GnR and Axl Rose's Legacy: Severely Underrated by Media?

[SylvesterStallone]

Reading those threads about the brazilian and swedish journalist ripping Axl and Guns got me thinking about something.

I always felt that the impact of Guns N Roses and Axl Rose as a frontman/artist were severely underrated by the media outlets like Rolling Stone. Guns N Roses gave one of the all time greatest rock albums in AFD, a near perfect album, a seminal debut for a grimy rock band. They weren't posers, they weren't intentionally being subversive, they were just real and raw.

But they get written off as some flash in the pan band with a couple good songs who were sort of popular in their day but are a relic of the past with outdated music.

Lord knows I'm no Axl-lite, but Axl Rose's talents and his abilities as a songwriter and artist are completely ignored and mired under his lesser traits (homophobia, purported racism, being an asshole,etc). Axl has ofcourse made it worse by continuing to use the GnR name without the other members to the ire of the music industry and media. But aside from all his controversial aspects and areas where obviously he deserves some of the shit he gets, the guy was an immensely talented frontman. You don't write songs like Estranged and November Rain and lyrics to songs like Coma and be considered "that red haired asshole from guns n roses you know that 80's hair metal band, yeah they had a few good songs, Appetite was their only good album everything else afterwards was shit"...bet everyone has heard that line before in everything you read about Guns N Roses....

Now Guns in their day were a phenomenally talented band with worldwide popularity, they were the biggest band in the world. Their original material (AFD, Lies, UYI) are exceptionally strong albums with material that is holding up well over time. This isn't dated shit like stuff you find in the later Van Halen albums, Skid Row,etc....people are still listening to Paradise City and November Rain....Guns N Roses took risks whether they were successfull or not is subjective but they were not a one-dimensional band. Yet many say they were corporate rock, even with 10 minute art rock epics with f-bombs littered throughout....

So what do you guys think is the reason this band and Axl are so underrated? They were the last big band to make waves in America, not a single band has taken the mantle and become huge in America. Not one. For all the shit Axl gets, is there a single frontman who comes close to what he did in the 80's and 90's? Nope. In an era of posers (Eminem), you have a truly controversial band with a great frontman who really has not delivered a subpar record of original material. As the VH1 biography of Guns says, Axl's image has been frozen in time because he left the industry on such a strong note. Yet his legacy is still a big question mark, he still has not cemented it like Slash....will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

FYI: This is not a thread to fawn over Axl Rose (sorry Axllites)

[jimb0]

will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

If he writes some more songs like November Rain and Estranged I can only hope so.

[dezmond]

Very well said, couldn't agree more.

[D-GenerationX]

Reading those threads about the brazilian and swedish journalist ripping Axl and Guns got me thinking about something.

I always felt that the impact of Guns N Roses and Axl Rose as a frontman/artist were severely underrated by the media outlets like Rolling Stone. Guns N Roses gave one of the all time greatest rock albums in AFD, a near perfect album, a seminal debut for a grimy rock band. They weren't posers, they weren't intentionally being subversive, they were just real and raw.

But they get written off as some flash in the pan band with a couple good songs who were sort of popular in their day but are a relic of the past with outdated music.

Lord knows I'm no Axl-lite, but Axl Rose's talents and his abilities as a songwriter and artist are completely ignored and mired under his lesser traits (homophobia, purported racism, being an asshole,etc). Axl has ofcourse made it worse by continuing to use the GnR name without the other members to the ire of the music industry and media. But aside from all his controversial aspects and areas where obviously he deserves some of the shit he gets, the guy was an immensely talented frontman. You don't write songs like Estranged and November Rain and lyrics to songs like Coma and be considered "that red haired asshole from guns n roses you know that 80's hair metal band, yeah they had a few good songs, Appetite was their only good album everything else afterwards was shit"...bet everyone has heard that line before in everything you read about Guns N Roses....

Now Guns in their day were a phenomenally talented band with worldwide popularity, they were the biggest band in the world. Their original material (AFD, Lies, UYI) are exceptionally strong albums with material that is holding up well over time. This isn't dated shit like stuff you find in the later Van Halen albums, Skid Row,etc....people are still listening to Paradise City and November Rain....Guns N Roses took risks whether they were successfull or not is subjective but they were not a one-dimensional band. Yet many say they were corporate rock, even with 10 minute art rock epics with f-bombs littered throughout....

