Here Today... Gone To Hell!

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
(http://gypsysoul.lunarpages.com/NMEmarch.jpg)
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.

thats awsome. thanks for sharing

this article simply put ROCKS MY COCK!  :peace:

“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"  :P

It's nice too see somthing posstive about GNR

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

kurt cobain what a fucking loser

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.

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 :)

Very good article!  :peace:

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'.

Nice article!

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.

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.

BITCH SLAPPED

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............ ::)

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.

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.

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! :beer:

Why the hell do some of you have to turn every thread where Kurt Cobain's name is mentioned into a "fuck you Kurt, you fucking faggot! I'm glad he killed himself!" thread? Let it fucking go already!

He died ten years ago and still some of you are upset over the fact that he didn't like GN'R? Some of you make it seem like this is the "We hate Kurt" board. This isn't the first thread this happens in, every time his name is mentioned you can bet the comments will be there.  :no:

He said some negative comments about Axl and GN'R, so what!

Read at the top of the page, see if you find Kurt Cobain or Nirvana in the description. Go ahead.

Now I feel like listening to Nirvana.



On topic: Seems like the Greatest Hits has really gotten GN'R back into the spotlight. As 2nafish said, The Darkness' popularity is probably helping too.



/jarmo

You know somthing Jarmo,your right.Kurt was a person and had the right to his own opion.I hate when people disrespect the dead and thats exactly what some of the people do on this board.I think we should all be greatful for the great music that kurt and nirvana gave us.

I am sorry for being off topic I just had to get that out.

that was sweet!! And kurt is a loser, i dont even care what he said about gnr! He did make one great CD, Nevermind, but he let his wife do drugs when she was pregnet and killed himself insted of taking care of his child. A real man would respect his kid and do whats right insted of being a pussy wipped little bitch, and running from his problems insted so his kid doesnt have a father anymore.

That was an all around ok article, but jeeze, how many times did the author say "dirty", "scuzzy", or "scum"? The title of the article is also misleading. Its refering to the now and how GnR still rock when all it seemed to me was a brief bio, and the bands accoplishments in their short-lived career. Still its great to see that the Greatest Hits release has inspired a slew of brand new articles on the band, and is surely placing them back in the spotlight, and hopefully turning the public's attention to Axl yet again :yes:

Jarmo has made it clear that this isn't a Nirvana board.  If you want to talk about Kurt and/or Courtney, start a thread in Bad Obsession.  

I can?t barely believe it! After some years of reading and posting here, it?s the first time that I see so many posts with articles, comments and opinions being so positive about GNR, saying good things about them, etc.. instead of the usual bashing festival.

I respect Kurts opinion. If he doesnt like GNR, fine then. What I cant stand is him talking about them being talentless, when he sang like he was puking at the microfone and could barely tune his guitar. But still he thought it was cool, and what is more pathetic is that everybody thought it was cool too.

Edit: And also his lyrics were shitty too... I mean, whats the point in "a mosquito, my libido, teah!!". He could never write something like Estranged. But you know, I like Nirvana, they have some good songs, but you get bored after a while... Anyway, I wont go off topic anymore jarmo

OK... So maybe next time we should edit out all the bad comments made about Axl and GN'R out of the articles? Maybe then you guys can stay on the topic of GN'R instead of discussing Kurt?  : ok:

 :P

/jarmo

Keane are a new British indie Coldplay style band who wear trendy alternative clothing and call themselves a "rock band without guitars". Their music is alright easy-listening, but gets depressing and their singer has a high whiny voice...

And I'd personally love to see Steven or Izzy smack their lead singer, that'd be kinda cool  ;D

Anyway, the article!

These titles are stupid:
"THEIR EVER-CHANGING LINE-UP IS BEYOND A JOKE"

Why is this a reason that they rule?  ::)

"THEY WERE SO BIG AND MEAN THAT ONLY KURT COULD KILL THEM"

Kurt Cobain, Nirvana, or anyone else in the grunge scene had absolutely nothing to do with the demise of Guns N' Roses, or even pop metal.

Poison's Greatest Hits has sold more copies in the USA than Nevermind. As did AFD.

So grunge 'killed' hair metal?  ::)

If we did that we wouldn't be able to post most of the articles :hihi:

Thank you for the read!

Man, I can't believe you're the first person to notice this.

This is a terrible article, what the hell are you guys congratulating it for?  "10 Reasons Why GN'R Still Rock."????....... The majority of that list is talking about why GN'R DID rock, not why they STILL rock.  There are 3 of those that you can relate to GN'R "still" rocking:

1. Unfinished Mystery: Umm... most of us are complaining that we AREN'T getting the new CD and that we've been waiting for 10 years.  Why does that make them rock?

2. Changing band members is a joke:
WTF are you talking about?  Did you actually READ this thing or just "look at the pretty pictures"?  They just said Axl's revolving door policy is a joke... Which is VERY ironic since there is a good chance that Buckethead isn't even IN the band anymore. If your comment was sarcastic grog mug, then I thank you.   :rofl:

3. Influence:
Ok, there is some influence.

You ass-clowns must've just read the title and immediately posted: "Damn, that rocked!"  ::)

I think 5thofwhiskey noticed it as well.  The last line of the article really does 'bitch slap' GNR:

"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 find it endlessly amusing and frustrating that countless 'zines say GNR had only 1 great album (AFD), but then simultaneously diss them for not making "tasteful" music. Of course they dismiss UYI (which had many intelligent songs, IMO), and bitch about how indulgent it is to release a pair of double albums....

This is not the first article to hail AFD for its raw power, diss it for being 'scummy', completely ignore the talent in Lies, and brush off UYI as indulgent, and it wont be the last.