Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Hey everyone.  Can some of you more experienced board members point out some info on Rocket Queen and Patience?  These are two of my favorite GNR songs and I always like to know the stories behind the music whenever possible.  Some things I already have learned:

- Rocket Queen featues real acoustics of Axl having sex with a g/f of Steven Adler at the time.  She did it to get back at Adler for cheating on him. 
- Rocket Queen changes over to a "happier sounding" beat because Axl wanted to end the album on a happy note.
- Patience features Axl's ex-wife in the video.

That's all the little tidbits I know at the moment.  Any other little facts would be much appreciated... any quotes on what band members have to say about the songs, etc.

Cheers,
Keith

theres actually a story on Rocket Queen published in the recent Rolling Stone I believe about Rocket Queen.

Patience was primarily an Izzy song.  Slash and Duff didn't want to do it.

i'll have to read the article... i thought it just touched upon the whole "sex noises" thing?

didn't realize slash and duff didn't want to do patience... any particular reason?

they are both very moving songs for me... as well as "think about you".

yea it was all about the sex noises, I believe it was an interview with the lady who made the noises.

not sure why Slash and Duff didn't want to do Patience, but according to Axl in Albany 2002 they argued with him and at first refused to do it..  guess we dont really know but thats what Axl claimed.   

Think About You is also an Izzy song.   :smoking:  I believe he plays lead in that one.

i must really like izzy love songs then, hehe.  when i saw gnr last year in nyc (twice!) it reminded me of when i used to borrow my cousin's tape of AFD and listen to it non-stop (i was 8 at the time, 26 now).  if only i was "old enough" and "rich enough" to appreciate the band back in their heyday... i would have gone to so many concerts...  at least i can say i saw them in my lifetime... with izzy there at one of the shows!  hopefully i catch them again some time soon.

keep the facts coming friends!  :)

Yea what Axl claims , I doubt its a fact for sure. I know that think about you slash said was difficult for him to play , because of the way izzy structured it and stuff it was a little unorthodox in his playing. Izzy plays lead in it and wrote it for the most part. Rocket Queen used to sound a lot different in like 85...and umm yea

what do you mean?  you mean it was just such a "different" sounding song for back in 85 or it was played differently in 85 as opposed to how it is played now?

I read a tidbit about patience, a long time ago that said:


The lyrics for the last part of the song were totally different... But Izzy forgot them, so when it came time to record, he made up some new ones....

The build up , from the normal part to the harder riff was a little bit different and I think the lyrics hadn't been planned out as much , youtube has some early vids that are interesting.

There was an awesome article a couple of months ago posted in the VR section i think, where slash went through how he remembered the recording of AFD

I searched for it but couldn't find it (maybe it was deleted because it contained scans from the magazine)

if anyone can find it, it would be awesome :yes:

really!?!?  if you happen to have time to post some URLs i would appreciate it... i'll search on youtube as well, of course.

i was at the same show - izzy's first onstage appearance with Axl in almost 14 years.  and i'm 26  :peace: 
   
i wanted to see the band back on the metallica tour but my mom wouldnt let me go :(   but i made up for it last year.  :)

haha rock on!  dude how sick was that show!?!?  i saw the one on mother's day too where sebastian bach did a duet on "my michelle"... i *think* that was the first time they had done that, correct (didn't axl claim that he burried a 13 year hatchet with sebastian the day prior because he needed vocal chord help or something like that...)?  and a couple of victoria's secret models were there that night... hotness!  :)

man don't go off topic in your own thread,, anyway, no i don't think there ever were a hatchet to bury between the 2.. just that they hadn't spoken in since early 90's

Here is a demo of rocket queen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpdWYTAbHOM

You can hear slash doing some octave bends that he doesn't do , and the build up part is a different. Duff is really hitting some sweet bass fills.

Here is a live version from Roxy of 86

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdf3bkguvdM

and another one from the same year I think

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-dSQGcEhVI , you can hear their idea but it isn't quite the song we know today but still jaw dropping!

www.GNRsource.com is you friend in these cases  :beer:

sweet website, thank you.

thanks for the demo of RQ, R.N.N.

damn i love RQ and that demo was awesome, the slightly changed ending is purty damn cool :smoking:

+1 thank you

Where is Axl's ex-wife (Erin Everly I'm assuming) in the Patience video?  I never remember seeing her.

