what is your ranking of all GNR songs after 94

[AxlRQ93]

your ranking of songs done by the nu Guns lineup with cd and also the semi new reunion stuff? What is your ranking from 1-10 of each song? 🤔

[AxlRoseCDII]

OMG: 6/10

Chinese Democracy: 7/10

Shacklers Revenge: 8/10

Better: 9/10

Street of Dreams: 9/10

If The World: 6/10

There Was a Time: 10/10

Catcher in the Rye: 8/10

Scraped: 4/10

Riad: 2/10

Sorry: 6/10

IRS: 7/10

Madagascar: 10/10

This I Love: 8/10

Prostitute: 9/10

Absurd: 6/10

Hard Skool: 8/10

Perhaps: 8/10

The General: 9/10

Monsters: 10/10

Bonus:

Going Down: 8/10

Atlas: 7/10

SOG: 7/10 (9 with no scratch vocals)

 

[Dummy]

Riad atleast a 7

[jacdaniel]

I’d give everything on CD 5 or less except CD, Better and Twat. They’d maybe make 7. 
 

Absurd: 2

Hardskool: 7 

Perhaps: 4 

General: 3

Monsters: 5

Hopefully they write some better stuff for the next album. 

[adamsapple]

Great: Better, TWAT, Catcher, This I Love, Prostitute

Good: OMG, The Blues/Street Of Dreams, If The World, Hard Skool

OK: CD, Shacklers, Riad, Sorry, IRS, Madagascar, Perhaps

Not for me: Scraped, Absurd, The General, Monsters

 

[adamsapple]

15 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Better - 8.5/10 - the korn-esque guitar break in the middle sinks it for me

Funny that part is what I like most about that song

[jackparker123]

OMG: 8/10

 

Chinese Democracy: 9/10

Shacklers Revenge: 7.5/10

Better: 10/10

Street of Dreams: 9/10

If The World: 8/10

There Was a Time: 10/10

Catcher in the Rye: 8.5/10

Scraped: 7.5/10

Riad: 7.5/10

Sorry: 9/10

IRS: 9/10

Madagascar: 9.5/10

This I Love: 8/10

Prostitute: 10/10

 

Absurd: 7.5/10

Hard Skool: 8/10

Perhaps: 8/10

The General: 8.5/10

Monsters: 9.5/10

[jamillos]

1. There Was a Time, Better, Monsters, Oh My God 

2. Hard School, Street of Dreams, Sorry, I. R. S., This I Love

3. Perhaps, Prostitute, Shackler’s Revenge, Madagascar, Chinese Democracy, Catcher in the Rye, Atlas Shrugged, State of Grace 

4. The General, Scraped, Riad n’ the Bedouins, If the World, Silk Worms 

Some songs would oscillate one level up or down, like Atlas (3 or 2), Prostitute (3 or 2), Catcher (3 or 4), SoG (3 or 4) etc. 
 

[username]

There's a huge difference between leaks and actual releases for me. Most of my favourites from the leaks (The Blues, Catcher, CD, Riad, Hardschool) got butchered the worst for their actual release. Turning what I considered 9/10 songs into 4/10 songs at best. 

Really fuckin awesome tier:
TWAT (2006 leak)
CITR (leak)
The Blues (leak)
CD (leak)
Hardschool (leak)

Awsome-tier:
OMG (bordering really fucking awesome tier)
Prostitute (bordering really fucking awesome tier)
ABSURD
Silkworms (leak)
Monsters (leak)
TWAT

Good-tier:
Riad (leak) 
Madagascar (leak)
CD (I hate the lack of bass, but I like other additions)
ITW
Perhaps
Perhaps (leak)
The General

Okay-tier:
Madagascar
IRS
Shacklers
Better

Bad-tier:
Riad
Sorry (would be okay-tier without the cringe "I don't vant to do eet" line)
Hard Skool 
SCOM '99 (Mostly because it was kinda redundant, otherwise it's okay)

Awful-tier: 
Scraped
TIL
CITR (release)
SOD (release)

Edited December 7, 2023 by username

[©GnrPersia]

Excellent: TWAT, Prostitute, OMG, Better, Madagascar

Good: SOD, CD, IRS, Sorry, Shackler's

Average: The General, Monsters, This I Love, If The World, CITR

Bad: Perhaps, Scraped

Horrible: Absurd, Riad, Hardskool

 

[Coma16]

5 hours ago, AxlRoseCDII said:

 

SOG: 7/10 (9 with no scratch vocals)

 

They may be scratch but they are also final vocals, intended this way (or more likely tooo lazy to update them)

[AxlRQ93]

5 hours ago, RONIN said:

Catcher in The Rye (Brian May version) - 9.8/10 - Near classic perfectly realized post Illusions material from Axl. A final mix and bringing out more of Brian May's sound in the mix would give it a 10.

