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Re: The General and Monsters
Back to The General….so, I’ve really started to love this song. The subject matter is pretty heavy since it is likely about the child abuse Axl suffered. It’s about the mental conflict going on in his head which is why you get the tempo changes, vocal changes, etc. The ending actually makes sense to me now. It’s a cry of pain and defiance. The chaotic shredding matches Axl’s chaotic wailing.
It’s Axl’s primal scream therapy. John Lennon’s best solo album Plastic Ono Band is really fucking heavy and came out after Lennon went through his therapy.
Maybe I’m way off but that’s the cool thing about Axl’s lyrics, he keeps us guessing on what the song is actually about.
I really want to hear Robin/Bucket’s version. Bucket, Robin and Brain really stretched Axl as a songwriter imo
Re: The General and Monsters
Sky Dog wrote:
It’s Axl’s primal scream therapy. John Lennon’s best solo album Plastic Ono Band is really fucking heavy and came out after Lennon went through his therapy.
Maybe I’m way off but that’s the cool thing about Axl’s lyrics, he keeps us guessing on what the song is actually about.
I really want to hear Robin/Bucket’s version. Bucket, Robin and Brain really stretched Axl as a songwriter imo
I'd love to hear their version of monsters. That lead guitar on the Vienna clip sounds about as epic as it gets. Soothsayer vibes.
- AgesOfTheIce
- Rep: 10
Re: The General and Monsters
misterID wrote:Sky Dog wrote:
It’s Axl’s primal scream therapy. John Lennon’s best solo album Plastic Ono Band is really fucking heavy and came out after Lennon went through his therapy.
Maybe I’m way off but that’s the cool thing about Axl’s lyrics, he keeps us guessing on what the song is actually about.
I really want to hear Robin/Bucket’s version. Bucket, Robin and Brain really stretched Axl as a songwriter imo
I'd love to hear their version of monsters. That lead guitar on the Vienna clip sounds about as epic as it gets. Soothsayer vibes.
I really want to hear the part right before the solo, where it sounds like most of the music stops and Axl repeats the chorus again. Shame that didn't make it to the final version.
Re: The General and Monsters
James wrote:Any examples of trip hop with intentionally shitty mixes?
I didn't realize that was some sort of element of the genre.
I guess Portishead is doing it wrong.
Brain & Melissa:
You can have a listen and have an opinion.Never mentioned trip hop but I liked the irony. You must be fun at parties.
You think that's intentionally shitty and not simply low budget? If intentional, they did a terrible job conveying that.
You didn't have to mention trip hop. The General is obviously in that category regardless of who mentions it.
I used to be fun at parties...but then I got old.
Sorry for the long delay. I was in the hospital for a minor procedure, caught some horrifying flu, and almost died. Never been in the hospital that long before. It was hell.
Re: The General and Monsters
harmon420 wrote:I'd love to hear their version of monsters. That lead guitar on the Vienna clip sounds about as epic as it gets. Soothsayer vibes.
I really want to hear the part right before the solo, where it sounds like most of the music stops and Axl repeats the chorus again. Shame that didn't make it to the final version.
Harmon, me too. But are you sure you heard an epic solo on the Vienna clip? All I heard was a rather simple solo I always thought was played by Finck.
AgesOfTheIce, you are correct. A vocal section was omitted, but I'm not 100% sure it was Axl repeating the chorus.
Re: The General and Monsters
The elephant in the room is what happened to the songwriting.
Obviously we know he's one of the greatest songwriters of his generation and indeed probably all time...
I no longer believe this.
An incredible singer with a unique voice and insane charisma who showed flashes of brilliance creatively.
The majority of his career, including what should've been his prime/second act, completely squandered on a project he couldn't even finish.
Most accounts suggest that of the many pieces submitted by brain/bucklet/robin most never got lyrics.
Of the songs post Chinese Democracy - it's the same story - but these ones were put out without the additional inspiration. Hardschool is mostly choruses with a long instrumental in the middle. Absurd is a classic rant repeated over and over with no third verse or chorus. Perhaps is the most developed - but even it fundamentally repeats itself from half way through. The general is what one verse and one chorus repeated three times without an outro. Don't get me wrong I love these songs, but it's clear the difference between these and Novermber Rain or Coma was these songs were waiting for additional ideas that don't exist.
CD II was never finished. It's not even open to debate anymore. We've now heard the meat and potatoes of it.
CD II is basically overproduced demos with shitty mixes with a quickly whipped up verse+chorus verging on placeholders but he never went back to any of it.
Don't know what to tell you now...
Yeah...that's pretty obvious.
I'm no longer surprised why none of this came out in the 2010s. It's a miracle we ever got any of it.
Now we just need to hear Oklahoma and Seven. Then it's a wrap.
The General is undoubtedly one of the worst songs in the entire GNR catalogue
I wouldn't go that far...but I'm with you in spirit.
It wants to be an epic but it can't because the writer gave up before properly finishing the damn thing.
- FlashFlood
- Rep: 55
Re: The General and Monsters
I actually kinda like how polarizing this song is
Literally almost every CD era song is fine in its own right…it’s hype that makes things divisive. Happened with Prostitute/Song 2 for sure, and Sorry. Monster/Soul Monster is or will be the same. When it doesn’t live up to whatever Sebastian Bach said it was, it’s deemed shit, which is a little unfair. But, they allowed this to happen.
Re: The General and Monsters
AgesOfTheIce wrote:harmon420 wrote:I'd love to hear their version of monsters. That lead guitar on the Vienna clip sounds about as epic as it gets. Soothsayer vibes.
I really want to hear the part right before the solo, where it sounds like most of the music stops and Axl repeats the chorus again. Shame that didn't make it to the final version.
Harmon, me too. But are you sure you heard an epic solo on the Vienna clip? All I heard was a rather simple solo I always thought was played by Finck.
AgesOfTheIce, you are correct. A vocal section was omitted, but I'm not 100% sure it was Axl repeating the chorus.
Not sure at all to be honest. Could totallly be the Fink man doing a rather simple note prigression. Either way I love what I can make out. I spun your version quite a few times as well. Good to hear from you again. 
