aww I kinda like "Dead Horse." it was great how they shot an insane amount of videos (about 10, I think) from these 2 albums, almost all of which got big MTV premieres and a good amount of rotation, even if only maybe half of them were really hits.
― some dude, Thursday, 14 August 2008 14:13 (sixteen years ago) link
tough poll actually. i went with right next door to hell.
― M@tt He1ges0n, Thursday, 14 August 2008 18:37 (sixteen years ago) link
Going for "Live And Let Die". Not better than the original, but interesting in that they have managed to replace the orchestra with heavy guitar bits.
― Geir Hongro, Thursday, 14 August 2008 19:44 (sixteen years ago) link
aww I kinda like "Dead Horse."
Really? It seems kind of subpar to me, and the fact that it was a video always seemed very telling about Axl's control of the band.
― res, Thursday, 14 August 2008 22:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Anything except "November Rain".
― steampig67, Friday, 15 August 2008 15:23 (sixteen years ago) link
well, like I said, there were so many videos for these albums that that doesn't really mean anything! and we all know Axl started swallowing the band whole by that point. I just like the chorus, even that acoustic bit is a little shaky.
― some dude, Friday, 15 August 2008 15:24 (sixteen years ago) link
eden
― billstevejim, Saturday, 16 August 2008 01:54 (sixteen years ago) link
You guys are crazy...it's a tossup between:
Dust N Bones Bad Obsession Double Talkin' Jive Coma
Just like the Trout Mask poll, answer to come.
― Reatards Unite, Saturday, 16 August 2008 15:05 (sixteen years ago) link
Coma Live & Let Die Dust N Bones... and I secretly love Don't Cry. Though I know I shouldn't...
― VegemiteGrrrl, Saturday, 16 August 2008 22:20 (sixteen years ago) link
I voted Don't Cry in a heartbeat. y'all are being too cool!
― admrl, Saturday, 16 August 2008 22:34 (sixteen years ago) link
Baby MAYBE SOMEDAY!
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― ILX System, Sunday, 17 August 2008 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Don't Damn Me, people. Come on, this is easy!
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 18 August 2008 00:24 (sixteen years ago) link
"Don't Damn Me" and "Double Talkin' Jive" are the nadir of this album as far as I'm concerned.
― some dude, Monday, 18 August 2008 00:31 (sixteen years ago) link
don't damn me when i speak a piece of mind because silence isn't golden when I'm holding it iniside because i've been where i have been and i've seen what i have seen i put the pen to the paper cuz its all a part of me.
Wow. Just typed that without thinking and I haven't even thought about that song in over ten years. fuck
― Pleasant Plains, Monday, 18 August 2008 02:12 (sixteen years ago) link
lol, i voted 'don't cry', can't wait for uyiII poll to vote for it's sequel/conclusion
― balls, Monday, 18 August 2008 02:31 (sixteen years ago) link
That's eminem, right?
― rogermexico., Monday, 18 August 2008 15:03 (sixteen years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― ILX System, Monday, 18 August 2008 23:01 (sixteen years ago) link
Coma is terrible.
― billstevejim, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 00:32 (sixteen years ago) link
For once, the lurkers are correct.
― rogermexico., Tuesday, 19 August 2008 00:37 (sixteen years ago) link
"I call my mother. She's just a cunt now."
Ok, this album.
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 01:15 (sixteen years ago) link
Two of my best friends and I went to Dallas in '91 to catch GNR at the Starplex. We were excited because it was going to be the first show after the riot in St. Louis.
They opened the show with "Right Next Door to Hell" which one of my friends got real psyched about, going "can you believe they wrote a song like that, and they're even playing it here in Texas?"
It wasn't until the album came out that he finally realized that the song wasn't really called "Rednecks, Go to Hell".
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 01:39 (sixteen years ago) link
"Zap the sonofabitch again!"
Oh, I hate you Axl.
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 17:01 (sixteen years ago) link
It took three years to get those albums out and all you were doing was playing with the flanger and saying things like "You dig what I'm sayin?" over Izzy's songs.
