Merck

[Longpig]

None of you lot know what kind of job he's doing so stop trying to guess.

the fact Axl is on a BIG tour and hasn't cancelled any gigs or got into too much trouble is encouraging.

If Axl wanted to put the record out do you think Merck would try and stop him? No.

It's Axl who is the reason for no album not the manager. You can only manage if there is something to manage and I don't think he has much to get his teeth in yet, so give him a break.

LP

[November_rain]

Ah! some things never change!

Kids, sometimes you´re a real pain! I can´t believe you´re bashing a person YOU DON´T KNOW, a person whose job you know nothing about and a person who is a very busy business man who has been VERY GENEROUS WITH US by taking a few minutes of his busy agenda to answer some of the stupid emails some people bother him with and also, he´s been very kind by denying some rumours many times.

You know shit about the man´s job. Dudes, are you ever going to develop a bit of common sense or is it too much to ask? Grow the fuck up!

You´ve bashed Axl,old and current band members,Beta,Merck and almost everybody in the GNR camp, who are you going to bash next, Axl´s gardener?

[quadlaser]

who are you going to bash next, Axl´s gardener?

i hate that bastard

[Chris Axl]

Merck is doing a great job.

I think many of you fail to understand how challenging his job truly is, and how difficult it must be to work with artists who are temperamental, volatile and demanding. Most musicians in successful bands - not just GNR - tend to have egos, strong personalities and eccentricities. Merck has to balance all of that to make sure the musician is happy - and at the same time use his experience and judgment to make decisions that are in the best interest of the band. This isn't always easy.

Sometimes a musician won't listen - and then he has to find a creative way to stoke the artist's ego while still getting him to listen. It's part psychology, part PR savvyness, and part industry expert.

Merck has many many years of experience in the business. He knows how the industry works - and - even more importantly - he recognizes the important role the internet plays these days. I think he's done an excellent job communicating with fans who ask him questions - considering the band has no album. I can't think of another manager who would communicate with fans about a band that hasn't released an album in 10 years.

As for gnronline.com - This site is run by the label, so it really shouldn't be surprising if management has another site planned for the band.

I tip my hat off to Merck.

Axl is lucky to have him.

Agreeing with Madison on this one, i Think Merck is doing a good job

[Graeme]

... My question was weak?

It still hasn't been answered...how would any of you MAKE Axl Rose write and record music?

It's an absurd notion,you can't tell genuine artists to "create".

Exactly Zint61.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, managers don't just bark orders - especially when it comes to Axl. A good manager has to know when to push, when to pull back, when to do damage control, when to stroke an ego, and when to put him in his place. And that's not easy when it involves well-established musicians, such as Axl, who have egos, strong personalities and quirky eccentricities.

Remember the New York Times article from March 2005? Here's an excerpt that describes what happened to a talent executive who tried to make a friendly suggestion to Axl:

In 1997 Todd Sullivan, who was then a talent executive for the company, sent Mr. Rose a sampling of CD's produced by different people, and encouraged him to choose one to work on ''Chinese Democracy.'' Mr. Sullivan says he received a call informing him that Mr. Rose had run over the albums with a car.

The singer had encouraged everyone in the band's camp to record their ideas for riffs and jams, hours and hours of song fragments that he hoped to process into full compositions. ''Most of the stuff he had played me was just sketches,'' Mr. Sullivan recalled. ''I said, 'Look, Axl, this is some really great, promising stuff here. Why don't you consider just bearing down and completing some of these songs?' He goes, 'Hmm, bear down and complete some of these songs?' Next day I get a call from Eddie'' -- Eddie Rosenblatt, the Geffen chairman -- ''saying I was off the project.''

I'm guessing Doug Goldstein and Alan Niven could probably tell similar war stories.

So blaming Merck for the album's delay is ridiculous.

Thats excellant! I have this mental picture of Axl putting the CDs in a line and driving straight over then reversing back to ensure they were well crushed! Axl is his own man, after all these years he isn't about to start letting anyone tell him what to do, I would think managing GnR has always been a tough job!

Jo

Whereas i always thought that that was petty, childish and destructive, all the guy was trying to do was help so axl goes and runs over stuff the guy probably went to a good deal of effort to get in a car? That is one of the things I admire Axl least for. Don't get me wrong, i love the guy but after reading that i can say i was pretty disgusted with him.

