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

[Blackstar]

16 minutes ago, BucketEgg said:

I think people are thinking it might be an instrumental because some are still in disbelief we might actually be getting the song with full vocals. Like, they've been waiting for so long, The General has always been that unhearable song, there's gotta be some twist to it when it seems to be coming out! Maybe that thinking comes from low morale with regards to GNR, or a lack of trust that something as big as The General releasing can simply and merely happen without some form of GNR shenanigans to back it up. And anything that can be used to indicate a whiff of possible GNR weirdness (Being on the R-side, Universal Italy being weird, no prominent advertisement right now), shakes their confidence that the song can be completely normal. Maybe the song merely releasing sounds too good to be true

It's definitely all that and I get it. But I just think that people should try to keep their GN'R-induced paranoia in check a little bit instead of fueling it with every conspiracy theory they can come up with

[colonizedmind]

At the most T - 37 and we can put our speculations in the trash and turn to review/overanalyzing and what should of been instead....

[megaguns1982]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

Moreover, GN'R have never released an instrumental track as part of a non-archival release. Of course there's a first time for everything, but taking the information we have into account, the "instrumental" theory is just tinfoil hat territory.

As for Slash and Duff not being on it, there's no chance of that for obvious reasons - and additionally because Slash specifically talked about re-recording "epics". But there's also a less obvious reason: according to the credits, the sound recordings of the three re-worked tracks that have been released so far are owned by GN'R (which means that the re-recording was self-funded), whereas the original recordings by the NuGnR guys are probably still owned by the label. So it seems that there's been some kind of plan and effort behind these releases, even if it ultimately doesn't matter to us because it's not on the creative front.

That couldn’t possibly be accurate, even if they were re-recorded the music,the Axl vocals would be owned by the label. I’d suggest that the band purchased it all back from universal, they’ve certainly made enough $ from touring… that may also explain the endless tour and lack of new material.

[CAFC Nick]

Quite interesting watching developments in this topic...

Personally I'm staying away from speculation until it's actually released and knowing that there is a definitive date with a physical media, which means in theory that it's either already been pressed or in the process of pressing, the chances of a "plans changed" moment are quite slim.

Having said that, I think the speculation here of it being an instrumental are quite strange considering we have a number of sources verifying that Axl had indeed recorded vocals. Now, we have seen from the official releases of other CD-era songs that the chances of a new vocal track are slim, but if the vocals are already laid down why would they be removed? Bizarre.

As long as there actually is a digital release (I'd be quite amazed if there wasn't) I will do my absolute best to avoid any sort of leak ahead of the day. Can't believe this will be the first time I'm hearing a completely fresh GN'R song in 15 years! Bring it on!

[Blackstar]

3 minutes ago, megaguns1982 said:

That couldn’t possibly be accurate, even if they were re-recorded the music,the Axl vocals would be owned by the label. I’d suggest that the band purchased it all back from universal, they’ve certainly made enough $ from touring… that may also explain the endless tour and lack of new material.

I have looked it up and the legal ownership/copyright stuff is complicated. However, even if a track is partially re-recorded (or even if it's just a new mix), it's considered a "new" recording, so the ownership of the rights changes.

[Grayfox]

I have a feeling we will see the release happen digitally. But if it’s true and it isn’t supposed to be released digitally and only as a vinyl b-side. I do think that could be because it’s the original version of the song. No re-recording. Which could explain it being a b-side that became a super deep cut aimed at this fanbase and the select people who buy the single in the standard fan base. 
 

It sucks, but I don’t think people would have been as bothered if it wasn’t for the 2 months of waiting for release. Had the single dropped as quick as that “greatest hits” vinyl. I think people would have been more content. The waiting is what’s wrong it seems

[Georgina Arriaga]

2 hours ago, Silence said:

Slash most definitely has not written great material in over a decade. Thats one reason I prefer Slash rerecording the CD material. I dont think Slash has it in him to write material good enough for GNR.

For Christ sake!

