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

[Blackstar]

48 minutes ago, star said:

and whats with the side G and side R concept? 

It's a GN'R tradition (I guess you're not familiar with the AFD LP)

Edited December 13, 2023 by Blackstar

[Spoon87]

22 minutes ago, downzy said:

It's bad. 

How something like this happens is beyond me.

There appears to be little to no competence when it comes to this band anymore.

From legal, to marketing, to PR, to mixing, to A&R - there are few aspects about this organization that can be applauded.

Certainly nobody is perfect; everyone makes mistakes.  But the level of incompetence and indifference is indefensible.   

There's no discipline, process, or forethought.  

It's as though the amount of money coming in has completely blinded everyone involved; to the point that there are no hands on the wheel and the ship has charted its own course. 

And it's all so sad considering there are still some great elements of this band.  Having Duff and Slash on stage with Axl is a great thing.  Having the current lineup release new music is something to be celebrated (even if most of the songs aren't in the same league as some of GNR's best material). 

The band may still put on a fun show for those attending and we finally have a relatively steady stream of new music.  But for all the wins there are so many losses that are almost entirely avoidable.  It's a shame Guns can't operate like almost any other band in this respect.    

Spot on.

 

And now compare all the shit that happened with release of The General to how Duff handled his latest solo album. Carefully chosen packaging and design, presenting each song on social media, various vinyl and CD options with shirt bundles and such, playing the songs live in a small cool setting, music videos...

Edited December 13, 2023 by Spoon87

[WhazUp]

On 12/11/2023 at 7:17 PM, eggers said:

I had a good listen on my B&O headphones and I don't hear anything you people are on about.

The clipping is fairly obvious to my ears, it sounds like your headphones/speakers are blown out in certain moments of loudness or thumps (in this case the drums especially in the chorus of The General).  That crackling sound that cheap speakers get when you use them too much, except it is embedded within the actual audio file due to the cutting off of sonic information when you bump everything into the red to maximize loudness

[Rindmelon]

 

2 hours ago, Coma16 said:

I still haven't received a shipping notification for mine yet...

Still? For the 7'' or CD? If 7'' I would contact them, it's been out 5 days you should have a dispatch email by now at least. If you mean CD I don't think that ships until the 20th

[downzy]

15 minutes ago, Spoon87 said:

Spot on.

 

And now compare all the shit that happened with release of The General to how Duff handled his latest solo album. Carefully chosen packaging and design, presenting each song on social media, various vinyl and CD options with shirt bundles and such, playing the songs live in a small cool setting, music videos...

Right...

I was going to say we can't blame Duff for what's happening with GNR.  But at what point do guys like Duff and Slash decide that between the lawsuits over sexual assault (not so much the legal action against Axl, but the lawsuit filed by Kat for harassment during their tenure), the botched release schedules, the shoddy attention to basic details, and the disaster that is mixing and mastering a GNR song these days that they decide enough is enough and they move on. 

There's no way either need the money anymore.  The band has likely generated closed to, if not surpassed, a billion dollars since 2016 and now.  Duff certainly didn't need the money before the reunion, he's got to be completely flush now.  And Slash's kids are now adults, which hopefully for him means his alimony and child support payments to Perla have dropped precipitously. 

There's got to be a line for these guys where it makes less sense to stick around.  Maybe they're actually working on a new album.  Then I get it (to a certain degree).  But if no album is in the works, why continue to be associated with an organization that repeatedly trips over itself almost every opportunity it gets.  

[GNRRHCP98]

1 hour ago, Coma16 said:

That's more than I received...

Sadly very common with anything UMG-related… my tracking only updated Monday… seems they printed the label on “ship date” (12/8) but didn’t actually mail out the vinyl till a few days later 

[Rindmelon]

1 hour ago, star said:

Did anyone in the band give a thumbs up to the sleeve to Perhaps as it looks like someone's first attempt at adding text 'PERHAPS' to a photo using Photoshop and knowing nothing about how to change the font style or use the antialiased option. Were Geffen Records even involved? ..and whats with the side G and side R concept? 

Its not just the text the whole artwork looks like some sort of minecraft thing

[El Guapo]

46 minutes ago, downzy said:

Right...

I was going to say we can't blame Duff for what's happening with GNR.  But at what point do guys like Duff and Slash decide that between the lawsuits over sexual assault (not so much the legal action against Axl, but the lawsuit filed by Kat for harassment during their tenure), the botched release schedules, the shoddy attention to basic details, and the disaster that is mixing and mastering a GNR song these days that they decide enough is enough and they move on. 

There's no way either need the money anymore.  The band has likely generated closed to, if not surpassed, a billion dollars since 2016 and now.  Duff certainly didn't need the money before the reunion, he's got to be completely flush now.  And Slash's kids are now adults, which hopefully for him means his alimony and child support payments to Perla have dropped precipitously. 