So what do you guys think is the reason this band and Axl are so underrated? They were the last big band to make waves in America, not a single band has taken the mantle and become huge in America. Not one. For all the shit Axl gets, is there a single frontman who comes close to what he did in the 80's and 90's? Nope. In an era of posers (Eminem), you have a truly controversial band with a great frontman who really has not delivered a subpar record of original material. As the VH1 biography of Guns says, Axl's image has been frozen in time because he left the industry on such a strong note. Yet his legacy is still a big question mark, he still has not cemented it like Slash....will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

FYI: This is not a thread to fawn over Axl Rose (sorry Axllites)

While I may agree with large parts of this, at the end of the day, GNR is overrated if anything.

This is a band with 2 proper albums.

This is why I have to chuckle when some of you talk about them for the Hall Of Fame. No shot. Not a long enough career. If this was a nother band with such a short time at the top and such a shortage of material, you would not give them a second thought.

Objectivity has never been the GNR fanbase's strong suit.

[SylvesterStallone]

You know I think he really was getting somewhere with UYI, its a damn shame with such great songs on that album, it was completely misunderstood by the media and forgotten under the hype of the Grunge movement.

Just bad timing and bad luck I guess, and now he's courting controversy again by really being the first frontman to lead a band with no other original members....I hope that drama doesn't take away from the impact of the songs he has spent the last decade trying to create. Give the man his due I say, he fucking deserves it....

GnR placing #80 something in the all-time list of great bands in rolling stone is pathetic and quite simply wrong given the criteria they are judging the bands by....

[InYourFaceKilibarda]

good post. i have to say that i guess people haven't really had a chance to look back on all the stuff GnR did and praise their work and realize that no other band has done quite what they did for music. everyone has been caught up in the hype of chinese democracy, or when rumors about the album have died down, they lament axl's re-incarnation of the band.

the only thing i worry about is years after chinese democracy has been released, will people judge "guns n roses" by the original band's work AND the new band's material?

in essence, guns n' roses legacy has already been cast in stone. whatever the lineup ends up being for the chinese democracy "era", they are in effect an entirely different band with the same name and frontman as the old Gunners. the new band has to establish a reputation and legacy of their own, entirely independent of what we knew Guns n' Roses to be in the 80's and early 90's.

[SylvesterStallone]

D-generation: Good point but those 2 albums are exceptionally strong. Like I said before, they have not given an album of subpar quality. Every original album has been of a high calibur. Their impact on the industry and the world can also not be ignored. They didn't kill hair metal, but they were the ones who bridged the gap between that era and Grunge. They also had phenomenal popularity, the hype for UYI had never been seen before and never replicated again by any band since.....

For whatever reason it seems the UYI albums hurt their career in the eyes of the media even though those albums had incredibly crafted songs. And ofcourse Axl's role as an "artist" was always completely ignored in favor of his controversial aspects....

I once read an interview of Axl's where he said he did AFD only so he could get his foot in the music industry and that his plan from day one was always to craft songs of an epic and ambitious nature like what was in UYI....

I might catch flack for this and maybe it might be blasphemous, but I'd like to think of Axl as a modern day Jim Morrison....

Edited February 24, 2006 by SylvesterStallone

[Ant]

Reading those threads about the brazilian and swedish journalist ripping Axl and Guns got me thinking about something.

I always felt that the impact of Guns N Roses and Axl Rose as a frontman/artist were severely underrated by the media outlets like Rolling Stone. Guns N Roses gave one of the all time greatest rock albums in AFD, a near perfect album, a seminal debut for a grimy rock band. They weren't posers, they weren't intentionally being subversive, they were just real and raw.

But they get written off as some flash in the pan band with a couple good songs who were sort of popular in their day but are a relic of the past with outdated music.

Lord knows I'm no Axl-lite, but Axl Rose's talents and his abilities as a songwriter and artist are completely ignored and mired under his lesser traits (homophobia, purported racism, being an asshole,etc). Axl has ofcourse made it worse by continuing to use the GnR name without the other members to the ire of the music industry and media. But aside from all his controversial aspects and areas where obviously he deserves some of the shit he gets, the guy was an immensely talented frontman. You don't write songs like Estranged and November Rain and lyrics to songs like Coma and be considered "that red haired asshole from guns n roses you know that 80's hair metal band, yeah they had a few good songs, Appetite was their only good album everything else afterwards was shit"...bet everyone has heard that line before in everything you read about Guns N Roses....