[jacdaniel]

2 hours ago, Silence said:

Slash most definitely has not written great material in over a decade. Thats one reason I prefer Slash rerecording the CD material. I dont think Slash has it in him to write material good enough for GNR.

That's an absolutely scandalous post. For starters, he has already written 3 classic albums with Guns. 

He also had success with Velvet Revolver. 

In the last 13 years he has released 5 solo albums. Maybe the songs or the singer are not to your taste but those albums have plenty of monsterous riffs and solo's. 

 

If anything worries me about Guns writing material, it's that Axl doesn't appear to have written anything in 2 decades. 

[Coma16]

21 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

That's an absolutely scandalous post. For starters, he has already written 3 classic albums with Guns. 

He also had success with Velvet Revolver. 

In the last 13 years he has released 5 solo albums. Maybe the songs or the singer are not to your taste but those albums have plenty of monsterous riffs and solo's. 

 

If anything worries me about Guns writing material, it's that Axl doesn't appear to have written anything in 2 decades. 

Axl has been in the studio every year since 2005. There are loads of stuff recorded.

[BucketEgg]

22 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.

It's been rectified, and now they don't have to worry about potentially breaching consumer law for misleading advertising!

https://shop.universalmusic.it/products/guns-n-roses-perhaps-vinile-7-45-giri

 

"L'uscita rock più attesa del 2023, i Guns N' Roses tornano con un singolo inedito intitolato Perhaps.

Scritto e registrato quest'anno da Axl Rose, Slash e Duff McKagan, è la prima uscita della leggendaria rock band dal 2021 e la prima composizione e registrazione collettiva in trent'anni da The Spaghetti Incident? del 1993.

 

Il 7" include un altro brano inedito sul lato B, The General."

 

So... Does that mean "No The General on digital ever" is false since they removed that section,

meaning we will get it on digital at some point? 👀 Is that weird rumour finally dead?

 

Still calling Side-R as side B though, lol

The wayback machine shorted out on me when I was trying to archive the page back when it had the blunder. Would've been fun to keep it as a stupid memento on the internet.

Edited September 19, 2023 by BucketEgg

[Grayfox]

4 minutes ago, BucketEgg said:

It's been rectified, and now they don't have to worry about potentially breaching consumer law for misleading advertising!

https://shop.universalmusic.it/products/guns-n-roses-perhaps-vinile-7-45-giri

 

"L'uscita rock più attesa del 2023, i Guns N' Roses tornano con un singolo inedito intitolato Perhaps.

Scritto e registrato quest'anno da Axl Rose, Slash e Duff McKagan, è la prima uscita della leggendaria rock band dal 2021 e la prima composizione e registrazione collettiva in trent'anni da The Spaghetti Incident? del 1993.

 

Il 7" include un altro brano inedito sul lato B, The General."

 

So... Does that mean "No The General on digital ever" is false since they removed that section,

meaning we will get it on digital at some point? 👀 Is that weird rumour finally dead?

 

Still calling Side-R as side B though, lol

Now let’s kill the rumor about it being only an instrumental 

[betterman]

20 minutes ago, BucketEgg said:

 

Still calling Side-R as side B though, lol

 

Thats correct

G(uns) side - Perhaps

R(oses) side - General

[BucketEgg]

2 minutes ago, betterman said:

Thats correct

G(uns) side - Perhaps

R(oses) side - General

as in Universal Italy is using the term Side B in  "Il 7" include un altro brano inedito sul lato B, The General.", instead of Side R, even though they corrected their page

Edited September 19, 2023 by BucketEgg

[Cosmo]