― Pleasant Plains, Tuesday, 19 August 2008 17:02 (sixteen years ago) link
it really strikes me as funny these days how knowingly indulgent the Illusions are. there are strange bits that are neither use nor ornament (case in point: that suspended note at the end of Don't Cry or the litany of tough-guy asides -- "no more patience, maaaan" etc., what the fuck were all those about?), but more like a bizarre flexing of ego, a compulsion to aim larger than life for the sake of it. then there's stuff like You Ain't the First, which is meant to capture the hallmarks of an impromptu singalong, but at the same time is unabashedly showy about how audibly contrived it sounds. it's as if the band are devoted to inhabiting their celebrity, to living up to the flashy ideals of rock star decorum, whereas on Appetite they were rock stars without the pretence.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 4 February 2014 02:39 (ten years ago) link
Don't Cry will always be frozen in time for me as the song of a certain specific kind of confused burgeoning hormonality and a useless crush on the older sister of my metalhead friend and wasting quarters playing video games at arnold's disc shop in the mall, where I bought the album
― Burt Stuntin (Hurting 2), Tuesday, 4 February 2014 02:47 (ten years ago) link
living up to the flashy ideals of rock star decorum, whereas on Appetite they were rock stars without the pretence.
see also: the Be Here Now thread.
― Simon H., Tuesday, 4 February 2014 03:02 (ten years ago) link
no votes for Double Talkin' Jive? i think it could be my favourite these days. furious groove, great Stradlin lead vocal, terrific soloing, and that left-field flamenco outro from Slash that somehow fits right into place.
― charlie h, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 14:08 (ten years ago) link
Yeah, I like that one so much better than most on this disc.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 14:26 (ten years ago) link
Double Talkin' Jive has always been one of my favorite. Izzy's second solo record 117 Degrees is chock full of great songwriting too.
― DavidLeeRoth, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 14:49 (ten years ago) link
Holy crap, Izzy has released 10 albums since that Ju Ju Hounds record.
― Josh in Chicago, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 15:12 (ten years ago) link
i haven't heard any of them post Ju Ju Hounds. i'm a terrible fan!
― charlie h, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 15:18 (ten years ago) link
I have 117 which is MUCH better then the Ju Ju Hounds record. Easy to see Izzy could have made GN'R records that would have been relevant through out the 90's. River is great too. Most of his albums didn't even get a physical release.
― DavidLeeRoth, Tuesday, 9 September 2014 16:06 (ten years ago) link
Right Next Door to Hell needs more love
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 16 July 2016 04:36 (eight years ago) link
i have my ticket for the 29th. I'm actually performing in a theatre piece so I thought I couldn't go but it's a collection of 10 minute pieces and we're allowed to leave after ours is done and mine's over at 8:30 every night. so stoked.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 16 July 2016 04:37 (eight years ago) link
My first dance with a g-g-girl was to 'November Rain'. In hindsight, an eight-minute song probably wasn't the best choice for that rite of passage. Still strikes a chord, though.
'Coma' tears it up, though. Love that tune.
― Night Jorts (Old Lunch), Saturday, 16 July 2016 04:55 (eight years ago) link
i feel like I like UYI 1 way way better than UYI 2
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 30 July 2016 20:53 (eight years ago) link
I disagree! they're about equal imo. plus I think "coma" kinda sucks
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 July 2016 21:06 (eight years ago) link
and "the garden" is the worst non-"my world" thing on either record
― who is extremely unqualified to review this pop album (BradNelson), Saturday, 30 July 2016 21:07 (eight years ago) link
ahh no way re: "Coma". hearing it live was a blast last night in all of its "millions of jumbled parts" Frankensteinery. Axl screaming "what the FUCK is going on" always gives me chills.
― Neanderthal, Saturday, 30 July 2016 21:08 (eight years ago) link
"The Garden" is aight, the Alice Cooper bits are teh only parts I like really.
what's with all the funny voices
is it a 'thing'
was axl protecting his voice from touring fatigue or something
― j., Friday, 28 February 2020 03:49 (four years ago) link
Double talkin jive deserved better
― umsworth (emsworth), Friday, 28 February 2020 10:28 (four years ago) link
Like as if don’t cry and November rain are better guns and roses songs than double talkin jive, pretty much the only song on UYI with no horrible stadium bloat, what were you all thinking
― umsworth (emsworth), Friday, 28 February 2020 10:30 (four years ago) link
Double Talkin Jive is one of the handful on this one I like.
