NME: 10 reasons why GNR still rock

[GypsySoul]

NME (mag) 20 March 2004 Issue

TEN REASONS WHY GUNS N? ROSES STILL ROCK
Their new ?Greatest Hits? shows why the music matters but every band can learn something from LA?s down?n?dirtiest punk metallers

Words:  Stephen Dalton in Paradise City

Photo credits:  Katz pictures/Retna/Wireimage

The original Gunners Slash, Duff, Axl, Steven, Izzy:  it?s probably safe to assume they could ?have? Keane*
*Gypsy note:  I have no clue what that's supposed to mean but that's what it says on the pic.

1  THEY LIVED THE GREATEST ROCK?N?ROLL SOAP OPERA EVER
When William Axl Bailey ? later to become Axl Rose ? followed his former school friend Jeff Isbell, aka Izzy Stradlin, from Indiana to LA in 1982, Hollywood?s post-punk glam metal scene was barely a blip on the rock map.  Hooking up with guitarist Saul ?Slash? Hudson, drummer Steven Adler and bassist Duff McKagan, Guns N? Roses were formed in 1985.  By the end of the ?80s they were American Rock?s officially sanctioned Public Enemy Number One, as loved and loathed as Eminem and Limp Bizkit combined.

They were drug-fucked, model-shagging, parent-scaring, liberal-baiting, riot-causing, tantrum-throwing, lowlife scumlords of pigshit-thick scuzz-punk genius.  Half Spinal Tap and half Sex Pistols, put simply, they rocked.

2  THEY WERE THE ULTIMATE SCUM-SUCKING LA STREET PUNKS
?It?s not like we?re the most intelligent bunch,? admitted Axl, ?but as fas as street sense ? hanging out, doing drugs, partying, girls and shit like that ? we know and understand a lot.?

Exploding like a dirty bomb of lowlife sleaze, for a good two or three years, GN?R gave heavy rock back the outlaw-punk attitood it had lacked for over a decade.

3  THEY BECAME BAD TASTE ICONS OF WHITE TRASH FASHION
Rose?s eccentric sartorial sense ? bandanna, big hair, motorcycle leathers, white denim, mirror shades, dinky cycling shorts ? brought glam rock style back for the power-dressing ?80s.  The Gunners dressed like Sunset Strip whores and, from Middlesbrough to Melbourne, so did their millions of followers.  Axl?s name is an anagram of ?oral sex?.  Go figure.

4  THEY OFFENDED EVERYBODY
The Gunners were politically incorrect jerk-offs on a scale that Eminem and Liam Gallagher could never equal.  Rose?s most notorious song, ?One In A Million?, took a swipe at lowlife criminal ?niggers? as well as disease-ridden ?immigrants and faggots?.  He claimed to have suffered bad experiences with gay and black people, but denied being racist or homophobic.  Given that the head of their record label was gay, and that Axl later played AIDS benefits and duetted with Elton John, his sentiments were confused at best.

Their treatment of women was equally disgusting.  During the 1990s, Axl, Slash and Steven Adler all faced charges of violence against wives and girlfriends.  Not cool, not funny, but at least it roved the Gunners were knucklehead scum and proud of it.

5  THEY MADE SOME CLASSIC RECORDS THAT YOU SHOULD OWN
Well, one at least.  GN?R?s 1987 debut album ?Appetite For Destruction? sold a staggering 20 million copies and contains all their best songs ? the urban battle cry ?Welcome To The Jungle,? the shimmering dirty-love serenade ?Sweet Child O? Mine,? and the supercharged scuzz anthem ?Paradise City.?

6  THEIR PUBLIC FEUDS WERE HIGHLY ENTERTAINING
At LA?s MTV Music Video Awards in 1989, Axl threatened to kill Motley Crue singer Vince Neil after he ?sucker punched? Guns N? Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin for hitting on his wife, then attacking her, at a Hollywood rock club.  Axl promised a bare-knuckle showdown with the ?plastic faced, pussy assed? Crue frontman though no fight occurred.

In 1992, backstage at another MTV Video Awards, Axl exploded at Courtney Love and told Kurt Cobain: ?Shut your bitch up or I?m taking you to the pavement!?  Which he didn?t, of course.

7  THEY WERE SO BIG AND MEAN THAT ONLY KURT COULD KILL THEM
Symbolically, at least, the feud with Kurt Cobain called time on Guns N? Roses.  Kurt had declined two invitations for Nirvana to tour with the Gunners.  ?I can?t even waste my time on that band, because they?re so obviously pathetic and untalented,? Kurt told US gay magazine The Advocate.  ?They?re really talentless people, and they write crap music, and they?re the most popular rock band on the earth right now.?  But not for long.  When ?Nevermind? eclipsed GN?Rs bloated ?Use Your Illusion,? the new grunge elite wiped out glam-metal almost overnlight.

