Wow- Chinese democracy was released 16 years ago ! Can we define GNR as a touring nostalgia act now ?

[ZoSoRose]

50 minutes ago, allwaystired said:

Yeah this sums it up. It's a touring business, it's a nostalgia act, and that's just the way it is. If you want new material you're out of luck, but you might get a few old songs dusted down and officially released. 

I hate the expression but 'it is what it is' now. No point in dressing it up or pretend it's something it isn't.

They could do more, they don't want to, up to them. I think it's a waste of talent personally, but there we go.  The shows (in my view) are decent, and that's what they're offering. 

Yup! I love this lineup, but the time to strike was 2016. The time to be mad about no new music was 2010-2016. Now, they are content with running the business the way they are.

It’s still a ton of work touring at the level they are. The crew, planning, catering, staging, music, travel, etc. It pays off, financially for these legacy acts. It may be easy to say, “they discount tickets a ton and don’t sell stadiums out”, but when you’re playing dozens and dozens of massive venues, that doesn’t matter so much when taking the entire bottom line. They definitely still make piles of cash. 

1 hour ago, allwaystired said:

Off the top of my head I really can't. The Eagles and Billy Joel are my best guesses? 

We're splitting hairs a bit to be honest as HS, Absurd etc are all ancient anyway. 

All these dinosaur juggernauts of the past 20+ years could play arenas and stadiums without new music- AC/DC, GNR, Aerosmith, Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, Rush, The Rolling Stones, Billy Joel, Elton John, The Who, Paul McCartney, Queen +_____, Ringo, Electric Light Orchestra, Fleetwood Mac, U2, Metallica, Eagles, etc, etc, etc. 

I recognize quite a few of those released new music. I love a lot of their later albums, in fact! But this tier of classic rock artist does not need new material to tour at the levels they had over the past few decades.

When you are a legacy/nostalgia act at that level, you are set. All you need are some of those core members. There is nothing wrong with that, and all these artists have released tons of legendary content that millions enjoy. The nostalgia/legacy status is earned and should be celebrated. Soon, none will be around, anymore. 

Edited January 1 by ZoSoRose

[Tomek1985]

now? 

[SoulMonster]

6 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

GNR is one of them. Literally everything they've released since 2018 has been a vault release.

It's unheard music for the public, hence they are not relying on nostalgia.

6 hours ago, thomasmcole said:

But the new singles are about the past, they're all at least 20yrs old. 

People attending the shows don't have a nostalgic attachment to those songs because they haven't heard them before. Not even Slash or Duff can feel nostalgic about those songs. 

[SoulMonster]

4 hours ago, allwaystired said:

Off the top of my head I really can't. The Eagles and Billy Joel are my best guesses? 

We're splitting hairs a bit to be honest as HS, Absurd etc are all ancient anyway. 

It's not merely about being old. Nostalgia is about dreaming about something that happened in the past. People go to the show to hear songs from when they were kids, to see a band they liked a long time ago. That's nostalgia. If that band rely 100% on old songs then it is 100% a nostalgia band. If, on the other hand, they add songs the audiences haven't heard before, that is not nostalgia, and the more such songs are in the set the less that set is about nostalgia. ON a good day, GN'R has 3-4 new singles in their sets for which the audiences feel no nostalgia. That means that GN'R isn't 100% a nostalgia band,

But yes, this is splitting hairs. I was only talking about what doesn't make GN'R 100% a nostalgia band. Obviously, the main thing is nostalgia, that is why most concert-goers go. I think I referred to it as the bare minimum to keep from being a pure nostalgia band.

Billy Joel, yes. I also mentioned The Cure (until not long ago). The same could be said about GN'R until they released Absurd. And there are many more. Most artists do occasionally release at least a single though, just to keep that veneer of being a creative force still intact. I mean, bands that peaked back in the 80s and 90s can't escape the fact that most people come to hear the old songs. They could try only playing new material (and hence escape the nostalgia), but that would likely be a disastrous decision as far as ticket sales go. But if they interject a new song or two into the set they can at least say they are still creative artists.

[History2010]

4 hours ago, allwaystired said:

Off the top of my head I really can't. The Eagles and Billy Joel are my best guesses? 

We're splitting hairs a bit to be honest as HS, Absurd etc are all ancient anyway. 

System of a Down, Ween, My Chemical Romance, ZZ Top, Steve Miller Band, Foreigner and Motley Crue all fit the criteria of rock bands that played shows last year that haven't released an album in ten years or more. 

