Here Today... Gone To Hell!

this song is now probably my least favorite *not counting my world*

i dont know this song for me starts so bad ass and then it just loses its appeal as it goes on

whats anyone elses opinion here

the alice cooper part i can do without but the song as a whole just gets old fast for me

Absolutely love it...I think it is about New York City. "trees" are the buildings and the flowers are all the trouble and shit you can get in to in NY. The video runs with this theme as well. I picture Axl walking around NY on acid! ;D

Is a great song. on a garden related note i prefer Garden of Eden.

I think the garden is about being on drugs, Slash looks smacked off his tits at the beginning of the video!

Not a bad song, but made much better by Alice's sinister, 'I've been there before' vocals and a really intense solo from Slash...

I think its a good song.  To me, it is nowhere near as bad as My World, Shotgun Blues, or Silk Worms.

One of my favourite GN'R songs. Totally addict attitude, the music sounds like we'd have been in the 70s. Slash's solo is one of the greatest moments of the music history.

One of UYI Is best...

Slashs guitars are positively sickening...

Its a song i've always had time for

Not really sure what its about though

I feel pretty much the same way, D.

the solo is what makes that song for me.  mind-blowing

I agree. I rarely ever listen to the song, i just do not like it at all excpet for Slash's nice guitar work. So much filler on UYI 1 it seems.

waw from the first time I heard that song I though it was about being on drugs, when I read the lyrics well and listened close to the music and the way it changes and the effects they put into it I only got more convinced how it was about drugs...this is the first time I actually have doubts about it...damn you :rant:
 ;D

yeh i always thought it was about a acid trip or something what with the "but only smart boys do without" etc.

Im not a big fan but years on I may like it, like I do some other songs now that I never liked before.

"Axl sang a part in 'The Garden,' and it sounded exactly like Alice Cooper," recalls Slash. "I mean, it sounded exactly like Alice. So we were like, 'Let's get Alice to do it,' you know, rather than just steal his style. So Alice came down and sang it. It was cool."

A hallucinatory experience penned by Axl and West Arkeen, "The Garden" features a breathtakingly eerie vocal passage where Alice, in vintage Coop spoken-word style, delivers lyrics written by RIP's Del James. When the track was finished, Axl called the office and played the song for Del over the speaker phone in his office. "Listen, man," he said. "Alice Cooper singing your lyrics." Mr. James was speechless the rest of the afternoon.

Guns N' Roses The Illusion Of Greatness (http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=5) by Lonn M. Friend
RIP June 1991


/jarmo

oh yeah! i heard the demo of the garden and axl does sound identical to alice.either way good vocals on the track

Alice Cooper: I was in LA, staying at the Sunset Marquis. I was watching an old movie when Axl called me. It was about two in the morning and he says, 'Hey, listen, can you do the vocal on this song 'The Garden'? I went down there and I listened to it and said, 'Yeah, I'll do it.' So we do it but when Axl sings, you can't stay with him. I'm sitting there and
I'm trying to do a duet with him and I said, 'Listen guys, this is my range. I end right here.' He was two octaves
ahead of me and I'm going, 'Okay, okay. You do the real high parts and I'll stay down here.' When you're in the
studio, a one-on-one with him, it's really amazing. When he's on the other mike, you're like, 'Jeez this guy can
really sing.' Axl was a definite perfectionist . Almost to the point where you wanted to say, 'At some point, Axl,
it's gonna be good enough.' With 'The Garden,' it was an easy bit for me to do. I did my bit maybe three times but
when Axl was doing his vocals, he treated it very intricately. Rock and roll isn't supposed to be perfect. I'm afraid
of it sounding too perfect. I mean, Bob Ezrin recorded Pink Floyd's The Wall three times. They probably did it like
six times before they put it out. You never know if a person is not happy with it or if they're afraid of the
material. The Beatles must listen back to Sgt. Pepper and go, 'Oh, man, why didn't we do this?' As an artist, you
gotta know when the painting is done.

Slash: I came up with the solo that day in the studio, so there wasn't much practicing involved. I had the basic idea, improvised it, and did it a couple of times. I played it overhand. This solo is particularly focused, in terms of where your energy is. I thought of Jeff Beck. That's cool. I like Jeff Beck

http://www.gnrinfo.tk/

Listening to Beck is really trippy, just like this song  :D

But... c'mon Axl/Muffin man,  the painting's done already, right?  

he played it overhand?.........is that what i think it means?............almost lap steal style?

I agree, one of GnR's weakest songs.