8  THEY REMAIN ONE OF ROCK?S GREAT UNFINISHED MYSTERIES
Since Axl fell out with Slash a decade ago, he?s barely been seen in public.  Retreating to his Malibu mansion, he kept the band name alive with interminable recording sessions for a long-delayed new album, ?Chinese Democracy,? whose studio costs have reportedly topped $10 million already.  Yet when the new-look Gunners mounted a surprise world tour in 2002 and 2003, they still managed to sell out arenas, incite riots and rock like muthas.  Axl for all his Howard Hughes weirdness, has still got something.

9  THEIR EVER-CHANGING LINE-UP IS BEYOND A JOKE
Since Axl legally seized control of the Guns N? Roses name in the mid-?90s, he?s operated a revolving door policy towards new members.  All the original Gunners left citing his ?power crazy asshole? antics.  Since then half a dozen have come and gone.  Current guitarist ?Buckethead? performs with a KFC container on his head.  Hence the name.

10  THEIR INFLUENCE IS ALL AROUND US
The Gunners may be dormant and their musical era discredited, but somehow the spirit of Axl endures.  For retro-glam guitar action, we have The Darkness.  For bad-ass white-trash machismo, Limp Bizkit.  For offensive lyrics and outlaw cool, Eminem.  For no-show appearances and public fisticuffs, Liam Gallagher.  And for endless drugg;y drama, Courtney Love ? ironically enough.  The enduring allure of GN?R simply proves that, no matter how tasteful and intelligent rock gets, people will always crave the taste of scum.

[Hoosier]

thats awsome. thanks for sharing

[Walapino]

this article simply put ROCKS MY COCK!  

[Eduardo]

“They’re really talentless people, and they write crap music, and they’re the most popular rock band on the earth right now.”  

Funny comment coming from an even more talentless shithead who coulndt play crap on the guitar, played out of tune and thought it was cool and "alternative"  

[chineseilusions]

It's nice too see somthing posstive about GNR

[Eeebs]

Wow... that is a pretty sweet article.  Thanks for posting it!  This is what Gn'R was all about!!

[dave-gnfnr2k]

kurt cobain what a fucking loser

[younggunner]

If you notice every paragraph is about Axl.

That is why I wouldnt sweat the whole theres no slash so people wont accept new gnr theory.

[matt88]

GN'R fucking rules mate

And kurt calling GN'R pathetic....he's dead, his wife's fucked up, and every GN'R member is alive n kicking

Puts things in perspective

[duga]

Very good article!  

[Is he struggling?]

TEN REASONS WHY GUNS N? ROSES STILL ROCK
Their new ?Greatest Hits? shows why the music matters but every band can learn something from LA?s down?n?dirtiest punk metallers

Words:  Stephen Dalton in Paradise City

Photo credits:  Katz pictures/Retna/Wireimage

The original Gunners Slash, Duff, Axl, Steven, Izzy:  it?s probably safe to assume they could ?have? Keane*
*Gypsy note:  I have no clue what that's supposed to mean but that's what it says on the pic.

1  THEY LIVED THE GREATEST ROCK?N?ROLL SOAP OPERA EVER
When William Axl Bailey ? later to become Axl Rose ? followed his former school friend Jeff Isbell, aka Izzy Stradlin, from Indiana to LA in 1982, Hollywood?s post-punk glam metal scene was barely a blip on the rock map.  Hooking up with guitarist Saul ?Slash? Hudson, drummer Steven Adler and bassist Duff McKagan, Guns N? Roses were formed in 1985.  By the end of the ?80s they were American Rock?s officially sanctioned Public Enemy Number One, as loved and loathed as Eminem and Limp Bizkit combined.

They were drug-fucked, model-shagging, parent-scaring, liberal-baiting, riot-causing, tantrum-throwing, lowlife scumlords of pigshit-thick scuzz-punk genius.  Half Spinal Tap and half Sex Pistols, put simply, they rocked.

2  THEY WERE THE ULTIMATE SCUM-SUCKING LA STREET PUNKS
?It?s not like we?re the most intelligent bunch,? admitted Axl, ?but as fas as street sense ? hanging out, doing drugs, partying, girls and shit like that ? we know and understand a lot.?

Exploding like a dirty bomb of lowlife sleaze, for a good two or three years, GN?R gave heavy rock back the outlaw-punk attitood it had lacked for over a decade.

