Here Today... Gone To Hell!

There's been a lot of disappointment lately in the fan community.  And that's a shame to see -- for both the band and the fans.

So instead of complaining about the lack of this, or the cancellation of that, maybe it would be healthy for everyone to remember why we love Axl so much in the first place.  Maybe he'd like to get to read that.

I'll go first --

I was born and raised in a small conservative Southern town. Everybody was a bunch of Jesus-loving, fag-hating, Bible thumping, hypocrites. My parents didn't have a lot of money, but they really wanted us to get a good education. So they saved up and sent us to private elementary school -- which was full of rich assholes. Because I wore poor kid clothes and my parents drove shitty cars, I got picked on relentlessly.

But around the same time, AFD came out. I was already into rock by then -- mainly Poison and Bon Jovi -- but Axl and GNR was something entirely different. Poison and the other bands' image was built on conformity in one way or another... it was about this awesome rock scene in LA and how much fun they were having there. It was music about inclusion and fun.

But Axl had a chip on his shoulder like I did. He was pissed off at the world, neglected and rejected. AFD became my favorite album in no time. I couldn't sing for shit, but I did learn to play guitar (and still jam on a Les Paul to this day).

Rock and Roll (and in specific GNR) taught me that sometimes it's okay to say "Fuck the world." Sometimes you just gotta be yourself. After AFD, I totally embraced that philosophy. I embraced my own fucked up view of the world, whether or not anyone would get it. In doing so, I got into the arts as a form of self expression. Then I found out I was good at it. And because of that, I've had the chance to do some really cool things with my life.

So thanks Axl -- from one small town white boy to another.  You're capable of such amazing things!  We can't wait to see what you've got in store for us next.

They turned me into a 'rocker'..... those bastards  ;)

I'm still alive...

wrong band dude.... :hihi:

Well, I'm probably older than a lot of people on this board.  The old band spoke to me because I was the right age.  But Axl was the voice of that band, and the most important element in their success (even though I don't think Axl could have done it without the old guys either). 

Maybe there are some younger folks on here who've had a similar experience with the new band.  I'd be interested to hear it, actually.  I could see how a mad virtuoso like BucketHead or a technologically-minded computer musician like Pitman could speak to creative kids out there today.  Even the story of Axl Rose -- the world's last rock God, struggling against the odds to complete his personal opus -- could have affected someone deeply enough to turn them into a fan.

I'd be kinda interested to read that, actually.  I already know what it's like to fall for Axl because of AFD.  It's my life story, man.  But it'd be cool to see how these artists could have spoken to someone in an equally personal way, but for completely different reasons.

I think madagas referred to Christos meaning "i'm still alive" is a line in a pearl jam song.. but maybe i'm wrong :rofl:

They helped save me from the abomination that is modern music. ?Bad pop, bad hip-hop, and bad rock, etc. ?

GN'R has become something of a passion for me... I am posting on this board, after all! ;D

correct on the Pearl Jam reference : ok:

I'll give you a short story of how I got into GNR about a year ago. My mom asked me to download Sweet Child O' Mine for her, and while I didn't like the song much at that time, I downloaded a few other tracks as well, namely WTTJ, PC and Nightrain.

After listening to them for a while, I thought it was a pretty damn fine collection of songs but a bit overhyped. I mean, I didn't think they were extraordinary in any way like other people seemed to think.

Then I started to search for some Youtube-videos of the band, and simultaneously educated myself on their history. I found out that Axl was the only member from their debut album left, and that a few demo tracks from the long-awaited, legendary Chinese Democracy had leaked in the spring.

But first, I watched Madagascar at Rock In Rio. First time I listened to it, I thought that it was horrendous. Surely this guy singing can't be the same one who is howlin in Nightrain, I thought. I listened to it one more time and it hit me as one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard.

I didn't care that the voice was high-pitched and sometimes out of tune, the second time I heard it, the song really connected with me on an emotional level, and none of the GNR-tracks I had downloaded earlier had done that.

