You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
- AgesOfTheIce
- Rep: 10
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
Amazing song, one of Axl's top 5 best lyrically. I just have one complaint: I wish Axl didn't sing over all of Robin's outro solo. The latter half, yes, but the "na na na" part during the first part was unnecessary.
- FlashFlood
- Rep: 55
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
I'm just going to get ahead of this and say Axl absolutely destroyed The Blues.... Right down to the damn name change!
I hear you…and I’m going to use the original title 
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
James wrote:I'd like to hear a 2001-02 version of the song and see how it developed.
By all accounts those 05/06 leaks of IRS, TWAT and Better were the Summer 2003 versions of the songs from when he played the album at that strip club. So at some point between 01-03 he's back in the studio. Whatever version of the album was ready when that 02 tour goes off is probably the best cross point between the earlier raw sound and Bucket's contributions being on certain tracks (i.e. that TWAT solo). At some point in 03 they start rerecording the whole record and the project truly goes off the trails.
Up until 98 you can give Axl (and all involved tbh) a bye because the band is disintegrating and he's having to put together a new lineup. They work for a couple of years and then emerge at the end of 00 and the ball starts rolling. It's slow going, but everything with this band is like pulling teeth and the trajectory is still upwards towards an album release. At least by 02 it's progressed to doing a promo appearance on MTV and a North American tour. It all grinds to a halt after that tour implodes. They shouldn't have done the VMAs and the tour without at least a single and music video ready to go.
I fantasise about a 2002 where Axl had actually got a vocal coach and whatever horse testosterone injections he was on in 2006, and the band came swinging out of the gates with a one-two punch of a Chinese Democracy single (to prove they can still rock) and TWAT (to prove that they can do the November Rain epic stuff).
With decent management and PR they could've made something of it; there was curiosity there among the audience, you can see it in that VMA performance before Axl blew his voice out on the WTTJ scream and went all squeaky for the rest of the performance.
And while we're on the subject, whose bright idea was it to do a weird medley of old and new? With Madagascar, a slow number that completely drains the energy of the WTTJ opener, in the middle? They should've just blasted out Chinese Democracy and TWAT right there. Or WTTJ in full and TWAT.
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
Yup, 02 was when Axl needed to be 06 Axl. Everything would have been different. He needed that horse testosterone
Alternatively, if they'd managed to not burn their bridges with Buckethead and get him back for the 06 tour.
Axl was on fire then, but bringing a new guitarist in (especially one who doesn't really have an iconic look in the same way that Bucket and Slash do) heightened the appearance of a "revolving door" of musicians. Poor Ron got the short end of the stick trying to fit in to an established line-up on short notice (IIRC he was using consumer-grade/small-gig amps in the early days of the tour).
It also meant that Axl delayed the album again because he wanted to make sure that the new guitar hero shredder actually appeared on the album (but then, bafflingly, he didn't have Buckethead's parts overwritten entirely, once again creating the impression of a revolving door).
Those delays then led to Robin giving up, which meant another guitarist joining. I'm pretty sure that's why they gave up on the Better video, because you had this absurd situation where the video that was meant to "intro the band" had like a dozen names popping up (two drummers! Five guitarists! Two of whom aren't in the band anymore!).
Basically, if they'd had Bucket in the band in 06, you'd have a stable line-up, the album would've come out then and everything would've been dandy.
- Smoking Guns
- Rep: 330
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
That outro guitar solo by Robin is very tasty and on Slash level in many ways. Good shit.
- Randall Flagg
- Rep: 139
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
By far the best song on the album and I still think it rocks 13 (15) years later. Nothing on the album that was changed bothered me as much as Slash's changes for playing it live. Robin didn't rewrite SCOM or NR, I wish Slash would just play it as written instead of making it his own.
- elevendayempire
- Rep: 96
Re: Wtf happened to…Better
By far the best song on the album and I still think it rocks 13 (15) years later. Nothing on the album that was changed bothered me as much as Slash's changes for playing it live. Robin didn't rewrite SCOM or NR, I wish Slash would just play it as written instead of making it his own.
Uh are you kidding, Robin completely reworked those solos when playing them live.