3  THEY BECAME BAD TASTE ICONS OF WHITE TRASH FASHION
Rose?s eccentric sartorial sense ? bandanna, big hair, motorcycle leathers, white denim, mirror shades, dinky cycling shorts ? brought glam rock style back for the power-dressing ?80s.  The Gunners dressed like Sunset Strip whores and, from Middlesbrough to Melbourne, so did their millions of followers.  Axl?s name is an anagram of ?oral sex?.  Go figure.

4  THEY OFFENDED EVERYBODY
The Gunners were politically incorrect jerk-offs on a scale that Eminem and Liam Gallagher could never equal.  Rose?s most notorious song, ?One In A Million?, took a swipe at lowlife criminal ?niggers? as well as disease-ridden ?immigrants and faggots?.  He claimed to have suffered bad experiences with gay and black people, but denied being racist or homophobic.  Given that the head of their record label was gay, and that Axl later played AIDS benefits and duetted with Elton John, his sentiments were confused at best.

Their treatment of women was equally disgusting.  During the 1990s, Axl, Slash and Steven Adler all faced charges of violence against wives and girlfriends.  Not cool, not funny, but at least it roved the Gunners were knucklehead scum and proud of it.

5  THEY MADE SOME CLASSIC RECORDS THAT YOU SHOULD OWN
Well, one at least.  GN?R?s 1987 debut album ?Appetite For Destruction? sold a staggering 20 million copies and contains all their best songs ? the urban battle cry ?Welcome To The Jungle,? the shimmering dirty-love serenade ?Sweet Child O? Mine,? and the supercharged scuzz anthem ?Paradise City.?

6  THEIR PUBLIC FEUDS WERE HIGHLY ENTERTAINING
At LA?s MTV Music Video Awards in 1989, Axl threatened to kill Motley Crue singer Vince Neil after he ?sucker punched? Guns N? Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin for hitting on his wife, then attacking her, at a Hollywood rock club.  Axl promised a bare-knuckle showdown with the ?plastic faced, pussy assed? Crue frontman though no fight occurred.

In 1992, backstage at another MTV Video Awards, Axl exploded at Courtney Love and told Kurt Cobain: ?Shut your bitch up or I?m taking you to the pavement!?  Which he didn?t, of course.

7  THEY WERE SO BIG AND MEAN THAT ONLY KURT COULD KILL THEM
Symbolically, at least, the feud with Kurt Cobain called time on Guns N? Roses.  Kurt had declined two invitations for Nirvana to tour with the Gunners.  ?I can?t even waste my time on that band, because they?re so obviously pathetic and untalented,? Kurt told US gay magazine The Advocate.  ?They?re really talentless people, and they write crap music, and they?re the most popular rock band on the earth right now.?  But not for long.  When ?Nevermind? eclipsed GN?Rs bloated ?Use Your Illusion,? the new grunge elite wiped out glam-metal almost overnlight.

8  THEY REMAIN ONE OF ROCK?S GREAT UNFINISHED MYSTERIES
Since Axl fell out with Slash a decade ago, he?s barely been seen in public.  Retreating to his Malibu mansion, he kept the band name alive with interminable recording sessions for a long-delayed new album, ?Chinese Democracy,? whose studio costs have reportedly topped $10 million already.  Yet when the new-look Gunners mounted a surprise world tour in 2002 and 2003, they still managed to sell out arenas, incite riots and rock like muthas.  Axl for all his Howard Hughes weirdness, has still got something.

9  THEIR EVER-CHANGING LINE-UP IS BEYOND A JOKE
Since Axl legally seized control of the Guns N? Roses name in the mid-?90s, he?s operated a revolving door policy towards new members.  All the original Gunners left citing his ?power crazy asshole? antics.  Since then half a dozen have come and gone.  Current guitarist ?Buckethead? performs with a KFC container on his head.  Hence the name.

10  THEIR INFLUENCE IS ALL AROUND US
The Gunners may be dormant and their musical era discredited, but somehow the spirit of Axl endures.  For retro-glam guitar action, we have The Darkness.  For bad-ass white-trash machismo, Limp Bizkit.  For offensive lyrics and outlaw cool, Eminem.  For no-show appearances and public fisticuffs, Liam Gallagher.  And for endless drugg;y drama, Courtney Love ? ironically enough.  The enduring allure of GN?R simply proves that, no matter how tasteful and intelligent rock gets, people will always crave the taste of scum.

I should be glad that an (inexplicably) influential mag has apparently given GnR 'props', but this article is typical of the childish, drivelling shit that the NME passes off for journalism.