I soon heard Better and There Was A Time, and was completely hooked. The new material was genius. I ignored my friends that said it "isn't GNR without Slash", well honestly I didn't care. Those demos, and just DEMOS, were something extraordinary for me. I remembered hearing Better for the first time, and suddenly there is a complete nu-metal break in the middle of it. Fantastic, I thought to myself. It's catchy, heavy and angry, all at once.

For me, the new songs go places the old ones never did. And I don't care if it's not a man with a top hat playing the guitar solos, that's a thing of the past.

What settled my passion for GNR was that Axl, even though an aging rockstar, still proved to have it in him, unlike all the washed-up has-beens that release worse and worse material as time goes by. I want to hear his vision now, and I don't care if it has taken him over 10 years.

Cause I know, in the end, it'll be worth it.

-DW

My mother was about 8 months pregnant when she decided to participate in annual "pregnant women and orphans united"-  buss tour.
Tragically though, the buss caught fire. When all hope seemed lost Axl Rose appeared and snake danced everyone to safety, thus saving my mother and me.
Thanks again for that Axl!

Being 19 I think I may be qualified to reply to your post.

Predictably my first exposure to GN'R was AFD. ?Jungle, Sweet Child, and Paradise City. ?At that point my interest in the band lied somewhere between casual and somewhat intense. ?Then came the 2002 VMAs. ?While I'm a huge fan of Axl, I have no problem admitting it was nowhere near his best night. ?And I was enough of a fan to know that backing Axl was a new cast of characters. ?But I was enamored by the BAND'S performance.

So that's when I started to delve into the entire discography as well as reading as much background information as I could find. ?I was amazed by the stories of Axl's over-the-top antics, performances, and entire story as the "world's last rock God", as you put it. ?The more I read, the more I became a fan of the old band and the new band, but particularly Axl. ?Discovering YouTube only helped to intensify my interest, as I could finally watch videos of both bands' performances and, of course, Axl's rants.

YouTube was the impetus for my connection to the new band. ?I am fan of the band's evolution from AFD to UYI. ?So I felt that these new songs that were being performed were only the continuation of this process, the natural progression of the complexity of the music. ?The leaks sealed it for me. ?I love pretty much all of them, but TWAT was the track that convinced me that Chinese Democracy might actually live up to the hype and might just give the music industry the proverbial "kick in the ass" it needs. ?The leaks, coupled with my appreciation for the entire GN'R catalogue, finally inspired me to actually go see them. ?Six months later, and I'm still in awe.

My dad had Ozzy, and I'm forever thankful that Axl has returned to provide me with a similar musical hero. ?I am convinced that Chinese Democracy is the most important album of this decade. ?So whenever Axl deems it ready, I will be there to sing its praises.  I will do my part to reintroduce Axl Rose to the world and prove to the doubters and critics that as long as Axl is there, GN'R is still GN'R.

Well im not sure how they changed my life as i was always into rock music from a young age, one thing they have done for me recently is given me a reason t do some traveling like to Greece Dublin New York and Baltimore, plus a few places in the Uk.

See My problem is from age 9-10 i was into GNR im now coming on to 29 so its been a long time.

Also the music has helped me through some bad times, very bad times.

It also helped me through my paper rounds every morning

as a teenager listening to the music helped with the moodswings  :hihi:

other than that, I don't really know if they've changed my life though... it's just music in the end  :-\ *runs away from angry mob*  ;)

they made me start swearing at the age of 9, almost flunk out of school, get suspended countless times, arrested once well apprehended to be exact..drink heavily(thank you Slash).. and made me lose track of how many illegitimate kids I have running around.....yet i still rebounded to graduate college last week....thank you GNR....

gnr and axl making my life better

Axl forgot to flush, so I put the shit in a jar full of water, sold it on Ebay and was then able to pay my rent long enough to find a decent job.

Somewhere around age 9 I first listened to GNR, delved into a life of delinquency and haven't looked back since.  I'd say it was a good decision.

Whats sick and fucked up about that is someone would pay a ton for that shit!

Anyways on topic, GnR have always been with me since the age of 7. From every up and down in my life I always had GnR blaring on my stereo taking me thru the ups and downs. Hell in 2nd grade we had dress up as your hero day, some kids were dressed as astronauts, super heroes and etc I dressed as Axl. My teacher was shocked that a rock star was my hero at a young age I still remember her face as I was giving my report on how I wanted to be a rock star. I can proudly say I have been a fan from the very begging and I have never stopped listening to GnR. I guess the band has not influenced me on the way I live my life  but rather has grown up with me with their music.

