DJ's Letter

[D-GenerationX]

But in that essence you kind of have to respect Axl and for that matter the rest of the originals (except Adler). I don't think any of them would do it unless it felt right. At this point I think Van Halen are totally doing it as a quick cash grab. Eddie makes no bones that there is no relationship between himself and Roth.

I totally disagree. 

I would trade places with Van Halen's fanbase in a new york minute.  Or The Eagles fanbase.  Or The Stones fanbase.  Or Aerosmith's fanbase.  Basically, any other band where the principals were smart enough to look at the big picture and say "wait...what are we doing here?"

One man's "hell with the pressure, I'm not caving in" is another man's cutting off his nose to spite his face.

How righteous and commendable Axl's decision has been is in the eye of the beholder, at least as it pertains to him personally. 

But what I feel can not be disputed in any way, shape, or form, is that its not helped him from a business perspective.  Nor have the fans benefitted from it.

[Ow-So7411501]

But in that essence you kind of have to respect Axl and for that matter the rest of the originals (except Adler). I don't think any of them would do it unless it felt right. At this point I think Van Halen are totally doing it as a quick cash grab. Eddie makes no bones that there is no relationship between himself and Roth.

I totally disagree. 

I would trade places with Van Halen's fanbase in a new york minute.  Or The Eagles fanbase.  Or The Stones fanbase.  Or Aerosmith's fanbase.  Basically, any other band where the principals were smart enough to look at the big picture and say "wait...what are we doing here?"

One man's "hell with the pressure, I'm not caving in" is another man's cutting off his nose to spite his face.

How righteous and commendable Axl's decision has been is in the eye of the beholder, at least as it pertains to him personally. 

But what I feel can not be disputed in any way, shape, or form, is that its not helped him from a business perspective.  Nor have the fans benefitted from it.

If we are talking about fan bases I agree. If your a fan of the old band (which I am)it sucks that you will probably never see them perform together again. In terms of business perspective I agree also. They could make a ton of money by saying Fuck it and just going out on the road.

But you have to admire the fact that Axl won't cave in and give in to the public and industry pressure to make him reunite with the old band. I give him that much.

It's a business and the bands that you mentioned in your post are totally taking advantage of the fact that they can go out and make a ton of money by going out on tour.

It seems to me that to Axl its more than just going out for business sake. 

[LongGoneDay]

But in that essence you kind of have to respect Axl and for that matter the rest of the originals (except Adler). I don't think any of them would do it unless it felt right. At this point I think Van Halen are totally doing it as a quick cash grab. Eddie makes no bones that there is no relationship between himself and Roth.

I totally disagree. 

I would trade places with Van Halen's fanbase in a new york minute.  Or The Eagles fanbase.  Or The Stones fanbase.  Or Aerosmith's fanbase.  Basically, any other band where the principals were smart enough to look at the big picture and say "wait...what are we doing here?"

One man's "hell with the pressure, I'm not caving in" is another man's cutting off his nose to spite his face.

How righteous and commendable Axl's decision has been is in the eye of the beholder, at least as it pertains to him personally. 

But what I feel can not be disputed in any way, shape, or form, is that its not helped him from a business perspective.  Nor have the fans benefitted from it.

If we are talking about fan bases I agree. If your a fan of the old band (which I am)it sucks that you will probably never see them perform together again. In terms of business perspective I agree also. They could make a ton of money by saying Fuck it and just going out on the road.

But you have to admire the fact that Axl won't cave in and give in to the public and industry pressure to make him reunite with the old band. I give him that much.

It's a business and the bands that you mentioned in your post are totally taking advantage of the fact that they can go out and make a ton of money by going out on tour.

It seems to me that to Axl its more than just going out for business sake. 

In what way is it admirable?
Why is it admirable to do the exact opposite of what your 99.9% of your fan base would like to see?
I don?t see how that would be caving in to pressure.

I have no idea what went on to create the bad blood between he and Slash.
Maybe it truly was something horrible and unforgivable, and no amount of money would be enough to reconcile.
If that?s the case, fine, I get it. But I would think that ?something" would have leaked by now.

I fail to see how essentially choking the life out of a once great band could be seen as admirable.
He surely isn?t solely to blame, but he definitely has his share of blood on his hands.

