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

[DSTK]

22 minutes ago, bangit said:

Vinyl has arrived. Underwhelming 🤣 oh well. The General is fucking weird, one minute I think it's shit. The next I'm enjoying it. Putting it in the average box for now. 

Of the 4 official releases I'd go

1. Perhaps

2. Hard Skool

3. The General

4. Absurd (utter utter shite)

Absurd is the best of the 4 live though

[BillConnor_1982]

7 hours ago, IzzysMissy said:

I’ll tell ya what - silly or not - I’ll be in a team meeting with 40+ people who I work with. We all love gnr, work in the music biz, and promote/book/see THOUSANDS of shows a year collectively. We also receive THOUSANDS of band submissions a year of artists trying yj break in.

you may say that’s a small sample, or too specific, or whatever, but that’s a room of 40+ people whose literal job is to promote music. Would you care for the feedback/opinions on this track? We did it for perhaps via Zoom call and I’d say it was like 40/60 of “it’s an ok song” vs “I’ll pass” but a 100% agreement that if this was the submitted work in order to get on a bill, we’d never book that artist. But gnr would get away with it. I mean it’s comical. And no one liked the other songs that were released. Also opinions, but to me that is subjective.

anyway, if you like it and others do as well that’s GREAT. If you want to spend money on it that’s your business. I just think it’s absolutely hysterical that this is the best that gnr could do.. a copy/paste job over a 20+yr project? Meh, good for you I guess. 
 

I’m sure 99% of those people would rather not listen to GnR 

[bangit]

Just now, DSTK said:

Absurd is the best of the 4 live though

Probably right although that is because Axl can sing 'Absurd' repeatedly without much difficulty. I still hate the song. Worse than Riad for me. I just don't get it at all. 

Hard Skool is decent but was crap live in Budapest this year, really underwhelming. Haven't seen perhaps live. 

TG could be better love than on the single although it depends on Axl being able to deliver which unfortunately is less likely these days. 

[BillConnor_1982]

24 minutes ago, fabrph5 said:

Monsters will be the B side of Atlas

In 2025

[axljungle]

1 hour ago, NormisX said:

Listened it on 3 speakers.... clipping like crazy. And I'm the one who didn't have any problem with Metallicas Death Magnetic clipping....

My mother was in hospital and I only could hear it in my phone. Later I buy it and hear it properly 

[Roseane]

25 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

This song is thrash. So are Perhaps and Absurd. 

I have no desire at all to hear Seven, Zodiac and the million other titles that I’ve heard. 
 

Write new stuff with Slash please. Go back to basics. Riffs are cool. 

Sad to say I have the same impression. All releases are average and below IMO

[star]

34 minutes ago, TheDemocracyRose said:

Axl need to end this era and release an album with leftovers so we can have a brand new album...

UYI 1 & 2 were made from leftovers plus a couple of cover songs to fill the track listing.

What came next? ..a punk covers album made while the band were touring. What followed was a live album, and Greatest Hits album, nothing new.

Based on what has been released since the released of C.D. it makes sense why those songs failed to make it onto the album, as they sound unfinished. Hard Skool, Absurd, Perhaps, The General all sound, lacking to me. Hard Skool is probably the most G'N'R sound track of the bunch. I have yet to hear Monsters. 

[SoNobodyToldYaBaby]

Chinese Democracy is my second favourite album of all time. These new songs have not resonated with me even a little bit apart from "it's cool to hear Axl sing a new song again" 

Talk about underwhelming though. First original material since 2008 and this is what they could muster.. Axl is creatively bankrupt. 

[Slugworth]

7 hours ago, axlweave said:

 Beltrami said Seven was the best out of the songs he worked on sad thing is we will probably never hear it

Those "Big Guns" were nothing but instrumentals when he said that. It's been turned into God knows what since he said that.

 

 

7 hours ago, Stay.Of.Execution said:

i think they used microsoft paint for the vinyl

 

 

 

7 hours ago, Dacroix said:

 

Seriously, the mystique of Guns N' Roses is over. There is nothing. There is no master plan, there is no masterpiece, there is no Axl's Vault, there is nothing. It's all a big farce that we ourselves helped maintain all these years by posting on a forum.

It sucked when I came to this same conclusion years ago.

 

I just want to hear a couple more songs. Oklahoma and Seven. After that...it's a wrap.

 

6 hours ago, ChineseDemocracy2004 said:

Friends, correct me if I'm wrong but was The General described as a "Big Gun?"

 

Yes.

