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Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
i just think that he doesnt like to deal with criticism so he avoids it for as long as possible ... he doestn deal well with the media and in the public eye so if he can do anything to avoid it he will ... he knows he had big shoes to fill so he tried and tried to make CD the best he could, but sometimes you lose site of the forest for all the trees and you get locked in looking at 14 trees in particular or whatever, the point is that somewhere along the line he may have lost the ability to objectively review what he was trying to accomplish
also he is the type where if you tell him that he cant do something he will do it anyway jsut to spite the naysayers....he's like marty mcfly, call him chicken and he cant help himself but to do it regardless of how reckless of an act it may be ... but its somethign to admire....in the true sense of rebellion ... its what drew me to being a fan and axl still has the attitude and swagger that he did in the 80's
analize all you want but he's just a guy with flaws like anyone else...i dont think he is anymore fucked up that the next guy tbh and at the end of the day i think that CD is a remarkable effort for all involved...on more levels than just the music
Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
i just think that he doesnt like to deal with criticism so he avoids it for as long as possible ... he doestn deal well with the media and in the public eye so if he can do anything to avoid it he will ... he knows he had big shoes to fill so he tried and tried to make CD the best he could, but sometimes you lose site of the forest for all the trees and you get locked in looking at 14 trees in particular or whatever, the point is that somewhere along the line he may have lost the ability to objectively review what he was trying to accomplish
also he is the type where if you tell him that he cant do something he will do it anyway jsut to spite the naysayers....he's like marty mcfly, call him chicken and he cant help himself but to do it regardless of how reckless of an act it may be ... but its somethign to admire....in the true sense of rebellion ... its what drew me to being a fan and axl still has the attitude and swagger that he did in the 80's
analize all you want but he's just a guy with flaws like anyone else...i dont think he is anymore fucked up that the next guy tbh and at the end of the day i think that CD is a remarkable effort for all involved...on more levels than just the music
Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
Personally I think he's mentally stable but a drama queen. Perfectly normal, but interested in alternative hippy spirituality crap, an extremely nice person, but incredibly self centered.
I don't think he has some special disease aside from his immaturity.
In fact the only thing he's got going for him is that he's a great lyricist and a hell of a singer and musician in general.
After that, he's pretty much an underdeveloped child
Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
Axlin08 wrote:Is there a chance Axl's re-recorded over and over CD tracks are sitting in his house and he won't let them go?
If true, why not use them on the album? They couldn't possibly be any worse, could they? It would make no sense to sit on superior vocal takes on old songs being released.
Neemo used to say instead of using the cut and paste hell with old vocal takes the album turned into, the 2008 version of the band should have went into the studio and recorded the album in a few weeks. As a nutswinger of the 2001 lineup I always disagreed but now that there's distance between CD's release and its legacy is solidified, I'm starting to agree that the approach should have been used.
I would have hated Bucket(and possibly Brain) not being on the album, but banging the album out in 4-8 weeks Soundgarden style may have improved the overall album.
I think you mean drop the 2 albums in 2003 and 04, then spiral out of control and let the new guys develop the leftovers.
