Hard Skool Officially Released at Midnight - Sept 24

[DTJ80]

They played the song on Joe Elliots show at 6pm on Planet Rock. He made a big deal about it being the first stuff with Axl/Slash/Duff since The Spaghetti Incident…..clearly ignoring Sympathy For The Devil and crucially - seemingly oblivious to the fact Absurd even exists. 🤣

He legit sounded happy about the track TBF.

Edited October 2, 2021 by DTJ80

[oneway23]

55 minutes ago, DTJ80 said:

crucially - seemingly oblivious to the fact Absurd even exists. 🤣

For the best, really. 

[DTJ80]

1 hour ago, oneway23 said:

For the best, really. 

I like it….but recognise it’s not a universal opinion 🤣

[rocknroll41]

I guess another factor to take into account is how Absurd and HardSkool came out so close to one another, yet HardSkool is getting much more treatment. I guess that alone is enough reason to call HardSkool an EP instead of a maxi single.

[Basic_GnR_Fan]

The break in Hardskool is quickly becoming one of my GnR favorites. Woe to those who said it felt out of place and slowed the song down too much.

[Bitchisback]

18 hours ago, Basic_GnR_Fan said:

The break in Hardskool is quickly becoming one of my GnR favorites. Woe to those who said it felt out of place and slowed the song down too much.

Unlike the break in absurd I think it's perfect.  It's so good

[Bluefish18]

I've have every incarnation of this song, from the original 14 second Jackie Chan clip to the official release, and i think this version absolutely rocks. If this ends up being the last new music we get from them, not a bad way to go out.

[WhazUp]

19 hours ago, Basic_GnR_Fan said:

The break in Hardskool is quickly becoming one of my GnR favorites. Woe to those who said it felt out of place and slowed the song down too much.

I quite like it too, it is definitely a melodic callback to The Garden in a way, and I am totally digging it.  The break in particular to me is the most " UYI-esque" thing to come out of GNR since the breakup

[DownUnderScott]

18 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

I quite like it too, it is definitely a melodic callback to The Garden in a way, and I am totally digging it.  The break in particular to me is the most " UYI-esque" thing to come out of GNR since the breakup

Yeah, I agree. I love it. Wish they would revert back to that UYI sound. Not Chinese Democracy or any Industrial/Electronic/Rock fusion stuff.

A return to classic UYI sound and type-songs would get so much positive attention globally in my opinion, and serve their interests the best with their seemingly endless desire to tour. Axl at the bare minimum can probably punch out great songs like that (UYI type hard rock), with the potential that the odd one or two may actually be incredible now, with Slash and Duff involved. 

Edited October 4, 2021 by DownUnderScott

[CAFC Nick]

On 9/23/2021 at 2:00 PM, ZoSoRose said:

Silkworms and Checkmate are now officially part of the GNR discography. What a year

I've said it before but we really are living in a truly bizarre parallel universe where Slash and Duff reunited with Axl yet the first song they released was Silkworms. Proves you can never second guess this band!

[zombux]

On 9/28/2021 at 2:27 PM, zombux said:

well, my honest review comes here.

what I like: bass line is cool; guitars are kinda good - not stellar but decent; vocal track is the old one, but fine; after a few listens at decent speakers, it grows on me a bit; they got rid of the intro which made the song start too slowly

what I dislike: the final part of the song used to be the grand finale of pure guitar madness, instead of that it now just kinda ends; drums and vocals are mixed bad - vox are not as distinct as I'd like

what I hate: the bridge is completely unneccessary and sucks; drums themselves are the worst thing on this - Freese's old track with drum snare leading to choruses is far superior in building up the track dynamic, while the 2021 track sounds very basic and uninspired

what I get amused by: Eye On You vocals sampled in the bridge

overall - 5/10 (as compared to Absurd which I rate 7/10)

so, after a barrage of listenings, my own status update.

 

the song grew on me quite a bit. I really like the bass as well as the guitar tracks all over. 

glad they dropped the old stupid intro, now it goes straight into it (nevermind the dumb schoolbell, fuck it).

the first part of the song is definitely better to me than the old one, it has much more entertaining stuff going on, guitars and bass really own the song - the old one sound like a placeholder in there

then comes the guitar solo part - here it starts changing and I still prefer the old one, maybe by not a big margin, but I do

the bridge still sucks A LOT, I prefer the old one, but both are crap.

and then comes the final part after the bridge, which is massively better at the old version, while the new version just doesn't make it good enough.

and yes, drums and mix still suck, but oh well. on a decent audio speakers, it is fine.

 

7/10, just as Absurd. both are fine, if they keep delivering more Village sessions this way, I won't be too excited but it will be cool, I don't hate it

[username]

32 minutes ago, zombux said:

so, after a barrage of listenings, my own status update.

 

the song grew on me quite a bit. I really like the bass as well as the guitar tracks all over. 

glad they dropped the old stupid intro, now it goes straight into it (nevermind the dumb schoolbell, fuck it).

the first part of the song is definitely better to me than the old one, it has much more entertaining stuff going on, guitars and bass really own the song - the old one sound like a placeholder in there

then comes the guitar solo part - here it starts changing and I still prefer the old one, maybe by not a big margin, but I do

the bridge still sucks A LOT, I prefer the old one, but both are crap.

and then comes the final part after the bridge, which is massively better at the old version, while the new version just doesn't make it good enough.

and yes, drums and mix still suck, but oh well. on a decent audio speakers, it is fine.

 

7/10, just as Absurd. both are fine, if they keep delivering more Village sessions this way, I won't be too excited but it will be cool, I don't hate it

Excelent analysis Dr. Zombux. I concur. 