 

Having said that, the fan base shoulders a lot of the blame for the hype. We rode a merry go round of imagined epics  for 20 years based on nothing but a few comments 15-20 years ago.

 

 

5 hours ago, IzzysMissy said:

lol be careful with your opinions here 🤣

Jan doesn't have to worry about similar treatment.

I've always gotten a kick out of this on forums. Someone gets jumped on for a negative opinion, admin or mod weighs in five minutes later with a similar yet shorter post...crickets.  Five minutes later, they're jumping on the next person for the same opinion.

 

2 hours ago, Rindmelon said:

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

Or is this just a UK thing?

 

 

2 hours ago, timoteo said:

I’ve heard zero clipping on my version…

Let me guess. Magic headphones?

[bangit]

Assuming Atlas is released next with Monsters as a B Side ... Atlas would be up with Perhaps and Monsters about as good as Hard Skool. 

The sooner these tracks come out and the Chinese Era is put to bed, the better. (I love Chinese Democracy btw but it is time to move on from these 20+ year old tracks) 

[Gnrcane]

7 minutes ago, bangit said:

Probably right although that is because Axl can sing 'Absurd' repeatedly without much difficulty. I still hate the song. Worse than Riad for me. I just don't get it at all. 

Hard Skool is decent but was crap live in Budapest this year, really underwhelming. Haven't seen perhaps live. 

TG could be better love than on the single although it depends on Axl being able to deliver which unfortunately is less likely these days. 

Absurd is fun live at a show.  The studio version I wouldn't care if I never heard again.

[Sweersa]

1 hour ago, ZoSoRose said:

I do have to say, the final version is clearer. You can hear the backing vocals better, I guess

It is too bad the orchestra is buried. There is a cool arrangement, there

It would be pretty cool if the 4 songs Marco worked on leaked, even in their instrumental form, we would get to hear the original guitars by the band at that time, and Marco's work. I bet they are cool enough, before Marco touched them as well.

[jacdaniel]

6 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

It would be pretty cool if the 4 songs Marco worked on leaked, even in their instrumental form, we would get to hear the original guitars by the band at that time, and Marco's work. I bet they are cool enough, before Marco touched them as well.

Do we really need different versions of shit songs? 

[ZoSoRose]

7 minutes ago, Sweersa said:

It would be pretty cool if the 4 songs Marco worked on leaked, even in their instrumental form, we would get to hear the original guitars by the band at that time, and Marco's work. I bet they are cool enough, before Marco touched them as well.

I am just curious, do you like Finck and Bucket? 

[kingcanyon]

18 minutes ago, bangit said:

Assuming Atlas is released next with Monsters as a B Side ... Atlas would be up with Perhaps and Monsters about as good as Hard Skool. 

The sooner these tracks come out and the Chinese Era is put to bed, the better. (I love Chinese Democracy btw but it is time to move on from these 20+ year old tracks) 

i feel like that's what they're doing 1 UYI sounding song (Perhaps & HS) 1 CD sounding song (Absurd & TG) i can see Atlas being the CD sounding song with monsters being that UYI type song. but we'll have to wait and see

Edited December 8, 2023 by kingcanyon

[Slugworth]

5 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

Do we really need different versions of shit songs? 

 

 

3 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

I am just curious, do you like Finck and Bucket? 

 

 

[Sweersa]

6 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

Do we really need different versions of shit songs? 

I bet those songs, as they existed then, were incredible. The ideal versions would be the earliest versions with completed Axl vocals. Same goes for a lot of the Chinese material.

5 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

I am just curious, do you like Finck and Bucket? 

How did you guess?  

[axljungle]

After reading q lot of comments in this post today I think that there are a lot of BDSM fans here.

[IzzysMissy]

3 hours ago, MaskingApathy said:

Cowritten by Myles and Michael Baskette (who also produced it) too. The production is miles ahead of The General and Perhaps.

@IzzysMissy Did you talk to your co-workers about the song? What do they think? Can I send you my song?

Well.. the OPINIONS after the song was played were mostly negative. The FOH Engineer asked immediately if this was what was released because it sounded “unfinished”, and those who are more in tune with audio happenings ripped the mix apart.

This led to an interesting conversation about how fans in general want to think the best of their fave artists and therefore are more comfortable to “accept” lesser quality output. There are quite a few old schoolers here, OG gnr fans who have gone through ALL the motions of being a fan of this band, and many of us have gone to NITL shows together over the past 7 years..