Oh My God - 9.5/10 - Almost perfect rocker from a ferocious sounding Axl that is powerful enough to stand with the old stuff. Needs a better mix and less distortion in vocals for a 10.

Sorry - 9.5/10 - Perfectly realized - if only the lyrics were better and less juvenile. This type of song really suits Axl as he's gotten older. Buckethead is phenomenal here.

Prostitute - 9/10 - Again, he was so close to nailing this. Would have preferred more guitar in the song - more variation to the sound.

If the World - 9/10 - Another near hit, if only that 70's porn riff wasn't front and center through the entire song.

This I Love - 8.5/10 - Could have been a classic. Beautiful production and playing from Finck. Lyrics and Axl's vocals are a let down. Way too dramatic and theatrical - it's just too excessive. Should have gone for a tone similar to Don't Cry.

Better - 8.5/10 - The melody and vocals are a 10, the korn-esque guitar break in the middle sinks it for me as does the "I never wanted you to be so full of anger...". Sometimes the CD stuff just feels like two separate song ideas smashed together, to me this is one of those tracks. As it stands, another "could have been a classic" contender.

Shacklers - 8.5/10 - Great for what it is.

TWAT - 8/10 - Needs a better chorus and less production. Is the choir at the beginning and end really necessary? This type of pointless studio wankery from Rose really takes away from the post Appetite material unfortunately. The melody could have been stronger - needed the Appetite/Illusions team on this one.

Chinese Democracy - 7.5/10 - It's good-ish. Feels a bit generic coming from a rock legend like Rose - especially as a kickoff single for a new album. Needs Duff and Slash.

Catcher in the Rye (Bumblefoot) - 7.5/10 - Everything that was great about the original demo is stripped away here. It feels excessive and tasteless - both from Bumblefoot and Axl's creative decisions/production. The original felt far more elegant and classic - this one just becomes a generic rocker with a good melody and lyrics.

IRS - 7/10 - Ehh, it's good-ish I guess. We start treading water from here. The song just lacks balls - the vocals don't have enough power. Needs duff and slash badly.

Riad - 7/10 - Not bad actually - neat ideas here - feels more like an undercooked sketch with potential. Even if IRS and CD are technically better, I'd probably listen to this one over those two more often.

Scraped - 6/10 - Not bad - again, this one is more interesting than IRS and CD, but feels like whatever idea they had for it just didn't come together properly.

Street of Dreams - 6/10 - They ruined this one from the '02 live version. That would be a 7.5-8. As a song, it has its moments but I think it's a bit too sappy and corny at times - needs more balls, Axl needs Izzy, Duff, and Slash to give it some edge and some help with the melody.

Madagascar - 5.5/10 - Meh. The song feels a bit corny and repetitive with a completely gratuitous breakdown section complete with MLK quote. Not a fan of the repetitive guitar work either - it feels as one-dimensional as Prostitute's guitar sections. Axl's vocals are a "WTF" choice from him - not sure what the creative reasoning for that was.

 

Hard Skool - 5/10 - Generic b-side that is instantly forgettable and below the mark for a Guns N' Roses song. The Illusion b-sides like Shotgun Blues, Get in the Ring, etc destroy this. Should have stayed unreleased.

Perhaps - 5/10 - Generic and repetitive. Almost like they had one verse/chorus - a single germination of an idea - and just stretched it out into a song. This is just way below the mark for a band with their legacy. Should never have been released.

Absurd - 3/10 - How this song was released as a single is truly a mystery. Even My World has more creative inspiration.

 

A lot of the post-Slash stuff from Axl lacks strong melodies imho. He has some great ideas - but he needs a competent song writer like Izzy to string all these different ideas together cohesively and a showman like Slash to bring them to life. He had Buckethead who could have filled the Slash role but it looks like the entire nu-guns band/organization nerfed him. Imagine having a Michael Jordan on your team and you barely let him shoot. Instead of Axl writing with Bucket - it looks like they just took riffs and ideas from him to frankenstein into a song which is a shame....and it reflects on the material.

