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

[colonizedmind]

29 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

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.

What does your last sentence mean? Only song?

[Gordon Comstock]

I still don't think it will be exclusive to the vinyl, but even if it's not released digitally right away, it's not uncommon for 'bonus tracks' to be on youtube, spotify, etc a month or two after they've been released. It will 100% be available online eventually, officially or otherwise.

[colonizedmind]

29 minutes ago, megaguns1982 said:

Calm down lol

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

I literally am usually one of the calmest people ever but this week I'm a tad frustrated how many times people are now thinking General is just the horror orchestra when so much else has already debunked that and I've said myself along with numerous others in this thread and folk just kept chiming in with "but....what if...." So excuse my french! 

1 hour ago, metalavenger99 said:

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?

It's been a slow news day catching the mafia....

[-W.A.R-]

I can't imagine if The General was any good that it would be regulated to an exclusive b-side on a vinyl release. This is the band that put out Hard School and Absurd as singles.

[DTV88]

1 hour ago, Sweersa said:

That makes me moist. 

Penicillin might be able to cure that for ya 

[DoMw94]

All these dramatic reactions, all these crazy theories...

I hate to say it, but I'm starting to understand why TB resents us

[Sweersa]

1 hour ago, colonizedmind said:

What does your last sentence mean? Only song?

I meant to say at the Vienna after party there were unheard Guns songs playing, and The General was not the only one. There apparently was a piano driven rocker that was not Perhaps, and maybe more. 

[Skamos66]

Yeah, now that i think about this, The General might actually be untouched by Slash considering it is just a B-Side to a single, meaning it could be the original NuGNR version.
If that is so, and it actually is Vinyl only, it might make a little bit of sense because "technically" the song isn't a new release by the band, so the best place to put it out there is on an exclusive product that casuals probably won't be buying.

It being on that leaked setlist on the other hand might mean it is reworked if Slash & Duff are to play it live, but who knows.

[Arnuld]

7 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?

That’s fucking funny dude

[Voodoochild]

I'm calm. I'm just mildly annoyed with this band and I think that's very fair considering it's the first real unheard song since 2008, and only the 4th "new" track officially released since then. This is a very particular scenario.

To  relegate this as a physical copy in vinyl only would probably be a really bad publicity move, after all the good things that came with the release of Perhaps single and its video. And it's a real possibility. 

[DTV88]

1 hour ago, Skamos66 said:

Yeah, now that i think about this, The General might actually be untouched by Slash considering it is just a B-Side to a single, meaning it could be the original NuGNR version.
If that is so, and it actually is Vinyl only, it might make a little bit of sense because "technically" the song isn't a new release by the band, so the best place to put it out there is on an exclusive product that casuals probably won't be buying.

It being on that leaked setlist on the other hand might mean it is reworked if Slash & Duff are to play it live, but who knows.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see both Slash and Duff have co-writing credits on The General. There is no chance Guns releases anything without them both on it unless they leave again which I don’t see happening anytime soon. 

[colonizedmind]

2 hours ago, Skamos66 said:

Yeah, now that i think about this, The General might actually be untouched by Slash considering it is just a B-Side to a single, meaning it could be the original NuGNR version.
If that is so, and it actually is Vinyl only, it might make a little bit of sense because "technically" the song isn't a new release by the band, so the best place to put it out there is on an exclusive product that casuals probably won't be buying.

It being on that leaked setlist on the other hand might mean it is reworked if Slash & Duff are to play it live, but who knows.

It's on the setlist for a tour that has Slash as guitarist....he's definitely touched it

[Live Like a Suicide]

For the following reasons, I still think a digital release is likely:

- The General is one of the most requested CD-era cuts and the band knows this.

- It will end up online anyway.

- Due to the above two points, it would make sense to give it a proper release ala Perhaps and earn a bit of promotion/revenue.

-  Promotion of the Perhaps vinyl is almost universally consistent with no mention of The General being exclusive. The only site out of step is Universal Italy.

- Even when English sites used the same copy as the Italian site (e.g. first joint composition in decades....) they did not include the same part re The General's exclusivity.

