Axl's motivations

[Mike McKagan]

I was having this discussion with a friend of mine today, and I've decided to post it here to get more points of view.  Basically it consisted of trying to decide on Axl's primary reason(s) behind making his fanbase wait fifteen years for a third full studio album.  Our theorizing led repeatedly to three basic possibilities:

1.  He's an egomaniac/narcissist who has delayed time and again because of his own whims and pleasures without any real thought about those who support him and have been waiting patiently.  As long as the album isn't released, he maintains a mystique that cannot possibly be maintained once he's back in the spotlight.

2.  He's a perfectionist in a way that borders on OCD, and no matter how many musicians he goes through and how many miles of tape he uses, he has spent years believing that CD is ready to share with the world.

3.  He's become unsure of himself, recording and rerecording because he never quite believes he's really accomplished what he's trying to do.  Several completed versions of CD get scrapped because he thinks it's good, but not great.  He's lost touch through his seclusion and just can't quite guage things objectively anymore.

I'm not saying I think any of these are completely accurate, and I'm sure there are many additional reasons that are much more reasonable.  Most importantly, I don't mean them to be criticisms in a negative way.  But knowing what we know of Axl and some of his past statements, these seem to be at least discussable possibilities.  I'd love to hear thoughts on this.  And remember, I'm not endorsing or trying to prove any of these, just throwing them out there to provoke thought.

[SOLGER]

Fitty Cent!

[Skunk]

i'd say maybe a little bit of number two... but besides that i think it's also just simply that what he's been doing takes a lot of time. we can't know for sure, but i'd like to think what he's doing is on the bigger side of what we've heard.

espescially early on he had difficulty finding and keeping band members and producers, trying to make something new but also something thats still GNR. if he's really making 3 cds, and if he wants to put out the best possible releases (avoid the "filler" criticisms from UYI), then he's working hard not just on putting the songs together, but probably writing and recording a lot of songs that won't make the cut onto any of the 3 cds. i can understand how that would take years... my main wonder is what happened in 02, and whats been happening since.

[Mike McKagan]

Yeah, I'd say number two is the most likely, too, but I can't shake some sort of nagging feeling that there's some truth in number three.

[killingvector]

It hasn't been a project fifteen years in the making. Slash left in 96-97 and the lineup revolved so much alot of the material was scrapped for reworked.

[ZRO]

A combinatio of 1 and 3.

[Mike McKagan]

I agree that it hasn't been a project 'fifteen years in the making' per se, but at the same time, it's been in some form of production for that long, whether it be songwriting or recording or whatever.

[Dont Try Me]

neither of those in the first post. I think if he feels that a song can be improved he will try as much and long it takes to do so, to see what works.

He won't be releasing songs about which he feels that those could've been a bit better. He's a perfectionist.

[estebanf]

Option 2, with a little bit of option 3 maybe

A combinatio of 1 and 3.

basically you're saying that Axl is a piece of shit, isnt it?
I think you entered in the wrong forum

[godiva]

Speculation speculation.....

Ladies and gentlemen, place your bets now! Guess we'll probably never know.... I'll place my money on number 2.