He once spoke of moving the band forward, and that has yet to come close to happening, and honestly, that ship sailed a long, long time ago.
It was a long shot to begin with, but decades later, is a pipe dream at best.
Guns N? Roses became a touring act. That?s where the money is.
It?s no longer a creative outlet, so I fail to see how Axl today is treating Guns N? Roses as anything but a business.
In this case he just gets to have his cake and eat it too.

[Ow-So7411501]

But in that essence you kind of have to respect Axl and for that matter the rest of the originals (except Adler). I don't think any of them would do it unless it felt right. At this point I think Van Halen are totally doing it as a quick cash grab. Eddie makes no bones that there is no relationship between himself and Roth.

I totally disagree. 

I would trade places with Van Halen's fanbase in a new york minute.  Or The Eagles fanbase.  Or The Stones fanbase.  Or Aerosmith's fanbase.  Basically, any other band where the principals were smart enough to look at the big picture and say "wait...what are we doing here?"

One man's "hell with the pressure, I'm not caving in" is another man's cutting off his nose to spite his face.

How righteous and commendable Axl's decision has been is in the eye of the beholder, at least as it pertains to him personally. 

But what I feel can not be disputed in any way, shape, or form, is that its not helped him from a business perspective.  Nor have the fans benefitted from it.

If we are talking about fan bases I agree. If your a fan of the old band (which I am)it sucks that you will probably never see them perform together again. In terms of business perspective I agree also. They could make a ton of money by saying Fuck it and just going out on the road.

But you have to admire the fact that Axl won't cave in and give in to the public and industry pressure to make him reunite with the old band. I give him that much.

It's a business and the bands that you mentioned in your post are totally taking advantage of the fact that they can go out and make a ton of money by going out on tour.

It seems to me that to Axl its more than just going out for business sake. 

In what way is it admirable?
Why is it admirable to do the exact opposite of what your 99.9% of your fan base would like to see?
I don?t see how that would be caving in to pressure.

I have no idea what went on to create the bad blood between he and Slash.
Maybe it truly was something horrible and unforgivable, and no amount of money would be enough to reconcile.
If that?s the case, fine, I get it. But I would think that ?something" would have leaked by now.

I fail to see how essentially choking the life out of a once great band could be seen as admirable.
He surely isn?t solely to blame, but he definitely has his share of blood on his hands.

He once spoke of moving the band forward, and that has yet to come close to happening, and honestly, that ship sailed a long, long time ago.
It was a long shot to begin with, but decades later, is a pipe dream at best.
Guns N? Roses became a touring act. That?s where the money is.
It?s no longer a creative outlet, so I fail to see how Axl today is treating Guns N? Roses as anything but a business.
In this case he just gets to have his cake and eat it too.

It shows that he at least has principles and sticks to his "Guns".

Realistically, and lets be real here....A reunion would bring in a ton more money than going out with the current lineup(is there one?). So if he is treating it as solely a business venture then its a poor one.

I honestly don't think he should be giving fans what they want to see. Its not about that. Its about being true to yourself, your band and the music. Now we can make an argument if hes been true to his music or his band.

[D-GenerationX]

But you have to admire the fact that Axl won't cave in and give in to the public and industry pressure to make him reunite with the old band. I give him that much.

But to what end?

To this?  What *this* really what you thought he was going to do once he took over?

That's more my point here.  I think your argument is far stronger if you could say, no, he's not reuniting his old band...because he has all this going on with the new band.  Like if he built a whole other life for himself.

But this...whatever the hell this is, its not that.

[D-GenerationX]

He once spoke of moving the band forward, and that has yet to come close to happening, and honestly, that ship sailed a long, long time ago.
It was a long shot to begin with, but decades later, is a pipe dream at best.
Guns N? Roses became a touring act. That?s where the money is.
It?s no longer a creative outlet, so I fail to see how Axl today is treating Guns N? Roses as anything but a business.
In this case he just gets to have his cake and eat it too.

OK, this was way better than mine.

Forget my answer.  Just read this one twice.

[sky dog]

as fans or pseudo fans, I always loved David Fricke's initial review of Chinese...kinda sums up the whole thing.

 "To him, the long march to Chinese Democracy was not about paranoia and control. It was about saying "I won't" when everyone else insisted, "You must." You may debate whether any rock record is worth that extreme self-indulgence. Actually, the most rock & roll thing about Chinese Democracy is he doesn't care if you do."