Now Guns in their day were a phenomenally talented band with worldwide popularity, they were the biggest band in the world. Their original material (AFD, Lies, UYI) are exceptionally strong albums with material that is holding up well over time. This isn't dated shit like stuff you find in the later Van Halen albums, Skid Row,etc....people are still listening to Paradise City and November Rain....Guns N Roses took risks whether they were successfull or not is subjective but they were not a one-dimensional band. Yet many say they were corporate rock, even with 10 minute art rock epics with f-bombs littered throughout....

So what do you guys think is the reason this band and Axl are so underrated? They were the last big band to make waves in America, not a single band has taken the mantle and become huge in America. Not one. For all the shit Axl gets, is there a single frontman who comes close to what he did in the 80's and 90's? Nope. In an era of posers (Eminem), you have a truly controversial band with a great frontman who really has not delivered a subpar record of original material. As the VH1 biography of Guns says, Axl's image has been frozen in time because he left the industry on such a strong note. Yet his legacy is still a big question mark, he still has not cemented it like Slash....will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

FYI: This is not a thread to fawn over Axl Rose (sorry Axllites)

While I may agree with large parts of this, at the end of the day, GNR is overrated if anything.

This is a band with 2 proper albums.

This is why I have to chuckle when some of you talk about them for the Hall Of Fame. No shot. Not a long enough career. If this was a nother band with such a short time at the top and such a shortage of material, you would not give them a second thought.

Objectivity has never been the GNR fanbase's strong suit.

I'm bet Nirvana is going to get in . Appetite was just as influential as Nevermind in my opinion, both bands have a general lack of material relatively speaking. I think they should both get in: quality and influence over quantity. I'd hate to see what the music scene of the day would have been like without GNR, until grunge came up.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Ant

[D-GenerationX]

Reading those threads about the brazilian and swedish journalist ripping Axl and Guns got me thinking about something.

I always felt that the impact of Guns N Roses and Axl Rose as a frontman/artist were severely underrated by the media outlets like Rolling Stone. Guns N Roses gave one of the all time greatest rock albums in AFD, a near perfect album, a seminal debut for a grimy rock band. They weren't posers, they weren't intentionally being subversive, they were just real and raw.

But they get written off as some flash in the pan band with a couple good songs who were sort of popular in their day but are a relic of the past with outdated music.

Lord knows I'm no Axl-lite, but Axl Rose's talents and his abilities as a songwriter and artist are completely ignored and mired under his lesser traits (homophobia, purported racism, being an asshole,etc). Axl has ofcourse made it worse by continuing to use the GnR name without the other members to the ire of the music industry and media. But aside from all his controversial aspects and areas where obviously he deserves some of the shit he gets, the guy was an immensely talented frontman. You don't write songs like Estranged and November Rain and lyrics to songs like Coma and be considered "that red haired asshole from guns n roses you know that 80's hair metal band, yeah they had a few good songs, Appetite was their only good album everything else afterwards was shit"...bet everyone has heard that line before in everything you read about Guns N Roses....

Now Guns in their day were a phenomenally talented band with worldwide popularity, they were the biggest band in the world. Their original material (AFD, Lies, UYI) are exceptionally strong albums with material that is holding up well over time. This isn't dated shit like stuff you find in the later Van Halen albums, Skid Row,etc....people are still listening to Paradise City and November Rain....Guns N Roses took risks whether they were successfull or not is subjective but they were not a one-dimensional band. Yet many say they were corporate rock, even with 10 minute art rock epics with f-bombs littered throughout....

So what do you guys think is the reason this band and Axl are so underrated? They were the last big band to make waves in America, not a single band has taken the mantle and become huge in America. Not one. For all the shit Axl gets, is there a single frontman who comes close to what he did in the 80's and 90's? Nope. In an era of posers (Eminem), you have a truly controversial band with a great frontman who really has not delivered a subpar record of original material. As the VH1 biography of Guns says, Axl's image has been frozen in time because he left the industry on such a strong note. Yet his legacy is still a big question mark, he still has not cemented it like Slash....will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

FYI: This is not a thread to fawn over Axl Rose (sorry Axllites)

While I may agree with large parts of this, at the end of the day, GNR is overrated if anything.

This is a band with 2 proper albums.

This is why I have to chuckle when some of you talk about them for the Hall Of Fame. No shot. Not a long enough career. If this was a nother band with such a short time at the top and such a shortage of material, you would not give them a second thought.

Objectivity has never been the GNR fanbase's strong suit.