[November_rain]

Most people here talk about something they have no clue about. Leave the man alone!

Edited August 31, 2006 by November_rain

[vicious]

Most people here talk about something they have no clue about. Leave the man alone!

but we've nothing else to talk about

all the other threads have been done over and over

something needs to happen "soon"

[Zint]

... My question was weak?

It still hasn't been answered...how would any of you MAKE Axl Rose write and record music?

It's an absurd notion,you can't tell genuine artists to "create".

Exactly Zint61.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, managers don't just bark orders - especially when it comes to Axl. A good manager has to know when to push, when to pull back, when to do damage control, when to stroke an ego, and when to put him in his place. And that's not easy when it involves well-established musicians, such as Axl, who have egos, strong personalities and quirky eccentricities.

Remember the New York Times article from March 2005? Here's an excerpt that describes what happened to a talent executive who tried to make a friendly suggestion to Axl:

In 1997 Todd Sullivan, who was then a talent executive for the company, sent Mr. Rose a sampling of CD's produced by different people, and encouraged him to choose one to work on ''Chinese Democracy.'' Mr. Sullivan says he received a call informing him that Mr. Rose had run over the albums with a car.

The singer had encouraged everyone in the band's camp to record their ideas for riffs and jams, hours and hours of song fragments that he hoped to process into full compositions. ''Most of the stuff he had played me was just sketches,'' Mr. Sullivan recalled. ''I said, 'Look, Axl, this is some really great, promising stuff here. Why don't you consider just bearing down and completing some of these songs?' He goes, 'Hmm, bear down and complete some of these songs?' Next day I get a call from Eddie'' -- Eddie Rosenblatt, the Geffen chairman -- ''saying I was off the project.''

I'm guessing Doug Goldstein and Alan Niven could probably tell similar war stories.

So blaming Merck for the album's delay is ridiculous.

Thats excellant! I have this mental picture of Axl putting the CDs in a line and driving straight over then reversing back to ensure they were well crushed! Axl is his own man, after all these years he isn't about to start letting anyone tell him what to do, I would think managing GnR has always been a tough job!

Jo

Whereas i always thought that that was petty, childish and destructive, all the guy was trying to do was help so axl goes and runs over stuff the guy probably went to a good deal of effort to get in a car? That is one of the things I admire Axl least for. Don't get me wrong, i love the guy but after reading that i can say i was pretty disgusted with him.

clearly you are not a professional musician

[OTHAFA]

Merck is not doing his job well at all.

People are wondering why the ticket sales for the U.S. leg of the tour are so poor - because who the fuck knows there even IS a tour?

Honestly, unless you visit GnR forums or hear from a friend who does, how in the world would you know that Axl is even "back", much less on a tour?

No ads, no TV appearences, no interviews, no nothing - it's just like.. "Oh hey, here we are, go by tickets.. K THANX"

[BaDHaBiTt]

Haha.. How can madison and the rest defend Merck when:

1: There is NO promotion or information for the US tour?

2: There was almost NO info about the European tour?

3: The band has NO website, online info has to come from a member of the band himself (Bumblefoot)!

I find the fact that the tour is not promoted a disaster. Madison, you're not abliged to defend Merck just because you have spoken to him a few times.

[November_rain]

It´s not about Madison is obliged to defend Merck or not. The thing is that most of you are bashing someone you don´t know and judging Merck´s job as if you knew shit when the truth is that any of you has a clue about what the guy does.

Really dudes, I wouldn´t want to have fans like you if I were an artist. You bash everybody,you think you deserve all the info you want and when you want, you are never happy and always need something to whine and moan all the time. This speaks volumes of you!

[ohmygod]

It´s not about Madison is obliged to defend Merck or not. The thing is that most of you are bashing someone you don´t know and judging Merck´s job as if you knew shit when the truth is that any of you has a clue about what the guy does.

Really dudes, I wouldn´t want to have fans like you if I were an artist. You bash everybody,you think you deserve all the info you want and when you want, you are never happy and always need something to whine and moan all the time. This speaks volumes of you!

i could not have written it better myself, there are a bunch of people out here who think it's so easy (no pun intended) to run a band, tours, promotion, etc., when in reality they dont have a clue.