What can I say? They gave me good music, that's for sure. Some of the best I've ever heard. Some of the best live shows I've ever been to. You can't really ask for more from a band. The music's been with me though good times... through bad times. It's in the bad times that, if something can speak to you, a piece of art, and alleviate some of that pain or those feelings, that's when it becomes something very special. Guns N' Roses is that for me. When I was a little kid, Axl Rose embodied everything cool to me. Going to school when the Illusions came out, he was like the essence of badass. Axl as a persona, as a sort of role model to a kid, taught me not to put up with bullshit. Me and my friends came up with this phrase in school, WWAD (What Would Axl Do?). If you were having a bad breakup, what would Axl do? Then it was time to say "Fuck off, bitch," and move on. His is a character of integrity when all others were whiney dope addict losers who attained infamy by blowing their own heads off. I got into Guns because I loved the music, and that's just what you did at the time. Once upon a time it was really cool to like this band. But they meant something to me, and they've stayed with me. I'll be a fan of Guns until the end.

eerrrrmmmmm well.

my missus tells poeple that there's 3 poeple in our relationship.

Me
Her
and Axl Rose

that says it all ?:P

Oh, thank God the band is right...


That's not very healthy you know...

Was it the 'SHIT HAPPENS' shirt that did it?

in the late 80s I was going through a lot of changes in my life , divorce , graduation coming up , so I started started hanging with the gunner crowd . I was always a wild one anyway so I sort of just fit in ,and I was always a hard rocker so this was my new niche . With what we thought was a glorification of heroin , we all indulged . this led to years of addiction and treatment . been clean now for several years . I had positive exerpiences too that I posted about elsewhere , but like everthing there is good and bad . I'm aware that one can not blame their addiction on anyone but themself , however the environment was condusive to that behavior . Anyway I wouldn't change a thing . Life is a learning experience that never stops ; we are a sum total of our experiences . It was , and still is, a blast .

Hmm if you think its the musics fault... You'll wanna go get looked at..

I guess the easiest way to describe is as follows:

Was depressed when younger. Tried everything I could, whether music or drugs or alchohol, to try and cope. Nothing worked. I felt dead inside.
Once day I heard Sweet Child on the radio ( had heard it plenty before) but for whatever reason , this time it was different. That voice seemed to be speaking to me, the guitars put me in a place that was completely intense, and I felt like my entire soul just " snapped out of it " at that one moment.
The rest, as they say, is history.........   :yes: :yes: :yes:

GNR were the first CDs I were able to buy with Parental Advisory labels.  I showed my parents music videos on MTV to show them what GNR was all about.  It was the first time I was able to make a musical connection with my parents.  It's still one of the few to this day.  Being a youngster, I didn't listen to a whole lot of "true" rock.  I can thank GNR for much of my musical taste and choices today.

Never really changed my life...just became a part of it..you could ask anyone i know and they will tell you that i'm a insane GnR fan and would hang anyone that talks shit about axl rose.. it's allright for the fans but if you're a hater then you're a hater and your opinion is null and void.  i don't really get into the solo stuff and former and current gnr side projects...i just connected at a young age to the shit axl was saying.. I too am a small town white boy just tryin to make ends meet.

I remember after UYI came out, and Time Magazine did an article called "What GNR Plays is Very Good. ?What GNR Says is Very Bad."

My mom found out all the dirty shit Axl had been screaming in my ear those last few years. ?I thought she was going to take away my albums for sure. ?To a young rock fan, the idea of losing your favorite albums is a fate worse than death.

Strangely, she let me keep listening. ?Never even brought it up again. ?She just checked to make sure I wasn't doing drugs or getting in trouble. ?Thankfully, it'd be another year before any of that really started. ?I didn't have to lie.

