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

[Silence]

7 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

The phrasing on this looks weird, even if it's translated. Calling the songs as "unreleased" and using "B-side" instead of "R-side". This doesn't look like something approved by US UMG or the band. I don't know.

To have this song ripped in mp3 with no digital release is outrageous. The rip wouldn't be able to capture the proper mix and sound properties, and we would likely have only a subpar audio quality for it. It's fine for a demo, not for a supposed A-list song.

 

For sure. They were right about Perhaps release date, though. 

Or the song is B-Side quality. And the band dont want to present it as a new song. 

[Powerage5]

10 minutes ago, evader said:

Great points, all. If the 7" comes with a download card for digital release, I imagine that would be a nice band-aid for those who've been injured by the news of this vinyl-only release. Well, at least kinda.

Still, to beat a dead horse, most don't have access to record players, and some of us old-schoolers don't even do the digital purchasing thing. Hopefully, a broader range of buying options will follow at some point so that GNR can maximize both exposure and profit. Maybe that "broader range" will be a full album, like what was once common in the days of yore.

Your arguments are a much more reasonable take which I can’t find any issue with. My initial post was more about people saying they’re done with the band over this, how this band can’t do anything right, or how every other artist out there releases every single song on streaming services. That is simply not true and there is plenty of precedent for a release like this in the music industry even in modern times. 

[metalavenger99]

To be fair, what if in 2022 someone from the GNR camp would've said this:

"Ok you are getting The General, but only as a hidden track on a vinyl release"

Everybody would've said: Bro... shut THE FUCK UP are you serious, i don't care, just release it officially however you want... 

It's gonna be a fucking shame if it's true that we won't be able to put together a TWAT, Estranged, Coma and The General playlist on Spotify, but it is what it is... 

 

[Cosmo]

2 minutes ago, metalavenger99 said:

It's gonna be a fucking shame if it's true that we won't be able to put together a TWAT, Estranged, Coma and The General playlist on Spotify, but it is what it is... 

If it's a vinyl-only release, which I think is very unlikely, you'll still be able to, even if it's not on Spotify:

3 hours ago, Cosmo said:

idk how it works on Android but if you sync the file to your iTunes/Apple Music app, Spotify will be able to include it on your playlists. But they'll need to be offline playlists, you'll need make all the songs available offline in your mobile phone.

And it seems it works exactly the same way on Android, too.

[Free Bird]

1 hour ago, evader said:

Everything you said makes sense. But is this frustrated fan reaction simply due to The General being the most legendary, most anticipated, unheard, unreleased track in GNR history? At 20 years in hiding, it more than doubles the legend and hype that surrounded This I Love.

I actually kinda like the idea of doing gimmicky releases like this, but......um......for THIS song?

This is not a complaint. It's more of a statement of bewilderment.

Nah... still a CD leftover...

[Nick85]

I get withholding a digital release until late October to maximize pre-sales for the vinyl or whatever, but withholding it completely for that reason in 2023 literally makes zero sense at all business wise, any way you slice it. I can’t think they’d do that indefinitely…not even GNR.

Edited September 18, 2023 by Nick85

[rocknroll41]

17 minutes ago, Nick85 said:

I get withholding a digital release until late October to maximize pre-sales for the vinyl or whatever, but withholding it completely for that reason in 2023 literally makes zero sense at all business wise, any way you slice it. I can’t think they’d do that indefinitely…not even GNR.

Royal Blood’s new record has two bonus tracks that weren’t officially released digitally. 

[Skamos66]

I'm sure it will get a digital release, it was on the back of the setlist that leaked in Abu Dhabi that also had Perhaps on it, also on the official GNR Instagram story with the sound guy where he flipped through a bunch of song title cards. I'd assume that they plan on releasing it digitally if they are bothering to play it live.

[colonizedmind]

I think even for GNR it's inconceivable to truly believe this will never 

be released on their YT/Spotify etc....if anything they use those posts to link to their tour dates and whatever else they're trying to sell at the time and they can't do that from a Vinyl....this is all to maximise sales of the Vinyl....we've seen stuff like this many times before and then BOOM announced : CD package with all the singles...BOOM: here's a tour video of The General....etc. I bought the Vinyl as soon as it went live and I'm sure most of the diehards did too, even those without record players, as it's a bit of GNR history...lore if you like. I wouldn't wanna put a date on it but I'll eat Slash's hat if it never appears in digital form....after all, they not like they've got tons of material, so stuff they do release, they seem to make a bigger deal of now and FL did allude that it could come out in other ways, so....

It would be very strange to not put it out....if they start to perform it live it'll be up on Streaming....if not...unofficially it will be at least....We will see. 

 

Edited September 18, 2023 by colonizedmind

[F*ck Fear]

4 hours ago, Sweersa said:

I bet you will be back in 2025 when the first release since Perhaps/The General is expected. (Atlas and reworked Oh My God) 😆

You clearly don't know me, than 

[colonizedmind]

3 hours ago, Sweersa said:

Are the rumors true that the studio release of The General is going to have crowd noises inserted from the 2010 Vienna party?

Nah, they used that back-in-time on the Chinese intro 😸

[megaguns1982]

1 hour ago, Silence said:

Or the song is B-Side quality. And the band dont want to present it as a new song. 

That’s why I think it may be an untouched CD era song. If it was already complete with Bucket,Robin etc isn’t it possible that they’re just throwing it in as a b side?

on the flip side, when they released sympathy for the devil as a single, the b side was an instrumental that wasn’t even a GnR song. So maybe it’s just the instrumental from those live shows?