Some Geffen record executive said he heard Izzy just playfully strumming and singing at the back door of the hellhouse one day. He said "Izzy's just there casually playing and he has a top 5 hit!" or something like that, in reference to the fact that everything the band did at that point turned to gold.

i meant stephanie seymour...  sorry

none of them are in the video :no:

okay i'm an idiot, haha!  i think i read it was the Don't Cry video... my bad!  and she was sup. to be in Estranged ("Part 3") correct?

She was in Dont Cry and November Rain..... And yes slated for Estranged, but they broke up.... See "Making the videos" for more!!

"Estranged", I do believe is part 4,  part 3 does not exist!!

"Patience" does not feature Axl's ex-wife Erin Everly nor does it feature Stephanie Seymore, however "Sweet Child O' Mine" was written for or about Erin Everly, Erin Everly is daughter to one of the two "Everly Brothers" I don't remember which, If you do not know who they are, one of their great hits was "Wake up Little Suzie". 


Here is a quote from Axl out of one of my GNR related books in regards to "Rocket Queen"

"There was also this ambiguous 'Rocket Queen' that Axl would say was him singing as if the song were about him but actually referred to a girl he knew who had very little life left after abusing herself through mental torture and substance abuse.  He said it was a "fucked thing" that since he was in L.A. he had lost five or six friends he used to hang out with every day.

"I wrote this song for this girl who was gonna have a band and she was gonna call it Rocket Queen.  She kinda kept me alive for a while.  The last part of the song is my message to this person, or anybody else who can get something out of it.  It's like there's a hope and a friendship note at the end of the song.  For that song there is also something I tried to work out with various people - a recorded sex act.  It was somewhat spontaneous but premeditated; something I wanted to put on the record...It was a sexual song and it was a wild night in the studio.

I have also heard that the song was about a girl named "Barbie Von Grief or something like that and she is supposedly the girl who has or had a band called Rocket Queen, and it is said that her brother once owned a bicycle and had named it Rocket Queen, so she used it as her band name.  I don't  know!!!!

Like someone mentioned before a good read in this months RS.

some facts about "Rocket Queen" from August 2004, official message board/blog from Barbi Von Greif www.barbivongreif.com (this site now is offline though)


quote from a fan question:

"[.....]Before I heard about you, I read on a site(gnrinfo.tk) that Axl had written(or dedicated)
the lyrics of RocketQueen to a special girl that had been a friend of the band and that had a band named RocketQueen. I've never heard of anyone other
than Axl writing Novemeber Rain(I read Tracii Guns mentioning Axl working on it way back in 85' or 86') but I could be misinformed. Some of the members
on the forum I freguent asked if you helped write the lyrics or were the woman who was moaning in the background during the middle of the Rocketqueen.
If you or any of your fans can answer these questions I've raised that would be awesome! Thanks again. Keep on being an artist cause your style rocks!
Later"


quote/reply from "Barbi Von Greif":

"[....]Adriana did the moans..( dancer whom was dating Steven and I think she did a great job, don't you?)
My sister had a motorcycle called the RocketQueen when I was little which is where the name started. I wrote a version for the band Rocket Queen
which used my material and later morphed into the girl band Hardley Dangerous. The song itself was later morphed into the one you now know and I
think they did a #@*%!ing great job on it to be honest. ( Example "Here I am Your Rocket Queen" was changed to "Here I am, and you're a Rocket Queen" )
I'm not the chick in the studio! I wrote at home!"

2 pics from Barbi:
(http://img183.imageshack.us/img183/7812/fourrj5.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

(http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/690/sevenbe2.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Thanks Limulus, cool info! :beer: So it all started from the band's friend's sister's motorbike. :hihi:

Yeah, he wasn't in Finland either. Fucking Norway :rofl:

Yes Limulus! A very entertaining story, to say the least!  ;)

The Norwegians did have a very strong resistance though. They are famous for travelling through the snow on skis. There is one Norwegian Resistance member who has recieved the most medals for bravery out of everyone!!!? : ok:

thanks everyone.  i found this interesting...

