Guns N' Roses Discussion Thread

Mental Mickey

thegreengoblin wrote: »

Good grief. This has the makings of a total embarrassment. I actually don't mind Green Day at all, I have a couple of their albums. But Aerosmith are the band to induct Guns N'Roses. I don't know if they were asked and they had scheduling problems or what but Green Day? Nahhhhhhhhh!

Green Day????? PFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT. I knew this was gonna be a total sham.

Motley Crue

That's absurd that Tommy is actually playing a solo gig elsewhere, we obviously know his feelings towards this whole thing.

Green Day isn't a bad band, a lot of people say it, but I genuinely prefer their earlier Punk material and after 1999 I sort of lost all interest

Itssoeasy

Axl's letter to The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N' Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern
by Guns N' Roses on Wednesday, April 11, 2012 at 1:19pm ·
To: The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N' Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern,
When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first announced I had mixed emotions but, in an effort to be positive, wanting to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was honored, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing. Of course I realized as things stood, if Guns N' Roses were to be inducted it'd be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation.
 
Since then we've listened to fans, talked with members of the board of the Hall Of Fame, communicated with and read various public comments and jabs from former members of Guns N' Roses, had discussions with the president of the Hall Of Fame, read various press (some legit, some contrived) and read other artists' comments weighing in publicly on Guns and the Hall with their thoughts.
 
Under the circumstances I feel we've been polite, courteous, and open to an amicable solution in our efforts to work something out. Taking into consideration the history of Guns N' Roses, those who plan to attend along with those the Hall for reasons of their own, have chosen to include in "our" induction (that for the record are decisions I don't agree with, support or feel the Hall has any right to make), and how (albeit no easy task) those involved with the Hall have handled things... no offense meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony doesn't appear to be somewhere I'm actually wanted or respected.
For the record, I would not begrudge anyone from Guns their accomplishments or recognition for such. Neither I or anyone in my camp has made any requests or demands of the Hall Of Fame. It's their show not mine.
 
That said, I won't be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N' Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
 
I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf. Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of "Guns N' Roses".
 
This decision is personal. This letter is to help clarify things from my and my camp's perspective. Neither is meant to offend, attack or condemn. Though unfortunately I'm sure there will be those who take offense (God knows how long I'll have to contend with the fallout), I certainly don't intend to disappoint anyone, especially the fans, with this decision. Since the announcement of the nomination we've actively sought out a solution to what, with all things considered, appears to be a no win, at least for me, "damned if I do, damned if I don't" scenario all the way around.
 
In regard to a reunion of any kind of either the Appetite or Illusion lineups, I've publicly made myself more than clear. Nothing's changed.
 
The only reason, at this point, under the circumstances, in my opinion whether under the guise of "for the fans" or whatever justification of the moment, for anyone to continue to ask, suggest or demand a reunion are misguided attempts to distract from our efforts with our current lineup of myself, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Frank Ferrer, Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba. 
Izzy came out with us a few times back in '06 and I invited him to join us at our LA Forum show last year. Steven was at our show at the Hard Rock, later in '06 in Las Vegas, where I invited him to our after-party and was rewarded with his subsequent interviews filled with reunion lies. Lesson learned. Duff joined us in 2010 and again in '11 along with his band, Loaded, opening in Seattle and Vancouver. For me, with the exception of Izzy or Duff joining us on stage if they were so inclined somewhere in the future for a song or two, that's enough.
 
There's a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the actual realities. Until every single one of those generating from or originating with the earlier lineups has been brought out in the light, there isn't room to consider a conversation let alone a reunion.
 
Maybe if it were you it'd be different. Maybe you'd do it for this reason or that. Peace, whatever. I love our band now. We're there for each other when the going get's rough. We love our fans and work to give them every ounce of energy and heart we can.
 
