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

[James Bond]

To be fair, the song was never going to live up to the mythical proportions that have been bestowed upon it for years. However, when I'd hear things like "big guns" it was hard not to expect another There Was A Time or something.

I now firmly believe we did indeed get the best batch of songs we could have on Chinese Democracy.

Everything has just been okay to me so far. Absurd was the highlight because of how, well, absurd it was to be the first "Slash and Duff are back" song. The humor of that wasn't lost on me. Easily the one I enjoy the most.

Hard Skool and Perhaps are enjoyable if not unremarkable. I'd probably give Perhaps the edge.

The General though? Eh. I honestly think it's terrible. I don't think a better mix would have changed anything.

[Gunner55]

I can admit now that the novelty of The General has worn off, we definitely had too high of expectations that the song simply couldn't have lived up to. To me, it's still a great song. I enjoy it a lot, but when we were all expecting something epic and lengthier, it is what it is. 

My concern, and this is more about Axl and less of the song itself, is the writing style. We now have 3 of the 4 official releases where the style is verse-chrous-repeat verse-repeat chorus. Is it just lazy writing? Was it a work in progress or placeholder with the intent to come back and finish them off? Surely we will never know. I'm old school I guess. I'd much rather an actual fully put together song with different verses and at least Hardskool has that, production aside. Hopefully they officially release Monsters as well as I feel that is undoubtedly a great song that fits my criteria. 

I am curious as to why Monsters got leaked. Was it available in an inner circle as well for who knows how long? Did that publishing leak that showed The General and Monsters inadvertently get someone to panic and leak it was since it appeared it could be included on the Perhaps release? Again, we'll probably never know. But I'm glad, cuz I've been playing that song on repeat ever since. 

[Blackjacker]

13 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I am VERY confident we will be getting more music

After the last few, I am very AFRAID we will be getting more music.

[JAxlMorrison]

3 minutes ago, Italian girl said:

Just heard on Virgin radio Italy. I can confirm it's the worst Song ever aired 

You logged in and spent time in your life posting that? 🤭 

[betterman]

A lot of whiners in here

A great song and hope they release rest of what is finished from CD sessions (guess Atlas, monsters, State of grace, quick song, Berlin and Seven)

[GnR Chris]

I’ve seen comments where people said:

”I wish they wouldn’t have released this.” But why? Why does it affect you? If you don’t like it, you simply don’t have to listen. For those who enjoy “The General,” we have another song to add to our catalog.

”Slash should be embarrassed to be on this. He needs to leave Guns N’ Roses.” Why? As a huge fan of Slash, I like when Slash does things outside of his normal wheelhouse. He has the Conspirators to do his straight up older-school rock and roll.

I’m not even saying I wouldn’t like some Appetite-inspired GNR songs. I want any and all new songs they wanna send my way. I’m just not stuck hoping that they will return to their ‘roots.” People forget that there was a huge number of fans disappointed in 1991 that the Illusions records weren’t Appetite.

For me the disappointment is in the mixing of these songs. If you listen to the newer stuff, it’s stark how LOUD “General” is compared to “Perhaps.” And the aforementioned clipping. The one song I think sounds like it has the best mix is “Absurd,’ which is the weakest actual song of the four. Funny that.

Edited December 8, 2023 by GnR Chris

[Mrbrownskin]

I like it better than a lot of CD songs and am enjoying listening to it. But I also like Evader's version better - better than the official General and lot of other CD songs. Evader's is much more interesting in my opinion. I'm also just not a big fan of CD. It's fine, but just a totally different kind of sound to older Guns, as are all of these outtakes. As long as we're at it, though, would love a compilation of all the releases and hopefully State of Grace and others. 

But as others have said - what's going on with these mixes???? My god, General is so much louder than Perhaps.

[DTV88]

IMO, The General is an ok song that feels like it was never finished lyrically. To be fair, the fact it was leaked along with a far superior song probably doesn’t help my view of it. I just don’t get how Axl couldn’t come up with a second verse rather than repeating himself. This seems to be a running theme of many the songs left off CD that we’ve now heard between the new singles and the Village Leaks.

 

The outro is pretty damn good though. It makes me hopeful that if they ever do work on a new album like Slash has suggested, there is still the potential for some magic. 

[F*ck Fear]

This is why I never put any stock in song titles. It's a title. Who gives a shit? The song could be crap.

I didn't build it up and it's just average to me. I would be terribly let down had I built it up.

[DeNfr]

15 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:

I’ve seen comments where people* said:

* fucking idiots

[axlslash]

I am laughing hysterically over here. We finally get an official release of THE legendary unreleased GNR song...... and it's worse than fucking Silkworms. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

I would say Monsters, which we thought was The General, was a big gun and lived up to the hype.

The issue was that Monsters isn’t The General and never was. But that being said I think The General is a great song and people are being mad for no reason.

[Sweersa]

As someone wise here once said:

"The real The General are the friends we made along the way."

Let's all gather around, everyone. Group hug!  

(There's still hope for more leaks of the Buckethead and/or Robin mixes of these songs)

[Rindmelon]

2 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

As someone wise here once said:

"The real The General are the friends we made along the way."

Let's all gather around, everyone. Group hug!  

(There's still hope for more leaks of the Buckethead and/or Robin mixes of these songs)

hello robin. plz send me early version of the general.

 

[NormisX]

Is there any way to contact the band about the clipping issue? The song is just un-listenable

[timoteo]

I’ve heard zero clipping on my version…

[Rindmelon]

I'm assuming that people in the states ect have the same problem my copy does?

Or is this just a UK thing?

[F*ck Fear]

9 minutes ago, axlslash said:

I am laughing hysterically over here. We finally get an official release of THE legendary unreleased GNR song...... and it's worse than fucking Silkworms. 

I think Absurd is the biggest piece of dogshit (next to My World) this band has ever released. I'd take The General over that, any day.

And The General is just ok.

[Stay.Of.Execution]

58 minutes ago, UncleJosh said:

How does a one off release of essentially a B-side tarnish their legacy? Does this song somehow erase all the prior songs and albums that are loved? Anyone can dislike it for whatever reason they choose, but to claim it does anything to their legacy or their historical greatness is just foolish hyperbole and rhetoric.  

Just don't listen and play what you do like. The release does nothing to hinder anyone from enjoying their previous work.

typical exaggeration by mygnr folks who are freaking out over nothing. happens every time.

[NormisX]

1 minute ago, timoteo said:

I’ve heard zero clipping on my version…

what version? I've listened the youtube and spotify version and sound is just horrible

[drlaban]

3 minutes ago, NormisX said:

Is there any way to contact the band about the clipping issue? The song is just un-listenable

Axl’s on Twitter/X.

[bmus1]

12 minutes ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

I would say Monsters, which we thought was The General, was a big gun and lived up to the hype.

The issue was that Monsters isn’t The General and never was. But that being said I think The General is a great song and people are being mad for no reason.

Yeah a lot of these comments are forgetting the hype was made a lot bigger because of the parts of Monsters that were attributed to The General. Monsters is definitely one of the stronger ones out of the 5, and could beat out Atlas as the next single's hypothetical A-side imo

[NormisX]

3 minutes ago, drlaban said:

Axl’s on Twitter/X.

It's just mind boggling how can band this magnitude release something this horribly mixed... the kick drum is clipping like crazy on choruses

[wasteofammo]

The general fn sucks 

[axljungle]

11 minutes ago, timoteo said:

I’ve heard zero clipping on my version…

I didn’t hear it too in YouTube.