Axl Rose as Voice of a Generation?

[jazjme]

http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2622568&page=2

Axl Rose as Voice of a Generation?
Guns N' Roses 'Sweet Child of Mine' Considered Analogy to 20th Century's Shift From Optimism to Disillusion
axl

Guns N' Roses lead singer Axl Rose may be offering a philosophical take on modern society while getting parties started with his hit "Sweet Child 'O Mine." (ABC News)
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OPINION By CURT CLONINGER

Nov. 1, 2006 ? It turns out that Guns N' Roses' "Sweet Child O' Mine" is the voice of my generation.

It narrates the 20th century's transition from optimism to disillusion, beginning with some dude's poetic idealization of his girlfriend, and dissolving amidst the sound and fury of encroaching insignificance.

Watch the full report on the "World News" webcast today at 3 p.m. ET.

It's like taking your date to the malt shop and winding up in a tomb.

The song's unforgettable opening guitar riff has earned it a place on many an aerobics mix tape, and justly so.

Its lyrics tell of an escapist teen love. I imagine the song's subject, "Sweet Child," wearing ripped jeans and several Cyndi Lauper bracelets, our narrator picking her up in the back of the trailer park in his green Impala, and they cruise to Makeout Point.

As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide." I can see them embracing tenderly, and going to shoplift a six-pack of Schaefer. So far, so good.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere, Slash's guitar drops the nihilism of postmodernism, and lite-rock riffing gives way to wah-wah-drenched fury. His melody lashes out like the neglected cry of some abandoned creature, like the grasping arms of a drowning man.

Our narrator's voice resurfaces ? deep, growling and utterly changed. He's asking a simple question, over and over. It repeats and builds into a falsetto wail, an epic complaint that demands an answer he knows he won't get.

Lost Ideals

It's one thing to write an essay bemoaning the decentering of contemporary man in postmodern society.

It's another thing entirely to play a wailing guitar solo that viscerally embodies that decentering. Slash's solo is our voice ? 2,000 years after a resurrection we never witnessed, facing a future that seems insoluble.

"Sweet Child O' Mine" doesn't simply pin its hopes for the satisfaction of mankind on idealized romantic love. Nor does it mow over the daisies and burn down the malt shop.

Instead, it proposes an ideal worth fighting for, admits the ideal is unachievable, and dares to ask, "Why the discrepancy?"

This question continues to echo unanswered from crappy dashboard radios in crappy green Impalas throughout our land.

Curt Cloninger is a writer, teacher, artist, and designer. His work has been featured in I.D. Magazine, HOW Magazine, The New York Times, Desktop Magazine, and at digital arts festivals from Korea to Brazil.

[Kid A]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

[tibs]

OPINION By CURT CLONINGER

^ need i say more

[mlewis]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

No!

Did you read the article at all?

He suggests SCOM not because it's tragic, but because you can read it, fairly subversively or even in an (auto)biographical sense as the journey of a bright eyed young man with the world at his feet, to a lost, disillusioned, cynical and almost nervous adult.

The author likens this to the transition that's happened to the world over thelast decade. In the mid 90s, it seemed there was nothing we couldn't do. The philosophy of enlightened liberalism was triumphantly marching, civilization progressing, and we seemed to have conquered all of our battles.

Now- that attitude is dead. Morality, and ideas of what progress itself is, have died. Creationism and many other backward ideologies long since discarded, religious fundamentalism, moral absolutism and an almost global feudal system have all reemerged. 'Where do we go now?' indeed.

It's not that hard to see!

[Kid A]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

Did you read the article at all?

Sorry, I lost you at "Did".

[Wooody]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

I agree, NO !!

SCOM may be postmodernist...
but clearly Estranged is modernist !... So is most of use your illusion, including COMA.

I remember reading how Axl said it was very important for him to put a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for each song.. no matter how heavy the storm is... it was important for him at a personal level but also because he felt responsible for his fans... he didnt want a pathetic song to cause someone to commit suicide... The introspective journey eventually leads to salvation...clearly modernist

[AxlsMainMan]

Gn'R should have made movies ala Beatle's "Yellow Submarine" or Pink Floyd's "The Wall."

[cheeser]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

I agree, NO !!

SCOM may be postmodernist...
but clearly Estranged is modernist !... So is most of use your illusion, including COMA.

I remember reading how Axl said it was very important for him to put a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for each song.. no matter how heavy the storm is... it was important for him at a personal level but also because he felt responsible for his fans... he didnt want a pathetic song to cause someone to commit suicide... The introspective journey eventually leads to salvation...clearly modernist

Songs like Estranged and Coma CANNOT be an 'Analogy to 20th Century's Shift From Optimism to Disillusion'  relating Axl to the voice of the generation because...

they never were main stream songs, only GnR fans like those songs, not the general population.  Almost everyone loves SCOM, and this guy is saying it affected the entire generation.... estranged and coma only affected GnR fans

[Kid A]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

I agree, NO !!

SCOM may be postmodernist...
but clearly Estranged is modernist !... So is most of use your illusion, including COMA.

I remember reading how Axl said it was very important for him to put a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for each song.. no matter how heavy the storm is... it was important for him at a personal level but also because he felt responsible for his fans... he didnt want a pathetic song to cause someone to commit suicide... The introspective journey eventually leads to salvation...clearly modernist

Songs like Estranged and Coma CANNOT be an 'Analogy to 20th Century's Shift From Optimism to Disillusion' relating Axl to the voice of the generation because...

they never were main stream songs, only GnR fans like those songs, not the general population. Almost everyone loves SCOM, and this guy is saying it affected the entire generation.... estranged and coma only affected GnR fans

Look at this way, listen to the way they sound, SCOM sounds like a 80/90's ballad song. Estranged doesn't cause it can easily be interpreted as a song released today.