The rockers are weak - period. Aside from Oh My God, imho nothing else works. Not enough edge, grit - this type of stuff is not in Axl's wheelhouse. He needed the original lineup for that.

The stuff Axl had that were hits out of the gate like Catcher, Oh My God, Better, etc - he just didn't stick the landing out of either second guessing himself or giving in to his trademark of being over-indulgent and excessive with the production. A good producer and a stronger band with veto rights (like Izzy and Slash) who could have kept Rose from meddling would have delivered better versions of those tracks I feel. Catcher came the closest to realizing Rose's 90's vision but he ended up throwing out Brian May in favor of Bumblefoot, go figure.

For me, the creme de la creme of post- Slash material was Oh My God, Catcher in the Rye (May), Sorry, and Prostitute. Honorable mention for If The World which was a really cool track.

 

 

this is a 10/10 review and I completely agree

[Blackstar]

5 hours ago, RONIN said:

The rockers are weak - period. Aside from Oh My God, imho nothing else works. Not enough edge, grit - this type of stuff is not in Axl's wheelhouse. He needed the original lineup for that.

I agree with this. The rockers are the biggest weakness on CD, imo, taking into account that it was released under the GN'R name - not strong enough and there are some real duds (imo, again) - and I include Oh My God, too (not a big fan of it apart from Axl's vocals and lyrics). I think that Hard Skool is a pretty decent song though and with a better production (and without the school bell and rebranding/renaming that have put many people off) it could have easily fit in the Illusions, and Monsters is very good (although it falls more into the mid-tempo rocker area).

On the other hand, the best moments on CD are mid-tempo/piano driven songs that are more "Axl". Perhaps is up there for me and potentially a really great song with a different second verse and a more memorable solo.

Edited December 7, 2023 by Blackstar

[ZoSoRose]

I like @username's format

Really fuckin awesome tier:
Better
There Was a Time
Madagascar 
Prostitute
Monsters

Awsome-tier:
Chinese Democracy
Shackler's Revenge
Street of Dreams
Catcher in the Rye
This I Love
Hard Skool

Good-tier:
Oh My God
If the World
Sorry
I.R.S.
Perhaps
The General

Okay-tier:
Riad N' The Bedouins
Scraped

Awful-tier: 
Absurd

 

Chinese Democracy is an album- album for me. So even songs I put in "good" or "okay" are really enjoyed when I listen to it as a whole. I think Scraped is definitely the weakest track. Riad is actually pretty cool. 

Edited December 7, 2023 by ZoSoRose

[themadcaplaughs]

27 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I agree with this. The rockers are the biggest weakness on CD, imo, taking into account that it was released under the GN'R name - not strong enough and there are some real duds (imo, again) - and I include Oh My God, too (not a big fan of it apart from Axl's vocals and lyrics). I think that Hard Skool is a pretty decent song though and with a better production (and without the school bell and rebranding/renaming that have put many people off) it could have easily fit in the Illusions, and Monsters is very good (although it falls more into the mid-tempo rocker area).

On the other hand, the best moments on CD are mid-tempo/piano driven songs that are more "Axl". Perhaps is up there for me and potentially a really great song with a different second verse and a more memorable solo.

I see so many complaints about the bell at the beginning of "Hard Skool". I understand it is kind of a groaner, but does it really ruin the song that much for people? I am not trying to be sarcastic or condescending; it's a serious question. I guess it makes me roll my eyes a bit, but constitutes such a small part of the song it does not bother me too much. There are weird little insertions on the Use Your Illusion albums that bother me more. 

[Blackstar]

Just now, themadcaplaughs said:

I see so many complaints about the bell at the beginning of "Hard Skool". I understand it is kind of a groaner, but does it really ruin the song that much for people? I am not trying to be sarcastic or condescending; it's a serious question. I guess it makes me roll my eyes a bit, but constitutes such a small part of the song it does not bother me too much. There are weird little insertions on the Use Your Illusion albums that bother me more. 

I asked the same question re: the school bell a while ago. I don't like it, but not to the point to it ruining the song for me. But it apparently does ruin it for a lot of people.

[ZoSoRose]

I like the bell in HS. Some stupidity like that reminds me of UYI and it is kind of nice. CD didn't have anything like that

[username]

2 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I asked the same question re: the school bell a while ago. I don't like it, but not to the point to it ruining the song for me. But it apparently does ruin it for a lot of people.

