I saw them before they were big. They were a last minute sub for Ace Frehley as an opener for Alice Cooper back in the mid-80's. We were all saying "Who the hell are these f***ing guys?" 😆
i will ride or die for any song izzy wrote and/or sang on, "double talkin jive" is probably my favorite Illusion song, on II, gonna always go with "you could be mine" but also a big fan of "shotgun blues"
Izzy was the real songwriting genius in that band. Double Talkin Jive is one of the very best, and that remains one of my handful of top favourite GN'R recordings.
and I feel like a lot of kurt's problems were exacerbated by him wanting to be a singer/songwriter/poet and instead had to be a front man for a *massive* band with all that came with it. i don't know whether he could have learned anything from axl but they sure could have commiserated
drove down his old street yesterday, where a Confederate flag with a skull on it flies in front of the house next to his old one. Or maybe that was the house.
I remember them being one of the few bands from that genre that would get hyped in the skateboarding world (The Cult being another one), I'll have to revisit
i too was a middle schooler (well, maybe a high school freshman) but thanks to neighbor kids I was already *deep* into slayer and metallica and all of that lol
I was into, like, INXS. There was this whole suite of bands that were like “Am I a bad person if I listen to this?” GNR, Faith No More, Jane’s Addiction.
poofy axl is rough but izzy channeling keef was basically the black crowes before the black crowes and for a while slash was absolutely the coolest motherfucker on earth
(it is also *very* funny to think that for a time, like, axl and dennis rodman seemed like they had a *lot* of tattoos and now seemingly every other person has full sleeves half of them have hand or neck tattoos)
I was at their second Alpine Valley Illusions show, their biggest headline tour to date I believe, anyway the one where shirtless Axl wore catcher’s gear and Slash soloed The Godfather theme.
First big post-Covid show was G&R at MetLife. Axl was your chubby fun Uncle. He also sang You Got What I need and told a story about hanging with his buddy Biz Markie (shortly after he died).
Axl ended up in a much better place than anyone would’ve guessed circa ‘95.
skid row definitely fit the vibe more but angry/sullen soundgarden (when they finished their set kim just set his guitar in the stand screeching feedback) was so good
My buddy Craig (who is not on social media) was in a teenage hair metal band that played the Whiskey, signed boobs and had relations with their manager, a Loni Anderson impersonator.
I just knew it was way too cool for me. I remember asking a popular girl who wore their t shirt if GnR were named after Demolition or vice versa, and of course she had no idea who Demolition were, and that just made me even more invisible.
The "discussions" I would have with my ultra-conservative father (RIP) about 90s musicians GnR and 2 live crew specifically.
Dad thought my enjoyment of their music would make me a real life grand theft auto character.
I turned out fine.
Yeah, it wasn't really about the songs. There was just something authentically dangerous about GnR in 1987. CC Deville was about as scary as a Cabbage Patch Kid.
haha yes agree (and it was happening so fast, I saw tesla open for poison in '89 and tesla was *so much* more a real band, like by then poison may as well have been disney)
The bands that seemed to have more legitimacy - authentic or not - were the ones who remained blues-based in their approach. Tesla's an example. Cinderella comes to mind, too. They both leaned into the hair metal thing but kept their distance where it mattered.
It never once occurred to me that Axl was not in that Dirty Harry movie, that it was of all people Jim Carrey lip-synching in the fake Welcome to the Jungle video, as directed by a young Liam Neeson?? What in the world?
Saaaammmmeee! After one viewing I made my mom take me to Lewis Drug in Sioux Falls, South Dakota to purchase Appetite on cassette. I would have gone myself, but Tipper Gore convinced the government to slap those parental warning stickers on tapes, so she had to buy it for me.
Had a ridiculous high-end boombox in the 80s. We had a damn good softball team, and damn good uniforms - The Killer Bees (black and gold). I would fire this ditty up on the boombox as we all walked into the ballpark together as a team. It gives me chills thinking about it still. We were legends. 😄
Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2QCORi-u0U
changed my life
that album is the greatest, breakdown and locomotive are the two best GN'R songs nobody talks about
Unfortunately this song still kinda goes hard.
I was a big Skid Row fan myself at the time lol
Fucking Rock Goddum all around.
First big post-Covid show was G&R at MetLife. Axl was your chubby fun Uncle. He also sang You Got What I need and told a story about hanging with his buddy Biz Markie (shortly after he died).
Axl ended up in a much better place than anyone would’ve guessed circa ‘95.
My buddy Craig (who is not on social media) was in a teenage hair metal band that played the Whiskey, signed boobs and had relations with their manager, a Loni Anderson impersonator.
Fun read if you can find it.
https://www.amazon.com/Mom-Have-Seen-Leather-Pants/dp/0307342123
Dad thought my enjoyment of their music would make me a real life grand theft auto character.
I turned out fine.