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Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
Yeah, I know some people say it's not the truth.
It's Merck's public side of the story, tho. Axl's yet to give his tuppence... on many things.
- swingbelly
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Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
wow! This is a great conversation (IMO). Thank you for posting the letter!! So does Axl own alll demos that he might be in his hands? Things recorded with old lineup??
Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
Reading that letter again shows how tight cashflow was and probably still is.
At this time I seriously considered postponing the start of the tour, again, as the album was of paramount importance but the reality was that our historic track record left us with very little good will with you, the fans, and we needed the money to be able to complete the album and keep the band alive.
I found the money and the motivation to keep Axl and the band alive
I don't buy what some people say that Axl is massively wealthy etc. Sure he has definitely got more than the average person, but I'm sure he's got bills and a lifestyle to match (think Michael Jackson on a smaller scale 
). Money has to be a motivator/factor in a lot of things. The making of CD must have hammered him financially.
More recently saying they did the US tour effectively for free as part of the Azoff settlement, may explain somewhat why we are seeing more and more dates added to these up close and personal shows. Looks like they (understandably) still wanna try and make a buck for themselves out of the US, before they got to Europe etc. I wouldn't be surprised to keep seeing these small dates trickle out if they keep selling.
Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
I also just finhished the book.
Loved it!
There were many interesting GNR-related things in it that I didn't know.
One of these was the famous "Axl wouldn't go onstage before Duff and Slash signed over the name to him"-thing.
It's a story I've allways heard and read about. But one that I got the impression that it happened at the very start of the UYI-tour. Before the albums were released. But according to the book, it happened at the very end of the tour.
That's Duff's truth. It's another story.
I personally thought out of the gate that Duff was full of shit. But after further review I think a combined version of Axl, Slash & Duff's stories all kinda fit in the same universe, and are all probably 'the truth'.
I think Axl & Alan Niven re-negotiating the GN'R deal and Axl's ownership of the brand name happened in 1990. Done deal.
I think Slash remembered that, but misremembered the date and confused 1990, pre-UYI tour, to Summer of 1991, early UYI tour. Slash was also REALLY fucked up on heroin again at the time and continuing to get worse going into 1992 before his near death OD.
What Duff is remembering is probably an amendment contract that was drawn up by Doug Goldstein, who is a self-confessed recovering SNAKE from those days. I think Doug got to Axl, convinced him some sort of amendment needed to be made as a protection to Slash's OD in '92, and Duff slowly dying from alcohol poisoning by that point, and Doug sure as hell didn't mind throwing himself on there to steal his little slice of the GN'R pie.
So then Slash & Duff balk at it when presented, and Doug acts like he's their buddy and looking out for their best interest, and then Doug rolls Axl under the bus and basically said "I think it's a bad deal too, but Axl won't go on stage unless you sign it", or something to that effect, even though Axl had already owned the band name since 1990.
Then Slash & Duff carry this story for years, and Axl denies it because Axl never gave the orders to strong arm Slash & Duff into signing a 1993 amendment to the original re-negotiated Alan Niven deal with Geffen in 1990.
Duff I believe said that after Alan Niven got fired, the flood gates opened up for "the sharks to come in", and Doug was right there to take up the power vaccuum. Alot of people blame Axl for the band breaking up, some blame Slash, I blame Doug. I still believe he turned those guys against each other .
How to break up a band and create dissention? Turn friends into enemies, and turn enemies into fanatics, to quote the great Jock Ewing.
- swingbelly
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Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
I don't know about the other 2 books yet (finished Duff's today, started Steven's now, and Slash's is after that!!) but one of the things i keep remembering is that everybody was high, drunk, stoned, or both back in the day. It's hard to figure out who is telling the truth (and then you add in managers, record label people, etc) and we may never know. Take everything with a grain of salt.
I think the RNRHOF is going to turn out to be a big mess...but that is another topic for another thread.
Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
Duff I believe said that after Alan Niven got fired, the flood gates opened up for "the sharks to come in", and Doug was right there to take up the power vaccuum. Alot of people blame Axl for the band breaking up, some blame Slash, I blame Doug. I still believe he turned those guys against each other .
I laughed how Slash described Doug in his book "he was like an ambush predator".
“During this process (the mixing of ‘UYI’) the animosity between our manager, Alan Niven, and Axl came to a head. The rest of us had been trying to squash it for a while, but Axl's issues with Alan had been brewing for years - since the moment he found out that Alan also managed and produced and co-wrote Great White. There was also the fact that Alan was opinionated on a lot of things and Axl didn’t always agree with his point of view. So at times Axl felt like he was being forced to do things that he didn't necessarily want to do.
“I knew it was going to happen but I didn’t think it would be the tipping point. Looking back, I feel that shift was the moment, the pause at the pinnacle of the band’s success... and the start of its downfall… All the same, I saw Doug coming. He made a place for himself in Axl’s life, and once Axl had made his feelings about Alan clear, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Doug was right there to pick up the reins. He had been strategically moving up the ladder from the beginning. He was like an ambush predator.”
Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
It's funny coz Axl left Sanctuary with Merc 2 weeks before Goldstein was due to get the back end payment ($1,000,000) from the deal he did when he sold BigFD Entertainment to them (Sanctuary) and joined them.
Ouch - karma's a bitch.
But even funnier years later they went back to Doug to try and get him to side with Axl in their legal dispute about the name with Slash and Duff. Understandably Doug wasn't too keen to help out at the time, presumably he was still smarting from his earlier screwing!
Reverse Karma's a bitch too
I believe Goldstein's stance on the name was that he was called by John Reese (the bands tour manager from the 4 gigs with the Rolling Stones in 1989 through the UYI tour as well), and told that Axl had refused to go onstage during the UYI tour unless they signed off on the name.
Sounds to me if that threat is true that it occured before the tour itself or before one of the legs at least. Not backstage one night with the crowd out there etc as the myth would have us believe.
Re: So..I'm reading Duffs Book....
Yeah, I know some people say it's not the truth.
It's Merck's public side of the story, tho. Axl's yet to give his tuppence... on many things.
Merck's letter and Axl's letter jive...as do Duff and Axl's stories on the breakup and contractual issues...they are just told from different points of view. When the timelines jive and the stories are fairly similar, you have the truth some where in the middle.
And Mikka, no need for cheapshots. I am not defending anybody and don't care what HTGTH says about anything. 
