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

[alfa75]

Any way to get a vinyl quality release digitally?

The worst, and probable case scenario is that, despite any quality issues with the digital version, it won’t be fixed.

Edited December 9, 2023 by alfa75

[Spoon87]

Despite the shitty ass production and the stylistic choices I really can't ignore (distorted vocals), I find various melodies of the song stuck in my head. There's a good song buried beneath all the mess. 

[Rovim]

25 minutes ago, IzzySixx said:

Let’s be honest, it’s pretty dreadful.

no, I honestly like it and think it's a good song and other fans seems to feel the same way too. Many others seems to share your opinion but that doesn't mean that the fans who do like it are lying, or lying to themselves lol

it's a pretty arrogant thing to say actually "let's be honest, what I personally think about it is the only real truth".

[oneway23]

Mofos on the Hoffman music forum can be a pretty rough audience, but, they have me genuinely laughing right now, saying things like:

- The song from call 1-800-TheGeneral insurance commercial with Shaq is catchier

- The jingle from the 877-Kars-For-Kids song is better

- Someone called it "The Generic"

- Isn't this a 20 year old reject?  Sounds like it.

- THIS is the song die-hards have been hyping for twenty years?!?

- After 30 years, My World is finally no longer their worst song

Of course, I'm sure posts on the official social media channels are a lot more forgiving, but, there are one or two in the thread who seem to enjoy it. LOL

Edited December 9, 2023 by oneway23

[jamillos]

1 hour ago, Rovim said:

I mean, maybe the hype was not a part of it, it's just Axl slowly releasing tunes he still wants to release when it feels like the right time for him to do so.

Yes, and maybe it was a bit. They're surely not unaware of the status the song (or a song of this title) used to have. We're speculating here, but that's the whole point. 

[Rovim]

2 minutes ago, jamillos said:

Yes, and maybe it was a bit. They're surely not unaware of the status the song (or a song of this title) used to have. We're speculating here, but that's the whole point. 

I just go back to Absurd and how there was zero hype for Silkworms basically, and Axl chose to release that as the first single from the NITL lineup and it seems he had intentions of releasing it even in 2013. I'm speculating that maybe the motivation to release Absurd is the same motivation to release those other singles, mainly at least.

[Majestic Beast]

Production is just awful,vocals are all crappy,the only i liked is the refrain and the soloing of the lead guitar at the backround.Nothing memorial so far,all new songs are just mediocre if we want to tell the truth.

[jacdaniel]

One day we’ll look back and laugh. Remember we waited 20 years thinking The General was the holy grail when it was actually a weird little B side nowhere near good enough for an album. 

[Blackstar]

1 hour ago, jamillos said:

Maybe they released it partially because of the hype, yet didn't realize the hype was partially caused by folks having heard stuff they thought was The General but in reality was Monsters all along. 

They knew, or at least Fernando knew judging from his "The General is a monster" joke. That's why I think the registration as "The General and Monsters" was not accidental.

[oneway23]

19 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

They knew, or at least Fernando knew judging from his "The General is a monster" joke. That's why I think the registration as "The General and Monsters" was not accidental.

I'm still with you here.  I know there will be some who come on and say things like "Bro, come on.. November Rain was on a single in 1992...blah blah" and, yeah, sure, that's true, it was, but, I also feel like there wasn't the same scrutiny on things as there is now. 

I genuinely believe that the single was delayed because it was supposed to contain both tracks at one point, but, you can't cheat science; Roughly 7 minutes, tops, on a 45 rpm 7" before sonic degradation kicks in, and, I think they heard the result and balked.

Why else would we magically happen to have them leak together?  They were both meant to come out at the same time.

Edited December 9, 2023 by oneway23

[jamillos]

1 hour ago, Rovim said:

I just go back to Absurd and how there was zero hype for Silkworms basically, and Axl chose to release that as the first single from the NITL lineup and it seems he had intentions of releasing it even in 2013. I'm speculating that maybe the motivation to release Absurd is the same motivation to release those other singles, mainly at least.

Sure, sure, but that still doesn't mean the hype couldn't have played some role there. In the decision-making. Again, they knew. You literally can't prove or disprove it in any way. 

Edited December 9, 2023 by jamillos

[Rovim]

4 minutes ago, jamillos said:

Sure, sure, but that still doesn't mean the hype couldn't have played sole role there. In the decision-making. Again, they knew. You literally can't prove or disprove it in any way. 

yes, and in the past shit that was said in Gn'R forums has influenced Axl when it came to even artistic choices as I see it, so it's possible. I guess I wonder what is the ratio between Axl just releasing tunes cause he's still attached to the material and how much he cares about what fans want or like and if since the release of Chinese Democracy in 2008, he factors fans opinions more, less, or not at all.

