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Re: Remember when...
Not sure how well this fits the theme of the topic, but about 2 years before CD was released, a "fake insider" posted lyrics to Sorry over at HTGTH to prove he/she was legit. Then he/she just disappeared. I think "demolition" was the user name. The song title wasn't mentioned, but the lyrics - as it turned out - were correct.
Re: Remember when...
the band and music was fine...Axl sucked and looked like a clown. He seemed very nervous as well.
He seemed nervous without a doubt. His intro scream was killer, then almost immediately it fell apart. Nobody I knew (outside of the GNR community) had anything good to say about that performance. That being said, despite the sucky part it was still amazing to see my "new" band on TV. Naively I thought it was the start of something big. haha, funny me. 
Re: Remember when...
Sky Dog wrote:the band and music was fine...Axl sucked and looked like a clown. He seemed very nervous as well.
He seemed nervous without a doubt. His intro scream was killer, then almost immediately it fell apart. Nobody I knew (outside of the GNR community) had anything good to say about that performance. That being said, despite the sucky part it was still amazing to see my "new" band on TV. Naively I thought it was the start of something big. haha, funny me.
ROUND 1!
What round are we in now 10 years later?
It seemed like Axl wasn't in tip top shape for that performance either. Sort of like Rio last year. He was all out of breath from running around, it seemed like he hadn't been conditioined to do so since 93. That's why I think he sounded killer on Madagascar when he was stationary..
Re: Remember when...
He seemed nervous without a doubt. His intro scream was killer, then almost immediately it fell apart. Nobody I knew (outside of the GNR community) had anything good to say about that performance. That being said, despite the sucky part it was still amazing to see my "new" band on TV. Naively I thought it was the start of something big. haha, funny me.
This pretty much sums it up. When Jimmy introduced them I was pumped, the intro to Jungle was awesome and Ax's scream was wicked but the second he started singing it all fell apart. He sounded good to start Madagascar but midway through it's like what the fuck is wrong with his voice. Sounds like a cheap karaoke version of himself. He sounds god aweful on PC. I was blinded by the excitment back then but like you Cramer I didn't hear a single person outside forum walls say anything remotely positive about that performance. Not only was there no positivity, they got slammed by everyone I know. This at a time when the general public were still probably willing to embrace Axl but when they saw a clown show on stage and Axl sounding as bad as he did the wheels fell off incredibly fast. And when I say Clown Show I mean it. People can say all they want about how eclectic or how original they looked but the truth is they looked like a damn joke and in retrospect it's embarassing that THAT was paraded out ther on live tv as Guns N' Roses and now that my excitment for that moment is a distant memory I can totally see why the huge majority hated that performance and why they thought Gn'R was a fucking joke.
I'm shocked watching back how aweful this actually was and again like you Cramer at the time I was so naive to think this was the begiing of something amazing. It's sad really.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Remember when...
Exactly...firstly...it's uncomftorable....when Fallon...gives that huge opening with "they're one of my favourite bands of all time"...not to dig up the name issue...but he basicly nearly bills it as a return of the classic GNR for kids that never got to see it first time around....so with an opening like that you want to have the goods....
Then you kick into a peformance where Axl has a surprising new look, is clearly having a bad peformance night, and the band not only doesn't feature what people knew as GNR, they also don't look rockish. You have to give that these days you see DJ and Richard and like them or not they look like a rock band...but with Bucket and Robin it looked somewhat confused as to what genre it is, and that's even a thought that only occurs to people who are tollernt and openminded enough to go past the immediate shock of 1 random gothic guy in a band, and a dude wearing a mask/raincoat/bucket combination....you can see why "circus" comes to mind.
Imagine this peformance in two alternate worlds:
1. Same questionable Axl peformance but with the UYI era band as they were in this vintage. Axl still looks and sounds a bit odd, but the cut shots are of Slash headbanding with his hat, Duff strolling around in his buff-VR mode..and Matt and so on - all looking like badass old school rockers. I think the general public would have swallowed the Axl weakness a little better...you'd loose the circus vibe...and there would be no question that it was GNR...
2. Keep the new band and the circus vibe...but give Axl his 2006 rasp and look...you'd still get a ton of WTF cos of Robin and Bucket ll....but then if Axl hit those 2006 RAR style screams and rasp...you'd feel confident Axl's back...
Problem with what we got was that it wasn't old GNR, it also wasn't a rock and roll band in the traditional sense, and you couldn't even say Axl was back as he himself looked strange and sounded unlike his better moments....
Traumatising.
In fact i think if the whole 2002 tour had never happened less people would have hated the new band.
By 2006 fink could play the solo's far better than he could in 2002, and by 2006 Axl had some rasp, and some vintage rock dress sense back....
if the 2006 band had been the first taste of new GNR ever...then the public maybe would have been a lot more into it I think....