[CheapJon]

As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide."

yeah right that's exactly how the lyrics go

[jazjme]

As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide."

HEy I didnt write the column!, so don't Quote it as me , and you obviously didnt  read what the guy was saying, but thats cool. But when you quote get it right!

yeah right that's exactly how the lyrics go

[Gagarin]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

I agree, NO !!

SCOM may be postmodernist...
but clearly Estranged is modernist !... So is most of use your illusion, including COMA.

I remember reading how Axl said it was very important for him to put a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for each song.. no matter how heavy the storm is... it was important for him at a personal level but also because he felt responsible for his fans... he didnt want a pathetic song to cause someone to commit suicide... The introspective journey eventually leads to salvation...clearly modernist

Wow!  Someone knows what modernism is about here =)

I agree!

Also, AFD is a VERY postmodern artwork.  It blends all these styles together, classic rock, blues rock, punk, "metal"...  and it made it it's own! =)

[CheapJon]

As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide."

HEy I didnt write the column!, so don't Quote it as me , and you obviously didnt  read what the guy was saying, but thats cool. But when you quote get it right!

yeah right that's exactly how the lyrics go

i know you didn't right the column, but when YOU quote get it right yourself but that's cool

[mlewis]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

I agree, NO !!

SCOM may be postmodernist...
but clearly Estranged is modernist !... So is most of use your illusion, including COMA.

I remember reading how Axl said it was very important for him to put a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for each song.. no matter how heavy the storm is... it was important for him at a personal level but also because he felt responsible for his fans... he didnt want a pathetic song to cause someone to commit suicide... The introspective journey eventually leads to salvation...clearly modernist

Songs like Estranged and Coma CANNOT be an 'Analogy to 20th Century's Shift From Optimism to Disillusion' relating Axl to the voice of the generation because...

they never were main stream songs, only GnR fans like those songs, not the general population. Almost everyone loves SCOM, and this guy is saying it affected the entire generation.... estranged and coma only affected GnR fans

Look at this way, listen to the way they sound, SCOM sounds like a 80/90's ballad song. Estranged doesn't cause it can easily be interpreted as a song released today.

Modernism isn't at all about when a song/art form in any medium was released, it's that in a critic's or reader's opinion it falls into the school of modernism.

[jazjme]

As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide."

HEy I didnt write the column!, so don't Quote it as me , and you obviously didnt  read what the guy was saying, but thats cool. But when you quote get it right!

yeah right that's exactly how the lyrics go

i know you didn't right the column, but when YOU quote get it right yourself but that's cool

Glad someone got my humor!

[Kid A]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

I agree, NO !!

SCOM may be postmodernist...
but clearly Estranged is modernist !... So is most of use your illusion, including COMA.

I remember reading how Axl said it was very important for him to put a bit of hope at the end of the tunnel for each song.. no matter how heavy the storm is... it was important for him at a personal level but also because he felt responsible for his fans... he didnt want a pathetic song to cause someone to commit suicide... The introspective journey eventually leads to salvation...clearly modernist

Songs like Estranged and Coma CANNOT be an 'Analogy to 20th Century's Shift From Optimism to Disillusion' relating Axl to the voice of the generation because...

they never were main stream songs, only GnR fans like those songs, not the general population. Almost everyone loves SCOM, and this guy is saying it affected the entire generation.... estranged and coma only affected GnR fans

Look at this way, listen to the way they sound, SCOM sounds like a 80/90's ballad song. Estranged doesn't cause it can easily be interpreted as a song released today.

Modernism isn't at all about when a song/art form in any medium was released, it's that in a critic's or reader's opinion it falls into the school of modernism.

I thought modernism is meaning that it could be conceived by many people as sounding like it is from today. Please tell me what your idea of modernism is.

[JuicySwoos]

Whoever wrote that was obviously tripping, since the song SCOM should be replaced by Estranged.

No!

Did you read the article at all?

He suggests SCOM not because it's tragic, but because you can read it, fairly subversively or even in an (auto)biographical sense as the journey of a bright eyed young man with the world at his feet, to a lost, disillusioned, cynical and almost nervous adult.

The author likens this to the transition that's happened to the world over thelast decade. In the mid 90s, it seemed there was nothing we couldn't do. The philosophy of enlightened liberalism was triumphantly marching, civilization progressing, and we seemed to have conquered all of our battles.

Now- that attitude is dead. Morality, and ideas of what progress itself is, have died. Creationism and many other backward ideologies long since discarded, religious fundamentalism, moral absolutism and an almost global feudal system have all reemerged. 'Where do we go now?' indeed.

It's not that hard to see!

Get a Job

[mojoeye]

Appetite for Destruction reveled in the notion that everything is not alright, and at the same time it was immensely popular. It is the U.S. answer to the call, 'Nevermind the Bollocks'. Sure we had Black Flag, The Ramones, even. But this was akin to a pot of boiling water that someone put the lid on (the media) until it finally spilled over with Appetite. Excellent contextualization of 'Sweet Child'. The first part of the song harkens back to Poison and Motley Crue and the latter part of the song looks foreward to Alice in Chains and Nirvana-- with a balanced, solo interlude as a nod to both the MC5 and Hendrix.   

[RR Mafia]

Lets not forget that this is a song about a mans love for a women and then the realization that the relationship is going to hell.

That is the reason why it resonated and still does resonate in so many people. 

[mlewis]

I thought modernism is meaning that it could be conceived by many people as sounding like it is from today. Please tell me what your idea of modernism is.

It's complicated, and I don't have time to explain lots about it. Read this for a semi-decent introduction. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modernism