BTW Mother Goose... Very good posts here!! You're much more tolerable when its not all about pitman  : ok:

at the time of my life g n' r came out it brought more meaning to rock.everyone was lisening to club music around that time.i was a rocker at heart.i feel he saved the rock world from dance music.(that sucks by the way dance music,get down with rock again).and i believe axl can do it again.bring back rock n' rroll !
old school.just down home rock music will save the nasty world from dancing lol.

HRS - Ya already know my story, I think we've spoke about it before.

I say "fuck" and use "fucking" as an adjective a lot more than I used to do. That is how Axl affected my life.

Hey man, sometimes it's good to show some love too.  Jarmo's earned that much, wouldn't you say?

On a related note... there sure have been a lot of nice posts today.  What's a brutha gotta do to get some postiive Karma around here?

We have, but I smoke a lot of pot.? I might not remember all the details.? I'd like to hear it again.? ?

I remember reading something you'd written one time about how you got in fights and broke your hand, but you didn't give a fuck.? I remember thinking to myself... "Now THIS is a kid who's got the spirit of Axl Rose!"

I give credit when credit is due  :peace:

gnr were my favorite band of the 80s and i always play them the most when i play that glam metal always loved them in particular because they were the sleeziest of sleeze

When I heard November Rain on the radio I decided right then that I wanted to be a musician. I took piano lessons and on the first day i said my only goal was to be able to play and sing that song. I sold all my video games to get a keyboard and guitar. Because I was singing round the clock, forcing myself to sing like Axl my vocal range grew to cover 4 octaves. Then i started a band that got popular locally and I got to play shows in front of thousands of people which (coupled with what I learned from watching bootleg VHS of Axl playing stadiums) made me a good performer. Then I joined another band and got to tour the US 5 times, and get fans internationally. Now I'm a solo artist and make my living off of music and I even got to play with Gilby Clarke.
All because of GNR.
I owe Axl everything. He made me who I am, and I am eternally thankful.

Ive told my story how I got into GNR a million times already so no need to get into details.
But these days, I find myself going deeper and deeper into the love of GNR. By that I mean the live era of 1985 - 1993, when Axl and the guys came out of nowhere to not only conquer rock n' roll in that era, but for all time. I definitly credit YOU TUBE with that added love of GNR. AFD and UYI still sell in the thousands and its only a matter of time when they announce new platinum and diamon awards for these two fine musical albums.

I guess everything I do, the way I carry myself - reckless abandon combined with articulation, outspokeness and personal finess - comes from watching Axl Rose on stage. He was the greatest rock performer in history, and even now had regained 80% of what he did on stage in the old glory days. His formula is successful and if you are spontaenous and open in life the way Axl is in his taste and performance and life, life is definitly much more rewarding and exciting.

My position on the newwer GNR has definitly improved over the last year as Axl has returned with much vigor, ruggedness, style, party, outspokeness and that fantastic Rock N' Roll voice in the 2006 tour. I certainly would like to get over the embarassments of the 2000-2002 era and I know that Axl and the band would like to get over it the same. I will reiterate for the 1000th time that we haven't heard the best of the new GNR and that the delays are likely to have been caused by changing tastes and singing abilities of the one AXL. A successful comeback at 45 will be inspiring for many of us who plan to live life after 40 and onward. Axl could be 60+ for all I care and he's welcome to continue touring, making albums and inspiring new generations of people to rebuild their lives and conquer the jungle and get the fuck out of Madagascar!
 :smoking:
MNW

Changed my working life over the past 8 years, travel into work every day not thinking about the day ahead.  Look forward to my few minutes on the net with a cup of tea checking if chinese democracy is due to be released etc.  What will I do once its released, wait for the next i suppose! ::)

Yes, I am sleeping more. What's the cure for noisy neighbours?
GnR Greatest Hits on a loop during the night - speakers 11.  ;D

I wouldn?t say Axl has changed my life but he obviously influenced me when I was a teenager. It was his amazing voice what made me be a GNR fan, it was like a love at first sight. Since then he became my favourite singer and GNR my favourite band and I support him 100%.  :beer:

All my friends say I have a bad taste in music because of GN'R.

And who cares about others? ;)

I don't know, who?

Well he'll soon have made me very ill.  Nightrain is my favourite guns song of all time, and a friend and I are doing our bestest to get hold of a bottle of it each, to try it out. 

