THE GENERAL - MONSTERS - Official Discussion Thread. NO LINKS OR ASKING FOR LINKS

[hpantazo]

6 minutes ago, Jwalker19 said:

Thank you! I'd be super happy to get Atlas Shrugged. I've seen a lot of people that weren't too impressed with it, but I really dig it.

I would imagine State of Grace and Monsters are the next two tracks after The General. A completed State of Grace would be a nice single. 

[colonizedmind]

38 minutes ago, Jwalker19 said:

Thank you! I'd be super happy to get Atlas Shrugged. I've seen a lot of people that weren't too impressed with it, but I really dig it.

I do too....I happen to think lyrics and vocal wise, it's probably the most complete song and I wonder what it sounded like in 2008 since it was taken off Chinese at the last moment (plus Bumble versions etc)...I think it forms a themed trilogy with Catcher and Perhaps....connected with Brian May solos too...

[KIKOZ3]

On 11/3/2023 at 11:05 PM, Slugworth said:

Who said it didn't happen? What does that have to do with the reunion taking place?

 

Don't bother answering that. After reading your Rio drivel, Jan is right. You're a troll.

 

 

 

Manager after manager popped the reunion question. In one 3 a.m. conversation while managing Mr. Rose on tour, Mr. Katsis recalls: “He told me he wasn’t opposed to doing it at some point, and that he had no real issues with Slash.” But he still wasn’t ready.

 

Mr. Rose parted ways with Mr. Katsis in late 2011

 

 

https://www.wsj.com/articles/guns-n-roses-puts-it-back-together-1458760765

 

All this fan fiction where Slash had to come crawling on his knees begging is asinine.

 

Both clearly wanted it, knew it was happening at some point, and appeared to be waiting for Perla to exit stage left.

 

 

The guy wrote that Axl called Slash with his tail between his legs and that's how the tour happened.

The guy writes this and I'm the Troll?

Everyone knows that this is not the context.

Stop shitting the rules saying what I should do and not answer, I'll answer whatever I want when I want, you don't order anything.

 

Go boss your family, online in the forum you don't boss anyone.

 

[Rindmelon]

Just browsed the gnr reddit, my goodness someone has once again posted a video of Evader's General(monster) asking if it's real. It will never end 

[Amir]

12 minutes ago, Rindmelon said:

Just browsed the gnr reddit, my goodness someone has once again posted a video of Evader's General(monster) asking if it's real. It will never end 

I'm reminded of that awful fake "Prostitute" song which was just random screaming with the word "prostitute" thrown in the middle.

[Voodoochild]

12 hours ago, colonizedmind said:

I do too....I happen to think lyrics and vocal wise, it's probably the most complete song and I wonder what it sounded like in 2008 since it was taken off Chinese at the last moment (plus Bumble versions etc)...I think it forms a themed trilogy with Catcher and Perhaps....connected with Brian May solos too...

Perhaps didn't have Brian May solo though.

[Dean]

 

[DoMw94]

Justin Hawkins reacts to The General. I'm only five minutes in so far, but it sounds like he's already mistaking Richard's opening guitar parts for synths 🤦

 

[Cosmo]

16 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

Justin Hawkins reacts to The General. I'm only five minutes in so far, but it sounds like he's already mistaking Richard's opening guitar parts for synths 🤦

 

They sound a lot like synth, though. I thought it was synth til the other day, actually.

[Matt07]

19 minutes ago, DoMw94 said:

Justin Hawkins reacts to The General. I'm only five minutes in so far, but it sounds like he's already mistaking Richard's opening guitar parts for synths 🤦

 

It does really sound like synth on the leak. I’m sure (I hope 😱)  it’s incomplete and we will have a proper sitar sound on the final studio cut (closer to the live version). 
There are a few clues which lead us to think that the version we got was a work in progress :

- The drum beat is slightly different in the live versions. 

- The chorus is copy pasted each time : you can hear it clearly on the word “feeling”. 

- The orchestral arrangements are under-mixed in the leak compared to the live versions, which doesn’t do the song justice. 

Hope all of those issues have been addressed ! 

 

 

[DoMw94]

15 minutes ago, Cosmo said:

They sound a lot like synth, though. I thought it was synth til the other day, actually.

