My phone, for reasons I don't quite understand, came with a number of "quick texts" saved that I would presumably like to send to people. They include:
"What's Up?"
"Check This Out!"
"Whatcha doing?"
"What do you think?"
"You're the best!"
and
"You gotta be here!"
Apparently my phone thinks I'm the most boring person in the world.
So I got the new Guns n' Roses album yesterday. I don't know how many people here care at all about Guns n' Roses. I don't really know if I care about Guns n' Roses. But when I was in high school these guys meant the world to me. They were the last real rock group of the rock era, after all. I mean the last rock band that ACTED like a rock band when it stood on top of the world. The last "event" band, the last band to be 4 hours late to their own stadium shows because their lead singer was out of his mind. The last band that decided that not one but TWO oil tankers were needed in their videos. They lived huge lives, they didn't give a fuck, and any one of them could have died at any time. Remarkably none of them did. How that happened I have no idea.
Guns n' Roses don't really exist anymore, of course. Now it's Axl and a bunch of new guys. That doesn't count. Gn'R were a great band because they were 5 distinct personalities who ALL brought something to the table. Now it's just Axl alone in his unchecked lunacy.
I wouldn't say that "Chinese Democracy" is good, exactly. But it's not bad. But more importantly it's fascinating. For reasons completely unfathomable to any rational human being, Axl has been holed up working on it for 16 years and in that time the music world has changed completely. Axl is like a dinosaur that's been thawed out and let loose in Disney World. He's huge, unpredictable and out of his element completely.
I drove to work this morning (in the November rain, appropriately) listening to the fruits of Axl's 16 years of labor. It's a huge, overindulgent mess (6 guitars on this song? sure! a choir and Martin Luther King speeches in that song? why not?), but its also the last of it's kind. Forget about all the comparisons to Howard Hughes-Axl is rock's Norma Desmond-he didn't get small, the music did.
"What's Up?"
"Check This Out!"
"Whatcha doing?"
"What do you think?"
"You're the best!"
and
"You gotta be here!"
Apparently my phone thinks I'm the most boring person in the world.
So I got the new Guns n' Roses album yesterday. I don't know how many people here care at all about Guns n' Roses. I don't really know if I care about Guns n' Roses. But when I was in high school these guys meant the world to me. They were the last real rock group of the rock era, after all. I mean the last rock band that ACTED like a rock band when it stood on top of the world. The last "event" band, the last band to be 4 hours late to their own stadium shows because their lead singer was out of his mind. The last band that decided that not one but TWO oil tankers were needed in their videos. They lived huge lives, they didn't give a fuck, and any one of them could have died at any time. Remarkably none of them did. How that happened I have no idea.
Guns n' Roses don't really exist anymore, of course. Now it's Axl and a bunch of new guys. That doesn't count. Gn'R were a great band because they were 5 distinct personalities who ALL brought something to the table. Now it's just Axl alone in his unchecked lunacy.
I wouldn't say that "Chinese Democracy" is good, exactly. But it's not bad. But more importantly it's fascinating. For reasons completely unfathomable to any rational human being, Axl has been holed up working on it for 16 years and in that time the music world has changed completely. Axl is like a dinosaur that's been thawed out and let loose in Disney World. He's huge, unpredictable and out of his element completely.
I drove to work this morning (in the November rain, appropriately) listening to the fruits of Axl's 16 years of labor. It's a huge, overindulgent mess (6 guitars on this song? sure! a choir and Martin Luther King speeches in that song? why not?), but its also the last of it's kind. Forget about all the comparisons to Howard Hughes-Axl is rock's Norma Desmond-he didn't get small, the music did.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
ata:
thanks for the sweet comment x
kraven:
Thank you for the comment you left on my set in Member Review... I am glad you liked it and i appriciate all your support... thanks again and have a fan-ass-tastic week!