Other than that, Slash and Izzy have both been my biggest influences when playing guitar, they're definetely two of the coolest guitarists I know of.  I want to try and make a band soon, and while we won't be a carbon copy of Gnr, I'd definetely like the music to be strongly influenced by them. 

i used to walk down the boardwalk  of wildwood,blairing guns n' rose's from my radio.way before anyone knew who they were.those were proud moments back then.proud of a great band.

GN'R made me start a web site about 10.5 years ago.

I had done my military service and had nothing to do.....




/jarmo

Yeah...theres been a few of those "moments" I smoke a lot o' pot also. I'll post a huge post later on when I'm not at school.

I listen to GN'R and love their music. In every generation or era there's someone that's looked up to as an inspirational and successful figure, and I believe that person to be Axl for this era, and this is also why he gets such bad press (people are jealous).

a.

Axl didn't change my life but while I was in the service either training/working out (forever) or doing the dirty deeds of old time Naval spec ops. ?I would always pump up and get squared away with GnR and Ozzy. ?When we would return it was debrief, shower, beers and GnR and Ozzy. ?AFD could pump you up and then bring you back down. ?Who knows I could have changed his?....Later...JMack ?

haha i was joking....

Well, When I was kid I want to be a pilot, become normal kid and live my life Straight, married have a children get a normal Job, get older and die. Ooh and myhero was Jacko..
I even Hate a guys with a long hair, it seems they have no future..and I hate Rock music so much.
Until I heard Estranged for the first time in the radio. That song Keep playin' in my head, I didn't even knows what song it is and who's sing it. I keep searchin' until I knows that was Gn'R song. and that time november rain clip was playin' on TV for the first time. every Teenagers on my Country Loves Guns..So do I.
Axl singing Voice affect me so much. So i tryn to sing like Him. Start a band many times and I only wants to sing Gn'R song. Its been 12 years now I've been Tryn to sing like Him, When all of my band member kinda bored now. But I didn't care if they Dump me, I'll Start a new ones.
So now I have Unnormal Job As a kindergarten Teacher (I teach Drawings lessons), a Freelance Illustrator in a newspaper,  an Assistant of Obstetarian and Gynecologist in a Hospital. and Play Cover Band Every week. Hoping that somedays I wiil get a deal from The record Label. And Still not yet married When almost of my Friend Already have two kids.

Thanks To Axl For Ruin My Straight life :hihi:.

I'd like to hear more about that!  And I doubt I'm alone!  Shed some light on the mysterious Jarmo...

What was your position in the army?  How "Civil War" make you feel?

Everybody thinks they know Jarmo.  But they only know this one part of his life.

My position? What's the lowest you can be? Private?


If you're a Finnish citizen and male, the law says you're required to do military service. Some skip it and do civil service instead.

It wasn't my choice to do it and that pretty much sums up how I feel about it.  :hihi:


I had my Walkman and some tapes, so GN'R's music made it a bit more bearable. Especially since the radio was only playing things like Alanis, N-Trance (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KUn8XN9R8o) and Coolio (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mVVmxFnn53o).

 :nervous:


/jarmo

well the original Guns N' Roses taught me not to give a fuck what anyone else thinks about me or the music that I like.Also they inspired me to become a musician,the new band is great,but there was something special about the AFD lineup.

I can not say that Axl or GNR has changed my life but I really think that Axl have been very important in my life. The message in his songs has been very special for me. When I broke with a boyfriend back in 1993, listening GNR help me a lot. I remember one day I was really sad and then in TV I saw for the first time the Estranged video and my sadness turn into happiness. Then I left my home to do a master in another city, and those all night long studying were less terrible because I was always listening GNR. I think that in the last 17 years I have listened at least 1 GNR song every day.  Axl voice is full of feelings. And all the GNR songs have been my favourite in one time or another time.

i think they can change your mood and stuff..and your musical-life...

but i don?t think that they can change your life...." Hey i was a junkie before, and then i saw Axl in the Don?t cry video, and he made me think... :no:"

I used to be a recovering heroin addict. Had done it for 12 years, never could get over it. Thats when I heard the "Spaghetti Incident" and I realised, I dont need drugs to feel like shit!