So did I to be fair, but I'm not a musician. Nor am I someone who's spent time around the band watching Richard play these weird tones on songs like Chinese Democracy etc. I thought he'd know without needing a close up 🤷‍♂️

1 minute ago, Matt07 said:

The drum beat is slightly different in the live versions

Every Guns N' Roses song is different live to the studio! That tells us nothing.

What we have is the final version, but a poor file format

[ZoSoRose]

1 hour ago, Matt07 said:

It does really sound like synth on the leak. I’m sure (I hope 😱)  it’s incomplete and we will have a proper sitar sound on the final studio cut (closer to the live version). 
There are a few clues which lead us to think that the version we got was a work in progress :

- The drum beat is slightly different in the live versions. 

- The chorus is copy pasted each time : you can hear it clearly on the word “feeling”. 

- The orchestral arrangements are under-mixed in the leak compared to the live versions, which doesn’t do the song justice. 

Hope all of those issues have been addressed ! 

 

 

I hope they don't change Brain's drums

[El Guapo]

1 hour ago, DoMw94 said:

Justin Hawkins reacts to The General. I'm only five minutes in so far, but it sounds like he's already mistaking Richard's opening guitar parts for synths 🤦

 

He's VERY nice here...you can tell he thinks it absolutely sucks.

But really, the song itself...The General sounds like it was written in half an hour and then made  "epic" with the orchestra and all the extra stuff.

In mean, imagine they came out with something like Locomotive or Jungle next, how would The General or Perhaps compare with their minimum lyrics and sections? Mh.

[colonizedmind]

9 hours ago, Rindmelon said:

Just browsed the gnr reddit, my goodness someone has once again posted a video of Evader's General(monster) asking if it's real. It will never end 

Until Dec 8th....then if it continues you really should be exterminated by a dalek! 

[Matt07]

29 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

I hope they don't change Brain's drums

So do I ; the drums are great on the leak. It’s just the trip hop drum beat on the verse that is played different live. 
Don’t think they’ll get away with copy pasting the vocals from the chorus. I would bet good money the leak is not the final version. 

[NicoRourke]

I've asked in the lyrics thread but maybe better suited here: regarding The General's lyrics, what does "And not the sordid meaning" means, in the context of the song?

 

I'm not a native speaker, so not sure I'm getting the meaning right :-)

[Rindmelon]

1 minute ago, NicoRourke said:

I've asked in the lyrics thread but maybe better suited here: regarding The General's lyrics, what does "And not the sordid meaning" means, in the context of the song?

 

I'm not a native speaker, so not sure I'm getting the meaning right :-)

The word Sordid in the context of the song means kind of.... Dirty and wrong in a sex type way (if that makes sense) It's a word that would perhaps be used by normal straight laced people to describe S&M or something. In the context of the song and it's subject matter it's far more disturbing though i suppose.

[avahland]

4 minutes ago, NicoRourke said:

I've asked in the lyrics thread but maybe better suited here: regarding The General's lyrics, what does "And not the sordid meaning" means, in the context of the song?

 

I'm not a native speaker, so not sure I'm getting the meaning right :-)

Another question by another non native speaker :

Don't know what to tell you now
It's never really what they tell you, now
You oughta know what they tell you now
And not really what they tell you now
Don't know what to tell you now
It ain't really what they tell you, now
Don't go where they tell you, now
It ain't really what they tell you, now

Easy to translate, hard to understand.
Feeling a bit stupid....but I don't understand these lines.

 

[ZoSoRose]

1 hour ago, El Guapo said:

He's VERY nice here...you can tell he thinks it absolutely sucks.

But really, the song itself...The General sounds like it was written in half an hour and then made  "epic" with the orchestra and all the extra stuff.

In mean, imagine they came out with something like Locomotive or Jungle next, how would The General or Perhaps compare with their minimum lyrics and sections? Mh.

I like the song, but I agree. For all the hype (our fault) and buildup, the song is essentially just 3 basic parts that repeat. Even the bridge is the same as the verse with different (albeit basic) lyrics. Same with Monsters, Hard Skool (the bridge is a bit different on that one but the lyrics are still pretty repetitive), and Absurd.