So let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move on. People get divorced. Life doesn't owe you your own personal happy ending especially at another's, or in this case several others', expense.
But hey if ya gotta then maybe we can get the "no show, grandstanding, publicity stunt, disrespectful, he doesn't care about the fans" crap out of the way as quickly as we can and let's move on. No one's taking the ball and going home. Don't get it twisted. For more than a decade and a half we've endured the double standards, the greed of this industry and the ever present seemingly limitless supply of wannabes and unscrupulous, irresponsible media types. Not to imply anything in this particular circumstance, but from my perspective in regard to both the Hall and a reunion, the ball's never been in our court.
In closing, regardless of this decision and as hard to believe or as ironic as it may seem, I'd like to sincerely thank the board for their nomination and their votes for Guns' induction. More importantly I'd like to thank the fans for being there over the years, making any success we've had possible and for enjoying and supporting Guns N' Roses music.
 
I wish the Hall a great show, congratulations to all the other artists being inducted and to our fans we look forward to seeing you on tour!!
 
Sincerely,
Axl Rose
 
P.S. RIP Armand, Long Live ABC III

well that clears that up.

thegreengoblin

Wow! That is quite incredible. I had a feeling he might make some kind of statement but that is just mind-blowing. I need to get a drink and read it again a couple of times!

Fi H

I think its awesome

scudzilla

Game, Set & Match Mr Rose

PTH2009

dont know what to think of Axl Rose. The man wont even accept an honor. Crazy.

So in may some of us are seeing Guns N Roses a band in the rock and roll hall of fame but not one single memeber of the band are inducted.

Taking Axls vocals out of the Guns N Roses, Slash, Duff,Izzy, Steven Adler and all those who played during 1985-1996 made some very good and classic songs and deserve there hall of fame honor

Im a fan of any GNR band and look forward to may and lets hope Axl and Co put on a good show and make up for 2010.

Bluefoam

PTH2009 wrote: »

Im a fan of any GNR brand and look forward to may and lets hope Axl and Co put on a good show and make up for 2010.

Fixed...

I hope Izzy turns up & they play a couple of numbers... Axel doesn't interest me anymore. The key to the song writing was Slash, Izzy, Duff & Steve. Axle came in after the songs were laid down (in isolation) and wrote some vocals for songs that were already written with choruses. His vocal style is dated now & he isn't able to reach the notes he used to, nor is he able to belt them out for a full gig... All the other players are still going strong, even Steve Adler is on somewhat of a return... His new single is getting great reviews and he still plays a pretty mean set.

gammon_steak

Bluefoam wrote: »

The key to the song writing was Slash, Izzy, Duff & Steve. Axle came in after the songs were laid down (in isolation) and wrote some vocals for songs that were already written with choruses.

WRONG! -- Sounds like you read Slash's book and took it as gospel or in any case have been misinformed. Axl had a LOT to do with the song writing, leading melodies in certain directions, in some cases FORCING Slash to play a certain way (I'm sure you're aware the signature SCOM riff wouldn't have ever been recorded if it were left to Slash, Izzy etc and not for Axl's vision and demanding it?) Not to mention the songs on the Illusions that he completely wrote on piano and the others then collaborated on. He wrote songs on guitar too (Dead Horse, Shotgun Blues spring to mind). I don't think it's fair to any of the former members to say they didn't contribute!

Anyway, I think it's a good move by Axl to avoid this soap opera event. Roll on May 17th!

I think it is a damn shame, had they been in the same room at the same table and chatted face to face who knows what might have happened.

Dont see a reunion happening ever now. Listening to all the solo efforts and new gnr you can see how the individual styles mixed to give the original line ups sound. Never happen again. I like some of the new gnr stuff and some of the solo stuff but it all could have been alot better. Alot is mediocre.

Bluefoam

gammon_steak wrote: »

WRONG! -- Sounds like you read Slash's book and took it as gospel or in any case have been misinformed. Axl had a LOT to do with the song writing, leading melodies in certain directions, in some cases FORCING Slash to play a certain way (I'm sure you're aware the signature SCOM riff wouldn't have ever been recorded if it were left to Slash, Izzy etc and not for Axl's vision and demanding it?) Not to mention the songs on the Illusions that he completely wrote on piano and the others then collaborated on. He wrote songs on guitar too (Dead Horse, Shotgun Blues spring to mind). I don't think it's fair to any of the former members to say they didn't contribute!

Anyway, I think it's a good move by Axl to avoid this soap opera event. Roll on May 17th!

Sorry. I was talking about Appetite for Destruction. I don't rate Use Your Illussion - I think you'd be lucky to be able to put one decent albums worth of material together from that...