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/chinese-democracy-20081127#ixzz3iqVzNVwm
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

[jarmo]

So they're still trying to figure out why Axl does things his way?

Could it be as simple as: Maybe he prefers to do things his way that he believes in rather than do things you want him to?



/jarmo

[overmatik]

Someone said earlier that by not reuniting with the old lineup Axl is making a bad business decision, but is he really? Right now he gets most of the money and pay a salary to the other guys, something that wouldn't happen if the old band reunited. Do you guys think the increase in attendance at the shows would make up for that?

I remember that when Dave left Van Halen he said in an interview he made more money with the Eat 'Em & Smile tour than the brothers made with the 5150 tour, even though it made less money overall.

[EmilyGNR]

Someone said earlier that by not reuniting with the old lineup Axl is making a bad business decision, but is he really? Right now he gets most of the money and pay a salary to the other guys, something that wouldn't happen if the old band reunited. Do you guys think the increase in attendance at the shows would make up for that?

I remember that when Dave left Van Halen he said in an interview he made more money with the Eat 'Em & Smile tour than the brothers made with the 5150 tour, even though it made less money overall.

Not everything nor everyone is motivated solely by the almighty dollar, it isn't the end all, be all validation for everyone.

Art remains the one way possible of speaking truth.
? Robert Browning

[gunnersince94]

So they're still trying to figure out why Axl does things his way?

Could it be as simple as: Maybe he prefers to do things his way that he believes in rather than do things you want him to?



/jarmo

As Axl puts it in "Sorry": "You don't know why I won't act the way you think I should". 

[gunnersince94]

Whether they are pro-reunion or not, I find it ironic that some fans would like Axl to conform to their point of view.

I became a fan of Axl and Guns N Roses because the man is a rockstar. If he conformed to people's point of view, he would've NEVER became a rockstar in the first place.

Maybe he would've stayed in his hometown and picked up a job at a local factory because that's probably what seemed the thing to do back then.

Now I will never be able to sing like Axl Rose but I sure wish I had his drive and his ambition. 

[draguns]

The young Axl Rose definitely had drive and ambition. I'm not sure if the older version of Axl has drive and ambition. 

[DeN]

I wonder if one of the reasons of the delay between new music is Axl
testing his songs through the test of time to see if they're aging

[GNR2014]

I can see Axl releasing CDII in 2017, touring with a new band for 3 years and retiring touring, and just releasing singles on the internet for the next 20 years.

Yeah, I don't see that happening. Ever. Sorry.

[damnthehaters]

Whether they are pro-reunion or not, I find it ironic that some fans would like Axl to conform to their point of view.

I became a fan of Axl and Guns N Roses because the man is a rockstar. If he conformed to people's point of view, he would've NEVER became a rockstar in the first place.

Maybe he would've stayed in his hometown and picked up a job at a local factory because that's probably what seemed the thing to do back then.

Now I will never be able to sing like Axl Rose but I sure wish I had his drive and his ambition. 

Exactly.  You can't have both people.

[D-GenerationX]

Whether they are pro-reunion or not, I find it ironic that some fans would like Axl to conform to their point of view.

I became a fan of Axl and Guns N Roses because the man is a rockstar. If he conformed to people's point of view, he would've NEVER became a rockstar in the first place.

Maybe he would've stayed in his hometown and picked up a job at a local factory because that's probably what seemed the thing to do back then.

Now I will never be able to sing like Axl Rose but I sure wish I had his drive and his ambition. 

No one expects him to conform to their wishes.  They just grade the moves he's made based on their outcomes. 

That seems to rankle some folks.  That if you can't label something a screaming success, you should look at your shoes and say nothing. 

How "rockstar" is that?  Seems weird to me to claim to love a guy for how much he supposedly doesn't care who says what, but then work overtime to control the message that everything is super duper, even when its plainly obvious its not.

What happened to not caring about perception and letting the chips fall?

[jarmo]

In other words, you want to be able to whine day in and day out without any of us objecting to anything you say?



/jarmo

[D-GenerationX]

In other words, you want to be able to whine day in and day out without any of us objecting to anything you say?

No.

I want to be able to have a conversation about a rock band without you hearing an opinion you don't like and then flipping out like I've just insulted your mother.

A man can dream.

[gunnersince94]

What "band"?  This is not a band.

Isn't it time to finally give up that ghost?

How can we talk about a rock band that's "not a band" in the first place?