I'm bet Nirvana is going to get in . Appetite was just as influential as Nevermind in my opinion, both bands have a general lack of material relatively speaking. I think they should both get in: quality and influence over quantity. I'd hate to see what the music scene of the day would have been like without GNR, until grunge came up.

Nirvana is absolutely getting in and deservedly so.

Their influence for a decade after bursting on the scene (though not always positive for the industry IMO) cannot be denied.

Quick, which bands have emulated GNR??

[Ant]

Reading those threads about the brazilian and swedish journalist ripping Axl and Guns got me thinking about something.

I always felt that the impact of Guns N Roses and Axl Rose as a frontman/artist were severely underrated by the media outlets like Rolling Stone. Guns N Roses gave one of the all time greatest rock albums in AFD, a near perfect album, a seminal debut for a grimy rock band. They weren't posers, they weren't intentionally being subversive, they were just real and raw.

But they get written off as some flash in the pan band with a couple good songs who were sort of popular in their day but are a relic of the past with outdated music.

Lord knows I'm no Axl-lite, but Axl Rose's talents and his abilities as a songwriter and artist are completely ignored and mired under his lesser traits (homophobia, purported racism, being an asshole,etc). Axl has ofcourse made it worse by continuing to use the GnR name without the other members to the ire of the music industry and media. But aside from all his controversial aspects and areas where obviously he deserves some of the shit he gets, the guy was an immensely talented frontman. You don't write songs like Estranged and November Rain and lyrics to songs like Coma and be considered "that red haired asshole from guns n roses you know that 80's hair metal band, yeah they had a few good songs, Appetite was their only good album everything else afterwards was shit"...bet everyone has heard that line before in everything you read about Guns N Roses....

Now Guns in their day were a phenomenally talented band with worldwide popularity, they were the biggest band in the world. Their original material (AFD, Lies, UYI) are exceptionally strong albums with material that is holding up well over time. This isn't dated shit like stuff you find in the later Van Halen albums, Skid Row,etc....people are still listening to Paradise City and November Rain....Guns N Roses took risks whether they were successfull or not is subjective but they were not a one-dimensional band. Yet many say they were corporate rock, even with 10 minute art rock epics with f-bombs littered throughout....

So what do you guys think is the reason this band and Axl are so underrated? They were the last big band to make waves in America, not a single band has taken the mantle and become huge in America. Not one. For all the shit Axl gets, is there a single frontman who comes close to what he did in the 80's and 90's? Nope. In an era of posers (Eminem), you have a truly controversial band with a great frontman who really has not delivered a subpar record of original material. As the VH1 biography of Guns says, Axl's image has been frozen in time because he left the industry on such a strong note. Yet his legacy is still a big question mark, he still has not cemented it like Slash....will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

FYI: This is not a thread to fawn over Axl Rose (sorry Axllites)

While I may agree with large parts of this, at the end of the day, GNR is overrated if anything.

This is a band with 2 proper albums.

This is why I have to chuckle when some of you talk about them for the Hall Of Fame. No shot. Not a long enough career. If this was a nother band with such a short time at the top and such a shortage of material, you would not give them a second thought.

Objectivity has never been the GNR fanbase's strong suit.

I'm bet Nirvana is going to get in . Appetite was just as influential as Nevermind in my opinion, both bands have a general lack of material relatively speaking. I think they should both get in: quality and influence over quantity. I'd hate to see what the music scene of the day would have been like without GNR, until grunge came up.

Nirvana is absolutely getting in and deservedly so.

Their influence for a decade after bursting on the scene (though not always positive for the industry IMO) cannot be denied.

Quick, which bands have emulated GNR??

Emulated or were influenced by? I'm sure many many bands were influenced by guns, I've heard lots of bands, even grunge bands like STP and AIC mention guns. Can't think of anyone who emulated guns, but then again who emulated Nirvana? I'm sure alot of people were influenced by them, but I don't think the other grunge bands of the day emulated Nirvana, they all came out around the same time.

[buzzsaw]

Reading those threads about the brazilian and swedish journalist ripping Axl and Guns got me thinking about something.

I always felt that the impact of Guns N Roses and Axl Rose as a frontman/artist were severely underrated by the media outlets like Rolling Stone. Guns N Roses gave one of the all time greatest rock albums in AFD, a near perfect album, a seminal debut for a grimy rock band. They weren't posers, they weren't intentionally being subversive, they were just real and raw.

But they get written off as some flash in the pan band with a couple good songs who were sort of popular in their day but are a relic of the past with outdated music.

