"The General" is officially delayed... but "The General" AND "Monsters" is (unofficially) out of the bag

[drlaban]

12 minutes ago, Stro said:

Bach also called Sorry "doom metal" so I don't think he should be used as an accurate representation of any unreleased track.

He wasn’t totally wrong in that case though. Doom: yes. Metal: no. 

[Lies They Tell]

5 minutes ago, Stro said:

Bach also called Sorry "doom metal" so I don't think he should be used as an accurate representation of any unreleased track.

He said it was "ALMOST like doom metal". Which is honestly a pretty accurate way to describe the song. I'm convinced that many people who criticize Bach's description of Sorry don't even know what doom metal is.

[rocknroll41]

14 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

I’m not sure I buy the fist fight story. Would be hilarious if true though.

Steel Panther said in early 2016 that they heard GnR had a bad fight during rehearsals, so who knows.

[Voodoochild]

The comment of it being a sequel to Estranged makes sense if you hear that cell phone clip. The first minute or so of that audio has this section with a guitar riff (I assume it was Robin when I actually tried to learn how to play it, but I'm not sure) acting not much different than Slash's guitar riff in the first half of Estranged. The evolution of the song is clearly different after that, going to the "high-pierced vocals" and aggressive instrumental instead of Estranged's piano interlude. But I can see where Bach (and/or Rolling Stone) came from with the comparison.

[Spirit]

10 minutes ago, Lies They Tell said:

He said it was "ALMOST like doom metal". Which is honestly a pretty accurate way to describe the song. I'm convinced that many people who criticize Bach's description of Sorry don't even know what doom metal is.

Always wondered the same. Doom metal is slow and melodic.

[rumandraisin]

There's a cleaned up version of the cell phone leak I came across on Reddit. The clean up attempt seems to have removed the vocals but it's still worth a listen to, it absolutely is not State of Grace. Still, people will still suggest that the General is State of Grace until it's released. 

Huge drums and a great electronic drum beat... Reminds me of how Madagascar mixed real and live drums. Actually, exactly like Madagascar. Same tempo too. 

I hope the strings remain and the drum loop stayed in. 

There's no way this song could disappoint really, the clearer cell phone mix is brutal. 

[Mikey Whipwreck]

35 minutes ago, rumandraisin said:

There's a cleaned up version of the cell phone leak I came across on Reddit. The clean up attempt seems to have removed the vocals but it's still worth a listen to, it absolutely is not State of Grace. Still, people will still suggest that the General is State of Grace until it's released. 

Huge drums and a great electronic drum beat... Reminds me of how Madagascar mixed real and live drums. Actually, exactly like Madagascar. Same tempo too. 

I hope the strings remain and the drum loop stayed in. 

There's no way this song could disappoint really, the clearer cell phone mix is brutal. 

Does anyone have the CD2 tracklist that's a screenshot of an early 2008 email from Axl? I've seen it on here multiple times but can't locate it at the moment 

Anyway, that proved to be legitimate (100% remember seeing that circulating around 10 years ago, everyone thought it was fake but previously unmentioned songs like Perhaps and Tonto were on there) and I'm pretty sure State of Grace and The General were both listed on there

[Blackstar]

7 minutes ago, Mikey Whipwreck said:

Does anyone have the CD2 tracklist that's a screenshot of an early 2008 email from Axl? I've seen it on here multiple times but can't locate it at the moment 

Anyway, that proved to be legitimate (100% remember seeing that circulating around 10 years ago, everyone thought it was fake but previously unmentioned songs like Perhaps and Tonto were on there) and I'm pretty sure State of Grace and The General were both listed on there

State of Grace wasn't there. It's 100% certain that no one had heard of it before 2019.

Edited August 23, 2023 by Blackstar

[ZoSoRose]

52 minutes ago, rumandraisin said:

There's a cleaned up version of the cell phone leak I came across on Reddit. The clean up attempt seems to have removed the vocals but it's still worth a listen to, it absolutely is not State of Grace. Still, people will still suggest that the General is State of Grace until it's released. 

Huge drums and a great electronic drum beat... Reminds me of how Madagascar mixed real and live drums. Actually, exactly like Madagascar. Same tempo too. 

I hope the strings remain and the drum loop stayed in. 

There's no way this song could disappoint really, the clearer cell phone mix is brutal. 

Agree

[Mikey Whipwreck]

5 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

 

Thanks! I stand corrected on SoG being on there. So either was discarded or is one of the other unheard ones (Monstrocity?) 

Definitely don't think it's The General, based on The General being described as a Brain song and according to the Village track list SOG was dated 3/27/00 which was the same month Brain joined the band

Edited August 23, 2023 by Mikey Whipwreck

[Blackstar]

Just now, Mikey Whipwreck said:

 

Thanks! I stand corrected on SoG being on there. So either was discarded or is one of the other unheard ones (Monstrocity?) 

I don't think it was discarded as it was a near finished song with lyrics and vocals. But I don't think there would be a reason to change its name either.

There are other tracks missing from that list that supposedly were at an advanced stage of completion, like Seven and Oklahoma/Berlin.

[Amir]

10 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

State of Grace wasn't there. It's 100% certain that no one had heard of it before 2019.

I honestly have no recollection of this list being shared before 2019 and can't find any pre-2019 record of it online.

[Mikey Whipwreck]

2 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I don't think it was discarded as it was a near finished song with lyrics and vocals. But I don't think there would be a reason to change its name either.

