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- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
Axlin16 wrote:"Been Away Too Long" basically.
Talk about THE perfect comeback single for a GNR reunion....
we may never know the ACTUAL truth about it
This is how I always felt about those issues. Too many differing perspectives and that's why I don't fault Niven for giving his take of the mess.
Can you imagine a GNR movie trying to tackle those moments? Which version of the truth do you go with?
Speaking of the mighty Van Halen, Guns have the potential to pull A Different Kind of Truth out of them if it gets confirmed that Izzy is in the studio working on songwriting and demos with some of them before the tour. Especially if they use any material from '95, '96, and Down by the Ocean. ADKoT, most of it, is demos that Van Halen had already cut before the first album; but never released them; so Dave updated the lyrics and vocal styles, Wolfgang got everybody's shit together, and bam...there's the album. It's quite possible if Axl did save those three songs or more then we could get something genuine and a full band collaboration. Moving towards the future; but reflecting the sound of the past.
Us fanboys always pipe dreamed over GNR tackling that mid 90s stuff that was buried. Would be crazy if it actually came to fruition.
Hopefully hell doesn't freeze over by then.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
Axlin16 wrote:"Been Away Too Long" basically.
Talk about THE perfect comeback single for a GNR reunion....
we may never know the ACTUAL truth about it
This is how I always felt about those issues. Too many differing perspectives and that's why I don't fault Niven for giving his take of the mess.
Can you imagine a GNR movie trying to tackle those moments? Which version of the truth do you go with?
Speaking of the mighty Van Halen, Guns have the potential to pull A Different Kind of Truth out of them if it gets confirmed that Izzy is in the studio working on songwriting and demos with some of them before the tour. Especially if they use any material from '95, '96, and Down by the Ocean. ADKoT, most of it, is demos that Van Halen had already cut before the first album; but never released them; so Dave updated the lyrics and vocal styles, Wolfgang got everybody's shit together, and bam...there's the album. It's quite possible if Axl did save those three songs or more then we could get something genuine and a full band collaboration. Moving towards the future; but reflecting the sound of the past.
Us fanboys always pipe dreamed over GNR tackling that mid 90s stuff that was buried. Would be crazy if it actually came to fruition.
Look at Soundgarden and "Black Rain". Just a lost B-side sitting there from the Badmotorfinger days.
Goddamn... could you imagine if GN'R came back with like a 7-8 minute "Black Rain" meets "Locomotive" track that was left on the cutting room floor in 1991 as their first single?
Fuck... i'm half-hard just thinking about it.
- Intercourse
- Rep: 212
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
I don't hate Niv at all, I don't personally see much to hate. He's another guy from the period drama that was GNR with his version of events. For me Izzy's continued allegiance to him is something I cannot discount. Izzy was the first to get sober and start pointing out what the fuck was wrong with all sides in GNR and left because of them.
Like the rest of the guys, time will change his tune - there have been enough years to cool off and reflect. Can't blame him for being somewhat bitter either, he believes he worked hard for them, could have made them an enduring global musical force but ended up fucked onto the trash heap. He's just human.
I still think he could be a great manager for them but that scab ain't going to heal. Axl needs to be managed - that has been proven conclusively.
Personally, I see more balls, honor and professionalism in him than the selection of bottom feeders that hung on after he was gone.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
- Asked how the band imploded, who was the most difficult? He deflects, then gets serious. Says in hindsight Axl was misdiagnosed. Compares Axl's behaviour to high functioning Aspergers. He had social differences.
I wanted to address this the other day when I got around to it. Now granted Niven has experience personally with Axl, but I kind of agree and don't agree with him here.
Again, I think this statement (or allusion) comes back to Axl being a completely different creature that marches to a different drum than the average guy and thus the reason he was so unique and a necessary ingredient to the recipe that makes Guns N' Roses what it is, but at the same time was the detriment that led to its, frankly bizarre, legacy.
Alot of people still think Axl sold out for the money on this reunion, but I still don't buy it. I stand by my original statements that Axl could give a flying fuck about money. Axl would bury the band, bury his legacy, and live on $30,000 a year in a trailer with cases of Miller High Life, in order to avoid doing something he doesn't feel comfortable with doing.
That's why I don't feel anyone strong-armed him into this reunion. Axl is doing this reunion because AXL WANTS IT. For whatever reason.
I also don't feel like Axl has Asperger's. Far from it. Axl, even just from me cold-reading him in person, strikes me as a man with ALOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT of TRUST ISSUES. Yes folks, even at GN'R shows (all of those ones i've been too), Axl has HUGE invisible walls up around him. The rest of the band is WAY laid back. Axl's cool, but still... you can almost feel those walls up. He also seems to get better, and looser LATER in the show after a couple hours then he is early on. It could be the stage fright thing, or it could be... Axl is like "Stone Cold" Steve Austin. DTA == Don't Trust Anyone. I think the man doesn't like, or get, the world at large, the same world that (in his mind) has persecuted him many many times over, and yet there are others who claim Axl has done this to them. Is it a case of "fuck them, before they fuck me?"
I would believe Axl is a legendary tyrannical uber-dick... but "high functioning Asperger's" ? No. Again, I think Niv kind of mis-reads Axl's motives. I think Axl's one of a kind crazy. And I mean that with all due respect to Axl. Classifying him as "Aspergers", "Bipolar"... I think remain cop outs to those who just don't fucking get what motivates or moves Axl.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
You do know wrestling isn't real, right? That stone cold Steve Austin was just a character created by someone & not actually a real person, yea?
