#owobgnr

I can’t believe we’re already 40% done GNR week here at One Week One Band. How time flies when you’re having fun.

This, time I’ll actually let the music speak for itself. Please enjoy Coma, which is the final track off their second album: Use Your Illusion I. One of GNR’s strengths in their early period was their brevity, their debut Appetite is all hits, no filler- almost over as soon as Jungle’s iconic opening echoes out. Clocking in at over ten minutes, Coda isn’t exactly succinct, but it shows the band GNR was about to become if it all hadn’t come crashing down......getting ahead of myself again

Of historical import: When the chords change behind the guitar solo at 6:35, you can hear Slash assume his (brief) but undisputed role as Guitar King of the Universe.

Today I’m signing off One Week One Band. Its been an absolute blast sharing my love of Guns N Roses with everyone. Thanks for following along, thanks everyone who’s written to me with feedback and suggestions (my email, my instagram), and thanks most of all to our fearless leader, Hendrik!

In the 21st century, GNR adopted the Beyoncé tactic: earning half a billion dollars without granting a single interview (as far as I can tell). To me, that indicates that they still hate each other’s guts, which saddens me.

As a fan, I sincerely hope that one day Axl and Slash can look past their differences. I think a good place to start might be to revisit the glory days: the recording of their first and greatest album, Appetite for Destruction. The intense burst of creativity the five displayed during the writing and recording of this album is mind-bending.

Yes, that was how Axl and the gang signed off. No I can’t explain why that song exists. And yes, next time we’d hear from GNR it would be Axl and whoever he could find in the yellow pages (again, more on this tomorrow). 

Taking yet another move from the rock n roll playbook, Slash & Axl’s final album together The Spaghetti Incident (1993) was a covers album. And of course, in the esteemed tradition of as Rod Steward, Bob Dylan, Barry Manilow et al, GNR inexplicably covered some 50s doo-wop standards......

With lead guitar taken care of, Axl turned his attention to the four-string, and to his credit did a similarly admirable job finding an identical stand in for Duff Mckagan.

GNR’s original bassist Duff was always the punkiest of the bunch. With his chops from the Seattle punk scene he contributed one of the most melodic bass lines all time on the intro to “Sweet Child o Mine.” Ignore Axl & Slash and focus on the bass from 0:15- 0:45

ANYWAY with Duff out of the picture, Axl needed a new hired gun. And who did he settle on? Tommy Stinson from The Replacements, another bassist with punk sensibilities (told you The ‘Mats would return).     

Can you tell the difference? Be honest…….

After a decade and a half of rumors, leaks, delays, and more delays the rollout strategy for Chinese Democracy was so painfully 2008 that it needs some revisiting.

I’m not sure I could make this story more 2008 if I tried, but here goes. After fifteen years and a cool $13 mil down the drain, Axl inked a deal with Best Buy (yes that Best Buy) as Chinese Democracy’s exclusive retailer. At the same, the soft drink company Dr. Pepper tried to create viral interest in their product by promising a free soda to everyone in the country if the album came out before the end of the year. Uh?

But it gets more 2008: the twenty-first century update on the ancient Slash v Axl feud. In 2007, Slash, was featured as a playable character in Guitar Hero III because of course he was. (Yes, I waited in line to buy that video game at its midnight release.) Moving on. Axl sued, because he objected to the game’s use of “Welcome to the Jungle.” Yet only a year later, in the run-up to Chinese Democracy’s impending release, Axl’s Guns N Roses version 9.0 opted to release the album’s single “Shackler’s Revenge” as a playable song in Rock Band II.

So nearly two decades after the release of GNR’s previous studio album, GNR fans could finally make their way to their local Best Buy, pick up a copy of the new album on CD (remember those!), along with Rock Band II for their Wii (remember those!), and redeem their free Dr. Pepper promotion in the check-out line.

Sometimes, the cosmos just aligns, I suppose.

So, in honor of a true nadir in the history of Guns N Roses lets compare two video game playthrough videos: one for Chinese Democracy lead single “Shackler’s Revenge” and one for the boss battle versus Slash. Enjoy, if you’re into that kind of thing.

For those who have repressed the memories of these traumatic times, I am sorry to bring it up, but unfortunately Guns N Roses week would simply be incomplete without an acknowledgement of Axl Rose’s (according to the New York Times) at least $13 million vanity project (sorry, Axl). But before we get to the music, let’s do a little mise en scène.....

By the turn of the century, not only had every non-Axl original member of GnR come and gone, many of the second-string members had also retired. Let’s skip GnR Act II and head straight to GnR Act III. During this era, Axl stubbornly refused to reach out to classic-era members, instead filling out the roster with near- identical facsimiles.  

Playing the role of Slash will be another one-named shredder. Kudos to GNR’s costume people, who I guess thought if they just put a “hat” and mask on some random dude everyone would think it was Slash. Anyway, introducing Buckethead:

Before you ask, yes his name is Buckethead, yes he always wears a KFC bucket on his head, yes he’s playing a Les Paul, and no I don’t know if he washes the bucket first (but I have my suspicious). Honestly, can you even tell the difference?

So, please enjoy this badass video of Slash playing the Godfather theme song at Rock in Rio in 1991. 

And then enjoy this video of Buckethead doing a weird nunchuck dance thing exactly two decades later during GNR’s 2001 Rock in Rio performance. Or don’t. Whatever floats your boat, y’know?