There are other tracks missing from that list that supposedly were at an advanced stage of completion, like Seven and Oklahoma/Berlin.

True, should have said withheld or set aside for a future album. I hope it gets a release, it was my favorite unreleased track from those sessions along with Perhaps 

[ZoSoRose]

Just now, Amir said:

I honestly have no recollection of this list being shared before 2019 and can't find any pre-2019 record of it online.

We only got a list from MSL of names in 2011 and Perhaps was not on it

[Amir]

3 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

We only got a list from MSL of names in 2011 and Perhaps was not on it

Yeah I remember "Monstrosity" and "Light my Fire" and thought they were bullshit at the time, and I think someone added "Perhaps" to the list and pretended it was from that original bullshit list to show that we knew about the song before 2019 (which we didn't).

tl;dr: lists are all bullshit

 

[Uncle Bob]

2 hours ago, Lies They Tell said:

He said it was "ALMOST like doom metal". Which is honestly a pretty accurate way to describe the song. I'm convinced that many people who criticize Bach's description of Sorry don't even know what doom metal is.

[Mikey Whipwreck]

12 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

We only got a list from MSL of names in 2011 and Perhaps was not on it

MSL mentioned Cuban Skies, Going Down, Tonto among others if I remember correctly. At least two of those were confirmed to be real. But the email screenshot surfaced some time after that, with a few additional song titles listed 

[Sweersa]

11 minutes ago, Amir said:

Yeah I remember "Monstrosity" and "Light my Fire" and thought they were bullshit at the time, and I think someone added "Perhaps" to the list and pretended it was from that original bullshit list to show that we knew about the song before 2019 (which we didn't).

tl;dr: lists are all bullshit

 

Not this again...

Perhaps was on that list exactly when the email was sent in January of 2008. A few years later, a few fans of the band (amongst others) obtained that list. 

[Sweersa]

31 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

State of Grace wasn't there. It's 100% certain that no one had heard of it before 2019.

You would need to see my laptop to know that I had that screen shot (well, mine actually has more than what is seen here, it's cropped) and it's dated 2011. 

[JimiRose]

2 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

You would need to see my laptop to know that I had that screen shot (well, mine actually has more than what is seen here, it's cropped) and it's dated 2011. 

Send the full uncropped version please!

[Blackstar]

1 minute ago, Sweersa said:

You would need to see my laptop to know that I had that screen shot (well, mine actually has more than what is seen here, it's cropped) and it's dated 2011. 

Then why only some of the titles supposedly in this list were shared in public (e.g. Tonto, Going Down) and not all of them? Perhaps, Nothing and S.O.G. had not been talked about in public or mentioned in rumoured track lists before 2019.

Let's say I buy that "Perhaps" was overlooked because people didn't consider it to be a song and same with "Nothin'", but why S.O.G. wouldn't be talked about if it was in another version of the screenshot?

[Cosmo]

2 hours ago, Lies They Tell said:

He said it was "ALMOST like doom metal". Which is honestly a pretty accurate way to describe the song. I'm convinced that many people who criticize Bach's description of Sorry don't even know what doom metal is.

It's quite a bit of a stretch to say it sounds doom. Only the chorus riff kinda, resembles(ish) a doomy riff, in some way. And the fact that it's a slower song. But man, if Sebastian called Sorry "almost like doom metal", I'm getting skeptical about The General sounding like Sabbath 

[Mikey Whipwreck]

12 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

You would need to see my laptop to know that I had that screen shot (well, mine actually has more than what is seen here, it's cropped) and it's dated 2011. 

I'll back you on this. I distinctly remember seeing this screenshot many years before the Village leaks. 2013-2015 and 2016-2021, I stopped checking the forums with any regularity, but I remember seeing this about 10 years ago

Would not be surprised if this was the source document MSL used when he dropped Tonto and Going Down as unreleased song titles

Edited August 23, 2023 by Mikey Whipwreck

[Its Tino]

12 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

You would need to see my laptop to know that I had that screen shot (well, mine actually has more than what is seen here, it's cropped) and it's dated 2011. 

Can I borrow your laptop for a bit?

[Free Bird]

3 hours ago, Blackstar said:

As for the discussion about who/what is Guns N' Roses and the sound of GN'R, opinions differ among hardcore fans. For some it's Axl that makes it GN'R, so his presence is enough. For others it's Slash, for others it's not GN'R without Izzy or the AFD 5.

But it's an undeniable fact that for the majority of fans and people in general out there, the sound of GN'R is Axl's signature high-pitched voice and Slash's guitar tone. Slash's guitar tone with GN'R is equally distinctive as Axl's voice - you can tell it's Slash. And that's why, although the Illusions were stylistically, in part, a biggest departure from AFD than CD was from that part of Illusions (the stylistic distance between Estranged or Coma and AFD was bigger than the distance between Estranged and TWAT), Illusions were still GN'R to the vast majority of people, while CD wasn't.

But then you've got also songs like Riad, IRS, If The World and Scraped on CD which are an even bigger departure from the classic GNR sound. I mean, it's really just Axl left and even his voice and his style changed in comparison to the UYIs.

But I totally agree with the rest. It's personal preference for hardcore fans. For one it's Axl who is the most important guy in GNR, for the other it might be Slash. But if viewed objectively everybody has to admit that it's both, Axl and Slash, who defined the GNR sound. It's those two why the stadiums are packed again. Everybody else is exchangeable.