Lord knows I'm no Axl-lite, but Axl Rose's talents and his abilities as a songwriter and artist are completely ignored and mired under his lesser traits (homophobia, purported racism, being an asshole,etc). Axl has ofcourse made it worse by continuing to use the GnR name without the other members to the ire of the music industry and media. But aside from all his controversial aspects and areas where obviously he deserves some of the shit he gets, the guy was an immensely talented frontman. You don't write songs like Estranged and November Rain and lyrics to songs like Coma and be considered "that red haired asshole from guns n roses you know that 80's hair metal band, yeah they had a few good songs, Appetite was their only good album everything else afterwards was shit"...bet everyone has heard that line before in everything you read about Guns N Roses....

Now Guns in their day were a phenomenally talented band with worldwide popularity, they were the biggest band in the world. Their original material (AFD, Lies, UYI) are exceptionally strong albums with material that is holding up well over time. This isn't dated shit like stuff you find in the later Van Halen albums, Skid Row,etc....people are still listening to Paradise City and November Rain....Guns N Roses took risks whether they were successfull or not is subjective but they were not a one-dimensional band. Yet many say they were corporate rock, even with 10 minute art rock epics with f-bombs littered throughout....

So what do you guys think is the reason this band and Axl are so underrated? They were the last big band to make waves in America, not a single band has taken the mantle and become huge in America. Not one. For all the shit Axl gets, is there a single frontman who comes close to what he did in the 80's and 90's? Nope. In an era of posers (Eminem), you have a truly controversial band with a great frontman who really has not delivered a subpar record of original material. As the VH1 biography of Guns says, Axl's image has been frozen in time because he left the industry on such a strong note. Yet his legacy is still a big question mark, he still has not cemented it like Slash....will he do it with Chinese Democracy? Get the rightful praise he deserves?

FYI: This is not a thread to fawn over Axl Rose (sorry Axllites)

While I may agree with large parts of this, at the end of the day, GNR is overrated if anything.

This is a band with 2 proper albums.

This is why I have to chuckle when some of you talk about them for the Hall Of Fame. No shot. Not a long enough career. If this was a nother band with such a short time at the top and such a shortage of material, you would not give them a second thought.

Objectivity has never been the GNR fanbase's strong suit.

I'm bet Nirvana is going to get in . Appetite was just as influential as Nevermind in my opinion, both bands have a general lack of material relatively speaking. I think they should both get in: quality and influence over quantity. I'd hate to see what the music scene of the day would have been like without GNR, until grunge came up.

Nirvana is absolutely getting in and deservedly so.

Their influence for a decade after bursting on the scene (though not always positive for the industry IMO) cannot be denied.

Quick, which bands have emulated GNR??

Paradise City, Appetite for Destruction - there are actually quite a few...

Edited February 24, 2006 by hartjh14

[SylvesterStallone]

Actually....Bush was a carbon copy rip off of Nirvana. I think the reason guns weren't emulated was because their lifestyle was considered uncool after grunge and the music scene shifted....Grunge may be dead but bands today are still playing in that shitty drop d tone....

[Ant]

Actually....Bush was a carbon copy rip off of Nirvana. I think the reason guns weren't emulated was because their lifestyle was considered uncool after grunge and the music scene shifted....Grunge may be dead but bands today are still playing in that shitty drop d tone....

Probably because anyone trying to emulate GNR would have come off as posers, the lifestyle they had was insane and subversive in the 80's and crazy excessive in all respecsts in the 90's, and they were the only people who could even think of pulling it off .

[jimb0]

There was this band playing this show at a coffee house and my friend ran in and said

"KURT COBAINE IS FUCKING DEAD YOU CAN STOP PLAYING NOW!"

I'm kinda glad the origional band didn't have a longer carreer, they might have started to suck.

[Ant]

There was this band playing this show at a coffee house and my friend ran in and said

"KURT COBAINE IS FUCKING DEAD YOU CAN STOP PLAYING NOW!"

I'm kinda glad the origional band didn't have a longer carreer, they might have started to suck.

Well if "You Know You're Right" is any indication...

[kaddisonmoore]

like the guys said if this had been another band in short would you think theyt get in the hall of fame? motley crue? i no they wil have a hard time getting in but they last longer and maybe the regrouping will help then but idk

[D-GenerationX]

Actually....Bush was a carbon copy rip off of Nirvana. I think the reason guns weren't emulated was because their lifestyle was considered uncool after grunge and the music scene shifted....Grunge may be dead but bands today are still playing in that shitty drop d tone....

Exactly.

