The Flashback: Sympathy for the Devil

[CheapJon]

It's come up a few times now, so I have to ask :

Did any of you really dig the Snakepit stuff?  More specifically, did you continue to listen to it after the initial releases?

I'll be honest, I never did.  I was so unimpressed, that first album actually convinced me that Slash would never leave GNR if that was all he could swing.

The VR stuff, I liked, for the most part.  Slash's solo albums have some good stuff.  I just never got into Snakepit.

5 o clock somewhere is OK. Aint Life Grand is fucvking awesome. Contraband is better than 5 o clock. Libertad is pretty shitty.  SLASH has some nice songs and some dull ones. Hate MKs voice so I don't like the conspirators stuff.

[LongGoneDay]

Beggars and Hangers On, Lower and Serial are 3 really good songs as is.
Input from Axl and Izzy could very well have elevated them to great.

Whereas Axl wrote some timeless lyrics, what Dover, Jackson and Myles wrote are mostly forgettable.
As a result, the shelf life of Slash?s post Guns body of work suffers.

He hasn?t worked with a lyricist as talented as Axl, or songwriter as talented as Izzy on a consistent basis since Guns.
Just like Axl hasn?t worked with guitarists as talented as Slash and Izzy since they left. The chemistry those guys had can?t be replicated with just anyone.

They are all very talented in there own rights, but their post AFD-UYI output is uneven and it?s not difficult to see why.

[Ringoturtle]

how did the Gilby departure actually go down? band decision?

sorry for quoting myself but Gilby recently answered the question;

Regarding how his journey with GUNS N' ROSES ended, Clarke said: "Well, [it was] really simple. Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES lead singer] one day just wanted to change things up. I honestly didn't know what he wanted to do. He never talked to me directly; I always dealt with Slash. There was one week I was in the band and then the next week he was just pissed off with something. And finally one day the checks stopped coming. That's how it all ended."

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/gilby-clarke-on-his-exit-from-guns-n-roses-one-day-the-checks-stopped-coming/

[EmilyGNR]

how did the Gilby departure actually go down? band decision?

sorry for quoting myself but Gilby recently answered the question;

Regarding how his journey with GUNS N' ROSES ended, Clarke said: "Well, [it was] really simple. Axl [Rose, GUNS N' ROSES lead singer] one day just wanted to change things up. I honestly didn't know what he wanted to do. He never talked to me directly; I always dealt with Slash. There was one week I was in the band and then the next week he was just pissed off with something. And finally one day the checks stopped coming. That's how it all ended."

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/gilby-clarke-on-his-exit-from-guns-n-roses-one-day-the-checks-stopped-coming/

Not exactly-

"Then, in turn, [Gilby] had words with Duff. And that sort of cemented the, you know, the relationship, the departure. Whatever you wanna call it." (Slash, Canadian Radio, 04/20/95)

What happened was we were rehearsing and Gilby was really out of it one day. The morale of the band, we were all trying to keep it together and he was the odd man out that day. I was complaining and then Axl called me that same night." (Slash, Metal Edge Magazine, 04/95)

"There were days when Axl would call Slash and go, "Fire Gilby - he doesn't fit in with my plan," but he would never tell me. That was going on for a long time." (Gilby, Daily Trojan, 04/14/99)

"[Axl] said he didn't want to work with Gilby anymore for a lot of different reasons. In a way I sort of went along with it, at least Axl thought I was going along with it because I had my own complaints from that night at rehearsal. This was about a year ago." (Slash, Metal Edge Magazine, 04/95)

And when Slash 'sort of went along' with it...

"'As you are aware, Gilby has been fired at least three times by the band in the past month and has been rehired at least two times,' Clarke's lawyer Jeffrey Light wrote in an April 14th, 1994 letter to GN'R lawyer Laurie Soriano." (Rolling Stone, 05/11/00)

And so, I told Gilby that that was going on. So he didn't hear it from somewhere else. Because if you know, in this business, leaks are like crazy. And it's just best to be upfront and honest about thing. So I told him what was going on." (Slash, Canadian Radio, 04/20/95)

My last conversation with [Axl] was when he called me and was trying to explain what he wanted to do. And, basically, it was: I want to change the sound of the band. You know, I want to go more into a current direction. You know, I want to use, you know, more industrial type things. You know, he was really into bands like Jane's Addiction, Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails. And I just kinda laughed and said: You know, look - I want to play guitar in a loud version of The Rolling Stones, you know?" (Gilby, Spin, 07/99)

I contributed a lot [to the Snakepit]... [Axl] didn't like what we were all doing." (Gilby, Kerrang, 05/24/94)

Usually, I'm at Slash's every night. We work on new material and different things, whether it's my stuff, his stuff or whatever. He's got a studio in his house. We're working on some stuff right now - me, him and Matt. GN'R's not gonna do anything, so we just go up to Slash's place and work." (Gilby, Kerrang, 05/24/94)

[sky dog]

been digging this today....actually bought it on ITUNES....

