Do you still listen to Hard Skool and Absurd?

[darkside259]

i reallly hate that bell btw

Just now, darkside259 said:

i reallly hate that bell btw

bc for me hard school is about being "old school" kinda foolish NOTHING tod do with school in the literal way 

[6lake sa66ath]

A few times a month at this stage for me, but last year both tracks were #1 & 2 on my most listened Spotify list.

Interestingly, after listening to SMKC’s last album the random shuffle that played afterwards included Absurd and Hard Skool in the list. Not sure if that’s purely down to Spotify or it’s based on my prior listening habits. Saying that there were a load of Sammy Hagar tracks too and I never listen to him.

 

Edited January 8, 2022 by 6lake sa66ath

[rumandraisin]

Both tracks were my top 2 on my Spotify wrapped for 2021, Roy Orbison You got It was no 3 so... Sums up my year. 

I find myself playing them a lot still especially when I'm off to work and need that shot of energy

[agustingloger]

Yeah. HS a lot more than Absurd. I really love Hardskool . At the end of the day has this GNR / Axl-Slash vibe

[RichardNixon]

Not really. But I seldom listen to new songs (especially if they are stand-alone singles) from artists that I like.

I did like both tracks very much and hope to have an entire album of reworked songs with Slash and Duff. 

 

[fantomas]

Hard Skool yes. Absurd no, because it's fucking garbage.

[Tadsy]

Absurd is a turd. 
 

I hope I never hear it again. Hardskool is just very very average lyrically and the whole production/final product just comes across as cheap and nasty. 
 

 

[19AT5]

Objectively, having heard Hard Skool again recently, it's okay. The production is terrible, and the middle section is meh. Still totally dig the chorus. But the school bell intro is a no no no! I quite liked it at first but time has not been too kind. If it was on the Illusions it would be a filler track... if that makes sense.

[Jw224]

I have always thought the bell kicked the song off pretty nicely. I don't ever think of the song having anything to do with school. Only thing that bothers me is the mixing and mastering being awful. 

Edited January 13, 2022 by Jw224

[Screamin' Demon]

I listen to them both independently and find some well-recorded bootlegs from this year. The studio versions are really great quality; both songs pull it off really nicely & maintain their sense of rockin' hard. I hope to get new material in form of an album ASAP and to see Gn'R renew their setlist with long unplayed songs. 

[DTV88]

On 1/12/2022 at 12:36 AM, Tadsy said:

Absurd is a turd. 
 

I hope I never hear it again. Hardskool is just very very average lyrically and the whole production/final product just comes across as cheap and nasty. 
 

 

Agreed. Musically, Absurd is just ok at best. It’s not like Slash and Duff had a lot to work with. Lyrically, it’s really lame and childish. 
 

HS is a decent, straightforward rocker that serves as a nice reintroduction of GnR. It’s not great. It doesn’t suck. It’s just kinda there like some of the UYI album tracks. 

[GnR Chris]

I listen to both songs a few times a month these days. I'm one of those mood-type of people where I go down the rabbit holes of a certain genre on any given day. So I'm not gonna throw on these two GNR singles if I'm listening to folksier shit or sad songs. But yeah, when I'm leaning toward rock, "Absurd" and "Hard Skool" get added to the queue. I like "Absurd" more because I love the bass and Slash's guitar work on it. The thing that really irks me about "Hard Skool" is the bell. I swear to god, it feels like trolling of some kind. When I first heard the bell prior to it dropping on Spotify in my time zone, I seriously thought it was a fake. I don't love that they made the song less angry somehow, but I have always loved the verses and chorus. Every time I listen to "Hard Skool" the "all cautions made" part is just stuck in my head the rest of the day.

Also, I'd say I've always been very lyrics-oriented too. So if a song doesn't necessarily fit my mood style-wise, the lyrics might. With the two GNR singles, the lyrics are what they are. It isn't something like "This Year" by Mountain Goats where the lyrics can become sort of a rallying crowd in the midst of the pandemic. ("I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.")

The thing is, two singles aren't enough to still have on constantly. I seek out and listen to a ton of new music that occupies my time. Halsey's If I Can't Have Love, I Want Power" dropped in August around the same time GNR dropped their two singles, and I had Halsey's record in heavy rotation. Then in December, I went heavy into Juice WRLD's Fighting Demons. 

"Absurd" and "Hard Skool" get as much play as any and all other Guns N' Roses songs I listen to.

Edited January 14, 2022 by GnR Chris

[megaguns1982]

No and no, I listen to the locker leak version of hard school more as I think it’s better. 

[The Dissident]

I never bought absrud, but I do really like Hard Skool still.

[axljungle]

I heard Hard Skool some times a week, love the song. Never be fan of Absurd.

[mystery]

I've started listening to Hard Skool after not doing so when it came out. I really like it and it could've made a good album opener or at least track 2. Has a real punch and doesn't drag on, Axl also sounds great. Does anyone know the significance of the lyrics? They're very direct.

[The Matinator]

I listen to both pretty frequently, I put together a little 8 track Album/EP with those 2, OMG & fan remasters of the most complete leaks. It’s a nice little compilation but I’d probably listen to both a lot more if a had a whole record they were both on.

[mystery]

Absurd really isn't bad musically either. It's just the vocal approach and the lyrics that bring it down. Still sounds very much like a late 90's-early 00's song. I'm picturing it being on the soundtrack for a movie like The Matrix.

[Coma16]

I just listened to the studio Absurd and the riffs will now be in my head for a week. Very catchy! But, the vocals are just repetitive and, dare I say, unfinished.

Watched HS from Raleigh, and wish I didn't. The locker version is sooo much better imo.

[mystery]

I wish I was a fly on the wall when Slash and Duff first heard Absurd. 

[StrangerInThisTown]

3 minutes ago, mystery said:

I wish I was a fly on the wall when Slash and Duff first heard Absurd.