- shotgunblues1978
- Rep: 11
Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
Rather than try to diagnose Axl with a specific disorder I think it's probably best to just take a look at him as a product of personality and circumstances
-Had a traumatic childhood fraught with abuse
-Is by nature a quiet and shy person
-Due to a combo of natural personality and childhood has tremendous insecurity, trust issues and sensitivity to criticism
-Went from being a nobody to being one of the biggest rock stars of all time within a 4 year span
So you have a guy who is unstable, emotionally vulnerable, and extremely talented who managed to go from zero to the top of the world within 4 year largely as the "brains" behind the operation (forget the Chinese Democracy debacle and remember that he largely "called his shot" and was the de-facto leader of the band from 86-89 when their meteoric rise occurred)
Following this you had a guy who was unstable, emotionally vulnerable, extremely talented AND who had the wealth and record sales to do whatever the hell he wanted, AND believed that his success was strictly the product of his own talent and "vision"
So when everyone quit and he was feeling completely betrayed and at this point was massively criticized by the media/general public, he also thought he knew it all because he had been the leader of a band that went from zero to legend in four years
At the end of the day you have a guy believes he is 100% right and extremely talented but has to reconcile that with the fact that he is reviled by the public and the media, and cannot understand or accept the negativity
What he needed to do from day one when he decided to continue GNR without Slash & Co. was give a double middle finger to everyone and bask in the publicity (negative and positive) surrounding the new band
He should've gone on TV and told everyone he was the genius behind Guns N' Roses, and that Buckethead was a better guitarist than Slash, and that he did not give a flying fuck whether anyone accepted him using the name, it's his band name and it's his decision and people can either accept it or go fuck themselves. Instead he continued the band with little to no defense, and the negative festered. He was an easy target because he never defended himself. And as the timeline started to become ludicrous the criticism and negativity surrounding the album only grew. Then the 2002 VMAs occurred and that was the death knell. If the 2006 or 2009 Axl had showed up with the 2002 band they would've blown the doors off the joint and he would've been at worst grudgingly accepted and possibly showered in praise. But he showed up out of shape and covered in jerseys and dreads and Botox and got killed
The sad irony is that he could've released mostly the same album in 2003 with the same people who actually made the music, and when the music industry was still in decent shape, and achieved some success which would've led to further album rather quickly. Instead he released an album that never had a chance to succeed (at least in the US) and now has no backing from the label for future releases
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
The thing to me is it doesn't matter if Axl has Borderline Personality Disorder, is Bi-Polar, Obessive-Compulsive, is just a nice guy on a wierd life path, is jesus come back from the past, a space alien, or just a total asshole...what's amazing is what he's actually achieved imo.
We like to complain about how things could have been better and things the band does wrong.
But if you step back from that - Axl is a guy who will be remembered as one of the best front men of all time, who has written/co-written some of the most iconic songs of all time, who has crossed generational, cultural, political and socio economic lines to touch millions of people across the globe with his words and his melodies and his ability to bottle emotions and compelx states of mind onto a tape...
and he made all that happen from an absolutely fucked background from what we read.
Maybe he's a lot of things, maybe he isn't, and sure I guess too many people don't work his way...but damn at the end of the day....he's one of the most talented men out there....and I respect that forever whatever happens.
Re: Not sure I agree with Axl being a "perfectionist"
Actually, Axl is PRECISELY the definition of a perfectionist.
Alot of people don't know this, but perfectionism is a personality disorder, that is a sub-category of... you guessed it Maddy - 'Obsessive Compulsive'.
Alot of people assume that people who are diagnosed as a 'perfectionist', that assume the word 'perfectionist' and the diagnosis go hand-and-hand with each other.
Not so.
There is the 'good' kind of perfectionism, where people are tidy cleaners, get work done ON TIME, keep track of every single detail, and execute perfectly, and rarely is it a disorder that interferes or derails their daily life.
THEN... there's the 'bad' kind of perfectionism. The bad kind is a form of Obsessive Compulsive PERSONALITY Disorder (not to be confused with OCD), and people under these guide lines are...
Procrastinators
Have an unobtainable standard, which immediately set themselves up for failure
An "all or nothing" attitude
Set goals based on others around them
Doubt their ability to accomplish tasks
Agonize over mistakesAnd there are many more. Sound like anyone familiar? But the "all or nothing" attitude is very important, because it structures the entire psyche of the perfectionist. Your attitude is structured of "if I can't do this perfectly, then I shouldn't bother to do it at all". Kind of like release an album. Problem is you spend so much time procrastinating, because you're trying to strive for perfection, that by the time you get to the very end, what you are doing has become a bastardized version of your original goal, and the perfection goal is lost. THEN, you consider yourself a failure, because you didn't obtain the perfection, which almost ALL perfectionists, true perfectionists, the 'maladaptive'/'negative' kind deal with.
Perfectionists are notorious also for tardiness to work, events, or projects, as well as turning in reports late, and requesting extended deadlines. Sound like anyone familiar?
Everyone is open to their own opinion, because Psychology is a science and theory. But I believe Axl is a perfectionist.
Why? Because I have some background educationally in Psychology, and I was diagnosed as a 'perfectionist' at one time.
shit, u just described me to a T.
