Has The General done damage to gnrs rep?

[Live Like a Suicide]

Nobody cares, so no.

[axlvai]

The reputation never will be erased to any song that was made in the last era of a band. Never.

This band is 95% casual fans. They dont care.

[BillConnor_1982]

No one cares

[jkrfhz]

On 12/16/2023 at 12:11 AM, downzy said:

They'll be fine so long as people can sing "Whoa, oh, oh, Sweet child o' mine."

As others have pointed out, this band has found numerous ways to trip over itself. 

But it can always bank on its hits to get it through.  

The only thing 80-90 percent of casual Guns fans want at this point is a trip down nostalgia lane. 

Save for any revelations of Axl or Slash being the Harvey Weinstein of rock n' roll, nothing is going to derail their general popularity.  

Moreover, why should anyone care at this point.  Personally, I've gotten everything I've wanted out this band, save for a new album written by Axl, Slash, Duff and ideally Izzy (which is almost certainly never going to happen).

Everyone here would be better off not worrying about the reputation of a band that hasn't done a lot to help itself.  

There are far more important things that warrant your attention and concern. 

Spend your time enjoying the good things about the band and music; spend less over things that don't really matter.

⬆️ Exactly this. Very well articulated fella  👏👏👏

[F*ck Fear]

The General has not.

Axl Rose has.

[WhazUp]

I think the only impact it has had is to make hardcore nuGNR fans rethink what the phrase "big guns" means in terms of unheard songs and setting expectations too high lol

[Seb91]

I don't think it's hurt their reputation at all. This isn't a song that's had a lot of marketing around it, it's a B-side that's been released to little fanfare and I imagine most folks will just see it as a curio, like a lot of B-sides are. Perhaps was the main single, IMO it's a better song and it got a fun video and was marketed well (bar the initial jukebox drama!). 

I think the main thing is that most people haven't hyped up this song for over a decade and been waiting for it that long. I imagine it's the same for the other singles. I kind of get how some people who were underwhelmed my Chinese felt now. I got into GN'R massively when I was fifteen, CD dropped when I was seventeen so I didn't have a long wait at all. I did however have a long wait for The General, hyped it up and was over-optimistic about how it would sound. I think context is key here really. 

Ultimately, all the singles just serve the purpose of being promo for a tour and that wasn't the main aim of The General. I imagine so long as they stick to the more mainstream and fleshed out leftovers then there won't be any damage done and besides, so long as they still play the hits, people will still go regardless. 

Edited December 17, 2023 by Seb91

[Rovim]

6 hours ago, WhazUp said:

I think the only impact it has had is to make hardcore nuGNR fans rethink what the phrase "big guns" means in terms of unheard songs and setting expectations too high lol

it's never a good idea to set expectations too high, but I don't think anyone in Gn'R or close to members in Gn'R ever called The General a big gun. That was just us assuming it was. Maybe Bach hyping it up made some think that it was a big gun, but Bach has his own taste in music, of course.

it's not like the first time this has happened. It was a similar reaction from some fans when Prostitute was first available for us to listen to.

[JAxlMorrison]

13 hours ago, F*ck Fear said:

The General has not.

Axl Rose has.

Explain the multiple successful tours then. The YouTube views, the merch sales, the never ending interest in general…nothing is ruined. Nothing is wrong. The whispers about “where’s a new album” have gotten a little Bit louder lately. That’s it. And per slash, it’ll be in the works. So, everyone can chill (but they won’t. Everything is a damn catastrophe, apparently.)

1 hour ago, Rovim said:

it's never a good idea to set expectations too high, but I don't think anyone in Gn'R or close to members in Gn'R ever called The General a big gun. That was just us assuming it was. Maybe Bach hyping it up made some think that it was a big gun, but Bach has his own taste in music, of course.

it's not like the first time this has happened. It was a similar reaction from some fans when Prostitute was first available for us to listen to.

Who in their right minds didn’t enjoy prostitute?! Phenomenal lyrics, ripping guitars, and that outro is fantastic. If you don’t enjoy “Prostitute,” then you haven’t been a fan who understood “GNR” since 1987. 

[Rovim]

22 minutes ago, JAxlMorrison said:

Who in their right minds didn’t enjoy prostitute?! Phenomenal lyrics, ripping guitars, and that outro is fantastic. If you don’t enjoy “Prostitute,” then you haven’t been a fan who understood “GNR” since 1987. 

to each his own. People relate or don't relate to shit for many reasons. You don't need to understand anything about Gn'R to be a fan of their music and disliking Prostitute doesn't mean you're not a "real" Gn'R fan either. I happen to think it's a great song, but so what. It's subjective shit.

[JAxlMorrison]

3 hours ago, Rovim said:

to each his own. People relate or don't relate to shit for many reasons. You don't need to understand anything about Gn'R to be a fan of their music and disliking Prostitute doesn't mean you're not a "real" Gn'R fan either. I happen to think it's a great song, but so what. It's subjective shit.