Each of thier 10 points asically recycled point 1 (Wow man!They were so scuzzy and thick! They took shitloads of drugs and fucked loads of skakns! They dressed like Whores! They were well offensive! Cool! Rock!etc etc). Speaking of which, you don't have to read it particulalry carefully to find the insults which pepper this article (the constant references to thier supposed lack of intelligence, bashing UYI, sneering at Axl's persona etc. Oh, and holding Kurt Cobain as everything that rock should have been too. Bastards). I'm no GnR stepford, I just loathe the NME and everthing it stands for.

Still, they gave them a full page article (and a sort of positive review to GH), so that should shift a few units to their many, many readers. Actually, they did something sort of similar when Live era was relaeased in 1999: http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=29

FAO GypsySoul: the caption (the could 'have' Keane) refers to current Indie-anorak flavours of the month (in the UK) Keane - the sort of piss-weak, whiny student-y shit that the NME often tries to shove down everyones throat (the NME usually turns on the bands it supports within a few months, however). Andto 'have' is Brit-speak for to 'beat up'.

[Lineker10]

Nice article!

[WalrusOct9]

I'm surprised they didn't mention the Manic Street Preachers in that article.  Everything about them in their first few years was influenced heavily by Gn'R.

[St.heathen]

The NME sucks, while it may have been a legendary respected music magazine.  Since the mid-90's i have refused to buy a copy it's just garbage.  

While agreed it's a good thing to have an article on GN'R for a change, but it's only for a change.  See NME is like Kerrang! They  slag them off the rest of the time. But when they actually do release/ or do something - they are like oh shit! people are stilling buying into this band we'd better agree for now....
Just doesn't wash with me.

[5thofwhiskey]

NME (mag) 20 March 2004 Issue

TEN REASONS WHY GUNS N? ROSES STILL ROCK
Their new ?Greatest Hits? shows why the music matters but every band can learn something from LA?s down?n?dirtiest punk metallers

Words:  Stephen Dalton in Paradise City

Photo credits:  Katz pictures/Retna/Wireimage

The original Gunners Slash, Duff, Axl, Steven, Izzy:  it?s probably safe to assume they could ?have? Keane*
*Gypsy note:  I have no clue what that's supposed to mean but that's what it says on the pic.

1  THEY LIVED THE GREATEST ROCK?N?ROLL SOAP OPERA EVER
When William Axl Bailey ? later to become Axl Rose ? followed his former school friend Jeff Isbell, aka Izzy Stradlin, from Indiana to LA in 1982, Hollywood?s post-punk glam metal scene was barely a blip on the rock map.  Hooking up with guitarist Saul ?Slash? Hudson, drummer Steven Adler and bassist Duff McKagan, Guns N? Roses were formed in 1985.  By the end of the ?80s they were American Rock?s officially sanctioned Public Enemy Number One, as loved and loathed as Eminem and Limp Bizkit combined.

They were drug-fucked, model-shagging, parent-scaring, liberal-baiting, riot-causing, tantrum-throwing, lowlife scumlords of pigshit-thick scuzz-punk genius.  Half Spinal Tap and half Sex Pistols, put simply, they rocked.

2  THEY WERE THE ULTIMATE SCUM-SUCKING LA STREET PUNKS
?It?s not like we?re the most intelligent bunch,? admitted Axl, ?but as fas as street sense ? hanging out, doing drugs, partying, girls and shit like that ? we know and understand a lot.?

Exploding like a dirty bomb of lowlife sleaze, for a good two or three years, GN?R gave heavy rock back the outlaw-punk attitood it had lacked for over a decade.

3  THEY BECAME BAD TASTE ICONS OF WHITE TRASH FASHION
Rose?s eccentric sartorial sense ? bandanna, big hair, motorcycle leathers, white denim, mirror shades, dinky cycling shorts ? brought glam rock style back for the power-dressing ?80s.  The Gunners dressed like Sunset Strip whores and, from Middlesbrough to Melbourne, so did their millions of followers.  Axl?s name is an anagram of ?oral sex?.  Go figure.

4  THEY OFFENDED EVERYBODY
The Gunners were politically incorrect jerk-offs on a scale that Eminem and Liam Gallagher could never equal.  Rose?s most notorious song, ?One In A Million?, took a swipe at lowlife criminal ?niggers? as well as disease-ridden ?immigrants and faggots?.  He claimed to have suffered bad experiences with gay and black people, but denied being racist or homophobic.  Given that the head of their record label was gay, and that Axl later played AIDS benefits and duetted with Elton John, his sentiments were confused at best.

Their treatment of women was equally disgusting.  During the 1990s, Axl, Slash and Steven Adler all faced charges of violence against wives and girlfriends.  Not cool, not funny, but at least it roved the Gunners were knucklehead scum and proud of it.

