Use Your Illusion--filler myth

[Walapino]

I love So Fine!

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

"This album is full of fillers, it shoulda been one album" bla bla bla is a perfect idiot detector for me.

Smart people know it shoulda been 3 albums.

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

So Fine given as a "filler" sample several times. That song could single handedly build a career for a 80s 90s band.

[RichardNixon]

"So Fine" is friggin' great.

[Gordon Comstock]

3 hours ago, GnR Chris said:

UYI 2 is superior to 1. I don’t care how much “filler” someone says the record might have. Consider them bonuses, not filler. ‘Cause even if you stripped them away, you still have a full-length record with just these: Civil War, Yesterdays, 14 Years, Breakdown, Pretty Tied Up, Locomotive, Estranged, You Could Be Mine. All bangers. 

 

I always preferred 1. It's way more consistent, the Izzy songs are better, the rockers are better, Coma is their best epic...

UYI II is 50% great and 50% mediocre. 

[©GnrPersia]

On 11/15/2022 at 4:36 PM, RichardNixon said:

This weekend I listened to both Use Your Illusion 1 and 2, front to back, for the first time in several years. I've always heard comments like "endless filler," but I don't think so. Even lesser songs like "Shotgun Blues" and "You Ain't the first" are good. Then there are terrific songs like "The Garden" and "Garden of Eden," and "So Fine" which are just kind of written off. 

 

 

The Garden is up there with Estranged for me.

The song, the mood, that music video, having Alice Cooper co-leading the vocals with Shannon Hoon doing backing. Everything is top.

Also Axl did a great justice to the song in that Saskatoon performance.

Edited November 16, 2022 by ©GnrPersia

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

That Stoon should be on BD.  

We really need a live box set with the videos from 86-93, preferably 2-3 shows per year.

[megaguns1982]

I hadn’t listened to UYI in full until now after getting the remasters. I couldn’t tell a huge difference on my car stereo except November rain obviously.

I don’t think they had so much “filler” as it was stated way back then that they were simply “clearing the slate” by releasing everything they’d written upto that point and apparently allowed them to focus on all new compositions moving forward. They broke up instead.

It’s funny that for 30 years I thought that last line of “get in the ring” was Axl but I actually think it’s slash saying “this song is dedicated…….” Am I right?

[lost un the jungle]

I love botj UYI albums. The problem with them (and I think Axl mentioned about it once) is that they sound outdated. Drums are too square (i.e. November rain intro) and if you compare with another albums from that era you notice they didn't age well. 

[Ugly_Kid_Jose]

14 minutes ago, lost un the jungle said:

I love botj UYI albums. The problem with them (and I think Axl mentioned about it once) is that they sound outdated. Drums are too square (i.e. November rain intro) and if you compare with another albums from that era you notice they didn't age well. 

for me the production of those albums is perfect, and 30 years later don't sound outdated. Outdated for me is the first skid row album, or poison from alice cooper, but UYI or the black album are the best production an album can get.

 

For example Blackie re recorded The Crimson Idol a few years ago, and the original album (1992) sounds much better than the new records.

 

Until grunged emerged the productions of albums were very good, after 1993 everything changed for worse.

 

A good example black album vs load, the crimson idol vs still not black enough, spaguetti incident vs snakpit

[lost un the jungle]

1 hour ago, Ugly_Kid_Jose said:

for me the production of those albums is perfect, and 30 years later don't sound outdated. Outdated for me is the first skid row album, or poison from alice cooper, but UYI or the black album are the best production an album can get.

 

For example Blackie re recorded The Crimson Idol a few years ago, and the original album (1992) sounds much better than the new records.

 

Until grunged emerged the productions of albums were very good, after 1993 everything changed for worse.

 

A good example black album vs load, the crimson idol vs still not black enough, spaguetti incident vs snakpit

Black album is far superior in terms of production/mixing in my opinion. Never mind came out the same year than UYI and the sound is more refreshing in my opinion and aged better. Anyway, there is not truth here, only points of view 😁

[MaskingApathy]

4 hours ago, megaguns1982 said:

It’s funny that for 30 years I thought that last line of “get in the ring” was Axl but I actually think it’s slash saying “this song is dedicated…….” Am I right?

Yes that's Slash.