There's got to be a line for these guys where it makes less sense to stick around.  Maybe they're actually working on a new album.  Then I get it (to a certain degree).  But if no album is in the works, why continue to be associated with an organization that repeatedly trips over itself almost every opportunity it gets.  

I'd say that point should have been reached right now, at the very latest. With the release of The General, the Perhaps "artwork" and the Kat/ Fernando case, how low can you go? 

Nobody's in it for the music anyway anymore so it can only be Appetite for even more money.

[Rindmelon]

53 minutes ago, downzy said:

Right...

I was going to say we can't blame Duff for what's happening with GNR.  But at what point do guys like Duff and Slash decide that between the lawsuits over sexual assault (not so much the legal action against Axl, but the lawsuit filed by Kat for harassment during their tenure), the botched release schedules, the shoddy attention to basic details, and the disaster that is mixing and mastering a GNR song these days that they decide enough is enough and they move on. 

There's no way either need the money anymore.  The band has likely generated closed to, if not surpassed, a billion dollars since 2016 and now.  Duff certainly didn't need the money before the reunion, he's got to be completely flush now.  And Slash's kids are now adults, which hopefully for him means his alimony and child support payments to Perla have dropped precipitously. 

There's got to be a line for these guys where it makes less sense to stick around.  Maybe they're actually working on a new album.  Then I get it (to a certain degree).  But if no album is in the works, why continue to be associated with an organization that repeatedly trips over itself almost every opportunity it gets.  

Sadly this is kind of the thought process that leads me to believe we will never hear an album of new material with them. I believe they will try, get frustrated and move on just as they did in the mid 90's.

They may well feel they have 'made things right' and closed a chapter by making good and sharing a stage again & that's great. But in a climate where you don't make much money from releasing music anyway and they have to be at a point where they are financially good, i find myself wondering how long they will bother enduring the stress/BS of trying to get everyone in a room to create something. & that even if they do they must have little reason to believe a release would be anything other than a mismanaged cluster fuck.

I understand the people who have pointed out that these are A&R issues, label issues & not management issues. But that ignores the fact that Management are the one's who are supposed to help elevate or at least maintain Band and Brand reputation, so that they are seen as a big deal and the ball is not dropped. Sadly people often don't help themselves by expressing there frustrations in ways that can be perceived as xenophobic either, but i do think management have to ask themselves a basic question...

Have they maintained or improved the public standing of this band?  Given the huge boost of having Slash and Duff back & what that means to so many fans I would have to say no. Imagine what Doc or Merck or any of them could have done with that scenario & compare it to the reality of where things are now.

I'm not trying to be hyperbolic, but if this band has a future that contains anything other than relentless touring then difficult choices need to be made.

That turned into a bit of a rant didn't it lol

[evilfacelessturtle]

[DeNfr]

57 minutes ago, Rindmelon said:

Its not just the text the whole artwork looks like some sort of minecraft thing

looks like an idiot in charge sent the bad file to the printer, possibly a small sized version of the artwork and not the HD file, and the printer was idiotic enough to print it without asking anything, otherwise you'd just have the pixellised font (vector) and not the artwork too (bitmap)

[Coma16]

1 hour ago, Rindmelon said:

 

Still? For the 7'' or CD? If 7'' I would contact them, it's been out 5 days you should have a dispatch email by now at least. If you mean CD I don't think that ships until the 20th

7 inch, from UMG Canada 🇨🇦 

[Rindmelon]

8 minutes ago, Coma16 said:

7 inch, from UMG Canada 🇨🇦 

I'd wait 2 days and chase it up if you don't hear anything. If you get it and it has hi res artwork then yours may be from a second batch or something. Pretty shitty they haven't updated you

[StrangerInThisTown]

5 hours ago, Nick85 said:

I just listened to Monsters again with headphones. Holy shit that track is awesome. I just hate that an official release is probably miles away with the way this operation runs.

But we already have the song. Tell me what does it matter? What is the psychology behind wanting Monsters to be "released officially" at this point now, instead of other songs? We already have the song to listen to, so what is the thought process here, we will get a slightly better quality of it when it's officially uploaded and that's it, so what are you really caring about here..? Other people listening to it, instead of you..? You have access to it anytime you want, as does pretty much anyone on this forum.

We HAVE the song, we've HEARD it, I'd rather they release something we do not have, like a finished State Of Grace, Berlin, Seven, whatever the hell we haven't heard. Absolute no brainer for me, so I don't understand where you're coming from.