Heart played shows last year and haven't put out an album in nine years.
LCD Soundsystem played shows last year and haven't put out an album in eight years.
U2 played shows last year and haven't put out an album of new material in eight years
Blondie played shows last year and haven't put out an album in eight years.

Those are just examples of rock bands. I could probably list at least a dozen more solo artists that also tour without having released an album in many years. 

[ChristmasFnatic]

Makes me wonder if Slash and Duff(who both are very productive) bothers to tell Axl they should create new music. Or they are just happy to show up on rehearsals and concerts to rake cash.

[SoulMonster]

25 minutes ago, ChristmasFnatic said:

Makes me wonder if Slash and Duff(who both are very productive) bothers to tell Axl they should create new music. Or they are just happy to show up on rehearsals and concerts to rake cash.

I am sure they have told Axl they would like to work on new music

[jamillos]

Unfortunately yes, that's clearly how they can be defined now. And a few polished demos from a quarter of a century ago don't change shit about anything - quite the contrary, in fact.

However, I refuse to give up hope - I believe there's still some creative power. I believe they'll surprise us! Crazy, eh. 

[mingsubu]

Yes, and been for a while now. Any "new" song is just a bathroom break for fans.

[Sosso]

They became a nostalgia act at the Rock in Rio festival back in 2011

[JimiRose]

GnR have been a touring nostalgia act since 2011. No more debate needed on this. it is a fact. 

52 minutes ago, Sosso said:

They became a nostalgia act at the Rock in Rio festival back in 2011

Just saw this. This was the exact moment. when they came out after a relatively successful 2010 world tour, and just played the same setlist, but worse, with estranged added only, that was the moment. My innocence was busted open wide. the wall crumbled. i went from boy to man. 

[HOOSIER GUNZ]

And you got whole lotta Rosie, plus a few Zakk Wylde appearances!

[carsonskitz]

100% a nostalgia act. No one other than people on the message boards have probably even listened to any of the singles they’ve been putting out. 

[Sweersa]

Chris Pitman was right. I think we all knew it. 
I wonder what Slash and Duff’s honest reaction to Silkworms or Absurd was when they first heard it before working on that song. Additionally, the band clearly made an effort to be somewhat inclusive of Frank on the 2008 album. We haven’t seen any of that on the NITL CD2 singles, though isn’t Hard Skool still debated? 

[Karice]

16 hours ago, evilfacelessturtle said:

We've gotta get him off meds and back into manic swings where he's productive and has a grandiose vision for everything.

NOOOOOOOOOOO! A 25-32 year old Axl having manic swings was ENTERTAINING and AMUSING ....🤣🤭 62 year old Axl having manic swings would look sad and pathetic! 😵‍💫☢️

Edited January 1 by Karice

[allwaystired]

6 hours ago, History2010 said:

System of a Down, Ween, My Chemical Romance, ZZ Top, Steve Miller Band, Foreigner and Motley Crue all fit the criteria of rock bands that played shows last year that haven't released an album in ten years or more. 

Heart played shows last year and haven't put out an album in nine years.
LCD Soundsystem played shows last year and haven't put out an album in eight years.
U2 played shows last year and haven't put out an album of new material in eight years
Blondie played shows last year and haven't put out an album in eight years.

Those are just examples of rock bands. I could probably list at least a dozen more solo artists that also tour without having released an album in many years. 

But most of them all put stuff out right? I'm not too sure on some of the but I know LCD Soundsystem, Motley Crue, Blondie, U2, all wrote and record new material regularly. 

We have no evidence GNR have written a song in maybe 20 years! 

Personally there's no way I'd put some of those bands in the nostalgia bracket- certainly not U2. They regularly seem to push things forward (when I went to see them there was loads of songs off the album they had just released at the time- I didn't like any of them, but that's by the by, I'm not really a U2 fan). 

I think we're probably dealing with different personal definitions of what being a nostalgia act is really though. 

From my point of view it's a band trading almost entirely on the past with little or no interest in creatively doing anything.....which in my view sums up what GNR are doing, regardless of whether four 20 year old songs have been dusted down or not. 

[SlashisGOD]

GNR are no Iron Maiden, that’s for sure. 

[Tom2112]

21 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

Not as long as they keep releasing singles. 

Singles that date back further than some of the material on Chinese, is not a card that is worth pulling to say "wait we are creative"... it's something it's not much though

[Tom2112]

1 hour ago, SlashisGOD said:

GNR are no Iron Maiden, that’s for sure. 