"The song itself was later morphed into the one you now know and I
think they did a #@*%!ing great job on it to be honest. ( Example "Here I am Your Rocket Queen" was changed to "Here I am, and you're a Rocket Queen" )"


is that a sarcastic tone i'm reading???

Yes it is.


The website no longer exists.......

any history on why sarcasm?  i thought she was a friend of the band's?  was she not happy with them using the name???

I'm still not sure she's being sarcastic there.  I guess no one really knows though. :-\

Well, for a start, the comment "here I am and you're a Rocket Queen" is a little provocative. Who is she calling a queen?

And two, Axl would never steal a line of someone!

The original story may very well have something to do with a bicycle and a brother, but that brother may not necessarily be Barbie's!

The  hope and friendship factor that Axl talked about in one of your books is real......

- Barbi's sister had a? motorycycle called "Rocket Queen" = the beginning
- band called "Rocket Queen" (later "Hardley Dangerous") <-- Barbi wrote some lyrics for them
- GN'R had interest in those special RQ ones (probably bought copyrights and stuff) and edited lyrics, the song in general etc. so Barbi's lyrics "Here I am Your Rocket Queen" (Rocket Queen the motorcycle) was changed by GN'R to "Here I am, and you're a Rocket Queen" (= no motorcycle but some girl) and Barbi simply liked how they changed it.

sounds pretty clear to me?

(by the way Barbi WAS in contact with GN'R back then)

Isn't it crazy, how many versions of the story are out there?  When Axl retires a full fledged biography written by Axl himself would be such a great money making project for him, and even better for all of us who have wondered about so much for so long!!!!

Now that, I would buy.

yeah but who knows if a) that would ever happen and b) how much does he actually remembe (correctly at that!).

would be cool to get a video documentary or something... man that would be sweet!

(http://hem.passagen.se/snoqalf/ph-axl006.gif)

I always loved this pic of Axl & Erin.

can't see it :(

linky:

http://hem.passagen.se/snoqalf/ph-axl006.gif

And Used to lover Her was about Izzy's dog :P

 ??? Sounds abit garbled to me!

Seriously, the Barbi stuff is simply a distortion of the truth. Believe me, at the time Axl would have done nothing to jepardize his relationship with other band members by sleeping with another's ex, let alone one of Steven's ex's. The band was way too important to him!

There is a very funny story about the Rocket Queen bicycle (NOT motorbike). I have a very distinct childhood memory about it. I would love to share the story with y'all someday however, there are about 5 or 6 other people involved............and I also would like to wait until things settle down on this forum.

I'm pretty sure it was Steven's g/f. I don't think GNR were particularly sensitive people back in the day.

That's if you want to believe Barbi's distortion of the truth  in the first place.

Barbi was someone else. The name of Steven's girlfriend was Adriana Smith.

Yeh, no all this ^ including the photos is not true. No-one had straight hair in the 80s.

Robin Wright Penn had,  :)

stolat,
i wrote exact this: "some facts about "Rocket Queen" from August 2004, official message board/blog from Barbi Von Greif".
this is HER story about it, you surely will get a different story from everybody else being involved. however unlike many others at least she was telling HER story openly on her board/blog.

and those 2 pics are from 200+ (grabbed them from her official site) not from the 80s.

You're confused. Rocket Queen was inspired by Barbi, the lyrics are about her. The girl Axl fucked for the sex noises in the song is a different girl. That is Adrianna Smith, which was Steven's girl or ex-girl at the time. Two totally different people.

No I am not confused.

Rocket Queen has nothing to do with Barbi.



OK, I will obviously edit this post, as jarmo was seeking some clarification. ^

The information about Rocket Queen that Limulus has taken from the now non-existant  website www.barbivongrief.com is not correct. Whoever was posing as Barbi on that website has taken the story and changed some facts.

I think you're very confused.

Look in your AFD booklet in the thank yous: Barbi (Rocket Queen) Von Grief is thanked.




/jarmo

Ok, she is thanked.......... doesn't say for what in particular.......