Idk what's sadder: The fact that people are all worked up about the slight, improbable possibility of The General being a "vinyl only release", based on what an italian website said, which would would imply on fans having to upload the song to their libraries in order to put it on playlists, or the fact some posters are already speculating if that would mean Slash and Duff aren't on the single. Of course they are. GnR is a brand, and Slash and Duff are two of the few pillars that make this brand valuable. No one outside these forums give a rat's ass if Robin and Bucket played on the original version. They want Slash on the guitar. Don't get me wrong - I would love to hear the original version, more so than a re-recording with Slash and Duff, but that's what we'll most probably be getting. Imagine if GnR releases The General, their most awaited single so far, as a vinyl exclusive without Slash and Duff... they might as well burn their money. I'm not saying The General will be a popular song that gets media attention and plays on the radio - it most certainly won't get too much attention, but they don't want to discard the possibility of maybe - who knows - releasing a song that hypes up more tour dates with media coverage. They're milking the classic GnR image, they want to be seen as the reunited GnR, they're using the classic logo, putting Duff and Slash on every possible tour lithos and merch available. It makes no sense in the world not putting them in the song. They even re-recorded Silkworms - which has nothing to do with Slash's style. And about the Vinyl-only release, it won't be. If they had released a full album and The General were the single B-Side, or a special edition bonus track on vinyl or whatever, ok. But they released 3 songs in 15 years. They're not gonna waste the opportunity of releasing The General in the way that reaches the most fans possible. Quit overanalysing everything - it's coming. We wanted The General for more than a decade, almost two, and it's coming. No need to panic. We'll all hear it very soon.

Edited September 19, 2023 by Cosmo

[Blackstar]

Reminder of the recent Richard Fortus interview:

A new song the band has been performing is “Perhaps,” which [Fortus] says has been revisited, reworked and rerecorded over the years since 2002, when he joined Guns N' Roses.

“I’m thrilled with how it came out," he says. "It’s a great song — one of my favorite Guns N’ Roses songs. Lyrically, it’s very mature, and I think it’s some of Axl’s best work."

“The General,” which he calls the B-side to “Perhaps,” also was long in progress and could join the show soon.

Does anybody seriously think that he would refer to the General in that way if it was an instrumental or wasn't re-recorded with Slash and Duff?

[Live Like a Suicide]

15 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

Reminder of the recent Richard Fortus interview:

A new song the band has been performing is “Perhaps,” which [Fortus] says has been revisited, reworked and rerecorded over the years since 2002, when he joined Guns N' Roses.

“I’m thrilled with how it came out," he says. "It’s a great song — one of my favorite Guns N’ Roses songs. Lyrically, it’s very mature, and I think it’s some of Axl’s best work."

“The General,” which he calls the B-side to “Perhaps,” also was long in progress and could join the show soon.

Does anybody seriously think that he would refer to the General in that way if it was an instrumental or wasn't re-recorded with Slash and Duff?

Not to mention Slash literally said he and Duff fixed up a few songs and that the upcoming ones were more epic/complex than HS/Absurd. I don't know how anyone can seriously consider The General to be an instrumental or otherwise untouched by Slash and Duff.

[kanecrescente]

17 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

 

“The General,” which he calls the B-side to “Perhaps,” also was long in progress and could join the show soon.

 

Well... that was trippy😂

[bumbleslash69]

Could the General be an instrumental if it's a physical only release as a b-side on a 7" in 2023? It's possible. Baseless speculation. But it's not crazy.

Could the General be some sort of unaltered CD2 recording? No lol. Not at all. Slash and Duff are going to be on it. These guys are here to make money and they've outright told us they've re-recorded a handful of Chinese leftovers. If they weren't going to be on the General we would've gotten a random live song as a B-side or Abusurd or Hard Skool or Atlas Shrugged/unreleased song. 

My guess is we hear a bit of an altered song than what we're thinking. We know how long a song on a 7" can be and we've heard how long the General intro is. But that's all speculation as well. We'll know everything in about a month's time. Can't wait. Just hope this thread doesn't go the way of the original Perhaps thread lol. 

[Sweersa]

30 minutes ago, Cosmo said:

No one outside these forums give a rat's ass if Robin and Bucket played on the original version. They want Slash on the guitar. Don't get me wrong - I would love to hear the original version, more so than a re-recording with Slash and Duff, but that's what we'll most probably be getting. Imagine if GnR releases The General, their most awaited single so far, as a vinyl exclusive without Slash and Duff... they might as well burn their money. I'm not saying The General will be a popular song that gets media attention and plays on the radio - it most certainly won't get too much attention, but they don't want to discard the possibility of maybe - who knows - releasing a song that hypes up more tour dates with media coverage. 

