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

[evilfacelessturtle]

19 hours ago, thomasmcole said:

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

I wouldn't call releasing Perhaps "cashing in on nostalgia" though. To 90% of the public, it was brand new material they'd never heard before.

[Gordon Comstock]

2 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

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

 

The audience has no connection to GNR playing Wichita Lineman or Back In Black either, that doesn't change the fact they're a nostalgia act playing nothing but decades-old music.

[evilfacelessturtle]

6 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 was being facetious. But I can't help but think there's some truth to it. People in manic swings are more productive and creative. Just look at Kanye West. I don't care for his music but a lot of people regard him very highly. Of course, like West, it could also lead to a controversy that would be OIAM all over again...

[SoulMonster]

58 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

The audience has no connection to GNR playing Wichita Lineman or Back In Black either, that doesn't change the fact they're a nostalgia act playing nothing but decades-old music.

But nostalgia isn't merely about age, it is about a longing for the past. 

[Dean]

6 hours ago, Sweersa said:

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? 

Pitman also said the band didn’t need to release another album when he was in the band, in this really seedy interview that has since been erased from the internet where he was all over the young female asking him the questions. His meltdown was ridiculous and cost him a helluva payday over the years.

Hard Skool is Brain, I’m pretty sure it was Melissa that confirmed this. The way that song is mastered has zapped the life out of the drums. Frank doesn’t put me up nor down, though if I had the choice, I’d want Brain back involved out of all the alumni!

[DoMw94]

20 hours ago, ZoSoRose said:

The rest has been gravy to me. Chinese, almond boneless chicken gravy.

So... like a Chinese stew?

[moreblack]

They released new music in the last few years, so that counts.

[Gordon Comstock]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

But nostalgia isn't merely about age, it is about a longing for the past. 

 

Yes, which is what GNR shows are about. Doesn't matter if it's Rosie, The Seeker, Wichita, 'random old songs' have almost always been part of their shows.

They don't write or release new music, they rely 100% on the past. I really don't know why it's hard for you to admit they're a nostalgia band.

[ZoSoRose]

I just don’t see why people think the terms “nostalgia or legacy acts” are a bad thing. I wish I could be a part of an art project that warrants hundreds of millions of dollars and millions of people attending concerts, and buying music (even if it’s old) and merchandise. Cool shit; only .01% get to say they’ve accomplished that. 

We’re all on here because of 30- year old music. Even Chinese is almost 2- decades old, and people were listening to leaks and live versions of those songs for that amount of time or more. 

Their creative era as a group is long gone. Fuck it, just enjoy the past and ride the wave. Blink again, and there sadly won’t be any more of these waves left to ride except for the recordings  

Edited January 1 by ZoSoRose

[kiwiguns]

On 1/1/2025 at 7:31 AM, allwaystired said:

Definitely a nostalgia act. No need for them to be, but it's what they've chosen.

 

The band is simply following the path all artists are taking in today's music industry and their is no choice but to do so... 

Why release music, when the path and financial return is touring the world for all artists more so when Live Nation are the key holders to the music industry today compared to the past when Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner, Epic etc had all the power and influence. 

Let's put it this way. Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour have placed Live Nation in a position that they can lose money from less successful tours over the next 10 years and still be sitting on a billion dollar profit that the Eras Tour gave them...

Thats why Guns N Roses are using Nostalgia via Live Nation compared to Universal Music Group who cannot offer them any financial return in today's music industry. 

Edited January 2 by kiwiguns

[Karice]

7 hours ago, D4NNY said:

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

I was actually referring to Axl's fiery, hair rigger, pissed off, wild, temperamental, moody, rebellious, etc persona when I said his manic swings were entertaining and amusing when he was 25-32, but at 62 would look sad and pathetic. 💡

[SoulMonster]

7 hours ago, Gordon Comstock said:

Yes, which is what GNR shows are about. Doesn't matter if it's Rosie, The Seeker, Wichita, 'random old songs' have almost always been part of their shows.

They don't write or release new music, they rely 100% on the past. I really don't know why it's hard for you to admit they're a nostalgia band.

Are you actually reading my posts? They are a band relying on nostalgia, just not 100% because in their sets are songs that weren't released back in the days and for which the audiences can't feel any nostalgia. 

Edited January 2 by SoulMonster

[AtlasShrugged]

Not sure how people can call GN'R as a nostalgia act now.

Obviously we have high expectations but in the last few years, as well as touring, they have, among other things:

- Released the AFD boxset which included remastering the classic album and demos from the era

- Released several reworked songs first written in the Chinese Democracy sessions

- Released the UYI boxset celebrating 20 years and releasing songs, live shows from that era

This is not a band standing still

[janrichmond]

1 hour ago, AtlasShrugged said:

Not sure how people can call GN'R as a nostalgia act now.

Obviously we have high expectations but in the last few years, as well as touring, they have, among other things:

- Released the AFD boxset which included remastering the classic album and demos from the era

- Released several reworked songs first written in the Chinese Democracy sessions

- Released the UYI boxset celebrating 20 years and releasing songs, live shows from that era

This is not a band standing still

It's a band relying on the past. Nothing has been released that was started after the reunion 

[allwaystired]

11 hours ago, kiwiguns said:

The band is simply following the path all artists are taking in today's music industry and their is no choice but to do so... 

Why release music, when the path and financial return is touring the world for all artists more so when Live Nation are the key holders to the music industry today compared to the past when Universal Music Group, Sony, Warner, Epic etc had all the power and influence. 