5  THEY MADE SOME CLASSIC RECORDS THAT YOU SHOULD OWN
Well, one at least.  GN?R?s 1987 debut album ?Appetite For Destruction? sold a staggering 20 million copies and contains all their best songs ? the urban battle cry ?Welcome To The Jungle,? the shimmering dirty-love serenade ?Sweet Child O? Mine,? and the supercharged scuzz anthem ?Paradise City.?

6  THEIR PUBLIC FEUDS WERE HIGHLY ENTERTAINING
At LA?s MTV Music Video Awards in 1989, Axl threatened to kill Motley Crue singer Vince Neil after he ?sucker punched? Guns N? Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin for hitting on his wife, then attacking her, at a Hollywood rock club.  Axl promised a bare-knuckle showdown with the ?plastic faced, pussy assed? Crue frontman though no fight occurred.

In 1992, backstage at another MTV Video Awards, Axl exploded at Courtney Love and told Kurt Cobain: ?Shut your bitch up or I?m taking you to the pavement!?  Which he didn?t, of course.

7  THEY WERE SO BIG AND MEAN THAT ONLY KURT COULD KILL THEM
Symbolically, at least, the feud with Kurt Cobain called time on Guns N? Roses.  Kurt had declined two invitations for Nirvana to tour with the Gunners.  ?I can?t even waste my time on that band, because they?re so obviously pathetic and untalented,? Kurt told US gay magazine The Advocate.  ?They?re really talentless people, and they write crap music, and they?re the most popular rock band on the earth right now.?  But not for long.  When ?Nevermind? eclipsed GN?Rs bloated ?Use Your Illusion,? the new grunge elite wiped out glam-metal almost overnlight.

8  THEY REMAIN ONE OF ROCK?S GREAT UNFINISHED MYSTERIES
Since Axl fell out with Slash a decade ago, he?s barely been seen in public.  Retreating to his Malibu mansion, he kept the band name alive with interminable recording sessions for a long-delayed new album, ?Chinese Democracy,? whose studio costs have reportedly topped $10 million already.  Yet when the new-look Gunners mounted a surprise world tour in 2002 and 2003, they still managed to sell out arenas, incite riots and rock like muthas.  Axl for all his Howard Hughes weirdness, has still got something.

9  THEIR EVER-CHANGING LINE-UP IS BEYOND A JOKE
Since Axl legally seized control of the Guns N? Roses name in the mid-?90s, he?s operated a revolving door policy towards new members.  All the original Gunners left citing his ?power crazy asshole? antics.  Since then half a dozen have come and gone.  Current guitarist ?Buckethead? performs with a KFC container on his head.  Hence the name.

10  THEIR INFLUENCE IS ALL AROUND US
The Gunners may be dormant and their musical era discredited, but somehow the spirit of Axl endures.  For retro-glam guitar action, we have The Darkness.  For bad-ass white-trash machismo, Limp Bizkit.  For offensive lyrics and outlaw cool, Eminem.  For no-show appearances and public fisticuffs, Liam Gallagher.  And for endless drugg;y drama, Courtney Love ? ironically enough.  The enduring allure of GN?R simply proves that, no matter how tasteful and intelligent rock gets, people will always crave the taste of scum.

BITCH SLAPPED

[Izzy]

NME wrote an article that wasn't on some fringe Indy band no one has ever heard of? They wrote an article that was not on the White Stripes? Geez...must be a new editor

'reason's GNR still rock' - then talks about them in 1987............

[2NaFish]

FUCK NME

Two years ago (when nu metal was big) gn'r were loather by the new musical express, yet now that the darkness are huge they want to cosy up to the rock gods that are gn'r.

NME is a huge pile of wank bollocks that only ever talks up what is already popular. It's a fucking rag of a magazine.

[Evolution]

FAO GypsySoul: the caption (the could 'have' Keane) refers to current Indie-anorak flavours of the month (in the UK) Keane - the sort of piss-weak, whiny student-y shit that the NME often tries to shove down everyones throat (the NME usually turns on the bands it supports within a few months, however). Andto 'have' is Brit-speak for to 'beat up'.

whilst ur right that keane the band are shite i think the nme are possibly referring to roy keane the irish hardman football player

[grog mug]

I'm glad they're actually mentioning the new band and showing pictures of Buckethead.  That's a good sign....maybe people will realize how great this new band is and show some respect.

[speed_stone]

kurt cobain what a fucking loser

i absolutely agree. the loser who blew his brains out and left his family to themselves.
great to see this list, it shows how great guns n' roses was and still is. fuck the haters, guns n' roses forever!