[GNRfan2008]

13 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

I always preferred 1. It's way more consistent, the Izzy songs are better, the rockers are better, Coma is their best epic...

UYI II is 50% great and 50% mediocre. 

 

Illusion 1 is definitely more consistent. Illusion 2 has some awesome stuff on it, but some really bad stuff too: My World, Shotgun Blues, Get in the Ring, and a kind of lame studio version of Knocking on Heaven's Door compared to Ritz 1988 and other live versions that people might have heard before 1991. 

[jekylhyde]

UYI I is pretty damn good as it is, but UYI II could be a bit better. I would ditch the alternate version of Don't Cry and bump Estranged as the last song and put My World between So Fine and You Could Be Mine, where I think it could fit almost perfectly.

Other than that, they're both consistent albums. Even the "filler" songs, like Shotgun Blues and Breakdown, are pretty good, in my opinion. They might not be hit songs or amazing songs, but they are good songs. 

[drlaban]

10 hours ago, lost un the jungle said:

Black album is far superior in terms of production/mixing in my opinion. Never mind came out the same year than UYI and the sound is more refreshing in my opinion and aged better. Anyway, there is not truth here, only points of view 😁

Black album is different shades of grey. 

UYI are colourful. 

[Trin9498]

On 11/15/2022 at 9:25 AM, darkside259 said:

so fine, my world and bad apples in my opinion 

Agree. I’d add Garden of Eden too. Bad Apples really sucks. 

19 minutes ago, jekylhyde said:

UYI I is pretty damn good as it is, but UYI II could be a bit better. I would ditch the alternate version of Don't Cry and bump Estranged as the last song and put My World between So Fine and You Could Be Mine, where I think it could fit almost perfectly.

Other than that, they're both consistent albums. Even the "filler" songs, like Shotgun Blues and Breakdown, are pretty good, in my opinion. They might not be hit songs or amazing songs, but they are good songs. 

Breakdown is one of the best songs in their catalog IMO

[Free Bird]

For a long time I thought UYI II is the superior of the two records. Now I think UYI I is a little bit more fun. The truth is that both albums are similar great for one or the other reason.

[pbj_jam]

II having lots of filler compared to I is a myth

[Nintari]

So Fine and My World are the only two songs I feel fall into filler territory. The rest is fine with me.

Edited November 17, 2022 by Nintari

[Tom-Ass]

UYI II over UYI I every day of the week for me. While I like them, songs like RNTH, Perfect Crime and GOE all come off as hitting the mark a bit as far as Gn'R rockers.. The production just doesn't make them as heavy/ballsy as they should be..  Mabe Izzy could have been louder in the mix? I don't know but I wish they had the balls of You Could Be Mine. 

[Tom-Ass]

46 minutes ago, Nintari said:

So Fine and My World are the only two songs I feel fall into filler territory. The rest is fine with me.

Yeah So Fine is pretty weak.. I used to like it back in the day... I feel people also take My World way more serious than it was meant to be. 

[Ugly_Kid_Jose]

19 hours ago, lost un the jungle said:

Black album is far superior in terms of production/mixing in my opinion. Never mind came out the same year than UYI and the sound is more refreshing in my opinion and aged better. Anyway, there is not truth here, only points of view 😁

illusions with drum sound of spaguetti would be closer to black album (and also wirh more volume on izzy's guitar)

 

[rocknroll41]

I think both albums could’ve been a little shorter. Like 12 songs on each. They still would’ve required a total of four LPs due to how long some of the songs are, but I don’t think that would’ve been a big deal.

[Nintari]

7 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

Yeah So Fine is pretty weak.. I used to like it back in the day... I feel people also take My World way more serious than it was meant to be. 

The My World thing around here is weird. When it first came out and me and my friends heard that song, we all use to sit around and literally giggle. Later, around 1999 or so, it was agreed that it was the worst song GNR ever released. Then CD era happened, and suddenly, it was cool? Why? Because Silkworms? It's just strange lol.

[Gordon Comstock]

My World is fine for an experimental outro, but that's all it is, so it's not surprising that people rate it as the worst GNR 'song'.

People always talk about cutting the UYI's down to one album but really, they could've expanded them to 3 less bloated albums.

Coma, Double Talkin' Jive, November Rain, Locomotive and Estranged would be looked at like GNR's 'Wish You Were Here' if they'd released that as an album.