I like the song but i agree it's not one of their best

For me, its no more than a filler.

i for one absolutely love this song...
i like alice's vocals as well...they lend a kinda eerie touvh to the song...slash has an awesome solo
the lyrics are awesome
the "no,i won't" part is great.....whats there not to like?

I realize much of the focus here is on the new stuff at the moment, but I wanted to check the general consensus about "The Garden".  In my experience, I found it to be a severely UNDER-rated song.  People knocked the video, but I loved the song before the video came out.  The song really is a masterpiece if you ask me.  You have Axl and Alice doing HELL-acious vocals, and then Slash gives us a mesmorizing solo on the slide guitar in the middle.  Truly sounds fucking phenominal!!!  Even the dark riff on the acoustic to open the song fits perfect with the mood of the song.  Both vocals by Axl and Alice are some of the best in GnR history if you ask me.

I'm not crazy about the video, but I don't dislike it either.  It was a step away from the big-budget mega-videos GnR was doing at the time and it didn't have to show them actually playing, because they'd just made like 4 or 5 fucking videos showing them playing in every setting.   The video is not that bad, except for the corny scene where the biker dude smashes the camera and we get the fake glass shatter.  Other than that, the vid compliments a fucking masterpiece of a hard rock song just fine, imho.   Your thoughts? 

I love the song.  Pretty good rocker IMHO : ok:

i deteste the alice cooper parts, extemely cheasy

A major highlight on UYI I, and GNR's most underrated song. I have an uncle that hates GNR but loves this song. The Garden should have been the band's second single instead of 'Dont Cry'.

Are you kidding? ?Alice Cooper rocks! ?His vocals made the song truly unique.

I never really liked the song :peace:

The Garden is a killer song, but I agree with you that most people underrates it.

Not only for the sensational vocal duet. Slash performance is brilliant, and the track has great lyrics.

I think The Garden is not at the level of monstruosities like Coma or November Rain, but I consider that The Garden is one of the highest points of the ''illusion'' era.

The problem of The Garden is that is located inmediatly after November Rain ?:rofl:

Always thought it was the worst GNR song. So boring.

When you think about all the hip-hop and pop out there today, and the watered down rock... then you listen to a song like "The Garden", you realize hard rock bands don't make music like that anymore...  or maybe I'm just getting old.  I hear good songs these days, that are more on the pop side of rock, but not monster hard rock songs like The Garden. 

Even Slash only gives us flashes of brilliance on songs like Dirty Little Thing (which is a fucking great solo and riff if you ask me). 

your post was going perfect until you wrote that last line  :no:

Say what you want, but that solo is very slick.  Just because Slash is not in Guns any longer, doesn't take away from his musical ability.  Which has improved, by all accounts, since the early 90's.

his vocals make it sound like there is a 78 year old impersonating satan on the song.

Problem is, he's not impersonating Satan... read the lyrics.? His vocals are a perfect fit for the song.? Obviously, Axl holds the song up vocally, but Alice is no worse than say: Izzy.? But Alice is perfect for that one song.? Hence, the only song the band has him sing on.

ok man, don't get mad! My opinion is that you only chosed the wrong example. Maybe you could talk about ''You Got No Right'' (a fantastic song, 1 gem track in a 13 track mediocre album) solo...but...DLT??

Ah, the old "Alice Cooper is cheesy" argument.? I've had it SOOOO many times.? There's no doubt that to a younger generation he'll often be nothing but dated, but people like me who grew up when Alice and Ozzy were still battling for the title of scariest motherfuckers out there, his voice is THE perfect fit for the eerie psychidelic trippiness of THE GARDEN.? I'm willing to entertain honest disagreement with people older than 27 or 28 about this, but the young gunners are just going to have to accept that they're hearing something different than the rest of us on this track and chalk it up to the generation gap.? Fair?

I too love this song! Definately underated, one of the best from the UYI albums and that solo kicks some serious ass.
The vocals are great too, some really nice background vocals by Shannon Hoon (R.I.P.).
As for the video, I think it suits the music and the lyrics perfectly, this song didn't need a mega budget video. The video depicts 'The Garden' perfectly with it's images of violence, drug use and sex.

The Garden was never my favorite song but I think it's due to bad placement.

Double Talking Jive and November Rain are killer tracks, then you have the Garden which isn't bad but still... then you have Garden of Eden and Don't Damn Me which are 2 of my favorite Gn'R songs... surrounded by those 4 songs The Garden just seems average to me.

I did like the video tho.

Well, I'm 17 and I TOTALLY dig Alice Cooper.  I think it's just a matter of taste. :yes:

I agree, the Garden has some absolutely amazing guitar playing, and we see moments of how good Slash can be on the DLT and YGNR solos too.

