Guns N' Roses - Your Opinions?

well...then back to BEST AMERICAN BAND EVER?

 

i never listened to them much aside from the well known ballads. do you guys have recommendations for someone who enjoys songs like Knocking on Heaven's Door (smashes the original, sorry Bob), Estranged, Don't Cry, and Van Halen's Love Walks In and Why Can't This Be Love?

 

Some good ones here. I always recommend Thunder "Love Walked In"

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/what-are-the-all-time-greatest-rock-power-ballads.279406/

 

it's an alright song, but lacks the bombastic production and/or singalong sound that i crave in my ballads

thank you, i'll peruse the thread. i spent a lot of my younger days listening to hard rock, but gradually grew out of the genre. gonna be fun rediscovering all these ballads

 

Tks Bowland, you said everything i wanted to say... Horrid stuff, thank god Nirvana put end to it.

 

Liking or not liking the band is one thing, but claiming Nirvana put an end to the band is pure fantasy, at least IMO. I think we can safely say that the band members' (well documented) self-destructive behavior put an end to it.

 

I absolutely loved GnR from the first time they appeared live on MTV. I thought they were a real breath of fresh air for hard rock and roll. But then I saw the original LP cover which was banished to the inner sleeve for subsequent pressings. I'm not usually terribly judgmental about musicians' lifestyles when they have real talent, but that picture kind of crossed a line for me. Axle's general rotten attitude put the final nail in the coffin for me.

 

Always loved the guitar solo in Used to Love Her. What was Slash´s choice of acoustic guitar, anyone?

 

Appetite for Destruction is a very good (and very important) late 1980s record, but about that's it, IMO.

How this band has reached icon status, I'll never know.

 

I still listen to Appetite, GNR Lies and both Illusions as much as when they were first released. I remember only listening to Appetite For Destruction with headphones on because I was afraid of my parents hearing the lyrics from my bedroom and taking it away.

Oh, yeah, Chinese Democracy is fantastic too.

 

Original - Fantastic
Current - Crap

 

One of the top rock albums.
Sits of the shelf right next to The Rolling Stones' Sticky Fingers and The Stooges' Fun House.

 

LOL!!!! I just saw this and it's great. Let me translate:

"I don't enjoy saying negative things about music other people love...but I'm absolutely going to do it anyway". Way to poorly attempt to play both sides. We are only human, after all. When we don't like something, we say so. I've never seen someone say they're going to "rise above the muck" only to get right down into it within mere moments. You're allowed, darn it!

Loved your post. Truly. Funniest thing ever on Steve Hoffman. LOL!!!

Ed

 

I like "November Rain", "Patience" has a nice melody,"I Used to Love Her" is funny, "Sweet Child of Mine" was killed by heavy rotation. Overall, they're a little too sleazy for my taste.

 

they were arguably the last great popular rock band...if you define rock to need to have some minimal link to chuck berry...

i just don't see it at all in nirvana....songs about how life sucks are not rock and roll...not in the classic sense ..not in accordance with the BLUEPRINT

doesn't mean there haven't been other great rock bands... guided by voices... but these bands have largely been after thoughts ..with very limited appeal...

GNR was HUGE.. they dominated.. and they were the last rock band to dominate

 

Oh no you've exposed me. Only now I wish I had gone that extra step to truly fit your sharp observation, so I'll do so now.... I hate saying anything bad about a band people love, but I will. Gun's and Roses suck.

You know that felt much better. You were right, I don't hate saying it.

 

Born in 81, Guns was THE current band I loved until Nirvana came along. I liken them to a Kiss for the 80s- basically a cartoon band come to life. I think their stuff has aged WAY better than their peers, and based on their covers album, they did listen to some pretty good stuff. I think the guitar playing (yes, including Slash) sounds really great to me, modern-ish without succumbing to the EVH-alike stuff makes so much of their peers completely unlistenable now.

 

I'd reckon the blueprint here would be the blues, and little would be as pure to the origins of rock than songs about how life sucks.

 

P.S. After goofing on myself too, I would like to add in all seriousness that you misunderstood me, or maybe I did not explain it correctly. Really just a long-winded way to say I hate thread crap. I truly do not like announcing an unsolicited negative opinion that trashes other peoples favorite band just to pontificate. That is both pompous and petty and it goes on here. If G'n R, or a band I hate gives anyone pleasure, why would I want to do that? But in the case of this thread we were asked point blank to give an opinion. A free pass to (as you say) get down in the muck. I took it as an opportunity to finally put my dislike of G'nR into words. If fans pounce on me, my defense is this thread asked for it. So I was really in the same mindset as you, in this thread we are allowed.

 

I grew up at the right time for them. Axl and Slash were rock gods, Duff brought punk to the mix and Izzy added an edge that set them apart from their contemporaries (and indeed their Izzy-less selves later on).

They had all the ingredients of the perfect rock band and delivered on that promise with Appetite for Destruction. And then came... the destruction.

But if the Use Your Illusion tour was a bloated mess, at least it added the inevitable fall from grace chapter to a good rock story, as Axl went around in his hotpants, running past the nine other musicians on stage. As for the Illusion albums, Civil War, You Could Be Mine, Estranged and Coma stand the test of time better than the vast majority of grunge.

Chinese Democracy was an interesting chapter at first, but not only is it not GNR, with members coming and going on a regular basis it's not even a band and the only person anyone turns up for lost his ability to sing the songs a few tours ago.

 

In my opinion, Axl Rose at his prime has perhaps been the most versatile rock singer ever and a terrific front man, in spite of not being someone I'd like to meet in person. "Estranged" is perhaps the best example of said versatility. And Slash is one of the most tasteful lead guitar players ever in rock. The "Sweet Child O' Mine" solo has always been in my top 5 list of chill-inducing rock guitar solos.

 

absolutely not...the blueprint is Chuck Berry...does that mean he wasn't influenced majorly by the blues.. of course not.

I mean you can go back all the way to when the first caveman banged a rock against another...and say that is the blueprint....

but when did rock and roll take its recognizable form?

Chuck Berry. Not to discredit other people that shared in the process...like Fats, Little Richard, Ike, etc etc

 

Oh, and "Welcome To The Jungle" has also been in my top 2 list of best debut songs ever.

 

I was in 6th grade when Guns N' Roses broke and it changed a lot for me. Appetite for Destruction is the last true, dirty, rock and roll guitar album. They are one of the bands I regret never seeing live. One of the greatest rock bands of all time.

I never placed them in the category of glam rock because they were much heavier and much better. They are one of the rock bands from the 80s that survived grunge and would have continued to if they had not imploded. A reunited Gn'R would sell out any arena

They need to reissue Appetite for Destruction on vinyl. Forum member often say Diament and the team did a great job with the album but I can't imagine that it wouldn't benefit from a reissue. The Analogue Productions release of the Doors albums (recorded about 20 years prior) are straight from tape and sound amazing. I find it hard to believe that they could not do the same with Appetite for Destruction (recorded 20 years later) to create an amazing 45rpm release. WE NEED THIS!!!!

 

This.