[Wooody]

I can't help but think Axl should've gone industrial on a solo project and shouldn't have tried to change GNR that much. Im not saying GNR should've been like AC/DC keeping the same sound for decades. But more like Gilby said, A loud rolling stones, and the rolling stones really did everything, some songs sound like jazz, disco, funk, but they always kept it rock n roll.

[EmilyGNR]

I can't help but think Axl should've gone industrial on a solo project and shouldn't have tried to change GNR that much. Im not saying GNR should've been like AC/DC keeping the same sound for decades. But more like Gilby said, A loud rolling stones, and the rolling stones really did everything, some songs sound like jazz, disco, funk, but they always kept it rock n roll.

I disagree, I appreciate the vision Axl has employed for GNR- I'm glad the sound evolved and that there aren't an array of repeat AFD's in the catalogue.

[Annie]

I can't help but think Axl should've gone industrial on a solo project and shouldn't have tried to change GNR that much. Im not saying GNR should've been like AC/DC keeping the same sound for decades. But more like Gilby said, A loud rolling stones, and the rolling stones really did everything, some songs sound like jazz, disco, funk, but they always kept it rock n roll.

I disagree, I appreciate the vision Axl has employed for GNR- I'm glad the sound evolved and that there aren't an array of repeat AFD's in the catalogue.

Me too. All great artists evolve

[Wooody]

Can jarmo tell me whether Emily and sweet child of dexter are the same poster? Both females and Sweetchild of dexter always comes to say I agree after emily 

[jarmo]

I agree.

Wait, does it make you and me the same person? 



/jarmo

[Wooody]

I can't help but think Axl should've gone industrial on a solo project and shouldn't have tried to change GNR that much. Im not saying GNR should've been like AC/DC keeping the same sound for decades. But more like Gilby said, A loud rolling stones, and the rolling stones really did everything, some songs sound like jazz, disco, funk, but they always kept it rock n roll.

I disagree, I appreciate the vision Axl has employed for GNR- I'm glad the sound evolved and that there aren't an array of repeat AFD's in the catalogue.

Btw, I agree to an extent, If you read my original post. And maybe I would've fully agreed if there actually was an evolution, but Chinese democracy is just one album, there's no evolution in a single act, one output.

There's more evolution from AFD TSI than from those albums to CHinese Democracy, if there was more albums since CHIDEM maybe that would've been different, but there isnt.

[Wooody]

I agree.

Wait, does it make you and me the same person? 



/jarmo

I asked a question, I did not state anything

[jarmo]

You stated that they post after each other...

 



/jarmo

[Wooody]

You stated that they post after each other...

 



/jarmo

They do. That's a fact. 

[Annie]

You stated that they post after each other...

 



/jarmo

They do. That's a fact. 

I just think Emily makes some really good points. Woody how could you ever forget the girl who drove you insane with all those posts 7 years ago about This I Love being in a Twilight movie? I had a different screen name back then, I was Annie.

[EmilyGNR]

Can jarmo tell me whether Emily and sweet child of dexter are the same poster? Both females and Sweetchild of dexter always comes to say I agree after emily 

Guess I'm you too now.

What a silly question.

[Wooody]

You stated that they post after each other...

 



/jarmo

They do. That's a fact. 

I just think Emily makes some really good points. Woody how could you ever forget the girl who drove you insane with all those posts 7 years ago about This I Love being in a Twilight movie? I had a different screen name back then, I was Annie.

Hhaha, that's true 

[Annie]

You stated that they post after each other...

 



/jarmo

They do. That's a fact. 

I just think Emily makes some really good points. Woody how could you ever forget the girl who drove you insane with all those posts 7 years ago about This I Love being in a Twilight movie? I had a different screen name back then, I was Annie.

Hhaha, that's true 

Besides Emily is clearly a no nonsense kind of poster. Whereas i can best be described as Elle Woods.