WHY GUNS N’ ROSES STILL MATTER

 

So I haven’t posted on my blog since the Sebastian Bach show back in May, mostly because I’ve been uninspired. 

Wait.  Not true. 

I’ve been inspired, but just didn’t feel like I could write a blog about it.  How do you even attempt to review concerts like The Cure or Guns N’ Roses?  It’s like, why bother?  Both of these bands have been around for 30+ years, have sold out stadiums and arenas across the world, and have legions of devoted fans.  So people are going regardless, they’re gonna have a great time, and they don’t need me writing some self-indulgent review telling them what they already know (or don't want to hear).  Plus, there a ton of people on the interwebs feeling like they have to weigh in on these big shows, anyway – as if they have something new to say.

Newsflash: (with a few exceptions) ….. YA DON’T.

So I’ve been in a lull wondering what I could possibly write about until my next review-worthy show in September (I’m lookin’ at you, LA Guns!).  And then about two weeks ago, I saw this article.

http://www.houstonpress.com/music/are-guns-n-roses-still-relevant-8609833

 
The title grabbed me because I thought it was interesting.  It wasn’t just another review.  In fact, it was written and published by the Houston Press before Guns N’ Roses even rolled into town on August 5^th.  What “great minds”, I wondered, were going to weigh in on this burning question?

Well, it turns out I’d never heard of any of the minds – which in itself doesn’t mean anything.  I’m not entrenched in the music critic scene by any means.  But the more I read, the more I realized I was rolling my eyes.  And by the end, I was straight up pissed.

Now, don’t get me wrong.  I’ve had my issues with this reunion from the beginning.  Mostly for the following reasons:

1.   I have an extreme admiration for obsession with Izzy Stradlin, and he made it clear from the beginning that he would have no involvement with the reunion whatsoever.  Lots of stories out there about why, and I have my opinions about which ones are right, but that isn’t what this is about.  For purposes of this post, we’ll just chalk it up the fact that Izzy thinks he’s cooler than everybody else – and he’s kinda right.  So.  Moving on.
 

2.   Axl Rose and I have a love/hate relationship.  (This exists purely in my mind – let me be clear that the man has no earthly idea who I am).  I love Axl Rose because he was the voice that sang all the songs on an album that I can say, without hesitation, truly did save rock n roll.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.  I hate Axl Rose because his ego has been so inflated at times, and some of his songs so self-indulgent, that I just wanna tell him to stop already.  But in the end, no matter how many times we fight (again, solely in my mind), I always fall back in love with him.  It’s inevitable.

3.   Two words:  Steven Adler.  Now, I have no idea if the guy can play any of the songs on the Use Your Illusion albums or Chinese Democracy.  Maybe, maybe not.  But I know for a fact that he can play every damn song on Appetite for Destruction, and he should have been given the chance to do so.  I kept thinking, “why not keep Ferrer in for the other songs and let Popcorn play AFD?”  But they didn’t.  And I don’t know why.

 

4.   They ditched their second keyboard player, only to turn around and replace him.  Adding one keyboard player in 1990 was questionable to me.  Two people on the keys….completely unnecessary. From what I’ve read about Melissa Reese, she is EXTREMELY talented, and we all know she’s probably just about the most precious thing we’ve ever seen. But I have NO idea why she was added to the group.  I can’t think of one plausible explanation.  Not one.   

All of that being said, I wasn’t going to sit out and protest the show.  Because I was going to get to see three of the guys who made one of the rawest, passionate, and overall fucking AMAZING albums of all time together again.  Turns out I actually got to see four, since Adler made an appearance at the Nashville show.  I would’ve have kicked myself in the ass for the rest of my life had I not gone.  And apparently a lot of people felt that way because the stadium was FULL.  Full-on full. 

So, back to the article.  I get what some of the writers are saying…to some degree, at least.  And some make valid points.  For example:

Do I think that any of the original members are back together because they felt some cosmic creative force calling on them? 

I do not.

Does that make it a little difficult to get behind them?

