Here Today... Gone To Hell!

So I totally disagree with not only the concept of pairing the Illusion albums down to a single disc, but also with the choices that RS made (that's where opinion comes in, though, I know).  Personally, I'd want to see "Locomotive," "14 years," "KOHD," and "Don't Damn Me" on that list as well...


http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2006/07/27/double-albums-that-could-be-single-discs-part-iv-guns-n-roses-use-your-illusion-i-ii/

No Coma? No 14 Years? No Locomotive? No Don't Damn Me? No DTJ? No Perfect Crime?

I'm not saying that an album with that setlist would suck, but we would have missed alot of fucking amazing tracks.

That sucks. You can not take one single song out of the Illusions records. It just wouldnt be the same.

Personally, I'd be fine without "My World" and the alternate "Don't Cry," among a few others.  But there's no way I could cut the tracks down to a single CD...

COMA ! PERFECT CRIME ! 14 YEARS !!!

damn ... this list suxxxxxxx

Yeah leave off Coma.  It is only the best freakin rock song of all-time.  Whoever wrote that doesn't know enough about GNR music to be writing an article.

The problem with articles like this, is that many people consider UYI, rightly or wrongly, to have a lot of filler on. Trouble is that noone can agree on tracks they consider filler- things I love off UYI, like Bad Obsession or Don't Damn Me, or even Back Off Bitch, lots of pretty big fans don't get on with at all. This is why these 'ideal tracklist' threads keep coming and are discussed to death.

In a way it shows the strength of GnR and goes some way to explaining their popularity and the continued mainstream popularity of UYI- it shows the band's strengths as very diverse musicians and songwriters.

Very well said.

RS list sucks.  Bad Apples and Dust & Bones are the worst songs on UYI 1.  I've made a UYI compilation CD before, which fits just under the 80 minute limit and here it is.

1. Live & Let Die
2. Don't Cry (Original)
3. November Rain
4. Civil War
5. Yesterdays
6. Knockin' On Heaven's Door
7. Breakdown
8. Pretty Tied Up
9. Locomotive
10. Estranged
11. You Could Be Mine

The big negative is that Coma doesn't fit

Whoever wrote that list obviously knows fuck all about GnR. Coma especially, I mean come on.. if you had to choose one epic song from UYI it would have to be that.

RS.com: "we?re not dividing our Use Your Illusion playlist into sides, because vinyl albums had become pretty much vestigial by the early ?90s."

Well thats bullshit. These fucks are supposed to be on top of music trends... Last year compact disc sales where down while vinyl sales had gone up (along with online buys from iTunes and such).

The UYI set will always suffer from this. It has since the day it was released. It got rave reviews just about everywhere, but even the rave reviews complained about the length of the albums. I don't think anything should have been deleted, but they should have spaced the discs out. Release UYI I at the beginning of the tour in mid 91, and released UYI II in mid 92.

^ i agree ^ 

i like dont cry alt a little better then the first one

I'm surprised Bad Apples is on the RS list as that is aside from My World the only track I was never that into.  I'd replace it with Dead Horse.  I agree that Coma should be on there and I'd replace Dust and Bones with 14 Years.  I'd also replace Right Next Door with Perfect Crime.

I think coma is over rated.
the song is not all that great.  ::)

As would any single disc UYI. Its fine as a 2 disc. Sure its got filler, but who cares now days anyway. You can pick both CDs up for $5.

Sure it does, just get rid of knockin on heaven's Door? ;)

They should have just released it through the Days of Thunder soundtrack and not included it on UYI.

Imagine if "Oh My God" ends up on Chinese Democracy - it would be pointless since the song's been heard already.

i don't know why you guys are like "OMG THIS LIST SUCKS, THIS GUY KNOWS NOTHING ABOUT GNR" when its all a matter of opinion so you can't really say that.  maybe the guy doesn't like Coma?

i think its pretty funny that a lot of people say the albums have a lot of filler on them, but everyones opinion of what the filler songs are differs.

With the album released on one disc there would inevitably be some good songs left off.  Locomotive is one of the greatest GnR songs but they didn't even have it on their list

I'm so thankful that GNR released two discs instead of just one. We would've missed out on so many amazingly fantastic songs.

What? No My World?! They're crazy!

I agree. And where is the amazing Garden?  ??? And how can be place here for Yesterdays, Right Next or even Bad Obsession, DN'B and Don't Cry  :-X? Tastes are different.

Yeah.. tastes are very different. I personally think that there is no bad tracks on UYI. There is good tracks and amazing tracks, and there is no way I could shrink the track list to fit in to a one cd.

Yeah, since the double album concept failed so miserably and ended GN'R's career back in '91, that single disc is what they should've rleeased instead.

Hopefully, the writers at RS will stick to writing about bands and not managing them. Ever.

