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Re: Axl Rose - Criminally underrated lyricist.
not sure i agree w/this.
well, he's not like RATM in sofar as he's not shit, but what's Civil War or Chinese Democracy?i do know where you're coming from. he's probably at his best on stuff like SCoM with it's personal but universal reach. but he doesn't shy away from social comment either - "organised religion makes a mockery of humanity etc"
UYI's especially are covered in lyrical genius
i thought he took a massive step-BACK on CD however - the over-reliance on the cut & paste, lack of anything worth singing along too (Better inparticular is ruined by this). they do tell good stories, tho very similar, & there are a few highlights (Sorry's playground chorus completely wipes the floor w/the similarly puerile How Do You Sleep?, Maddy is a tour-de-force).
but take Prostitute, or even TWAT. great fucking songs, & good stories but who the fuck is gonna be singing along to them in concert (that is, if he ever had the balls to play them) the way you can w/SCoM? there's no "whoa-oh's" on the album at all. The Blues is the only thing that comes close to a sing-along but even it stretches credibility with it's WhatITellYA/InsideofYou finish & bad tempo.& another thing - where the fuck has all the sex gone? maybe one or two occasions it was discussed on the UYI's but CD is disturbing asexual for a band who did Anything Goes & Rocket Queen.
& it's gotten some stick on here the past few weeks but seriously, OIAM fucking kills lyrically. an absolutely awesome song & awesome, fearless lyric.
Great post, extremely well-written, and agree with almost everything.:thumbup:
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Axl Rose - Criminally underrated lyricist.
I think his lyrics are masterful. The way they are sometimes a collection of related but disjointed thoughts and concepts really capture the essence of emotions I think.
I often felt the genius is that some of the songs are highbrow and some quite low brow, but they're all very honest and very much reflect states of mind I sometimes find myself in.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Axl Rose - Criminally underrated lyricist.
The blues lyrics are pretty solid. Breakdown is awesome.
Re: Axl Rose - Criminally underrated lyricist.
i like him & his band (& used to love them), but eddie isn't fit to sharpen axl's pencil/wet his quill/dip is ink/any-other-strained-double-entendre
axl was in a league of his own compared to his contemporaries. especially evident on AFD/UYI. he rubbed shoulders w/Lennon/Jagger 65-72 & got w/in touching distance of Dylan.
tbh there aren't many great american rock lyricists & i'd say axl is actually comfortably one of them. its one respect where his smaller catalogue serves him well.
(& in the interests of fairness i should note, tho i shouldn't really have to - just given the volatile emotions of certain boardmembers - i believe the AFD/UYI era band overall is comfortably one of the greatest american bands.) ahem.
Axl is a pretty straightforward literal lyricist most of the time
he doesn't seem to get too much into metaphor etc.
Can't think of too many super profound deep Axl lyrics in all honesty...
thoughts?
dunno if i agree w/this either. Madagascar itself is a metaphor & he has moments & songs of profundity - chief obv being Estranged but also even the likes of Jungle/OIAM/OTGM/Michelle which are more literal (tho again Jungle being the metaphor...) but still have this way of disseminating imagery to create a wider, instant portrait of the world which he's singing. he has this ability to conjure the mood, background & setting of the society he's singing about which gives the seemingly immediate lyrics more weight. what i mean is like on OTGM it's like you're on the run from the pigs w/him or you can see the movie of Michelle playing in your head. [/waffle]
& i mean it's not a talent unique to Axl, i just think he was a whole lot more consistent, & honest, & interesting, that most rock lyricists.
Re: Axl Rose - Criminally underrated lyricist.
i like him & his band (& used to love them), but eddie isn't fit to sharpen axl's pencil/wet his quill/dip is ink/any-other-strained-double-entendre
axl was in a league of his own compared to his contemporaries. especially evident on AFD/UYI. he rubbed shoulders w/Lennon/Jagger 65-72 & got w/in touching distance of Dylan.
tbh there aren't many great american rock lyricists & i'd say axl is actually comfortably one of them. its one respect where his smaller catalogue serves him well.
(& in the interests of fairness i should note, tho i shouldn't really have to - just given the volatile emotions of certain boardmembers - i believe the AFD/UYI era band overall is comfortably one of the greatest american bands.) ahem.
Keep in mind, this is the same music world that considers Kurt Cobain to be a poet, and THE BEST rock lyricist of his generation.
Huh? x 1,000,000
I thought the guy was H-O-R-R-I-B-L-E, outside of the chorus & melody parts on the songs.
