Guns and Roses

Okay, here's my notes on G'n'R... or G'n'f'R if you were really into things back in the day...

As I mentioned here (but was really inappropriate to go onto a tangent, considering the other news in the post, but somewhat relavant, if you have ever seen the video for the source song... like here)



Anyway, I digress. I like Guns 'n' Roses. I liked the raw rock power when they first came out in the late 1980's (even if I didn't really "get" some of the lyrical content until later). But drugs and alcohol aside, they made music. Lyrical content aside, they made some great music - there was a show the VH1 had on for a while, years ago, and one sequence they filmed had a small group - about 6-8 people (who obviously would NOT be listening to G'n'R), trying to sing through "Welcome to the Jungle". It was funny to watch a 60-something person singing through it, but they did comment afterwords that they were surprised at how difficult, musically the song was.

I digress again. Appetite, and Illusion 1 & 2 (when they were actually 2 distinct albums) were great. Lies was okay, but was only notable for a couple of tracks. Spaghetti Incident? Not so much... although I've never listened to it, to be honest, but was advised that it was pretty much a "cover" album, and the sales were rather weak (although I will admit that I have the Metallica-recorded cover projects, but again, that would be rambling... not now, though).

Then they disappeared. They dispersed. They imploded. A few years later, Axl gets a group together, and records a track for the End of Days soundtrack. A very different sound from the earlier works... one that hurts to try and listen to very often...

During the trip to New York that I took in 2006, the day we got there (Friday night), I could have gone to see them in concert at the Garden (yes, Madison Square). I think Jenn even mentioned me going, if I wanted to (it was, after all, right across from our hotel). I looked at her and almost laughed. "It's the name, but it's not the band. Axl is the only one I know of, and they haven't actually done anything new in years." Besides, I've heard to many stories of Axl being a premadonna, and walking off stage during a show. Why would I waste money, not knowing what I would get?

But I digress to a closing point: They were good, nay they were awesome. I distinctly remember listening through Illusion 2 (on cassette, people, remember those?) while playing Super Mario World (way back on the SNES... remember those, kiddies? No? Ask your parents about them.) when I first heard "Get in the Ring", and was shocked. It wasn't a great song, by any means, it was more of a tirade, but it was different. G'n'R isn't different anymore, it's a shell thriving on the ghosts of the past.