Edited December 13, 2023 by StrangerInThisTown

[evilfacelessturtle]

9 hours ago, Lelex95 said:

Sorry, English isn’t my first language. I meant musical form. 
Musical form is about structure of the composition, you might think of a ballad but more classical examples are minuet or concert. 
Genre tells you more about the period and cultural aspect of a certain group of composition. 

A ballad is not a song structure. A song structure is something like "A-A-B-A-B-C-A-D". A ballad and a rocker can have the exact same musical form.

Merriam Webster's Dictionary:

"Genre: a category of artistic, musical, or literary composition characterized by a particular style, form, or content"

"Ballad: a slow, sentimental or romantic song."

That's a description of style and content.

Since when does genre denote the period of a composition? I'd love to see proof of that.

Quote

Genre can give information such as instrumentation, rock is generally made by drums guitars and bass with vocal, but that isn’t fixed, while musical form sometimes is for example a string quartet is always 4 strings players performing a piece. 

Gee, that sounds a lot like what the ballad category tells you; instrumentation.

So if a ballad has a fixed instrumentation, what is it? Because Estranged doesn't have a flute like November Rain. I guess that means by your logic only one can be a ballad. Do you see how your argument falls apart if you just think for a second?

Quote

this is very easy information to find, just look for music genre on wiki, the first thing it says is “genre isn’t to be confused with musical form”. 
I might ha used the wrong term, but if you had any idea of what you were talking about you would have easily understood my point. 
The fact that you don’t know things doesn’t mean people make them up. 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_genre

Form is something completely different, as I explained above. I'm supposed to read your mind despite you using made up terms? That is not how language works, you don't just get to use the wrong words and expect other people to know what you're talking about.

I can't say "A ballad is a type of consternation" and then say "if you knew music theory, you would know what I meant". That's bullshit and you know it.

Quote

 just out of curiosity, what band belongs to the ballad genre? 😂

I didn't say it was a genre, but...

[ZoSoRose]

Finally got the record! Perhaps sounds excellent on vinyl! Really happy with that. 

[DeNfr]

made this for myself, feel free to use it for personal use if you dig it.

[Ollster42]

Just now, DeNfr said:

made this for myself, feel free to use it for personal use if you dig it.

that's so rad

[allwaystired]

8 minutes ago, DeNfr said:

made this for myself, feel free to use it for personal use if you dig it.

Love that. Infinitely better than the third rate covers they've been putting out. 

Give us some details on it - what your inspiration was, how you did it? 

[Coma16]

1 hour ago, Rindmelon said:

I'd wait 2 days and chase it up if you don't hear anything. If you get it and it has hi res artwork then yours may be from a second batch or something. Pretty shitty they haven't updated you

Not counting on any updates, they didn't even email after the first date was cancelled... I just emailed asking wtf

[gnfnrs1972]

Is the general on YouTube with the long orchestra intro fan made or some other leak?

 

[Sweersa]

5 minutes ago, gnfnrs1972 said:

Is the general on YouTube with the long orchestra intro fan made or some other leak?

 

Fan made. @evader produced something better than Guns did. 

[GNRRHCP98]

1 hour ago, DeNfr said:

made this for myself, feel free to use it for personal use if you dig it.

This is amazing!

[SoNobodyToldYaBaby]

It's a weird feeling. I craved new music from Axl for 15 years. 

I would sit and dream about how he's sitting on these amazing mythical behemoth such as The General and being perplexed why he isn't releasing them.

Now here we are finally getting new guns n roses music but im just totally, utterly, completely disinterested in the songs. They are nothing songs.

It's honestly HILARIOUS how little these songs do for such an Axl Dick rider like myself hahaha

 

[Gordon Comstock]

26 minutes ago, SoNobodyToldYaBaby said:

It's a weird feeling. I craved new music from Axl for 15 years. 

I would sit and dream about how he's sitting on these amazing mythical behemoth such as The General and being perplexed why he isn't releasing them.

Now here we are finally getting new guns n roses music but im just totally, utterly, completely disinterested in the songs. They are nothing songs.

It's honestly HILARIOUS how little these songs do for such an Axl Dick rider like myself hahaha

 

 

 

 

They've all been simple, repetitive, b-side level songs. But the weirdest part is that we know he's still got some good songs just sitting on his hard drive. Monsters is by far the best we've heard from the reunion singles, I'd put it in the same tier as songs like Better and Sorry. State Of Grace is way better than the rockers they've chosen to release. What they release, and when/how they choose to release it, is simply bizarre. It's almost self-sabotage.

I'm glad we finally got to hear both The General and Soul Monster though. Honestly that's killed most of my interest in future music, everything from this point forward is just a nice bonus. If we get Seven or Oklahoma or whatever, that'll be cool. But TG and Monsters were by far the most 'mythical' CD2 songs and I wouldn't be disappointed if they finally closed the CD chapter.