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
I would believe Axl is a legendary tyrannical uber-dick... but "high functioning Asperger's" ? No.
We only have his past behaviour from which to draw general guidelines. A DSRM classification is just one way of describing a quantity of things linked to his personal viewpoint on life. If anything, for sure.
A case can be made that in the past, Axl has repeatedly had issues with interpersonal security. These issues have caused him with possible stress and anxiety and have strained his various relationships, working and otherwise. The source of such issues can often be tracked back to an unhappy childhood. Feeling neglected by one's parents is often a contributing factor. Axl, by his own account, had an unhappy childhood.
Another defining factor is Axl's combativeness. In the face of adversity, it's as if someone violates his personal world. Very often, middle ground has been brushed aside and he's come out, fuming.
The key to this may be that every time a stress point hits a chord with a remembrance of past trauma, Axl leaps into a defensive mode, as his very own is at stake. Often he attacks the close to him, because he may feel (rightly or not) that they have betrayed his trust, while knowingly existing in his personal world.
If you ask me, sorry for his issues, but he should just grow a bit more of that business layer on his skin.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
You do know wrestling isn't real, right? That stone cold Steve Austin was just a character created by someone & not actually a real person, yea?
I know the inside and out workings how how wrestling is a work, how it's executed, film, shot, promo'ed, etc. It was an example of personal characterization. Axl HAS TO BE fully aware of his perception and what people's first impressions of him are. NONE OF US are here in 2016, still talking ad naseum, over what motivates Slash. Izzy? Maybe. But it's all about Axl still, and it's because will still can't quite nail down what he's gonna do.
Part of it's fascinating. Part of it's frustration. But it's all the same. I've said it many times... Axl is the most consistent person in the band. Consistently inconsistent.
Axl has to be aware of how we perceive him, and I certainly think he gets a kick out of his outlaw rock star persona, and certainly plays it up, as well as makes decisions based on how it will be perceived by the fans and the media. How could he not? He has to know he gets more headlines and free publicity playing him what the media and fans portray him as, rather than coming out and releasing a book with a picture of him cuddling and playing with Dexter on the front cover and talking about his love of kittens and how he's just a pussycat at heart.
He knows "W. Axl Rose" has a legendary status as a crazy rock star, and he plays that up. He's embraced his character anti-hero, rock babyface + heel persona years ago. The Stone Cold character, no different than Axl, Axl is literally the only other person I know that is a notorious heel that doesn't play by anyone's rules, and literally with a couple of verses of a song can completely flip and audience into rooting for him as a babyface, and have them hate him again as soon as they leave the show.
He's a one of a kind sum bitch.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
Axlin16 wrote:I would believe Axl is a legendary tyrannical uber-dick... but "high functioning Asperger's" ? No.
We only have his past behaviour from which to draw general guidelines. A DSRM classification is just one way of describing a quantity of things linked to his personal viewpoint on life. If anything, for sure.
A case can be made that in the past, Axl has repeatedly had issues with interpersonal security. These issues have caused him with possible stress and anxiety and have strained his various relationships, working and otherwise. The source of such issues can often be tracked back to an unhappy childhood. Feeling neglected by one's parents is often a contributing factor. Axl, by his own account, had an unhappy childhood.
Another defining factor is Axl's combativeness. In the face of adversity, it's as if someone violates his personal world. Very often, middle ground has been brushed aside and he's come out, fuming.
The key to this may be that every time a stress point hits a chord with a remembrance of past trauma, Axl leaps into a defensive mode, as his very own is at stake. Often he attacks the close to him, because he may feel (rightly or not) that they have betrayed his trust, while knowingly existing in his personal world.
If you ask me, sorry for his issues, but he should just grow a bit more of that business layer on his skin.
I agree, but despite whatever David Bowie and/or Mick Jagger told him about being a business man first, Axl is still an artist, a performer, passionate, and driven purely by emotion.
Those people NEVER do well in business. They take EVERYTHING personal, everything is an attack on them, and they retreat into emotional surrender, then come back roaring like a lion, and even more restrictive and untrusting then they were before.
Thank goodness Axl went into the business that he did, and that he didn't become a mob kingpin or some criminal figurehead. I have no doubt he would've been a BRUTAL and RUTHLESS bossman. He would've taken everything personally, everything was an attack on him and his "family", and he would've paid it back in oceans of blood. He's a very reactive guy, and wouldn't have trusted anyone imo.
Maybe all of what you said Apex is a step in the right direction. Maybe Axl getting that softer touch and thicker skin underneath is the reason Slash is back in the band to begin with. Axl is letting go of his demons. That's a good thing... hopefully.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
Still the best description I've ever read.
"And after each line he is gazing at the crowd with those strangely startled yet fearless eyes, as though we had just surprised him in his den, tearing into some carrion."
That's how he's been in life, as well.
Re: Alan Niven interview 01-08- 2016
Or: he's just an asshole who knows how to sing..??
Sometimes I feel the myth of Axl, or anyone famous really, gets blown completely out of proportion.
He's a reflection of the society that created him. He is interesting & talented no doubt, but so are plenty of people. & plenty of them I'd cross the street to get away from too..
I appreciate his music & the contribution he's made, but let's not think his shit doesn't stink like everyone's, y'know? Is he really that special & unique? Not sure I buy it.. If he was you couldn't relate to him probably..