[Axl S]

29 minutes ago, zombux said:

7/10, just as Absurd. both are fine, if they keep delivering more Village sessions this way, I won't be too excited but it will be cool, I don't hate it

If it gets us to a point where we hear unheard songs or finished versions of songs then so be it.

Atlas is the only son from the Zutaut leaks that sounds complete enough from a song writing point of view (and Zutaut said as much about it's status in 01).

Perhaps - still very demo-y. Not finished, the song is just missing something but also feel like it's one that shouldn't be hurt in anyway by Slash and Duff tinkering with it. Same with Atlas.

State of Grace... even less complete, vocal take circa 2000 is scratch and rough. Who knows if this ever got completed or got pulled apart and used in other songs/turned into other songs.

The rest of the tracks from those Zutaut leaks are instrumentals, sketches/ideas, complete songs with looping lyrics etc. We know at the least The General exists with vocals, can realistically hope there is more and hopefully they continue releasing music now to get this stuff out the door.

[zombux]

2 minutes ago, username said:

Excelent analysis Dr. Zombux. I concur. 

[DefinitelyInThisLifetime]

https://youtu.be/hf4srkSc0Ig

 

So, having listened more and more, I KNEW I’d heard a similar sound elsewhere. It was driving me insane. I played my punk playlist while driving yesterday and Was It Me by The Exploited came on. It’s definitely a sound-alike here. Scary how similar in places.

[zombux]

8 minutes ago, Axl S said:

If it gets us to a point where we hear unheard songs or finished versions of songs then so be it.

Atlas is the only son from the Zutaut leaks that sounds complete enough from a song writing point of view (and Zutaut said as much about it's status in 01).

Perhaps - still very demo-y. Not finished, the song is just missing something but also feel like it's one that shouldn't be hurt in anyway by Slash and Duff tinkering with it. Same with Atlas.

State of Grace... even less complete, vocal take circa 2000 is scratch and rough. Who knows if this ever got completed or got pulled apart and used in other songs/turned into other songs.

The rest of the tracks from those Zutaut leaks are instrumentals, sketches/ideas, complete songs with looping lyrics etc. We know at the least The General exists with vocals, can realistically hope there is more and hopefully they continue releasing music now to get this stuff out the door.

if some "insiders" are to be believed, Quick Song also very likely has complete lyrics (and also different name). 

[StrangerInThisTown]

18 minutes ago, zombux said:

if some "insiders" are to be believed, Quick Song also very likely has complete lyrics (and also different name). 

those insiders can't confirm it but they know that that's "very likely"? lol

[Axl S]

2 hours ago, zombux said:

if some "insiders" are to be believed, Quick Song also very likely has complete lyrics (and also different name). 

I haven't heard this "insider" rumour. 

Love that the rumour isn't that the vocals are complete. It's that it's very likely vocals are complete 

[Voodoochild]

5 hours ago, DefinitelyInThisLifetime said:

https://youtu.be/hf4srkSc0Ig

 

So, having listened more and more, I KNEW I’d heard a similar sound elsewhere. It was driving me insane. I played my punk playlist while driving yesterday and Was It Me by The Exploited came on. It’s definitely a sound-alike here. Scary how similar in places.

IMO it's not really that similar. This other song does reminds me of Kings of Leon's Don't Matter.

5 hours ago, Axl S said:

Perhaps - still very demo-y. Not finished, the song is just missing something but also feel like it's one that shouldn't be hurt in anyway by Slash and Duff tinkering with it. Same with Atlas.

IMO, this song is totally finished as it was. It only lacked a proper mix. Again: one of the best GNR solos ever. 

For some reason, I just thought now that this song could also be something a bit older - just like Hard Skool, there was only one version in the Village sessions, with no instrumental or alternate take. Also, in different CDs. Seems to me that both of those songs were kinda ready for a release, but Axl didn't think those would fit with the other tracks in an album context. 

I sure would love to have some proper history for those songs, including Hard Skool. Axl could say a bit more about this instead of just dropping it and fuck it.

[Manfisman]

6 hours ago, DefinitelyInThisLifetime said:

https://youtu.be/hf4srkSc0Ig

 

So, having listened more and more, I KNEW I’d heard a similar sound elsewhere. It was driving me insane. I played my punk playlist while driving yesterday and Was It Me by The Exploited came on. It’s definitely a sound-alike here. Scary how similar in places.

That's a cool song! 

 

But I don't hear any similarities TBH

[DefinitelyInThisLifetime]

2 minutes ago, Manfisman said:

That's a cool song! 

 

But I don't hear any similarities TBH

Listen to the background music and ignore the vocals. Then sing “all cautions made” etc when the guitars come in. It works.

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, DefinitelyInThisLifetime said:

Listen to the background music and ignore the vocals. Then sing “all cautions made” etc when the guitars come in. It works.

Nah, it's just a very basic chord progression. There's thousands of rock/ punk rock songs that sound similar. It's conicidence.

Edited October 4, 2021 by El Guapo

[ShadowOfTheWave]

Are there keyboards or synths playing under the verses in this track?

[GNR_RNR]

1 minute ago, ShadowOfTheWave said:

Are there keyboards or synths playing under the verses in this track?

Yeah, they round it out quite nicely 

[rocknroll41]

I just found a YouTube comment claiming that this is the real credits of the song:

Produced By Caram Costanzo & Axl Rose Written By Chris Pitman, Dizzy Reed, Paul Tobias, Josh Freese, Robin Finck, Tommy Stinson & Axl Rose Release Date September 24, 2021
 

Do we know for sure if Axl really wrote this song on his own, as the press statement claimed?