True. But it's also true that a lot of maiden are really not fans of the longer more progressive songs Steve Harris has been writing. So on one hand, great they put out albums semi regular... bad that the actual Content isn't great. Bruce's album was far stronger 

[SoulMonster]

32 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Singles that date back further than some of the material on Chinese, is not a card that is worth pulling to say "wait we are creative"... it's something it's not much though

I agree. But they are still not songs that tug on nostalgia among the audiences. 

[JimiRose]

10 hours ago, History2010 said:

System of a Down, Ween, My Chemical Romance, ZZ Top, Steve Miller Band, Foreigner and Motley Crue all fit the criteria of rock bands that played shows last year that haven't released an album in ten years or more. 

Heart played shows last year and haven't put out an album in nine years.
LCD Soundsystem played shows last year and haven't put out an album in eight years.
U2 played shows last year and haven't put out an album of new material in eight years
Blondie played shows last year and haven't put out an album in eight years.

Those are just examples of rock bands. I could probably list at least a dozen more solo artists that also tour without having released an album in many years. 

Gnr ain't released an album in 17 years! those other acts have also released singles or EPs. and with all due respect to some of them, they're even older, less relevant and don't come close to trying to shift the amount of tickets GnR do. The other acts also have massive back catalogues. U2 have loads of albums and been pumping out regularly for 40+ years. Axl and Slash started speaking in 2015. it's 2025 and they haven't released a single note of new music between them in that time. a decade. And there's evidence they haven't even attempted to. The only evidence we have is axl given slash a bunch of songs from between 98-2002 period and slash has in his own time and own studio added new guitars to maybe 5/6 of them. That's pretty sad. 

Edited January 1 by JimiRose

[JimiRose]

10 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

The same could be said about GN'R until they released Absurd. And there are many more. Most artists do occasionally release at least a single though, just to keep that veneer of being a creative force still intact. I mean, bands that peaked back in the 80s and 90s can't escape the fact that most people come to hear the old songs. They could try only playing new material (and hence escape the nostalgia), but that would likely be a disastrous decision as far as ticket sales go. But if they interject a new song or two into the set they can at least say they are still creative artists.

Yes but once again, these artists usually have much bigger back catalogues, and then are also honest 'yes we are doing new stuff' 'nah we're not currently' Axl has almost exclusively said for 30 years that new music would be coming, and teasing it. GnR have 1 renowned classic album, a great double album, an EP and a covers album. Then Nothing for 15 years, then CD then nothing again for 17 years. all under the guise of 'new music coming soon'. They're like a lapdance without even seeing any nipple, let alone getting any extras!

[Tom2112]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

I agree. But they are still not songs that tug on nostalgia among the audiences. 

I think you could argue that hardskool and Perhaps are quite UYI(Y)

Regardless gnr are still in the nostalgia camp. The day they go out on tour and open with a new song I'll maybe change my mind, they sell tickets based on 30+ year old records, they play a majority of songs from both of those records and it is 16yrs since the last official album with no signs of even a timeline for when another album is coming. 

Essentially even with the weird songs they've released that haven't pandered to the easy listening gnr fan, gnr are still all the things that compiled together add up to nostalgia act. Ways to not be a nostalgia act include - semi regular new music, tours where you maybe tour smaller venues and play less big hits and more obscure songs... or go the Dylan route and rearrange your songs so they don't sound like the songs anymore. I'm notba fan of all of these ideas but it's a way to bat off the nostalgia tag

[SoulMonster]

22 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

I think you could argue that hardskool and Perhaps are quite UYI(Y)

Regardless gnr are still in the nostalgia camp. The day they go out on tour and open with a new song I'll maybe change my mind, they sell tickets based on 30+ year old records, they play a majority of songs from both of those records and it is 16yrs since the last official album with no signs of even a timeline for when another album is coming. 

Essentially even with the weird songs they've released that haven't pandered to the easy listening gnr fan, gnr are still all the things that compiled together add up to nostalgia act. Ways to not be a nostalgia act include - semi regular new music, tours where you maybe tour smaller venues and play less big hits and more obscure songs... or go the Dylan route and rearrange your songs so they don't sound like the songs anymore. I'm notba fan of all of these ideas but it's a way to bat off the nostalgia tag

Yes, they are definitely in the nostalgia camp, as I have said. But not 100% 

[D4NNY]

4 hours ago, Karice said:

NOOOOOOOOOOO! A 25-32 year old Axl having manic swings was ENTERTAINING and AMUSING ....🤣🤭 62 year old Axl having manic swings would look sad and pathetic! 😵‍💫☢️

I wouldn't call mental/emotional problems entertainment and amusing.. Each to their own though and all that