The impact of GH-experience of mine

[IndiannaRose]

Hey for the last 3 days I have been astonished at how GN'R can be so relevant to today's music even though they've been six feet under for 9 years. This is a story of mine,hope you like it:

Wednesday:

Well it's Wednesday,I had just bought the Greatest Hits album the day before,Tuesday. Well I remembered that in gym they let us bring our own CDs so they could play it when we do our activities. Well I decided what the heck why not. So I came to gym Wednesday with the GH in my hand. I asked the coach to play it,she said sure. Well the coaches decided that we would play some volleyball type game that day when suddenly GN'R came blasting through the stereo.

Welcome to the Jungle raged through almost unoticed but then Sweet Child O' Mine came on. When that intro began I saw so many heads turn to the stereo system. I mean we were doing sports and here are these 12,13and 14 year old kids looking at the stereo system wondering what this is. Well the song played until the end of the period. I was so happy. Well when I was coming out of the locker room this kid was singing:

She's got a smile that it seems to me
Reminds me of childhood memories
Where everything
Was as fresh as the bright blue sky

I thought that was so god damn cool. I looked at him stunned. So about 15 seconds later I go to the door to the girl's locker when I hear 3 girls saying "Sweet Child O' Mine" over and over again. When they walked by past me the coach came to me and asked me if she could borrow the CD so she could burn it. I said yes.

Thursday:

Well I came to gym that day ready for the fitness run we have every Thursday. I asked the coach for the CD back but she said she forgot to burn it,so I said she could borrow it again. Well she played the CD on the stereo when we were doing our fitness run when I see this guy just stop at the stereo to listen to Patience or what he calls "the acoustic song". Almost nobody knew this was my CD. I didn't want to spoil my observations. I once again let the coach borrow the CD.

Friday:

Alright in this day I once again come to gym class ready to get my CD back. We play our soccer game and ask for the CD back. The coach said she left it in the backroom so she told me to come with her. When she was handing it over to me she said the following:

"I forgot to burn it,sorry,it's alright you can have it back. Hey you know what this is one of the best Greatest Hits CD I have ever heard. You know I really don't like Guns N' Roses that much but every song they chose to put on here is perfect. They did an excellen job in the tracklisting. Most of the time when bands release a greatest hits album they're not really hits but this album has so many hits I can remember."

I thought what she said was so coolm,especially after the tracklisting ranting that goes on over here. Well I have Lunch right after gym and I take the GH with me to the lunch table when I sit down in the table thhe kids see the CD on top of the folder. So many of em' asked to see it. Most of them talked about Sweet Child O' Mine and Paradise City. One about November Rain and another about The Garden which is not on there. This girls just randomly stopped me to take a look at it. I was so mindfucked. Well when I was walking down the hall this guy told me he saw the commercial for that CD the night before. When I went t my locker this other kid asked about Sweet Child O' Mine....again. So I go to my Art class with 7th and 8th graders. The art teacher was playing CDs that day. When she saw the GH on top of my books she asked to see it and then she said she wanted to play it. Well when she put that thing on people at the end of Welcome to the Jungle kept saying well......welcome to the jungle. Sweet Child O' Mine comes on and the room gets suddenly quieter. After that Patience. The room got louder but I saw this girl really starring at the computer were the CD was being played real hard. Then the encore came on,Paradise City. Holy fucking shit when the chorus of:

Take me down
To the paradise city
Where the grass is green
And the girls are pretty
Take me home

came on so many god damn people started repeating it. So many. Like 1/4 of the class. After the song was over they still kept saying that. After that Knockin' On Heaven's Door came on and this guy told me this was their best song. Well I leave for History class and this kid sees the album cover and opens it. He sees the song Civil War,well guess what unit we're studying right now in American History......Civil War! So man since we were so full of Civil War info he decided he wanted to listen to it. We snuck a CD player to another room where we were working on computers and he said the song rocked. The day of Guns N' Roses was finally over....

All of these kids are 12,13,and 14. I was so mindfucked,so god damn mindfuckedd. This Greatest Hits is really exposing the band in a good light,certainly. You cant believe how many people said they'd buy it when they saw mine. Here's a quote a semi-friend of mine who listens to Hip-Hop most of the time said to me 5 months ago:

"Who doesn't know Guns N' Roses?"