But who is she really??

Someone has taken the story about Rocket Queen, called themself Barbi and changed the story to a sister's motorbike. She has posted the story on a website that no longer exists. So the Barbi that I refer to as having nothing to do with Rocket Queen is the one that has posted that story on the website that another poster has referred to in this thread. According to that Barbi the story is about a sister and a motorbike......

There is a book where Axl is quoted as saying that Rocket Queen has to do with a bicycle and a brother.......

Jarmo, you just made my day!


thatdude always thinks he is right, if you say white, he'll say black!

all hail the fool who did not know! :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

read the booklet next boyo!
 :smoking:

I think that you were too quick to reply!

Read the post above yours for the clarification.

yeah, that edit post function is really great isn't it  :-\

is that the first time you have used it, or do you often change your posts to change what you first said?

She was Steven's g/f.  I just read an interview with this girl where she talked about this incident.  She slept with Axl to get back at Steven.  Axl went to her and told her his idea for the song.  He said Erin wouldn't do it, but he wanted to find a girl who would. 
She also confirmed Rocket Queen was not about her, but about Barbi, a "junkie whore Axl was in love with."

I wrote this song for this girl who was gonna have a band and she was gonna call it Rocket Queen. She kinda kept me alive for a while.
Axl - Hit Parader March 1988



/jarmo

Yep, that is true, although taken out of context.

I think that there is another thread here that discusses GN'R book ideas. Someone quotes Axl talking about Rocket Queen and how the last verse is about hope and friendship. The girl he refers to was in a very lonely place and was going through some emotional issues....

Edit: Did a search, but can't find the actual quote from Axl. Nothing to do with junkie whores though.....

Wow! are you ever wrong? for that matter, are you Axl? you seem to know so much morenthan everyone else!

Ignore stolat, she seems to think she knows GNR history better than the people who were actually in GNR. If you believe stolat, Axl wrote all of AFD on his piano and then played it back to Slash and told him how to play it on his guitar.

As I said earlier, there are also 5 or 6 people involved in the story and things here still need to settle down.

Someday......

are you INSANE!

you get beat in a discussion thread and resort to acting like an insider! NO ONE CARES!!!!!!!!!

so for the record, do you have contact wit Axl rose, or contact with anyone in the old / GnR (this doesn't include you taling to your posters on the wall)?


yeah i can imagone that discussion

Axl : Godammit Slash.....!

Slash: Uh....umm...

Axl: Fucks sake man, PEN-TA-TONIC, PEN-TA-TONIC!!!!!

Slash: Sorry man, i just know a bunch of blues licks...

 :hihi:

Why are you getting so worked up about this Daviebuckethead? have you invested in www.barbivongrief.com or something? You seem to want to oppose everything I write on this forum.

That's your loss mate not mine.

Your rudeness to me is one reason why I do not wish to engage with you any further.

im cool with that, you pretty much ruin every conversation on this board anyway. what starts off as light hearted discussion ends up an annoying argument because you think that everyone else is wrong and you're right. its frustrating and exhausting........you're right about one thing, i wont be "engaging" with you again.

it was nice to see you answer the insider question  :confused:

Barbi also was interviewed for VH1 - Behind The Music "Guns N' Roses", if you ever have seen that 2004 special you will find that girl in there i've posted pics from. Barbi Von Greif is listed as "friend" in there.

So those photos that you have posted of "Barbi" are current?

So how old was she when she was supposed to be hanging with the band in the 80s? because in those photos that you have posted she looks about 20 - today she must be well into her 40s.......and for an ex "junkie whore" she is looking remarkably good.

You also admitted in post #52 that this is "her" story (her being the "barbi" of www.barbivongrief.com) but you will surely get a different story from everybody else involved. You admitted that this story came from "barbis" blog off the website that no longer exists.