Plus as I've said before in this thread, some of the bootlegs for material prior to UYI was awesome and was ****ed up by Axl and his piano crap - particularly November Rain which he bastardised and turned into a vanity project.

BTW, I love piano, just not the way its used in UYI

gammon_steak

Bluefoam wrote: »

Sorry. I was talking about Appetite for Destruction. I don't rate Use Your Illussion - I think you'd be lucky to be able to put one decent albums worth of material together from that...

Plus as I've said before in this thread, some of the bootlegs for material prior to UYI was awesome and was ****ed up by Axl and his piano crap - particularly November Rain which he bastardised and turned into a vanity project.

BTW, I love piano, just not the way its used in UYI

But November Rain was written by Axl over many years (I think he started it in 1981) and he wrote that long(er) version too. What I was originally responding to was your claim that he didn't contribute to song writing so I don't know how that helps - just means you prefer one version of an Axl song over another.

Fair enough, a lot of fans prefer AFD. I prefer it too but I also love all the other stuff. All 5 original members contributed to that album (AFD) and it wouldn't have been a success any other way.

Axl has made it very clear over the years that a reunion is not likely anytime soon. It surprises me how people expected this hall of fame thing to somehow change that and I assume the expectation of all that is a big part of the reason why Axl won't be there (seems like a lot of behind the scenes politics going on with it too)

thegreengoblin

Bluefoam wrote: »

Fixed...

I hope Izzy turns up & they play a couple of numbers... Axel doesn't interest me anymore. The key to the song writing was Slash, Izzy, Duff & Steve. Axle came in after the songs were laid down (in isolation) and wrote some vocals for songs that were already written with choruses. His vocal style is dated now & he isn't able to reach the notes he used to, nor is he able to belt them out for a full gig... All the other players are still going strong, even Steve Adler is on somewhat of a return... His new single is getting great reviews and he still plays a pretty mean set.

I don't know of anyone who seriously thinks Steven Adler was key to GNR's songwriting. Sure, his style of playing was key to that classic GNR sound and was far superior to Matt Sorum's sound but his contributions to the song-writing would have been absolutely minimal. As for Duff, he had a far bigger role to play in the songwriting than Steven but he still would have been less of a contributor than Axl.

Whatever one thinks of Axl, he should be given credit for his role in the actual songwriting stage although I would agree that he did his best to ruin a lot of the songs on the UYI albums by throwing in uncalled for effects, layering, etc, which crushed the life out of many of those songs.

thegreengoblin

As a long-standing GNR fan, having thought about Axl's statement, I am at least relieved that the whole reunion thing has finally been put to bed. It was getting tedious especially as it was pretty clear that Axl has no interest in it ever happening.

It's interesting that he doesn't mention Slash by name in the statement. As Slash said recently, he really must hate his guts. And to be fair, Axl was right about Steven. Anytime he has had anything to say about a reunion it's usually around the same time that he has a record/tour/book to plug. At least Slash and Duff only ever seemed to talk about reunions when they were pressed about it in an interview. Steven was always too willing to mention it regardless of whether the subject was up for discussion or not. I hope he doesn't make a show of himself at the awards but I have a feeling he will ham it up for all its worth.

I think it's a great shame that Axl feels he has to refuse something as prestigious as the Hall of Fame. It's another stain on the Guns N'Roses name, as if it hasn't been stained enough. At least we still have the music though...

ozzy jr

If he doesn't want any part of Guns n Roses past, he should do the decent thing and stop touring under the Guns n Roses name.

For the record, I think the Hall of Fame is pointless anyway.

viadah

They'll just ignore him so.

http://gunshyassassin.com/news/rock-hall-to-axl-too-bad-youre-in/#more-24445

Bluefoam

BTW, Duff could sing if they decided to play... He does lead vocals on at least a couple of tracks.

Its So Easy...

Mental Mickey

Bluefoam wrote: »

BTW, Duff could sing if they decided to play... He does lead vocals on at least a couple of tracks.

Its So Easy...

Axl sang lead vocals. on all AFD tracks.

Motley Crue

When does this happen, is it tonight in America?

thegreengoblin

It's Saturday night, in Cleveland, Ohio. Which, if memory serves me right, is where Mr Steven 'Popcorn' Adler was born in.

