GN'R's Classic Video Trilogy Analyzed in New Book

[Continental Drift]

Well, the vids for "Don't Cry" and "November Rain" still hold up today, in my opinion, but "Estranged" was a mess back in 1993, with the silly "AXL" Converse sneakers and the dolphin fiasco. Completely overblown, and that's unfortunate, because it is an epic song.

estranged starts off good (with the cool water lense effect etc), then becomes hilarious where gnr walk towards a plane and a giant dolphin shoots out lmaoooo and all of a sudden slash is soloing on an auto moving footpath, then axls diving off huge boats into the water with spandex shorts on lmao!

I don't know... to me the Estranged video was just as cool... if not cooler... with the oil tanker/rescue helicopter/Axl's mansion/definitions/etc. I just think it gets an especially bad rap out of the three because by 1993/94 music and music videos etc. had completely shifted away from the over-blown production mega video style (Michael Jackson/Madonna/Guns N' Roses) to stripped down grunge. Estranged just ended up sticking out like a sore thumb in a way that Don't Cry and November Rain never did just 1-2 years earlier. Now that the whole grunge/stripped down thing has passed... and videos are as monotonous and forgettable as ever... I think the trilogy does stand out as an artistic high point for that style.

I thought it was a pretty fair and accurate article. Guns took a lot of risks with the ENTIRE UYI album/videos/tours/etc. Some things worked. Some things didn't. But no one can dispute the fact that it was an incredibly exciting time in rock music. No one knew what Guns was going to do or try to do next. A world premeire of a GN'R video in the early 90's was an EVENT... There's absolutely ZERO of that in rock music these days...
?

[MotherGooseLuvR]

Well, the vids for "Don't Cry" and "November Rain" still hold up today, in my opinion, but "Estranged" was a mess back in 1993, with the silly "AXL" Converse sneakers and the dolphin fiasco. Completely overblown, and that's unfortunate, because it is an epic song.

estranged starts off good (with the cool water lense effect etc), then becomes hilarious where gnr walk towards a plane and a giant dolphin shoots out lmaoooo and all of a sudden slash is soloing on an auto moving footpath, then axls diving off huge boats into the water with spandex shorts on lmao!

I thought it was a pretty fair and accurate article. Guns took a lot of risks with the ENTIRE UYI album/videos/tours/etc. Some things worked. Some things didn't. But no one can dispute the fact that it was an incredibly exciting time in rock music. No one knew what Guns was going to do or try to do next. A world premeire of a GN'R video in the early 90's was an EVENT... There's absolutely ZERO of that in rock music these days...
?

I don't like the UYI videos.  When I watch the videoes DVD, I stop at Patience.

But I totally agree with your statement there.  I remember having my friends tape the premiers so I could see them.  It was a lot of fun.

[Jackamo!]

I stop at Patience too.

Sometimes I watch Garden of Eden.

[Continental Drift]

Well, the vids for "Don't Cry" and "November Rain" still hold up today, in my opinion, but "Estranged" was a mess back in 1993, with the silly "AXL" Converse sneakers and the dolphin fiasco. Completely overblown, and that's unfortunate, because it is an epic song.

estranged starts off good (with the cool water lense effect etc), then becomes hilarious where gnr walk towards a plane and a giant dolphin shoots out lmaoooo and all of a sudden slash is soloing on an auto moving footpath, then axls diving off huge boats into the water with spandex shorts on lmao!

I thought it was a pretty fair and accurate article. Guns took a lot of risks with the ENTIRE UYI album/videos/tours/etc. Some things worked. Some things didn't. But no one can dispute the fact that it was an incredibly exciting time in rock music. No one knew what Guns was going to do or try to do next. A world premeire of a GN'R video in the early 90's was an EVENT... There's absolutely ZERO of that in rock music these days...
?

I don't like the UYI videos.? When I watch the videoes DVD, I stop at Patience.

But I totally agree with your statement there.? I remember having my friends tape the premiers so I could see them.? It was a lot of fun.

I hear you. I know a lot of people who feel that way. What's amazing about Guns is that beyond these over the top trilogy videos... they really became famous first for their more "stripped down" videos off of AFD and Lies.

It will be interesting to see what direction they choose to take with the Chinese Democracy videos... if we ever get any. I suspect that we won't see much of the band or possibly even Axl... probably just let the music do the talking with some cool montages in the back or whatever... but who the hell knows.

[Buddha_Master]

A world premeire of a GN'R video in the early 90's was an EVENT... There's absolutely ZERO of that in rock music these days...
?

Damn, that is so true. Remember knowing that at 8:00 p.m. was going to be the premiere of the new GNR video. Fuck everyone was calling everyone about it. Me and my bro would be going fucking nuts with anticipation. All the fucking VJ's were so fucking onboard. MTV News would be constantly announcing it. Fuck, awesome times. IT was like the music world stopped when they had a new video. It was wild when Michael Jackson had one too and GNR was almost just the same.

[bringbackadler]

A world premeire of a GN'R video in the early 90's was an EVENT... There's absolutely ZERO of that in rock music these days...
?

Damn, that is so true. Remember knowing that at 8:00 p.m. was going to be the premiere of the new GNR video. Fuck everyone was calling everyone about it. Me and my bro would be going fucking nuts with anticipation. All the fucking VJ's were so fucking onboard. MTV News would be constantly announcing it. Fuck, awesome times. IT was like the music world stopped when they had a new video. It was wild when Michael Jackson had one too and GNR was almost just the same.

Yes. I can remember the premier for YCBM video.


/bringbackadler

[axlrosegnr]

I love those Videos....to tell you the truth, when I watch Welcome to the Videos, I skip ahead to Don't Cry most of the time (not that I dislike the others, just like the Illusion vids better) I love how in depth they were, not just live shots. I don't like music videos that are all live shots, I'd much rather just watch a bootleg or real pro shot video then. The video for Estranged rocks, and I'll admit it, I love those fuckin Dolphins

[King Axl]

A world premeire of a GN'R video in the early 90's was an EVENT... There's absolutely ZERO of that in rock music these days...
?

Damn, that is so true. Remember knowing that at 8:00 p.m. was going to be the premiere of the new GNR video. Fuck everyone was calling everyone about it. Me and my bro would be going fucking nuts with anticipation. All the fucking VJ's were so fucking onboard. MTV News would be constantly announcing it. Fuck, awesome times. IT was like the music world stopped when they had a new video. It was wild when Michael Jackson had one too and GNR was almost just the same.

Yes. I can remember the premier for YCBM video.


/bringbackadler

Funny, I can remember the EXACT date of the MTV world premiere for "Paradise City": December 17, 1988.