Like I said, Nirvana's influence has not always been positive, but it cannot be denied.

[Ant]

Actually....Bush was a carbon copy rip off of Nirvana. I think the reason guns weren't emulated was because their lifestyle was considered uncool after grunge and the music scene shifted....Grunge may be dead but bands today are still playing in that shitty drop d tone....

Exactly.

Like I said, Nirvana's influence has not always been positive, but it cannot be denied.

What the heck is that proving though? The fact that a bunch of mediocore bands are copying Nirvana's easy way of writing music to compensate for their lack of songwriting abilities, is somehow a measure of how great Nirvana was? OK...

Well bands like Buck Cherry and Silvertide sure sound like they're GNR influenced (just off the top of my head), and I mean if you look on

Itunes celebrity playlists, a bunch of them had guns songs as their favorites. I think you're selling GNR short a bit...but whatever.

Like I said I think GNR's lack of emulation by follow up bands has more to do with the uniqueness of GNR and it's members, rather than their popularity and influence, or lack of as you seem to think.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Ant

[SWINGTRADER]

i remember mtv making a list of the best bands of the last 25 yrs. and Gnr ranked #3 behind U2 and Metallica. They are always in the top 100 lists . I don't think they are underrated I just think people have pity for them because they had a chance to be as big as the rolling stones but they fucked it up. The reason that the press isn't so favorable towards this new gnr is because of the respect they have for the old band, they don't want GNR to become a joke. I hope Axl proves them wrong.

[Mike McKagan]

If we're looking for proof that bands that didn't produce much material have a legitimate shot at the Rock Hall, Nirvana is a good hypothetical. However, just take a look at the 2006 inductees and notice the name Sex Pistols. Hmm, let's see... a raw, uncensored album that served as a rejuvination for rock n' roll without much real follow-up... Sounds awfully familiar. GN'R have had a proper career compared to Sid & Johnny, so I'd say they'll be inducted on their first ballot.

[Ant]

i remember mtv making a list of the best bands of the last 25 yrs. and Gnr ranked #3 behind U2 and Metallica. They are always in the top 100 lists . I don't think they are underrated I just think people have pity for them because they had a chance to be as big as the rolling stones but they fucked it up. The reason that the press isn't so favorable towards this new gnr is because of the respect they have for the old band, they don't want GNR to become a joke. I hope Axl proves them wrong.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

Mike also makes a good point, here's hoping! .

Edited February 24, 2006 by Ant

[jimb0]

I hope Axl proves them wrong.

I mean we got "oh my god" at first and a ton of us said "ohh shit". but then

came "the blues" and we went ahhhhhhhhh this is nice.

So now with the demos a lot of people are saying "ohhh shit" and we will get

chinese democracy and I that we can all go ahhhhhh this is nice

I wouldn't want GNR to be like the stones, they have some great stuff but they have tooo much stuff that isn't amazing.

[sweetness]

They are very underrated by the media. Sspecially as of today, were hip-hop owns the music industry.

[jimb0]

That's why the new stuff has hip hop beats haha

[hudder]

I think what Axl will bring back is the "concept" of an album that people like to listen to from beginning to end. That's what AFD and UYI's were to me. At the end of every song, I know exactly what the opening riff or drum is going to be, and it (almost always) runs so smoothly from song to song it's like a book. In this day of singles and one hit wonders, ipods and music sharing, it'll take an artist like axl to come out with an album like they used to make. I was listening to Alice Cooper's "Welcome to my Nightmare" not too long ago and it hit me that it had really been a long time since I heard a whole new album that I didn't get tired of after a few songs. GNR, you just have to listen to all of it!

I've been a defender of Axl's integrety over the years, and wondered why I even bothered at some points. Taking this long has grated on the most loyal of fans' patience, and we're pissed at how him and the rest of the gunners weren't able to reconcile. One of the reasons they couldn't work together anymore was because he was a perfectionist with big ideas when he was writing and recording songs like November Rain. While the other guys felt pushed out, thinking what the f*k with the violins and choir and piano, this is just a rock band! , Axl took the wheel without really seeming to care what the others felt and guess what? He came out with some epic Rock and Roll classics that everyone knows the words too. I can understand both sides.

This is why I continue to have faith in the future of GNR. He now has the freedom to do what he wants, he was never good at playing with others anyhow! And as far as Im' concerned with his a-hole behaviour and inconsiderate attitudes, what true artist isn't a little off their rocker anyhow? That is the price you pay for artistic genius.