I can almost guarantee if they drop a single or even half of an album of CD-era song mixes with Bucket and Finck mixed with re-worked or actual new songs with NITL, the casuals won't know if it's not spelled out for them that Slash is not on a particular song or a group of songs. This happened with the 2008 album as well. Bucket's playing stands out more as being his own, but I bet most casuals are not going to be able to tell Finck from Slash anyways. It absolutely could work, and would be a nice nod to the hardcore fans who appreciate Bucket and Robin's work. 

[Cosmo]

14 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

I can almost guarantee if they drop a single or even half of an album of CD-era song mixes with Bucket and Finck mixed with re-worked or actual new songs with NITL, the casuals won't know if it's not spelled out for them that Slash is not on a particular song or a group of songs. This happened with the 2008 album as well. Bucket's playing stands out more as being his own, but I bet most casuals are not going to be able to tell Finck from Slash anyways. It absolutely could work, and would be a nice nod to the hardcore fans who appreciate Bucket and Robin's work. 

True, if Bucket solos like he does on Sorry, for example, no one would know. But they wouldn't be able to advertise Slash and Duff with the song - the fact that Slash and Duff are on the song is more important than their actual playing, to many fans. They will most certainly repeat the "Lost song form CD sessions, re-recorded with Slash and Duff" subtitle on press releases.

[THELINESMAN]

26 minutes ago, bumbleslash69 said:

Just hope this thread doesn't go the way of the original Perhaps thread lol. 

That all depends on Slash's solo 

[jacdaniel]

So is it an instrumental only?  

[Gordon Comstock]

Yes, it's an instrumental that only features Brain and Chris Pitman, and will never ever be available digitally. Glad we've finally got that settled.

[LandOla]

What a bummer though, oh well, at least there's the new EP/LP on November to look forward to

[Powerage5]

1 hour ago, Cosmo said:

Idk what's sadder: The fact that people are all worked up about the slight, improbable possibility of The General being a "vinyl only release", based on what an italian website said, which would would imply on fans having to upload the song to their libraries in order to put it on playlists, or the fact some posters are already speculating if that would mean Slash and Duff aren't on the single. Of course they are. GnR is a brand, and Slash and Duff are two of the few pillars that make this brand valuable. No one outside these forums give a rat's ass if Robin and Bucket played on the original version. They want Slash on the guitar. Don't get me wrong - I would love to hear the original version, more so than a re-recording with Slash and Duff, but that's what we'll most probably be getting. Imagine if GnR releases The General, their most awaited single so far, as a vinyl exclusive without Slash and Duff... they might as well burn their money. I'm not saying The General will be a popular song that gets media attention and plays on the radio - it most certainly won't get too much attention, but they don't want to discard the possibility of maybe - who knows - releasing a song that hypes up more tour dates with media coverage. They're milking the classic GnR image, they want to be seen as the reunited GnR, they're using the classic logo, putting Duff and Slash on every possible tour lithos and merch available. It makes no sense in the world not putting them in the song. They even re-recorded Silkworms - which has nothing to do with Slash's style. And about the Vinyl-only release, it won't be. If they had released a full album and The General were the single B-Side, or a special edition bonus track on vinyl or whatever, ok. But they released 3 songs in 15 years. They're not gonna waste the opportunity of releasing The General in the way that reaches the most fans possible. Quit overanalysing everything - it's coming. We wanted The General for more than a decade, almost two, and it's coming. No need to panic. We'll all hear it very soon.

I agree with a lot of this. But one thing that we on the forums tend to forget is The General is the most anticipated GN’R song of all time…for a few hundred people. We put it on a pedestal, but 99.9% of GN’R fans have never heard of The General. It’s very easy for us to oversell the song’s mythological status, because we ourselves have wanted to hear it for so long. But most GN’R fans out in the wild probably don’t care to hear it, or anything else as long as the band keeps touring the hits.