, it is ending in 4 shows and they won't play again till June 2022. I am very confused.

[Damian666]

Is this a radio single ?

Has anyone heard this on their local radio station?

[Tom-Ass]

6 minutes ago, RussTCB said:

I'm saying they made an effort to make great music. 

gotcha.. That doesn't align to what was said in the post you quoted. Lets move on

[Zeppelin]

I’m sorry, but the production/engineering on the song is quite awful. You can always tell this when people start posting their audio setups and how they’re listening to it (Spotify, YouTube, higher quality versions, etc.).

If people are needing to compare it that much, then the sound of the track is unbalanced. This is why no one ever says this about AFD, or the Illusions for that matter. They sound good on everything. If you have to tinker with EQ settings and get different headphones, configure this and that, listen via different sources, etc., just to see if the song sounds better, then it’s not well-engineered.

[Slurps]

1 hour ago, Tom-Ass said:

So you you are saying the song is on par with Nightrain, Jungle and PC?

It's even better than Shotgun Blues.

[Powderfinger]

Fair enough Axl wrote some cheesy lyrics back in the day, but he was an extremely mature lyric writer for his age 80% of the time. 

Why is he now writing lyrics that read like a 15 year old who hates Skool. 

And is it just me or do the lyrics to both Absurd & Hard Skool read like a dig at Slash? 

1 minute ago, Zeppelin said:

I’m sorry, but the production/engineering on the song is quite awful. You can always tell this when people start posting their audio setups and how they’re listening to it (Spotify, YouTube, higher quality versions, etc.).

If people are needing to compare it that much, then the sound of the track is unbalanced. This is why no one ever says this about AFD, or the Illusions for that matter. They sound good on everything. If you have to tinker with EQ settings and get different headphones, configure this and that, listen via different sources, etc., just to see if the song sounds better, then it’s not well-engineered.

Yeah, a good song will shine through shitty production. Won’t matter what your playback setup is. 

[WhazUp]

3 minutes ago, Zeppelin said:

I’m sorry, but the production/engineering on the song is quite awful. You can always tell this when people start posting their audio setups and how they’re listening to it (Spotify, YouTube, higher quality versions, etc.).

If people are needing to compare it that much, then the sound of the track is unbalanced. This is why no one ever says this about AFD, or the Illusions for that matter. They sound good on everything. If you have to tinker with EQ settings and get different headphones, configure this and that, listen via different sources, etc., just to see if the song sounds better, then it’s not well-engineered.

This is exactly it, and this isn't something that is just a trite complaint or something people are just saying to be negative or whatever.  I heard better mixes of rock tracks from my fellow peers taking a "introduction to mixing" course at my music college alma matter years ago - not that HS is unlistenable however I just hear some very questionable things mixing-wise here that makes me wonder what (I assume Caram?) was doing lol

Then again, considering even Chinese had some questionable mixing choices (lack of bass the most prevalent), I honestly think part of it is the over-tinkering taking its toll on the greater whole of the audio

[--DEA--]

2 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

Fair enough Axl wrote some cheesy lyrics back in the day, but he was an extremely mature lyric writer for his age 80% of the time. 

Why is he now writing lyrics that read like a 15 year old who hates Skool. 

And is it just me or do the lyrics to both Absurd & Hard Skool read like a dig at Slash? 

I don't think any lyric is about Slash. Well.. With all the bad things that happend between them it's not hard to think so. But what do I know 😊 

[RussTCB]

12 minutes ago, Zeppelin said:

I’m sorry, but the production/engineering on the song is quite awful. You can always tell this when people start posting their audio setups and how they’re listening to it (Spotify, YouTube, higher quality versions, etc.).

If people are needing to compare it that much, then the sound of the track is unbalanced. This is why no one ever says this about AFD, or the Illusions for that matter. They sound good on everything. If you have to tinker with EQ settings and get different headphones, configure this and that, listen via different sources, etc., just to see if the song sounds better, then it’s not well-engineered.

Totally agree. I only mentioned I'm going to listen on a different system because I hope I can get it to sound decent because I do like the song. 

A long standing rule of mine is "if have to change my EQ for your album, then your album is wrong". The fact of the matter is that HS is extremely poorly produced. I'm just hoping I can do something with it to make it sound decent. 

[zigzagbigbag]

I am just wondering if Hard Skool would have ever been released if it hadn’t leaked a few years ago as part of the locker CDs and caused the buzz afterwards.

Maybe Axl has to be thankful for the leak in some way. Because I don’t think it’s very naive to believe that because of the leak and all the hype on Hard Skool he was reminded of this song at all. At least, as result of the hype, he could be sure that a release of this song would be a sure shot. And the best thing for him: He had done his vocal work already 20 years ago.  

 

[Blackstar]

40 minutes ago, Powderfinger said:

air enough Axl wrote some cheesy lyrics back in the day, but he was an extremely mature lyric writer for his age 80% of the time. 

Why is he now writing lyrics that read like a 15 year old who hates Skool. 

And is it just me or do the lyrics to both Absurd & Hard Skool read like a dig at Slash? 

I think Hard Skool lyrics are about Slash - and of course have nothing to do with school They were seemingly written shortly after the breakup and the allusions to that are very obvious to me; it's like Axl's version about Slash's last days in GnR, as he expressed it in the forum chats, made into a song.

Absurd lyrics are totally unrelated to Slash, I think.

Edited September 24, 2021 by Blackstar

[chester]

Some people need to let go of their youth, they’re not gonna relive AFD nor could they write anything like that again, it was lightning in a bottle….. The thing about Hard School is it’s a fine song but I do rate it lower than most of the CD era songs we’ve had the chance to hear but those sessions produced some pretty dang good songs so not really a slight in my eyes… I don’t even know if Axl has another ‘Better’ in his back pocket… I don’t think he was really all that interested in writing pop songs during the CD sessions and it’d be a fools errand to try and write something comparable to AFD in sound or spirit.

[Draguns]

Q104.3 in the NJ/NYC area has been playing the song a couple of times today. It's getting airplay in the biggest market of the country. The song is doing its own promotion.

As far as the song goes, I have been a fan of this song for a long time. I think it sounds MUCH BETTER than the demo.  The song needed Slash and Duff on it. Slash sounds awesome! It's  has much more of the classic GNR feel. My only complaint is there could have been a few more lyrics during the slow section of the song. Other than that it's awesome to me. I've been driving a lot today and have had the song on repeat.