- GNR has a recent history of indicating when songs are physically exclusive. Again, on most sites, this is not mentioned for The General.

- Fernando also has a recent history of confirming when songs are physically exclusive. He told people on Reddit that the live tracks on the HS EP were exclusive, but he wasn't so forthcoming with The General.

- The General orchestral arrangements are being removed from YouTube and SoundCloud, much like what happened with Perhaps prior to its digital release.

- The General is on the setlist, meaning the band may play it live. This would really only make sense if they were planning a wide-scale release.

At the end of the day, who can really blame fans for being pissed when it comes to The General potentially being vinyl-exclusive? This is a song many have waited on for close to 20 years and not everybody has a record player.

 

 

Edited September 19, 2023 by Live Like a Suicide

[StrangerInThisTown]

If anything it will be vinyl exclusive for the first few weeks or months only, to promote the vinyl sales. Not like it will be vinyl exclusive forever lmao.

But until it's officially released digitally all uploads will be taken down from youtube, soundcloud etc. with the automatic detection software.

Edited September 19, 2023 by StrangerInThisTown

[ZoSoRose]

Literally everyone freaking out over nothing. I’ll bet a pack of franks it’s digital 

[Gordon Comstock]

39 minutes ago, colonizedmind said:

It's on the setlist for a tour that has Slash as guitarist....he's definitely touched it

 

Yes, but he does play CD every night and other nuGNR songs regularly...

I'm sure it's gonna have Slash and Duff, and be mixed like Perhaps and Absurd, but a CD era 'demo' of The General as a bonus track would be fucking incredible. It would almost be perfect closure for the CD era.

[BucketEgg]

6 hours ago, dave94 said:

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 

I don't know about Italy's consumer laws, but in my country, a deliberate misrepresentation in commerce and advertising like that could breach consumer laws.

https://iclg.com/practice-areas/consumer-protection-laws-and-regulations/italy

"In addition, and to complement the above provisions, Section 21 et seq. of the Code prohibits so-called “misleading practices”, meaning commercial practices distorting the economic choices of consumers by, for instance, containing false information or omitting relevant information in relation to the existence or nature of the product, or its main characteristics (e.g. its availability, benefits, risks, execution, composition, accessories, aftersales assistance and complaint handling, method and date of manufacture or provision, delivery, fitness for purpose, usage, geographical or commercial origin or the results to be expected from its use, etc.).  See also the answer to question 4.1 below."

 

 

I don't work in the legal area, so I don't know if it applies, but if a digital release of The General is planned very soon, misrepresenting its availability by saying it will NEVER be available digitally could be seen as distorting consumers to choose to buy a vinyl record, and possibly a breach of consumer law, if they keep benefiting from it and make no attempt to rectify it.

Taylor Swift had some physically exclusive tracks that were eventually released digitally months later. And they were just advertised as exclusive to those physical media, not never will be available digitally. As loving as some fans are to Taylor, and collect all the multiple CDs and vinyls and cassettes and versions of the same album, even that sort of "Capitalist-Queen" move of advertising something as never will be available digitally, then having it available become digitally soon after, would piss those diehards off. The diehards would feel betrayed, "Why would Taylor lie to us like this!?, Of course she's trying to push more records" etc.

So I hope Universal Italy clarifies what's going on. The official GNR site isn't doing that, and same with the other Universal subgroups.

Edited September 19, 2023 by BucketEgg
more text to compare releases of other physically exclusive tracks

[Live Like a Suicide]

17 minutes ago, BucketEgg said:

I don't know about Italy's consumer laws, but in my country, a deliberate misrepresentation in commerce and advertising like that could breach consumer laws.

https://iclg.com/practice-areas/consumer-protection-laws-and-regulations/italy

"In addition, and to complement the above provisions, Section 21 et seq. of the Code prohibits so-called “misleading practices”, meaning commercial practices distorting the economic choices of consumers by, for instance, containing false information or omitting relevant information in relation to the existence or nature of the product, or its main characteristics (e.g. its availability, benefits, risks, execution, composition, accessories, aftersales assistance and complaint handling, method and date of manufacture or provision, delivery, fitness for purpose, usage, geographical or commercial origin or the results to be expected from its use, etc.).  See also the answer to question 4.1 below."