No ones mentioned no Live and Let Die!, What were they thinking?

my world is the only song i would rif off the albums, although i only consider it as an outro!

i still cant see slash and co "real digged" it like axl says

Breakdown and Locomotive beat Coma hands down. They are way catchier. Coma is cool, but it's a Slash-fest, just long for sake of being long.

i disagree, coma has alot of song changes, it isnt long just for the sake of it or it would stay in the same modd all the way through the song, but in coma there is alot of changes as in most GNR songs

How anyone can complain about GNR releasing more tracks - is there anyone out there that would have preffered just 12 tracks?

I'd rather they released everything they did - and decide for myself whats 'good' and 'bad', rather than have the band never give me the chance to hear it

a stripped down UYI would have eliminated most of my favs from those albums

There is no such thing as too many tracks

yeah agreed i mean imagine if that happened, the deleted illusion tracks would never had been heard

I'm glad they released them whether people think they are worthy or not, cuz that was my favorite band and the more material they made in those years the merrier.  I just wish they could have done a good recording of crash diet with Axl on vox....

This has all been said before. Yet, nothing would persuade me to trade in my two Illussion albums for one . . .

I'll say this though . . . you couldn't find 12 songs on two consecutive albums from most bands that you would want on one disc; most just have 1 or 2 noteworthy songs per disc.

It takes most bands an entire career to amass 12 songs worth listening to again - then they go and market it as a greatest hits. GNR should take pride in the fact they could sell a Use Your Illusion Greatest Hits.

I wonder how much the "UYI should have been one disc with this playlist" arguments have changed over the years - the songs on the discs have aged differently. What holds up well now, like Coma, tended to be overshadowed by songs like LALD which have since faded. I remember when the albums first came out, and when I heard them first, the vast majority of the songs were blowing people away. The filler criticisms have tended to come later (although some critics were saying it at the time).

There are really only a few songs that I'd call "filler" on UYI.

If it was up to me, which it isn't, I could do without Shotgun Blues, So Fine, and Breakdown(which I know a lot of people like, but it has never worked out for me - don't dig the "Let me hear it now" Chuck D voice). Then there others that are only passable for me -Get in the Ring, The Garden, Dust n Bones.

I dn't think that you can call really call Coma a Slash-fest. There's a lot of Axl in there, and only one guitar solo. I remember reading an interview with Axl back in the day where he referred to those as some of his favorite lyrics that he'd written. Of course, he calls the whole album, "the sound of a band dying" these days.

i know i may get a lot of heat for this, but i think that "get in the ring" could have been an amazing song without the big rant in the middle. i know it sort of strips the song of (what is now) its entire purpose, but the melody is really, really solid IMO and might have been another huge hit for GNR.

I agree.I LOVE the melody,but it gets almost childish with the rant.. :-\

UYI
12 songs
Max length 6:46 (like Paradise City)
No covers

Right Next Door to Hell
Dust N' Bones
Don' Cry (Org.)
Perfect Crime
Back off Bitch
Double Talkin' Jive
Don't Damn Me
Dead Horse
14 Years
Yesterdays
Pretty Tied Up
You Could Be Mine

The double album concept certainly did not fail miserably.  I cannot substantiate this, but I've read that each album sold over 15 million copies internationally.  And while the original GN'R fractured starting with Adler, then to Izzy and finally the remainder of the band by '96, to say that the double album caused it is ridiculous. 

While its fun to think of how a single album would look, I love the fact that they released two lengthy albums.  The only song I've typically skipped is My World.  The rest, for better or worse, hold up today better than most other artists of the genre.  Axl may put the albums down, and many other people who like to say that there is too much filler, however I loved them from the day they came out and still love to listen to them today. 

I can't remember any other album release getting as much hype as UYI.  While at 14 years old I was too young for the midnight sales, I clearly remember it being the first ever album I preordered, riding my bike with one of my best friends to the local Sam Goody to pick up the albums and listening to them over and over.  The only thing for me that will outdo this is when CD is finally released!

I think he was being sarcastic when he said they failed.

Bottom line is they had too many great songs to fit on one disc.  Two albums the same day was a first.  And the albums did extremely well.  When you consider all of that it makes the entire idea of re-writing history pointless.  Why re-write it and pare it down to one album when things went perfectly fine the way it was?

My only complaint about the albums is that they omitted Crash Diet and maybe a couple of other great songs in their vault, but put in My World, Don't Cry (alt), and two covers.  MW just isn't good IMO, the others are a bit redundant - they are good songs (and I really love KOHD) but should probably not be there at the expense of other really good original material.

Many people complain about the alternate version of Don't Cry.  I enjoyed it especially since the orginal had been written so long before it was offically recorded, in my opinion it was cool to hear a new version.  There have been many other artists, especially today, that have more than one version of the same song on an album.  Second versions often come in the form of either being done live, acoustic, with guest artists, dub (reggae), or alternate lyrics. 

And if missed the sarcasm in my response to the last post, my bad. 

I couldn't tell either until I read his last line where he is bashing RS.  So to me it seems like sarcasm.