Actually, a lot of the songs on Chinese went from simple to epic because of all of their layers but even quite a few of those had some cool song structures with instrumentals, intros and outros, leads, etc. All the leftover songs sound more like leftovers because they have a lot of repetition and basic parts.

That doesn't make them bad songs, it is just the truth. I would be lying if I said The General delivered on all the hype, but I don't think anything really could have. When I first heard it, I was really disappointed- but the more I listened, the more I dig the chorus, drums, and bass and then the overall package. It could have used more cooking, ironically, but he had 16+ years to do that so I will take what we can get. Maybe it is Stockholm syndrome, but I do like the song for what it is quite a bit. It did really help that it leaked with Monsters, so they feel more like an "epic" when listened to back- to- back as two separate songs. 

I am taking these songs for what they are- leftover Chinese Democracy era songs that did not make the final cut of the record. If you look at them through that lens as opposed to a full, long- lost CD2 record, they are a lot more enjoyable. I really like HS, Perhaps, The General, and Monsters through that lens, actually. Absurd is like a guilty pleasure when I am by myself 

Edited November 6, 2023 by ZoSoRose

[Miden34]

so here is one out of left field... the lyrics in the chorus to monster, most think its, "oh its over now." i think its, "Its all burned down." and i think the song is actually Berlin(Or was). and that its related to the Reichstag fire. go read up on that. Axl does have a fondness for historical shit. 

 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Miden34

[NicoRourke]

22 minutes ago, Rindmelon said:

The word Sordid in the context of the song means kind of.... Dirty and wrong in a sex type way (if that makes sense) It's a word that would perhaps be used by normal straight laced people to describe S&M or something. In the context of the song and it's subject matter it's far more disturbing though i suppose.

Thank you, I understand the meaning of the word but I don't get what that sentence means in the context of the chorus. The sordid meaning of what? I don't understand what it refers to :-s Not the sordid meaning of the unspoken feelings?

[ZoSoRose]

1 minute ago, Miden34 said:

so here is one out of left field... the lyrics in the chorus to monster, most think its, "oh its over now." i think its, "Its all burned down." and i think the song is actully Berlin. and that its related to the Reichstag fire. go read up on that. 

 

 The lyrics are pretty clear on that one imo. It is "It's over now"

[Rindmelon]

3 minutes ago, Miden34 said:

so here is one out of left field... the lyrics in the chorus to monster, most think its, "oh its over now." i think its, "Its all burned down." and i think the song is actually Berlin(Or was). and that its related to the Reichstag fire. go read up on that. Axl does have a fondness for historical shit. 

 

So you think that Monster is about the Nazi Party committing a false flag attack? I think that is a stretch

[Sweersa]

4 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

I am taking these songs for what they are- leftover Chinese Democracy era songs that did not make the final cut of the record. If you look at them through that lens as opposed to a full long- lost CD2 record, they are a lot more enjoyable. I really like HS, Perhaps, The General, and Monsters through that lens, actually. Absurd is like a guilty pleasure when I am by myself 

I wish people would stop perpetuating CD2 songs as "CD leftovers" to imply songs that didn't make the album were not good enough. It was said, by multiple members of the band, including Axl, that CD initially was going to be a double album or considered a double, and when they apparently scrapped that plan, it was going to be a follow-up "second part" of the 2008 album, to be released a year or so after the 2008 album.

CD is not a "best of" the 2.5 (or so) albums worth of material they finished by 2008.  Axl's conversation with Bach after he played him songs like The General and others further supports this, as him wanting certain songs on different albums (talking about three albums) because they fit other songs lyrically. 

The Village leaks also support this, as there are complete or nearly complete songs that were not placed on the first album that are better (somewhat subjective) than a majority of the songs on the first album. The 2000 mixes of Perhaps and Hard Skool alone are better than a lot of the songs on the first album, likely considered A-list by the band.

[Miden34]

5 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

 The lyrics are pretty clear on that one imo. It is "It's over now"

nothing about the audio is clear xD. its my opinion and im sticking to it. i think it was originally berlin. 

Edited November 6, 2023 by Miden34