Let's put it this way. Taylor Swift and the Eras Tour have placed Live Nation in a position that they can lose money from less successful tours over the next 10 years and still be sitting on a billion dollar profit that the Eras Tour gave them...

Thats why Guns N Roses are using Nostalgia via Live Nation compared to Universal Music Group who cannot offer them any financial return in today's music industry. 

Well you cite Taylor Swift there.....but she releases loads of new albums, constantly. So saying "the band is simply following the path all artists are taking in today's music industry and their is no choice but to do so" is totally untrue. 

"Why release music, when the path and financial return is touring the world for all artists" - ask all the bands and artists that constantly release music. Start with Metallica and Iron Maiden. 

Guns N Roses CHOOSE not to release new music. It's not something forced on them by the industry, it's a conscious choice. 

It's ludicrous to suggest GNR have "no choice" but to follow that path when the biggest touring artist in the world (Taylor Swift) is constantly releasing new music. 

Sure, you clearly don't NEED to produce new music if you have albums from the past that did ok.....but most musicians want to create, want to do something fresh and different, so choose to do something, regardless of the fact that the same financial incentives might not be there that were in the 90s. 

 

[Tom2112]

On 1/1/2025 at 6:10 PM, SoulMonster said:

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

99.9% I suppose a win is a win though😄

[Sweersa]

6 hours ago, janrichmond said:

It's a band relying on the past. Nothing has been released that was started after the reunion 

Don't forget the Jersey Jack Pinball Guns N' Roses Not In This Lifetime pinball machine!  (It's on sale, by the way, get them while they are available!)

[SoulMonster]

3 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

99.9% I suppose a win is a win though😄

If we want to be nerdy about and actually calculate this we could just look at a random from a recent setlist and see how many of the songs could be thought of a nostalgic in the sense that they attract audiences because they are old, classic GN'R songs that fans can have a relationship with from back in the days. And since I am just that guy: On their latest show (Nov 5, 2023), out of the 27 songs played, 22 were old GN'R songs with the remaining five being new songs (they played all four of the new singles) plus Slither. So they are 81.5% a nostalgia band 

[gavgnr]

It’s almost criminal that it’s been 16 years since Chinese and 34 years since a record of new material from Axl, Slash & Duff.

I mean come the fuck on…how hard is it? 

[Gordon Comstock]

14 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

Are you actually reading my posts? They are a band relying on nostalgia, just not 100% because in their sets are songs that weren't released back in the days and for which the audiences can't feel any nostalgia. 

You say they're "not 100%" a nostalgia band because they occasionally release new music. That's not true. They've only released old music since the reunion. Claiming they're "not 100%" nostalgic because some of those old songs aren't as well known as others is frankly a pathetic argument. 

I don't even mean the phrase nostalgia band as an insult or anything, it's just the clear truth. Though, seeing you count Slither as a "new" song, I can only shake my head and laugh, it's a pointless discussion with you 

[Free Bird]

Are we really debate about the nostalgia status of GNR? In 2025? Really? 🤣🤣🤣

Who’s visiting a GNR concert to listen to new music? Nobody! You go to there for the hits, which are 30-40 years old. Even CD is fucking old. What a pointless discussion. 1000% nostalgia act as long as they don’t create anything new, and even then they keep being a nostalgia act because nothing they are going to release will have an impact today. The main draw will always be the classics.

Now fucking close this thread already - people making themselves ridiculous.

[SoulMonster]

41 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

You say they're "not 100%" a nostalgia band because they occasionally release new music. That's not true. They've only released old music since the reunion. Claiming they're "not 100%" nostalgic because some of those old songs aren't as well known as others is frankly a pathetic argument. 

I don't even mean the phrase nostalgia band as an insult or anything, it's just the clear truth. Though, seeing you count Slither as a "new" song, I can only shake my head and laugh, it's a pointless discussion with you 

Again, nostalgia is not merely that songs are old, but that they are old and people long for them.

People that attend GN'R concerts necessarily have nostalgic feelings for Slither, similarly to other covers like Wichita Luneman. So no, I didn't consider Slither to be a new song, I simply don’t consider it a nostalgic GN'R song, because it isn't. 

 

[Gordon Comstock]

7 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

Again, nostalgia is not merely that songs are old, but that they are old and people long for them.

People that attend GN'R concerts necessarily have nostalgic feelings for Slither, similarly to other covers like Wichita Luneman. So no, I didn't consider Slither to be a new song, I simply don’t consider it a nostalgic GN'R song, because it isn't. 

 

 

GNR fans aren't nostalgic for Slither... it was only a massive hit for 2/3 of the guys, 20 years ago. Good lord man, are you drunk or just trolling?

[ZoSoRose]

9 minutes ago, Gordon Comstock said:

 

GNR fans aren't nostalgic for Slither... it was only a massive hit for 2/3 of the guys, 20 years ago. Good lord man, are you drunk or just trolling?

Yeah, of the 3 times I have gotten Slither live, it got a huge reaction and that isn't just clapping and shouting. People around my actual seat were stoked for it. Slither counts as a past hit as much as any song in the set imo. 

Again, nothing wrong with that. 

[Sweersa]

1 hour ago, ZoSoRose said:

Yeah, of the 3 times I have gotten Slither live, it got a huge reaction and that isn't just clapping and shouting. People around my actual seat were stoked for it. Slither counts as a past hit as much as any song in the set imo. 

Again, nothing wrong with that. 

I have noticed at every Guns concert I have attended (4 shows since 2011) that the CD songs do get fans singing along to and cheering. The only time I noticed limited reactions was when Absurd was played, which was a new song at the time. People were standing around with Biden like expressions to that one.