It’s definitely subjective, no argument here. It’s an opinion of mine that if you don’t “get” prostitute and understand that it pretty well encapsulates Axl and GNR for the past thirty years, than you haven’t paid attention for any of that time. The words, the orchestration, the guitars…it IS GNR. So I don’t think it’s unfair of me to have the opinion that if that song isn’t in your wheelhouse, you’re listening for your own expectations for a type of song that’s never going to happen. 

[Rovim]

5 minutes ago, JAxlMorrison said:

It’s definitely subjective, no argument here. It’s an opinion of mine that if you don’t “get” prostitute and understand that it pretty well encapsulates Axl and GNR for the past thirty years, than you haven’t paid attention for any of that time. The words, the orchestration, the guitars…it IS GNR. So I don’t think it’s unfair of me to have the opinion that if that song isn’t in your wheelhouse, you’re listening for your own expectations for a type of song that’s never going to happen. 

it's fair to hold any opinion you want, just to clarify. However, I don't agree with it in this case. For example: I don't see Prostitute as a Gn'R song at all. I see it as a great Axl solo composition which was created by collaborating with musicians that had nothing to do with what made Gn'R what it was, old Gn'R, but because Axl is a part of the song, some Gn'R elements are present in the song, and not just vocals and lyrics, but also some Gn'R elements since Axl surely knows what ingredients it takes to create a Gn'R inspired composition. 

still, not enough classic members to make it recognizable for me at least as containing enough of those Gn'R staples. It was achieved without Izzy and without Adler, but imho, it wasn't achieved just with Axl and Dizzy in the band. Some tunes got closer than others though. (I.R.S, SOD, This I Love, etc)

[Sisyphus]

On 12/16/2023 at 6:04 PM, ShadowOfTheWave said:

Plenty of people who hate the song also gave it a proper listen.

That may be the case but I seriously doubt it. Not because I think this song cannot be "hated" or "disliked" but because people who are quick to criticise and denounce others people's artistic work and make hyperbole claims in the commentary sections don't really strike as the kind of people who would give it a few proper spins to see if they're missing something and determine it's value more consciously.

I generally get the impression that becasue the song doesn't gratify them instantly it has to be "worst song ever released".  But I feel like the positivity towards the song is gaining steam and deservingly so, IMO.

[Tom-Ass]

On 12/16/2023 at 9:18 PM, lost un the jungle said:

Metallica is a band I have a huge respect, but they can't drop Enter Sandman or Master of Puppets from the set, even having a catalog x10 compared to GNR. 

They are doing that right now actually.  They are either playing Sandman or Puppets each night and not playing both. 

[MYWIFEMYLIFE]

Do anyone really think GNR cares about reputation?

I love them because of this too.

[Old_school_gnr_fan]

It’s a really, really, really bad song. The band would be wise to never play the song live again, and stick with songs from Appetite and the Illusion records, unless they want 20,000 fans to get up at once to take a piss break while they grind through The General. I know that’s where I’ll go.

[vloors]

On 12/15/2023 at 6:03 PM, AxlRQ93 said:

seems like there’s almost universal backlash, has it harmed their reputation you think? Could it harm sales for a future single? Havent seen this backlash to a song of theirs b4 

Nope I would say releasing a shit reunion single like absurd would of done more damage. 

Oh and the years and years of not releasing anything at all and ignoring their fan base.

[History2010]

1 hour ago, Old_school_gnr_fan said:

It’s a really, really, really bad song. The band would be wise to never play the song live again, and stick with songs from Appetite and the Illusion records, unless they want 20,000 fans to get up at once to take a piss break while they grind through The General. I know that’s where I’ll go.

Absurd is so so so much worse and they play it all the time. 

[Draguns]

7 hours ago, Tom-Ass said:

They are doing that right now actually.  They are either playing Sandman or Puppets each night and not playing both. 

Technically speaking, they marketed the tour has having a different setlist for each night. I know that people complained that went to one show, but not the other. They didn't like not hearing Sandman nor Master of Puppets. I went to both shows at MetLife. 

[JAxlMorrison]

10 hours ago, Old_school_gnr_fan said:

It’s a really, really, really bad song. The band would be wise to never play the song live again, and stick with songs from Appetite and the Illusion records, unless they want 20,000 fans to get up at once to take a piss break while they grind through The General. I know that’s where I’ll go.

Money and time well spent. 

[Flayer]

 

On 12/15/2023 at 5:55 AM, invisible_rose said:

99.99% of people won't even hear the clipping.

Yeah, no. The emperor is not wearing splendid new clothes, there’s a very clear glitching sound, it’s very noticeable, it’s very bad. The song is good, the clipping is awful.

That said, no, the band’s reputation is not going to be hurt because few people really pay attention to these new releases or anything that’s happened in the 21st century. Guns N’ Roses to the general public is 95% defined by what they did in from the 1980s till 1992; everything past that is an afterthought.

It’s certainly lowered my own personal respect for the band in its current state, though.