[BarmyBritJo]

I'm used to not getting much info about GnR, they have never really been the sorts to be giving loads of interviews, getting write ups, on tele ect, imagine before the internet us "older" fans had to scan every metal mag on the shelves for just a tad of info! It's not the fault of Merck as a manager, no GnR managment has ever got them to do alot of publicity stuff and often when they did appear on anything they were high or pissed (or both!) and ended trashing the set, swearing ect and getting in trouble!!

Jo

[TrixAreForKids]

Haha.. How can madison and the rest defend Merck when:

1: There is NO promotion or information for the US tour?

2: There was almost NO info about the European tour?

3: The band has NO website, online info has to come from a member of the band himself (Bumblefoot)!

I find the fact that the tour is not promoted a disaster. Madison, you're not abliged to defend Merck just because you have spoken to him a few times.

You make good points. I think the new album is the key, and without a finished product, all the planning and promotions don't really make sense. Other than a few posters for the European tour, why do a big promotion for a band that doesn't have a new product.

[ChineseDemocracy]

I dont know how you can say Merck is doing a 'great' job, maybe a 'decent' job, but I have yet to see any promotion from the band for any of their US shows. At least when Doug Goldstein was managing the band, the promotion got so overdone that if you werent at a GNR show, or at least knew about it, you would be living under a rock.

Now, if you know when a GNR show is coming to town, you have to be a computer geek who cupcakes the internet specifically looking for GNR dates.

[dogboy]

wow he is doing a shit job axl should have just got himself a bush to get what he is getting

[vicious]

I dont know how you can say Merck is doing a 'great' job, maybe a 'decent' job, but I have yet to see any promotion from the band for any of their US shows. At least when Doug Goldstein was managing the band, the promotion got so overdone that if you werent at a GNR show, or at least knew about it, you would be living under a rock.

Now, if you know when a GNR show is coming to town, you have to be a computer geek who cupcakes the internet specifically looking for GNR dates.

100% right

[abw1987]

There's no way that Merck could be doing this bad of a job without doing on purpose, though. The absence of promotion and publicity that we've seen can't be just because he sucks at what he does. They have to planning some kind of sudden big comeback with an immense shock factor. And maybe they're proving to the label that they can sell out shows even without promotion (other than word of mouth). I dunno. I'm sure he isn't getting paid for nothing, though.

[Mysteron]

There's no way that Merck could be doing this bad of a job without doing on purpose, though. The absence of promotion and publicity that we've seen can't be just because he sucks at what he does. They have to planning some kind of sudden big comeback with an immense shock factor. And maybe they're proving to the label that they can sell out shows even without promotion (other than word of mouth). I dunno. I'm sure he isn't getting paid for nothing, though.

There can be no qualified responses here which makes me wonder why this thread is still active

[Mr Estranged]

There's no way that Merck could be doing this bad of a job without doing on purpose, though. The absence of promotion and publicity that we've seen can't be just because he sucks at what he does. They have to planning some kind of sudden big comeback with an immense shock factor. And maybe they're proving to the label that they can sell out shows even without promotion (other than word of mouth). I dunno. I'm sure he isn't getting paid for nothing, though.

There can be no qualified responses here which makes me wonder why this thread is still active

"Qualified"??

How about everyone is entitled to their own opinion and its a internet forum?

I agree however there are some bloody stupid responses.(abw1987 point in case)

UK SUBS.

yeah i thought that was abit of poncey thing to say as well...

On topic: I am going to have to agree to the Merck nay sayers, purely for the poor promotion and exchange of information, he may have a difficult client or he may work very hard but the fact is theres no website to follow up quieries (unforgivable in this day and age), communication with the outside world is minimal and important information concert dates or whatever is awkard to find.

He may have tough but that does not excuse him...in my opinion.

[abw1987]

blow me

[November_rain]

Now all of a sudden you are all experts in the music bussiness, band promotions, management...WOW!!

[Calm Like A Bomb]

Guns N' Roses don't need Merck and it's as simple as that.

[vicious]

Now all of a sudden you are all experts in the music bussiness, band promotions, management...WOW!!

to be honest do you have enough knowledge about the music business to say that he is doing great?

[November_rain]

Now all of a sudden you are all experts in the music bussiness, band promotions, management...WOW!!

to be honest do you have enough knowledge about the music business to say that he is doing great?

I´ve NEVER said whether he´s good or bad in his job simply because I don´t know shit about the man´s job and I don´t judge people I don´t know. That´s all.