― Josh in Chicago, Friday, 28 February 2020 12:54 (four years ago) link
― j., Thursday, February 27, 2020 9:49 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink
IIRC the voices are a central topic of Eric Weisbard's 33 1/3 book (although I don't know that he shed any light on the whys). He makes frequent reference to low-voiced Axl as Deep Downer.
― Expart of Languidge (Old Lunch), Friday, 28 February 2020 13:03 (four years ago) link
Is that book good ? I like that series but from what I understand this one doesn't really deal with this album per se.
― AlXTC from Paris, Friday, 28 February 2020 13:43 (four years ago) link
I liked it buuuut I don't know if I'd recommend it. It's been a while but I think the gist is that they were important albums to him that he hadn't engaged with in a long while and then kinda writes as he's revisiting them.
― Expart of Languidge (Old Lunch), Friday, 28 February 2020 14:09 (four years ago) link
Am feeling «Breakdown» today. Kind of underrated track.
― Mule, Friday, 28 February 2020 14:57 (four years ago) link
Ah, wrong thread. Should have been in II.
― Mule, Friday, 28 February 2020 14:58 (four years ago) link
I think "The Garden" is a good jam... it's certainly better than, say, "Back Off Bitch."
― Murdered-Out Highlander XLE (morrisp), Friday, 28 February 2020 18:14 (four years ago) link
BACK OFFFFBACK OFF BIIIIIITCH
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Saturday, 12 November 2022 23:16 (one year ago) link
Surprised that song even got 2 votes... it's easy enuff to skip, but it irritates me that they included it at all. It's an old song, there's nothing good about it musically or (god knows) lyrically... it just sits there like a turd on Side 2.
― Reese's Pisces Iscariot (morrisp), Tuesday, 15 November 2022 17:02 (one year ago) link
Somewhat bizarrely, D. Fricke's original RS review (which I revisited last night) opined:
Slash’s classical-guitar break at the end of “Double Talkin’ Jive” comes out of nowhere and should have stayed there.
― Reese's Pisces Iscariot (morrisp), Tuesday, 15 November 2022 17:06 (one year ago) link
I wrote about these albums on Substack this week...
Guns N' Roses Goes To New Jersey
― but also fuck you (unperson), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 15:23 (one year ago) link
it shows at least rudimentary self-awareness.I think Axl is extremely self-aware… that’s what makes many of the songs (and his contemporaneous interviews) particularly interesting.
― Reese's Pisces Iscariot (morrisp), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 15:59 (one year ago) link
(Also, well I’m not an expert in New Jersey-ology, I don’t think these albums really qualify, because there was literally no real follow-up or period of sales decline… the classic band just broke up)
― Reese's Pisces Iscariot (morrisp), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 16:13 (one year ago) link
That EP in '87 though where JBJ used the n-word.
― pplains, Wednesday, 16 November 2022 16:32 (one year ago) link
I guess one difference is that the "classic New Jersey" has a more-of-the-same-stuff-you-liked-last-time feel about it, while these records were clearly supposed to be both a giant step for Guns 'n' Roses and a major "big statement". Since the only instrument on Appetite that wasn't guitar or drums was 30 seconds of synth on "Paradise City", they knew it was bold to reinvent themselves as Elton John or Queen.
― Halfway there but for you, Wednesday, 16 November 2022 16:44 (one year ago) link
I used to 'produce' my friend's shitpost albums when we were 12/13. Anyway one of them had a track which was just the last 25 seconds of Back Off Bitch playing out my CD player before my friend says the name of some footabll stadium. Anyway I mention this because I haven't been able to separately acknowledge the GNR song for 11-12 years now.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 16 November 2022 16:47 (one year ago) link
It may just be that I'm not from the US but the UYIs have never struck me as a very convincing a New Jersey because they have so many hits that people still listen to.
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 16 November 2022 16:50 (one year ago) link
Fwiw, I agree w/unperson about Sorum’s drumming lacking swing, etc. I’m not sure how great a drummer Adler necessarily was (maybe he was?), but I do think they could’ve chosen a better replacement.