[metalavenger99]

So if the general (lol) consensus here is that this news are bullshit, can someone explain why the fuck would Universal Italy say that? And if they are full of shit how did they got the delay of Perhaps right?

Edited September 18, 2023 by metalavenger99

[colonizedmind]

6 hours ago, Nick85 said:

I really hope @Fernando flat out denies this nonsense.

He will. On Oct 28th

6 minutes ago, megaguns1982 said:

That’s why I think it may be an untouched CD era song. If it was already complete with Bucket,Robin etc isn’t it possible that they’re just throwing it in as a b side?

on the flip side, when they released sympathy for the devil as a single, the b side was an instrumental that wasn’t even a GnR song. So maybe it’s just the instrumental from those live shows?

How many times....Brain WHO WROTE THE FUCKING GENERAL said Axl sings on it....why would it just be an instrumental now sans his vocals? I see no sense to that, do you?

[jacdaniel]

A part of me wonders whether the band know that the song won't live up to expectations and that's why it's a B side, bonus type song. 

Maybe Axl never even recorded vocals and it's instrumental. 

Maybe only a tiny bit of the old show intro is featured under a verse or something. 

[dave94]

6 hours ago, BucketEgg said:

For the Universal Italy's page saying it will never have a digital release,

if The General does or will have a digital release planned, wouldn't that page constitute false advertising? If they keep that notice up on the page, would that be illegal?

I hope if there's a GNR staff that monitors the forums for any "mischievous uploads", that person at least passes word about the Universal Italy page to whatever higher-ups in the GNR sections. Because if it's a blunder, and possibly an illegal blunder if they keep leaving it up, then it should be rectified as soon as they can.

And if they rectify it, then that means we might have more clue on whether it will have a digital release or not! I'm going to keep tabs on that page to see if they rectify the page and indirectly confirm there isn't zero chance of a digital release, or if they're going to be slowpokes about it, or they leave it up there because the notice is somehow legit.

A bit OTT for all we know it could be a translation issue on our part or just a mistake. Either way it’s hardly a serious illegal act, I don’t think anyone really cares whether a €15 vinyl is also made digital or not… if it was a €1500 limited edition then maybe, but it isn’t.

It will inevitably find its way online unofficially pretty quickly anyway and my guess is it will eventually be made available via the normal platforms after a short while, unless it’s really not worth listening to and it is genuinely only B side quality material 

Edited September 18, 2023 by dave94

[bumbleslash69]

3 minutes ago, metalavenger99 said:

So if the general (lol) consensus here is that this is news are bullshit, can someone explain why the fuck would Universal Italy say that? And if they are full of shit how did they got the delay of Perhaps right?

Perhaps the reason is because the news hasn't come from the Universal itself. Universal Italy is a brand/subgroup of UMG. It offers a ton of credibility to the General being a physical release only, but it's not the definitive authority on the matter. It doesn't help its credibility that it still has the old original copy for the Perhaps single that was changed out fairly soon after the announcement. Also leaves a bit of wiggle room in the interpretation. Perhaps the General won't be released as a part of the Perhaps single on streaming services. It's not there as of now or greyed out and unavailable. So that wouldn't be wrong if the General showed up on an album or comp or something down the line. 

Hard to say though, as with most with things with this band, nothing makes a ton of sense. I think the language would be a bit more concise across different countries and stores if it was going to be a physical only release.

[History2010]

This will all be very funny to look back at when the song is available on streaming services. Fernando already confirmed that it will be on streaming services. You all are ridiculous sometimes.

[Illusion1987]

Vinyl only - WTF???

 

Why not release it on 8 track if the goal is for nobody to hear the song?

[F*ck Fear]

26 minutes ago, History2010 said:

This will all be very funny to look back at when the song is available on streaming services. Fernando already confirmed that it will be on streaming services. You all are ridiculous sometimes.

If it's been confirmed, that's the end of that conversation, then.

[Sweersa]

1 hour ago, megaguns1982 said:

That’s why I think it may be an untouched CD era song. If it was already complete with Bucket,Robin etc isn’t it possible that they’re just throwing it in as a b side?

That makes me moist. 

[Powerage5]

43 minutes ago, History2010 said:

This will all be very funny to look back at when the song is available on streaming services. Fernando already confirmed that it will be on streaming services. You all are ridiculous sometimes.

He did not confirm it. He was asked if it would be on streaming and responded with "perhaps". That may be a cheeky way of saying it will be, but it may very well mean exactly what he said. Either way, it was not an unequivocal "yes". 

[Sweersa]

1 hour ago, colonizedmind said:

He will. On Oct 28th

How many times....Brain WHO WROTE THE FUCKING GENERAL said Axl sings on it....why would it just be an instrumental now sans his vocals? I see no sense to that, do you?

To be fair, I think Brain in that interview said he "thought" Axl sang on it, or something to that effect. But that doesn't matter, because we know Axl sings on it because of that party clip, AND members who were there said they heard Axl singing on it, and that it was not the only song with Axl on it that they have not heard before.

[megaguns1982]

1 hour ago, colonizedmind said:

He will. On Oct 28th

How many times....Brain WHO WROTE THE FUCKING GENERAL said Axl sings on it....why would it just be an instrumental now sans his vocals? I see no sense to that, do you?

Calm down lol

10 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

That makes me moist. 

Same here… that solo on the cell phone clip sounds killer… it would be a damn shame to have slash replace it with some uninspired garbage like perhaps imo

Edited September 18, 2023 by megaguns1982

[Coma16]

1 hour ago, rocknroll41 said:

Royal Blood’s new record has two bonus tracks that weren’t officially released digitally. 

It's nice that (almost every other) bands can find a way to release an album.