[Doc Emmett Brown]

IndiannaRose, your post made me remember the first time I heard Guns N' Roses. I was 10 years old (this was 1989), and I will never forget the first time I heard Axl's voice on WTTJ.  

It's strange to think of kids today experiencing the same thing so many years later!   And I didnt understand the lyrics of many of the songs until much later    Maybe we'll see a spike in AFD/UYI/Lies sales as GH diffuses into people's minds.

[axlrosegnr]

Ya know what?  That was probably the best post I've read on one of these boards in a LONG time....no bitching, no complaining.....that was just straight out cool....thank you


after all, this is what its supposed to be about.....having fun with our favorite band

[loretian]

That's pretty cool, IndiannaRose, thanks for sharing!  

[AxlsMainMan]

Thats a really cool story man. Ive had similar experiences, when I actually brought Guns N' Roses back to my school. Our school is about 95% hip hop when it comes to music, and I really got back into GnR around the 2002 VMAs ( I didnt even know some form of the band still existed). The next day me and my friends start talking about music and I will not shut up about Guns N' Roses, and everyone in the class is not open minded about anything their parents would listen to or anything less then six months old unfortunately. I dont give up though, throughout the next several weeks I bring in Appetite and the UYI albums and am constantly playing them in class. Finally when people start to begin to like some of the material I bring in a copy of the VMA performance and start playing it every break and everyone in that class is blown away by it. From there on out all my closest friends who never even heard of bought all the albums and still every week I have people asking me what the latest is on Chinese Democracy. Like you I play all Guns N' Roses in gym class and the girls side of the gym goes beserk as soon as Sweet Child O' Mine goes on. I also help DJ all the dances and when it comes to slow songs, people generally think Patience and November Rain are wicked songs to score some action too Keep up the good work cause I am to with 5 people waiting to burn Welcome To The Videos, and the Greatest Hits CD.

Cheers

[IndiannaRose]

Yeah man. These have been one of the coolest weeks I've ever had in the last year. Also ironically enough right after I posted this thread I caught the Paradise City video on VH1. Yeah I've noticed a lot that girls are really attracted to Sweet Child O' Mine. But I don't want to drown them with GN'R,I wanna play it slowly so they don't get sick of it. But the reaction of the people at my school for the Greatest Hits CD has just being amazing. Kids and teachers were all over it. Only the teachers knew about the lawsuit though,but so many people my age were/are/will be into GN'R. I never noticed it that much. Man I use to hate the GH but now I'm all in love with it. It's really brought some cool GN'R experiences to me.

[Reinaldo]

"...Hey you know what this is one of the best Greatest Hits CD I have ever heard. You know I really don't like Guns N' Roses that much but every song they chose to put on here is perfect. They did an excellent job in the tracklisting. Most of the time when bands release a greatest hits album they're not really hits but this album has so many hits I can remember..."

Cool post... above, you have the typical words of people who never heard Estranged or Mr. Brownstone... if the tracklistisng was slightly different, GH would be an "almost honest" product for these people (except for the fact it?s unauthourized).

Anyway...thanks for sharing.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

and the girls side of the gym goes beserk as soon as Sweet Child O' Mine goes on.

hah! I remember that so clearly!  The guys (and a few girls) would be playing dodgeball on one side, and the rest of the girls would be sitting on the bleachers painting their nails, etc.

BUT!  Back then no teacher would play Guns in school!  They were too dangerous, too badass, too much for school.  We would listen secretly to the cassette that we borrowed from the older kids.  
How time changes things...

Cool post... above, you have the typical words of people who never heard Estranged or Mr. Brownstone...

I remember singing along to Mr Brownstone without any clue as to its meaning.  It's a pity that the casual fans dont get to hear them.

[Deez Nuts]

Agree with everyone.  This has been the best post I have ever read in the past 3 years I have been on this board.  I view everyday about 10 times but never post but this time I just had to add my input.   It trully does take us back to when we first heard GNR for the first time.   Their music is so influential and any true fan should take joy in having the feeling of these youngsters having a smile on their face over GNR's music.  

[grog mug]

Maybe these kids can be exposed to the genious material of Chinese Democracy next.  I think something's happening out of the GH, either we'll never see anything new or a huge amount of stuff is going to be thrown at us at once.

[bolton]

great post

[matt88]

Kick ass post mate