 

 

I don't work in the legal area, so I don't know if it applies, but if a digital release of The General is planned very soon, misrepresenting its availability by saying it will NEVER be available digitally could be seen as distorting consumers to choose to buy a vinyl record, and possibly a breach of consumer law, if they keep benefiting from it and make no attempt to rectify it.

I just think the Universal team assigned to GNR doesn't have their shit together on messaging. They pushed Perhaps out there with a press release and product description that they had to change after the fact. It wouldn't be surprising if they forgot to get all their international branches in line on the same messaging.

[BucketEgg]

14 minutes ago, Live Like a Suicide said:

I just think the Universal team assigned to GNR doesn't have their shit together on messaging. They pushed Perhaps out there with a press release and product description that they had to change after the fact. It wouldn't be surprising if they forgot to get all their international branches in line on the same messaging.

Yeah. What is Universal Italy even doing? Even if they haven't received any notice that The General will be available digitally, they could leave out the whole " non uscirà mai in digitale" bolded text part of the page, and the page would still be functional, and they wouldn't have to worry about being scrutinised for lying or misrepresentation if plans change, or if a digital release really is soon planned.

Edited September 19, 2023 by BucketEgg

[WhazUp]

4 hours ago, Skamos66 said:

Yeah, now that i think about this, The General might actually be untouched by Slash considering it is just a B-Side to a single, meaning it could be the original NuGNR version.
If that is so, and it actually is Vinyl only, it might make a little bit of sense because "technically" the song isn't a new release by the band, so the best place to put it out there is on an exclusive product that casuals probably won't be buying.

It being on that leaked setlist on the other hand might mean it is reworked if Slash & Duff are to play it live, but who knows.

To me the most likely situation is that The General is only part of the Perhaps single to both bring attention to the vinyl single as well as to drum up hype and discussion for the song's release.  And The General more likely than not be given its own digital release just as Perhaps, Hard Skool, and Absurd

IMO is no way GNR will release a Slash-less song ever again unless Slash leaves the band again

Edited September 19, 2023 by WhazUp

[WhazUp]

I really want to start a petition to have "The General being a B-Side to the Perhaps single doesn't mean it is being disregarded or treated as a lesser release pinned at the top of this forum lol

Edited September 19, 2023 by WhazUp

[Ak1nney]

13 minutes ago, WhazUp said:

I really want to start a petition to have "The General being a B-Side to the Perhaps single doesn't mean it is being regarded/disregarded or treated as a lesser release pinned at the top of this forum lol

Yes, please. a B-side in the current vinyl track is literally just another track on the single release. It's not a non-album (that doesn't apply here) or lesser track.

[jacdaniel]

6 hours ago, megaguns1982 said:

Calm down lol

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

Nonsense like this drives me mad! 

You follow a band where Slash is the legendary guitarist who has written over 90% of the iconic riffs and solo's that get played at their live show. 

And you don't want that man to play a solo on the new song that we've never heard because he has 1 solo you don't like? 

[Lethalis]

Axl has always wanted the current band members on new releases. They have rerecorded stuff over and over again in the past... so it won't be any different now.

 

[Lethalis]

41 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

Nonsense like this drives me mad! 

You follow a band where Slash is the legendary guitarist who has written over 90% of the iconic riffs and solo's that get played at their live show. 

And you don't want that man to play a solo on the new song that we've never heard because he has 1 solo you don't like? 

There are still quite a few NuGuns fans around here, who like the more modern sound of Chinese Democracy.

Slash isn't a great fit on these songs, and I really like Slash.

In an ideal world I'd rather have them write new songs with Slash and throw the Chinese stuff away. Or completely rerecord them in a way that fits Slash and Duff, instead of the copy / paste stuff we get.

Slash really shines as a bluesy hard rock guitarist.