So, I just finished the @Political_Beats episode on Guns n Roses with @RAVerBruggen. I was somewhat alarmed to hear he, @EsotericCD & @ScotBertram all encountered GnR as kids - even from their dads! As a teenager when Appetite for Destruction hit town, I had a different POV.
@Political_Beats @RAVerBruggen @EsotericCD @ScotBertram I first heard of Guns n Roses while attending a conservative teen conference in Valley Forge, summer of 1987 (I was 15, & had won an essay contest). A guy there told us about an L.A. "biker band" that was heading East and we'd hear about them soon. He was right.
That album went off like a bomb. I always liked the contrast between the band's hard cynicism & the sweetness & pop melodies of Sweet Child O Mine & other songs. I loved Think About You, which was as catchy as any pop hit.
And @EsotericCD cites some misheard Axl lyrics - for years, I thought Nighttrain's line "I got a dog eat dog sly smile" was "I got a dog he doubts my smile," which would actually be a much more badass lyric.
@EsotericCD I had a Guns n Roses poster on my wall freshman year (1989-90). This may have given people like my roommates an initial false impression of what kind of person I was, in retrospect, but easily dispelled.
@EsotericCD Crazy now to think that they were not just a metal band but a pop band. November Rain went to #2 on the Top 40 chart in 1991. An 8 minute metal ballad.
@EsotericCD Contra the view that GnR was a bad cover band, I loved their cover of Jumpin Jack Flash. I remember Z100 spinning this until the lawyers stopped them.
Can you imagine a Top 40 station today playing a leaked demo from a metal band? That was the 80s.
Can you imagine a Top 40 station today playing a leaked demo from a metal band? That was the 80s.
@EsotericCD Also until @RAVerBruggen mentioned it, I had forgotten how much I truly loved the ending of Coma. The last few minutes are gold.
I can't be convinced that Chinese Democracy was a good album, but Catcher in the Rye is a good song
Also, because @EsotericCD, @ScotBertram & @RAVerBruggen were younger, they first heard Civil War on Use Your Illusion II. I remember it on the Nobody's Child charity album well before the album release.
Finally, as far as the band's solo work, the two best albums I'd cite: Slash's 2010 solo album (the tracks with Fergie and Kid Rock were particular revelations as to what they could do in the right company, but the whole thing is great) and Izzy's first solo record.
Izzy showed his pop-metal soul on Cuttin' the Rug, but Shuffle it All was sublime:
Finally, before I forget: Bad Obsession would have been a fantastic song without the distracting irritation of a particularly awful use of the c-word.
But then, like One in a Million, the GnR brand was being bad boys, in basically every way imaginable.
But then, like One in a Million, the GnR brand was being bad boys, in basically every way imaginable.
As Slash notes today, that kind of reckless rock n roll DGAF just can't really be done anymore consequenceofsound.net/2018/09/slash-…