I really like the song. Can't complain about the video either.
I'm a fan of Alice Cooper, too. I can see how not everyone can get into his vocals, he's one of those love him or hate him kinda guys, but I love him - so yeah, I really enjoy The Garden

I really like it - One of the least talked about songs of GNR's career though, to be sure. It's definitely one of the few songs I really like on UYI I, because it stands out from the rest of the samey-sounding "rawk" stuff.

i love it

I love the garden, but agree that I'd rather have Axl do the parts Alice did.

It occurs to me that I implied no one under 27 could appreciate Alice Cooper.  I've edited my post to avoid that assertion.  I guess what I was saying is Alice tends to be less respected by younger fans because he comes across as more dated.  However, there are still plenty of young gunners out there who recognize talent when they hear it.  : ok:

Isn't their a demo of The Garden? I remember hearing some UYI demos years ago, but I never heard this one. If one of the hundreds of people I've sent these new demos to could send me The Garden demo, I would appreciate it. :beer:

Or just post it here. I dont think there is a rule against old demos being posted, because people do it all the time.

I love The Garden...I think it's a great song...at least it got a vid : ok:

I think ThE GarDen, was an excellent example of what Axl And Slash could do with out Izzy, (dont  get me wrong , I Love Izzy) but its great to hear Alice cooper singin while Slash is fuckin his guitar with that riff! its like, Oh my God! and even Duff's part its great really cool bass playin. ..... I always pictured Axl and Slash getting high durin' that recording.  ;D  anyway great song!

" ?The garden" = better than any of the new tunes ? besides ? madagascar.

Great song, cool as shit.

It's awesome.. Alices parts make that song, IMO.

great song. lame video. lame ass video.
song's cool. very cool. longer would have been better (ohoh !?)

i always liked the song from when i did my paper round back in 1994 i always rewound it to listen to again videos ok nothing special though

The Garden is Great  : ok:


I love this section:

..I wasn't really scared
Lost my virginity there,
To a gypsy with blond hair
But now no one seems to care
Like a mouse inside a maze
Wandering round 4 daze
With a smile upon my face,
I never wanna leave this place... ..  .

Probably one of the only Illusion tracks I have never been able to get into at all. Over the years I've done some u-turns on several songs and really started listening to them but never The Garden.

A really cool song, one of GNR's best rockers without a doubt. The riff is really cool, and it gets even cooler as the song progresses (kind of changes). The solo is simply mind blowing. Is it really slide guitar? Didn't know that, and doesn't really sound like it, but OK.

The Garden is a cool song, still haven't seen the video though. Alice Cooper's vocals really fit in I think.

no, old people are cheasy

Its a really wierd and different song I think it's sick

I love the sliding parts in the garding with the following drums

People hate this video? WTF? I thought it was a good, twisted visual for the song. Has a classic Slash moment on the hotal room bed. Is he acting, or did they just film him? However, I'm not a fan of the Alice parts & can't remeber the last time I listened to UYI 1.

I'm 21 and ever since hearing the song I've liked Alice's parts as much as Axl's

Isn't there a demo where Axl sings those parts the same way?

I've allways digged the psychedelic feel of the song and it's definitely one of the best of the old GN'R

i thought i had all the guns videos
can some one post a link to the video for the garden please

I've liked the song since my 2nd listen. It's a nice bridge from the epic NR to Garden of Eden. And the video wasn't that bad, just wasn't as great as their others.

One of those tunes I never  really caught onto. It's alright, but I always skip that if im listening to GN'R.

Surely you are not thinking there's a general consensus sort of thing in the GNR fandom.

I agree with Rockin' rose, I'm not big on Alice cooper tho.

Yes The song has a trippy psychedelic feel and yes one of the best GNR oldies.

it's a ok song...not more, not less

U know what?

I still cant really listen to this song

I dont know what it is, I just have never connected with it.

its my least fav GNR song ever.

Hopefully the guitar players of this forum would appreciate Slash's fucking sick slide guitar solo!!!  As for Alice Cooper... look... we're talking about Axl Fucking Rose here... he would not have let Cooper breathe on his album if he didn't think he "belonged".  In fact, this was Axl's song, so Cooper was like a hired gun... Axl wouldn't allow his shit to be ruined on the Illusion albums.  He was so obsessive about every note on the cuts.  My whole fucking point is to just sick back and enjoy Cooper's parts.  I don't think he's trying to be ultra super sinister or anything... its just a great fucking song and a good diversion after November Rain.

anyone??

Get "Welcome To The Videos"....



/jarmo

I like the video?