― Reese's Pisces Iscariot (morrisp), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 16:54 (one year ago) link
No coincidence it came out after CDs took over
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 17:22 (one year ago) link
Quite honestly I don't skip much on either
Kinda hoping for an eventual sleep time album for kids called Snooze Your Illusion
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 17:23 (one year ago) link
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/619nWTPToRL._AC_SY355_.jpg
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Wednesday, 16 November 2022 17:24 (one year ago) link
Omg
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Wednesday, 16 November 2022 17:26 (one year ago) link
I used to 'produce' my friend's shitpost albums when we were 12/13. Anyway one of them had a track which was just the last 25 seconds of Back Off Bitch playing out my CD player before my friend says the name of some footabll stadium.
Ha, I had junior high friends who claimed copyright on a new version of "Nighttrain," simply because they changed the lyric "flying like an aeroplane" to "flying like an arrow plane."
― pplains, Wednesday, 16 November 2022 17:45 (one year ago) link
I realised tonight Miami Twice was UK TV's Use Your Illusion
― you can see me from westbury white horse, Saturday, 19 November 2022 01:06 (one year ago) link
I listen way more to my own curated distillations of UYI I & II than I do Appetite, the latter of which was pretty much spoiled by me through radio overplay before I ever bought it myself around 1999-2000 (when I was 16-18 years old). UYI definitely hurts from the loss of Adler’s natural groove, but I don’t think anyone could reproduce that - they tried with a bunch of other drummers before settling on Sorum, who whatever his deficiencies still replicates it more accurately than GNR’s current drummer.
― thewufs, Saturday, 19 November 2022 03:00 (one year ago) link
The current reissue of UYI I has a newly-recorded orchestra in place of the synth strings on the original November Rain. I haven't heard it yet, so I can't comment on whether it adds to or detracts from the song, but I guess it's good to see Axl is still capable of grandiose, misguided bullshit.
― peace, man, Monday, 21 November 2022 12:32 (one year ago) link
Yeah, I mentioned that in my writeup — it sounds really good. That's about the only argument in favor of the reissues, honestly.
― but also fuck you (unperson), Monday, 21 November 2022 13:53 (one year ago) link
Oh fuck, sorry - I missed the link! I'm glad to hear that it sounds good, but it still rankles me that they would "special edition" a track like that.
― peace, man, Monday, 21 November 2022 13:59 (one year ago) link
I think it's essentially meant to "replace" the original track – as the new CDs aren't called out as special new editions or anything on the packaging (other than the shrink-wrap sticker; I mentioned this on another thread). I assume the original versions of the albums will be discontinued, and these remasters just sort of take their place.
― "Mick Wall at Kerrang!" (morrisp), Monday, 21 November 2022 16:49 (one year ago) link
Right, I meant "special edition" in the George Lucas sense of overwriting the material that is already known to fans.
― peace, man, Monday, 21 November 2022 17:08 (one year ago) link
Nah, they just replaced cheap orchestrations with a real orchestra.
Lucasing the track would be like adding an accordion solo and having background singers periodically singing "BLASPINKY"
― Fash Gordon (Neanderthal), Monday, 21 November 2022 17:19 (one year ago) link
“Coma” is still one of their few songs that I enjoy
― beamish13, Monday, 21 November 2022 17:28 (one year ago) link
xp "Where's Izzy?" vs. "Han Shot First"
― "Mick Wall at Kerrang!" (morrisp), Monday, 21 November 2022 17:29 (one year ago) link
Replacing "You Ain't the First" with "Trouble On the Way"
― pplains, Monday, 21 November 2022 18:09 (one year ago) link
It may just be that I'm not from the US but the UYIs have never struck me as a very convincing a New Jersey because they have so many hits that people still listen to
The thing is though the most famous songs on the UYIs are “November Rain” and a couple of covers (why release two covers as singles?)
Their equivalents on Appetite in terms of fame and notoriety? Welcome To the Jungle, Sweet Child O Mine, Paradise City (and if you go on, Mr Brownstone, It’s So Easy etc). It’s a washout.
Have Don’t Cry, Estranged, Civil War, You Could Be Mine etc really endured in popular consciousness beyond the fact they were a big deal in 1991/92? I’d say not
― Master of Treacle, Monday, 21 November 2022 18:44 (one year ago) link