I think that in the end, maybe he mostly stays the course of taking into consideration what it is he wants to do now and how he wants to go about it.

the return of Slash and Duff to Gn'R could have changed what Axl feels is appropriate to release and how, not just his level of motivation.

[DeNfr]

[Litti]

3 minutes ago, DeNfr said:

Best Woman in America

[Stay.Of.Execution]

2 minutes ago, Litti said:

Best Woman in America

Disqualification. Go home. 

[NormisX]

10 minutes ago, DeNfr said:

I just hope they'll fix it, but knowing this band...

[SoulMonster]

1 hour ago, Majestic Beast said:

Production is just awful,vocals are all crappy,the only i liked is the refrain and the soloing of the lead guitar at the backround.Nothing memorial so far,all new songs are just mediocre if we want to tell the truth.

Well, if by "we" you mean you and I, then no, the truth is not that we think the new songs are all mediocre. 

What is it with this incessant need from people who don't like the song to make it sound like their subjective opinion is a shared, universal truth? You don't have to include others in your opinion, you are allowed to just state what you think without any worries. 

[EvH]

Amateur mixing, horrendous mastering.

[SoulMonster]

52 minutes ago, jacdaniel said:

One day we’ll look back and laugh. Remember we waited 20 years thinking The General was the holy grail when it was actually a weird little B side nowhere near good enough for an album. 

I think The General is absolutely good enough for an album and could have replaced many songs off UYIs or CD and made a better album. So no, "we" won't look back at this and laugh because I didn't have unrealistic expectations nor do I share your opinion on the song. I will, though, probably look back at this thread and all the hysterics and laugh. 

[Sweersa]

It’s almost on TouchTunes! I see the artwork there under Guns so it’s coming. Hopefully won’t notice the clipping in the bar setting. 

[Cosmo]

47 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I think The General is absolutely good enough for an album and could have replaced many songs off UYIs or CD and made a better album. So no, "we" won't look back at this and laugh because I didn't have unrealistic expectations nor do I share your opinion on the song. I will, though, probably look back at this thread and all the hysterics and laugh. 

It’s funny how this track has leaked for months now and, pretty much up until its release, people were excited, the overall feeling was “Its an okay song, but hell yeah we’re finally getting The General!” And then suddenly, it became an embarassing shitshow of a song that is worse than My World. The herd effect here is way too strong. All it takes is a few better known posters saying it’s shit for the dominoes to start falling and the whole boards suddenly think so too. 

I don’t think The General is anything to write home about, but it’s not that bad. I do have some issues with the sound, especialy the digital drums and the sitar effect in the rhythm guitar, but other than that, it’s just a solid track, IMO. Better than Riad and Scraped, for sure, better than a few cuts off UYI and better than Anything Goes, IMO.

[Blackstar]

5 minutes ago, Cosmo said:

It’s funny how this track has leaked for months now and, pretty much up until its release, people were excited, the overall feeling was “Its an okay song, but hell yeah we’re finally getting The General!” And then suddenly, it became an embarassing shitshow of a song that is worse than My World. The herd effect here is way too strong. All it takes is a few better known posters saying it’s shit for the dominoes to start falling and the whole boards suddenly think so too.

And it's not even months since it leaked (it's only 6 weeks). I'm sure that by the time Monsters is released it will be slammed as being "shit", too.

[jacdaniel]

The new songs are all pretty shit. I’m starting to see why CD 2 never happened. I can’t imagine it had much support from the label etc. 

The songs are just not there. 

[Lelex95]

1 minute ago, jacdaniel said:

The new songs are all pretty shit. I’m starting to see why CD 2 never happened. I can’t imagine it had much support from the label etc. 

The songs are just not there. 

Honestly this songs don’t lack potential, they’re this bad right now cause it’s old demos reworked, but if they finished them at the time they could have recorded new vocal parts or other sections and made a great album out the ideas. 
I don’t think the quality of the songs is the reason why they never released anything. 

[sl4yer]

13 minutes ago, Cosmo said:

Better than Riad and Scraped, for sure, better than a few cuts off UYI and better than Anything Goes, IMO.

 

Anything Goes is kind of a filler and it contains some cringe worthy lyrics but it’s fun and has good energy.

Idk how can you even compare it to The General. TG is a entirely different type of song. They are not made by the same band and they don’t even belong in the same genre.

However, The General is barely listenable. The composition itself leaves a lot to be desired as it’s very repetitive and goes nowhere but the execution and production is just atrocious. I’ll take everything off CD and AFD over this garbage. I’m not a big fan of Scraped or Riad but at least they sound like finished songs.

Even live version sounded better and we all know Axl’s voice is completely shot. I think it says a lot.