And now by 2012 I think they've perfected the modern line up...the problem is...it's taken 20 years almost.
Re: Remember when...
THAT is what the 2002 band was to the world. I know all of the fanboys cum at the thought of this Praxis meets NIN-themed GN'R, but to the world it was a fucking joke and the ride would not have lasted long.
All they needed was a single. Period. The world was talking, good and bad. Silkworms would have charted much higher than the album's 2 singles did in 2008.
Once the world stopped talking, it was over. Album became a pop culture joke about a year later and in hindsight the entire project should have been scrapped.
BTW, the ride would have lasted much longer than it did in 2008, even taking a tour implosion and riots into consideration.
And now by 2012 I think they've perfected the modern line up...the problem is...it's taken 20 years almost.
A lineup that's been together 3 years but has released nothing is nowhere close to being perfected.
Re: Remember when...
THAT is what the 2002 band was to the world. I know all of the fanboys cum at the thought of this Praxis meets NIN-themed GN'R, but to the world it was a fucking joke and the ride would not have lasted long.
All they needed was a single. Period. The world was talking, good and bad. Silkworms would have charted much higher than the album's 2 singles did in 2008.
No chance in hell dude. The world was talkinga nd it was 95% bad 5% good. Had they released that shitty Silkworms as a single after the world got a glimpse of the freak show the reaction would've been "fuck this garbage this isn't Guns N' Roses where is Slash!" Had they come out with Better or CD back then they may have had a shot. Silkworms? No fucking chance dude.
BTW, the ride would have lasted much longer than it did in 2008, even taking a tour implosion and riots into consideration.
It would've only lasted longer because they weren't so far rmeoevd form their heyday.
Re: Remember when...
You're talking to a guy (with all due respect), that thinks Riad N' The Bedouins was the best song on the album.
It doesn't invalidate James opinion, but I just know he lives in a chicken coop in space if he thinks Silkworms would've charted higher than Better, had Silkworms dropped in 2002, rather than Chinese Democracy in 2008.
In some ways I think it would've been DOA, regardless. Because GN'R with tons of heat, even negatively would've flatlined versus GN'R with tons of anticipation and no promo at all dropping Chinese Democracy in 2008.
If people wanted Silkworms from their rebooted GN'R, Oh My God would've taken off like a rocket in 1999. Demo or finished cut. Doesn't matter.
So I disagree with James on that. However...
BTW, the ride would have lasted much longer than it did in 2008, even taking a tour implosion and riots into consideration.
I don't think that's fair. Obviously GNR's last "iron's hot" moment was in 2006. By 2008 it was stone cold again, plus no promo... it's very unfair to compare that clusterfuck turd drop moment to the 2002 situation.
However I DO believe that had Axl came out with the 2001-02 "late 90's recharge, Pibb: Xtra" version of GN'R with the campy but cool vibe they had, WITH the vintage Axl voice, THEN dropping a GOOD single on them (of which Chinese didn't really have any, and I don't even know if Better was written then) -- then yes, I do believe they would've had a chance to really hit the ball out of the park, and that in fact it was a sad, wasted opportunity.
The thing is, and we always always hit this wall as fans.... the days of thinking Axl has a vault full of rock gold are over. We don't really know WHAT he has, or had then.
Maybe if Axl had dropped a "Numb"-type track with the Robin/Bucket tag-team in 2002-03, it would've blown up. I believe that.
Now he's waited so long that the whole industry has changed that his "moment" is long gone, short of a GN'R reunion. And even that window is slowly closing every day, every second.
I've said it before, i'll say it again. Axl's seat is still open and at the throne of rock. There's nobody there. Nobody picked up that torch.
All it'll take is DJ and a "Are You With Me" type track, and GN'R would rule the rock charts for months. Sure alot of fans that wanted Silkworms-tracks would be pissed and see it as a sellout moment, but at this point with the changed landscape it's Axl's only shot to sit in that seat again, still have a good run with this new band, without having to call Slash. Might not be original, but you might get a few good tunes out of it.
Right now there's alot of 80's revisionism going on. The kids dress like Sonny Crockett meets Justin Bieber, and even in the rock scene alot of the younger kids are looking to go back and revisit the hair metal era with glee, and a positive spin because of it.
THIS is Axl's "iron" now. A nostaglia act. But not as playing the old band's hits. Playing modern songs, with a late 80's sleaze rock vibe and DJ Ashba up front.
If he'd just give it a chance, trust me... he could do something with it.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: Remember when...
I agree with this whole statement, Axlin. Axl could strike gold with releasing rock tracks with DJ's writing and recording skills. He needs to take it sometime this year or by 2013. Otherwise, release the vault catalog, demos, bonus tracks, whatever that is left and put the Guns name on it.