I'm not saying that I am Barbi. I am saying that Axl's quotes about a bicycle and a brother etc. do indeed have a particular story behind them........

as said before the pics are from 200+ (meaning 2001, 2002, 2003 or 2004). they were promotional pics on Barbi's site in August 2004. and yes, it still is Barbi Von Greif. some people simply dont look that old as the genral public in their age. but i recommend to watch the VH1 special i've mentioned above, you can see she still looks pretty young for her age (not to talk about all the make-up-tricks)!
the site is offline for whatever reasons, yes. but so what, this is internet! in 2003 gnronline.com were still trying to sell tickets for the cancelled 2002 tour? :hihi:
and yes, i said it is "her" story about Rocket Queen cause you wont get the exact version as soon as more than 1 person is involved. but it appears to be pretty accurate from what we know.

if you are looking for Jarmo setting up an Axl interview just about the song "Rocket Queen" to get "his" version out of him.....good luck!

"her" story is about a friend's sister who had a motorbike? You are really clutching at straws here and are trying to link a whole lot of disjointed information.

Axl talks about "a bicycle" and a "brother". He said he wrote the song about a "girl" and has not ever directly made the link to that girl being Barbi. People have just assumed......

And no, I do not need Jarmo to set up an interview with Axl on this one.  ::)

what is up with you? Barbi was around in the old GN'R days and you didnt even seem to know about until this topic pointed it out. she got even credits for "RQ" in the AFD booklet which you didnt know.....you didnt believe the pics are Barbi herself and you was proved wrong again.
in 2004 she openly talked about RQ, her version is out, period. have fun collecting quotes from all the magazines and books to get "Axl's version exactly", maybe Mick Wall info will do it for you?! a lot from those stuff IS simply crap. and i surely know about as i own a lot from that shit.

No, Mick Wall doesn't have his facts straight and neither do you.

That doco that you talk about has interviews with Steven, Sorum, Slash and Duff, presenting their side of the story.

Enough said really.  ::)

all i did in the 1st place was posting info coming from Barbi Von Greif. whats wrong in there?? apperantly YOU ruin this info discussion. and even further YOU are wrong again. the BTM 2004 doesnt have Duff interviewed for that special. but it has Gilby, i can post a list about who is included there if that helps "your" facts.

My apologies to Duff then!  :P

where can i view/download/purchase that vh1 "behind the music" on gnr?  when i googled it i only came across a divx link???  is there no dvd to rent from blockbuster or something on this?  amazon.com has a dvd for sale on motley crue... i figured for sure there would be one for sale on gnr?

check the appetite for collection section on this site, i'm sure it's there : ok:

Worst behined the music ever..It only includes matt,steven,gilby and slash..And they are all bashing Axl ( sort of ) , and you can?t hardly hear what steven is saying..Some cool footage..But nothing moore..I can understand that you wanna see it, but don?t get your hopes up. : ok:

i cant fukin believe the power of denial of this guy or girl "stolat"  :hihi: :rofl:

Excuse me, but what is that supposed to mean? You love my power of denial? What am I denying exactly?

A whole lot.

Can you please just refrain from posting in every thread? Especially when you have nothing at all to add to the discussion?

I don't know, maybe you're just seeing how far you can go before I permanently ban you.



/jarmo

Jarmo as I said yesterday, I would love to add to this discussion about Rocket Queen. There is another side to the story. However, as I posted yesterday, I'm waiting till things calm down alittle.

I thought that fans of this site would welcome some more news about Rocket Queen instead of trying to put me down about it. There is a funny story about a "Rocket Queen" bicycle  that you might find interesting. I'm actually drafting it now carefully so that the people involved are protected.

I also honestly did not get the comment from dr. light at all. I been here awhile now and I have made it clear that I am a girl. I really do not know what I am denying??

Finally, I am not "seeing how far I can go". Over the past two days I have kept my posts to a minimum except where I have tried to contribute to the discussion, some times I am able to contribute to discussions in several threads -not 'every' thread as people say.

As pointed out by myself and Adler_Sorum_Brain that "Behind the Music" doco only shows one version of events and it does come across as being a little bitchy.

That's all.

stubborn as a donkey.


Nothing at all. Thanks for sharing. Barbi sounds nice.

oh no, that sucks.  now i'm disappointed.  :(  i still can't find a place to see it, though. 

hehe, but see it..It?s kinda ( kinda ! ) cool

where?  how?  :)

I think that Weiland also features on that doco for some reason.