 

5 minutes ago, themadcaplaughs said:

I see so many complaints about the bell at the beginning of "Hard Skool". I understand it is kind of a groaner, but does it really ruin the song that much for people? 

It bothers me a lot for a few. It's only there because the song has "school" (or, "skool", if you're an idiot) in it and seems to have no other relation to the song or the lyrics. It's cheesy, unneccessary and what bothers me the most - feels like they're not even taking the song seriously. That part especially bugs me.

What bothers me at least as much though, is that the absolutely whirlwind of an ending (bridge onward) he been replaced with just okay guitar stuff. It took away a lot of the energy. 

[ZoSoRose]

6 minutes ago, username said:

 

 (or, "skool", if you're an idiot)

[username]

10 minutes ago, ZoSoRose said:

tbh that spelling is incredibly off-putting for me as well and only adds to the "they're not even taking this shit seriously" vibe I described earlier. 

[AxlRoseCDII]

2 hours ago, Blackstar said:

I asked the same question re: the school bell a while ago. I don't like it, but not to the point to it ruining the song for me. But it apparently does ruin it for a lot of people.

It’s incredibly stupid but I’m surprised how much it ruins it for people. It’s short and I just move on and enjoy the song.

[Zeppelin]

Amazing:

TWAT

Prostitute

Madagascar

Better

Great:

Street of Dreams

CD

OMG

Shackler's Revenge

Good:

Catcher in the Rye

I.R.S.

Mediocre:

The General

Scraped

Riad

If The World

Sorry

This I Love

Perhaps

Awful:

HS (I refuse to spell it out with the intentional dumbass spelling)

Absurd (see above)

[Rovim]

I don't like to grade this shit with numbers but here goes.... Catcher, the demo version is imo the best original tune Axl has released since UYI. 

Oh My God is messy, but it's my favorite from the harder tunes from new Gn'R.

Better is the most successful experiment of bridging the gap between old school classic Axl vocals with the higher clean notes especially in the verses, a bluesy solo from Robin, and probably the best riff on the entire album from Bucket in the bridge. It's pretty cool how for that song to exist you needed Robin, Axl, Bucket, and Richard, It works so well as a song imo. 

Madagascar, Prostitute, SOD all very powerful emotionally, all could have worked great with Slash.

Shackler's, Scraped, If The World, and Sorry seems like the most removed from what old Gn'R would come up with, though Riad's riff and Axl's vocals do remind me of an AFD kinda style, but with different production.

I.R.S feels like a more modern Out Ta Get me in lyrical theme, has a Gn'R feel to it. Some of Axl's vocals in the verses are brilliant, the way the vocal melody land on those huge sounding power chords is very satisfying and Bucket's solo is perfect and even if it's a fast solo, it's actually bluesy to my ears.

Chinese title track is a nice slice of a jaded Josh/Axl hard rock and it works well as an opener.

This I Love is kinda whiny, but the orchestration and especially Robin's brilliant solo redeems it for me.

TWAT gains momentum as soon as Robin's solo kicks in. The closest thing to a kind of variation on Estranged, but still not nearly as good imo. I think Catcher and TWAT are the centerpieces of the album.

what came after Chinese (Absurd, HS, Perhaps, The General) all cool tunes, but I prefer most of the tunes from the album except The General and Monsters.

none of it is as good as my favorites from UYI except Catcher imo, but judged on its own merit, I feel like Chinese is a fine addition to the catalog. 

it's obvious that Slash was a must if the goal was to create the best Guns album, but also that new musical territories were explored thanks to talented people that came up with fresh ideas that Slash couldn't have thought of.

 

[ShadowOfTheWave]

Tried to include just one version of each track unless they are really different:

 

1.Better (album)

2.Madagascar (demo)

3.Catcher In The Rye (album)

4.If The World (album)

5.This I Love (album)

6.Monsters

7.Shackler's Revenge

8.Oh My God (End Of Days)

9.The Blues (demo or live)

10.The General

11.Hard School (either version)

12.Chinese Democracy (album)

13.Prostitute (demo)

14.There Was A Time (album)

15.Scraped

16.State Of Grace

17.Sorry

18.Silkworms (RIR)

19.Riad (demo)

20.Perhaps (demo)

21.IRS (demo)

22.Atlas Shrugged

23.Absurd (Slash version)

[DSTK]

Doesn't Sympathy for the devil count as it was a 94 release?