Joking aside they made me pick up guitar

well...

my history in music was a bit of a late starter.

I liked music when i was little, but never got into any bands, i might occassionally ask my dad to put a certain song on in the car, id just say the lyrics so he got it.

When i was 10 for my birthday i was bought 3 albums "limp bizkit" "papa roach" and "linkin park"

up until age 13, all i knew was nu-metal, everything else was "weak"

Then i was introduced to skid rows slave to the grind by my dad, its heavy riffs and rebellious lyrics caught my attention and got me into a new genre finally....

then one day i was around my friends and he was like "dude, check this cd my dad left here, look at these dudes on the back, they look fucking trashed out but cool" i was like "haha man look at those leathers!"

he put the cd on, we put it on as a pisstake (it was AFD) but suddenly....my friend didnt play it from start, he skipped it to its so easy....

it came on, and we were like .... "haha....oh...wait...this fucking rocks!!!" and we were rockin, and at the age of 14 now, the line "i see you standing there, why dont you just, fuck off!" appealed so much somewhat.

So i went home and was like "dad do you know of this band caleld guns n roses" and he was basically like "one of the best rock bands in any decade, of course, i have there debut, give it a try" and there begins my story of gnr.

slowly my image and lifestyle changes, music tastes broaden, leave nu-metal behind, very far behind.

Guns N' Roses has changed my life in many ways. Before 2004 i would listen to just about any kind of music, as long as it sounded cool. One day i went over to a friends house and he was playing Welcome to the Jungle on his guitar. I recognized the song from somewhere else, but didn't know the name of it, so i asked him who it was. Well, fast forward a bit and i went out and *Cough*bought*Cough* all the albums off the internet. I listened to them non stop for at least a few months. In October of 2005 i found this website, and read about Chinese Democracy. Nowadays i listen to mostly guns n' roses, but once in a while i listen to other stuff.

I don't think that this is so much how he's changed my life as it is how I've been able to relate to his lyrics and "lose myself" in the music.? In my opinion, he's not only among the elite all-time vocalists, but also a brilliant songwriter/lyracist.? When the situations have warranted it, I've always been able to sedate myself from things going on in my life through GN'R.? Not that life's totally depressing or anything? :confused: I'm just sayin' I could always absorb myself in the music and lyrics.? That said, I'm very excited? :drool: from what I've heard so far!? The Blues in particular feels very "profound".? The message comes through to me very strong in a way I haven't felt about music since the Illusions came out!? I for one am looking forward to being 'affected' by GN'R all over again!!!

they've taken my idea of waiting to a whole new level time and time again!

So you're the one that changed my life! I gotta say that jar's been a topic of discussion ever since it's been on my mantle. Best $12.50 I've ever spent.

I can't really say GNR changed my life.  But by going to the shows, it has added to my most favorite memories

 :peace: I love those last two paragraphs!  They really ring true, don't they?   I first discovered GNR while listening to a local rock station, and they'd play Knockin' On Heaven's Door quite a bit.  Being a huge Bon Jovi fan at that point, I always thought "Dude, that guy sounds like a messed up Jon Bon Jovi!"  I discovered Sweet Child O' Mine with a friend, and we both loved it, though we were kinda scared of Welcome to the Jungle.  (We were 15, that's my excuse!) 

The night before a two-week vacation, I burnt myself a CD of assorted songs.  I downloaded Welcome to the Jungle and Paradise City, which I already knew pretty well, but I also went for My Michelle, something I hadn't heard.   I liked the song right away.  A few months later, I purchased their Greatest Hits, and basically gushed all over it.  AFD came into my possession, and my brain exploded at how great every song was.  What really had turned me into a superfan was after I purchased Welcome to the Videos.  We kicked back after my dad's birthday party in 2005, and watched every single video on there.  As it progressed, I found myself loving the band even more, and I remember having trouble sleeping that night because of how excited I had gotten over it.   Every other album and DVD was purchased after that, and I've been a volcano of GNR related things ever since. 

But how have they affected me?  I've been able to put emotions away into some songs, which has been highly therapeutic for me.  They're also the highest influence in pursuing a career in music, since they've provided so much for me.