Maybe.

Do I think they’re relevant as a new-music-making entity in today’s environment?

Ehhhh…I say this with some hesitation, but probably not.  Then again, who knows what they’ll do.

Do I think some of the opening acts were questionable?

Ummmmmm…beyond questionable.

Do I think they should make a new album?

Not without Izzy.

But to say that they are simply a “80s-90s nostalgia act that’s guaranteed to sell tickets”...

NO.

Seriously.

So wrong…on so many levels.

First off, you don’t call Guns N’ Roses a nostalgia act.  You just don’t.  I mean, did seeing them invoke feelings of nostalgia for me?  Yes.  Absolutely.  I was 100% the wide-eyed preteen staring at Axl in his leather pants doing his serpentine dance on the MTV, and listening to Appetite for Destruction on repeat in the morning while I sprayed the sides of my hair out into perfect, albeit extremely crunchy, wings. 

But does that make them nothing but a “nostalgic act”?  No.  I swear to you, I didn’t know half of what they were saying in those songs back then.  I mean, I heard the words, but I either heard them incorrectly or had little clue as to what they were actually singing about.  Now, at the ripe old age of … ok, fine – 40 … I listen to the songs and am sometimes just blown away at the sheer ability of those guys to capture such anger, frustration, truth, love, lust – you name the emotion, you got it - in both their lyrics and their music.  They mean something completely different to me now.  And I gotta say…that’s pretty cool.

Secondly, though I suppose one can argue that they have “no claim on current American music culture”, I would do so for an entirely different reason than the commentator.  HOW ABOUT IT’S BECAUSE CURRENT AMERICAN MUSIC CULTURE SUCKS?!  Oh sure, there are some catchy songs these days.  I’m not gonna pretend I’ve never caught myself singing along to T-Swizzle with my kid in the car.  But the majority of today’s music is boring, processed, over the top pop.  Let’s put it this way:  I would wager to say that Selena Gomez fans won’t look back on her with the same passion that Guns N Roses fans look back on Axl, Slash, Duff, Izzy, and Steven.

And to say that Guns N’ Roses were just “part of genre much larger than they’ll ever be”?

That’s just incorrect.

Yes, they were lumped into that “hair metal” genre of the mid-late 80s.  And no, there’s nothing wrong with hair metal (big fan here - huge, actually).  But hair metal, GN’R is not.  They broke through that high hair/make-up machine churning on the Sunset Strip and came out screaming at the top of their lungs (literally).  They didn’t look like the hair metal guys, they didn’t sound like the hair metal guys, and they didn’t want to be the hair metal guys.

Now for my last point.  I’m not sure how old all the writers in this article are, and I wouldn’t even think that was relevant (pun intended), except for the fact that one of the commentators starts off by saying he bought his one and only GN’R album in the late 90s just as he was entering his teenage years.  And that album was….The Spaghetti Incident?.

Blank stare, no words.

He goes on to say that he is “familiar with the group’s hits, but neither the songs nor the band’s supposed fans ever came across as sincere.”

So.  Excuse me while I go through the fucking computer. 

First of all, the only GN’R album he ever owned was The Spaghetti Incident?.  Enough said on that one.

Secondly, being familiar with the group’s hits isn’t quite enough to allow you to provide credible commentary on GN’R.  In fact, some of their best songs weren’t “hits”.  Have you LISTENED to “My Michelle”?  “Rocket Queen”?  Holy hell, son.  That music…those lyrics…they’re real and raw and they punch you right the gut.

So I’ll let you laugh about how big a joke you think GN’R is and how funny it is to you that “moms and dads alike wonder how they’re ever fit into those leather jeans”.  In the meantime, I’ll keep listening to the songs that have stayed with me (and thousands upon thousands upon THOUSANDS of others), and pray to God that a band with half of the talent and raw energy of GN’R comes along one day to save your soul.

Oh, and PS, junior – I wore shorts to the concert.  It was way too hot for leather.

Until LA Guns –

Jen