There was 100% agreement that if this was a new band submission our company would never book this band based on this song (and there was also general acknowledgment that Gnr is a bad example of that as Axls voice is so distinctive on any output) - 

My particular sample was tiny of course, 47 people aged 20 through 60 - but none of these people like it. About a dozen said “that last release was better” and one of the interns got excited at the mention of GNR at the start (“omg my mom used to love them” which warranted the smart ass response from the head of sponsorship of “but did she have to kill them” which to no one’s shock went COMPLETELY over her head🤣) 

THATS NOT TO SAY THAT THOSE WHO LIKE THE SONG SHOULDNT. IF YOU LIKE THIS SONG AND WHATEVER ELSE COMES OUT GOOD FOR YOU, PLEASE ENJOY!!!
 

[2020_Intensions]

24 minutes ago, SoNobodyToldYaBaby said:

Chinese Democracy is my second favourite album of all time. These new songs have not resonated with me even a little bit apart from "it's cool to hear Axl sing a new song again" 

Talk about underwhelming though. First original material since 2008 and this is what they could muster.. Axl is creatively bankrupt. 

Agreed. I find it ABSURD that people are seriously suggesting The General is better than Catcher, IRS, and others off ChiDem ....

[DingBat]

6 minutes ago, IzzysMissy said:

Well.. the OPINIONS after the song was played were mostly negative. The FOH Engineer asked immediately if this was what was released because it sounded “unfinished”, and those who are more in tune with audio happenings ripped the mix apart.

This led to an interesting conversation about how fans in general want to think the best of their fave artists and therefore are more comfortable to “accept” lesser quality output. There are quite a few old schoolers here, OG gnr fans who have gone through ALL the motions of being a fan of this band, and many of us have gone to NITL shows together over the past 7 years..

There was 100% agreement that if this was a new band submission our company would never book this band based on this song (and there was also general acknowledgment that Gnr is a bad example of that as Axls voice is so distinctive on any output) - 

My particular sample was tiny of course, 47 people aged 20 through 60 - but none of these people like it. About a dozen said “that last release was better” and one of the interns got excited at the mention of GNR at the start (“omg my mom used to love them” which warranted the smart ass response from the head of sponsorship of “but did she have to kill them” which to no one’s shock went COMPLETELY over her head🤣) 

THATS NOT TO SAY THAT THOSE WHO LIKE THE SONG SHOULDNT. IF YOU LIKE THIS SONG AND WHATEVER ELSE COMES OUT GOOD FOR YOU, PLEASE ENJOY!!!
 

Your job sounds fucking tedious. 

[IzzysMissy]

1 minute ago, DingBat said:

Your job sounds fucking tedious. 

It’s horrendous and not for the weak. It fits my personality of not wanting a desk job and doing the same thing day after day. However I haven’t had a free Thu/Fri/Sat in like 25+ years, Covid shut downs withstanding. When you add in past midnight phone calls and shitty pay, I definitely questioned my life choices about 10yrs in and stuck with it🤣

[Roseane]

3 hours ago, James Bond said:

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.

Agree. Very disappointing considered the hype around the song. Not only the simplicity of the lyrics but also Axl’s foggy vocals. Some even said it would be another estranged or November rain  so it set high expectations. Like you, think Perhaps takes a 6/10 and unfortunately General is terrible

[Seb91]

I agree that the Chinese era needs a line put under it. I think what we've seen from the locker leaks and official releases is that there wasn't some epic lost album waiting to go and that on the whole what made the cut for Chinese was the best stuff available. The song I think would have made sense to include in 2008 is Hard Skool as it's a classic GN'R style rocker that would have a good single. 

Absurd whilst fun due to Slash's guitar work (bro did the impossible and polished a turd there) was probably best left off and when it wasn't on the record in 2008 I assumed it was just because it wasn't that good. Hard Skool is a fun track and the best of the bunch so far I feel and Perhaps is a decent ballad. The least said about The General the better (I never thought I'd be saying that!). However, none are really up there with the best of Chinese in my view. 

Out of the songs we've heard Going Down, Oklahoma and Me & My Elvis are the strongest I feel. The first will never get put out there for obvious reasons and who knows if vocals were ever recorded for the others. If the latter two have vocals then I think they should just put them out and be done with it. The thing is even if Oklahoma and Elvis are in a position to be put out, I can see why they went with this drip feeding approach. An album of these leftovers would have been a massive flop as expectations would have been super high and they can put a couple of songs out whenever they're on tour and keep up the pretence that they're actually a creatively active band like the wording in the Perhaps press release implied. 

Edited December 8, 2023 by Seb91

[Its Tino]

Are the updated lyrics centrally located yet?? Can OP hook that up?