Malice

Bluefoam wrote: »

I don't rate Use Your Illussion - I think you'd be lucky to be able to put one decent albums worth of material together from that...

That's a bit harsh. Off the top of my head I'd class the following as great songs: Right Next Door to Hell, Don't Cry, Bad Obsession, Back off Bitch, Double Talkin' Jive, Don't Damn Me, Dead Horse, Coma, Civil War, Knockin' on Heaven's Door, Pretty Tied Up, Estranged, You Could Be Mine.

That's at least an album and a half .

slavetothegrind

it's sad all the same that the lads who made the brand are not all at this stage in there lives capable of being acknowledged together.

Forget a reunion, too much history, but this using of an award to score points?

really sad, they were truly great as a band.

i was going to edit my mistake in the first sentance where i said brand and meant band but fcuk it it is a brand now....

thegreengoblin

Imagine Axl did turn up and he got up with the others and they belted these two classics out....ahh, we're allowed to dream now and then

lord lucan

I'm surprised so many expected a reunion tbh. I never expected the original band to get together and play. At best i hoped they could all sit at the same table and be civil to each other. Sadly it looks like they're doing their best to upstage Van Halen's induction.

The spiteful part of me would love to see the original band get up and play with Myles Kennedy singing,if only to piss off Axl.

gammon_steak

Myles is a boyband singer and should be arrested!!

Who cares about the money grabbing Hall of Fame anyway. Izzy was never going to turn up.

I don't think Axl is 'trying' to score points and use this situation for his advantage. He addressed the situation in the best possible manner (in his way). If he had simply ignored the whole event, he'd be slated anyway. As he said, damned either way.

Burning Eclipse

gammon_steak wrote: »

Myles is a boyband singer and should be arrested!!

Who cares about the money grabbing Hall of Fame anyway. Izzy was never going to turn up.

I don't think Axl is 'trying' to score points and use this situation for his advantage. He addressed the situation in the best possible manner (in his way). If he had simply ignored the whole event, he'd be slated anyway. As he said, damned either way.

GTFO :eek:. I'm not stating this as a personal preference thing: Myles Kennedy is a better singer than Axl Rose was, or ever will be.

Never expected a GnR reunion, the egos would never allow for that. Although, The Police reunion happened, so who knows.

gammon_steak

Burning Eclipse wrote: »

GTFO :eek:. I'm not stating this as a personal preference thing: Myles Kennedy is a better singer than Axl Rose was, or ever will be.

Never expected a GnR reunion, the egos would never allow for that. Although, The Police reunion happened, so who knows.

Just my opinion obviously, but I feel like puking when I hear Myles sing... sounds like someone from Westlife and I just can't listen to him. Then again others seem to like him.... each to their own I suppose!

ozzy jr

History has shown us that Reunions happen, it's just a matter of time and money.

Pink Floyd, The Police, Simon & Garfunkel, The Eagles etc

They'll eventually want to make up all the money they've squandered over the years. A GnR reunion will cover all that.

thegreengoblin

ozzy jr wrote: »

History has shown us that Reunions happen, it's just a matter of time and money.

Pink Floyd, The Police, Simon & Garfunkel, The Eagles etc

They'll eventually want to make up all the money they've squandered over the years. A GnR reunion will cover all that.

None of those bands had anyone as stubborn and as single-minded and so determined not to kiss ass as Axl Rose. There will be no reunion. Ever. It's not a money thing. Velvet Revolver was the closest we will get to one.

gammon_steak

thegreengoblin wrote: »

None of those bands had anyone as stubborn and as single-minded and so determined not to kiss ass as Axl Rose. There will be no reunion. Ever. It's not a money thing. Velvet Revolver was the closest we will get to one.

Agreed. It's often mentioned by producers and anyone who has worked with Axl that's he the only person they've worked with who is truely unmotivated by money. It's more about his way or the highway (Victory or Death as per his tattoo)

Plus.... The current version of GNR is awesomely good. If only they could get more music out. It's not like he's sitting at home pondering what a reunion would be like. He's happy in the current band and in general seems more at peace with himself these days (still hates the labels and media though )