Re: XX. Notes

by **Soulmonster** Tue Jan 15, 2019 3:29 pm

Blackstar wrote:
Soulmonster wrote:Kent would also write that Axl had insisted on the 'Use Your Illusion' albums being so long, had insisted that Skid Row should open on their tour (despite band members despising them), calling for the resignation of Alan Niven, and what music would be played over the PA before the shows [VOX, October 1991].

https://www.a-4-d.com/t2847p120-the-history-of-guns-n-roses-in-their-own-words#13506

I'd guess that it was Izzy who didn't like Bach, as Slash and Duff were partying with him, then he played on Duff's solo album etc. Same probably goes for the records being long, as Slash said many times that he was into the idea of "cleaning the closet" and release everything they had at once.

You are really paying attention to my work, thanks! You make good points, I will revise and include.

by **Blackstar** Tue Jan 15, 2019 3:51 pm

Soulmonster wrote:
Blackstar wrote:Kent interviewed Izzy for the Vox backstage at the Shoreline Amphitheatre (July 19), right? Izzy says "about one and a half year ago" so it could have been December 1989.

Yes, you are right. But for some reason I thought he cleaned up months after the gigs with the Stones. Which again would indicate that it happened after Christmas.

I don't remember the article where I read it, but the words "clean" and "sober" were relative in GnR when used in public. They basically meant clean from heroin (i.e. not being a heroin addict anymore) not from substances in general - and maybe even not from occasional use of heroin.

by **Blackstar** Wed Jan 16, 2019 11:59 am

Soulmonster wrote:
Blackstar wrote:
Soulmonster wrote:Kent would also write that Axl had insisted on the 'Use Your Illusion' albums being so long, had insisted that Skid Row should open on their tour (despite band members despising them), calling for the resignation of Alan Niven, and what music would be played over the PA before the shows [VOX, October 1991].
https://www.a-4-d.com/t2847p120-the-history-of-guns-n-roses-in-their-own-words#13506

I'd guess that it was Izzy who didn't like Bach, as Slash and Duff were partying with him, then he played on Duff's solo album etc. Same probably goes for the records being long, as Slash said many times that he was into the idea of "cleaning the closet" and release everything they had at once.

You are really paying attention to my work, thanks! You make good points, I will revise and include.

Slash quotes about releasing all the material they had:

Rolling Stone, January 1991:

"Well, this is like cleaning out the closet. There’s a ton of material we want to get out, and the problem is, how does one release all of it? You don’t make some kid go out and buy a record for seventy dollars if it’s your second record. We’re trying to think of a way to distribute the material where each of the four discs of material can be separated, so you can buy the whole thing or you can buy just one. But since it’s not released yet, nothing is etched in stone. It might change, and I don’t want to mislead anybody. I know the thing that it’s not going to be is one big boxed set, where you have to buy the entire thing or nothing. I can tell you that much."

Melody Maker, August 1991:

"Everything has been really f***ing hush hush and no one knows what the f*** we're doing," explains Slash "The album is pretty extensive. There's 26 songs and we've gone into everything - we covered the whole band's career. It stretches back to even before the band was formed, songs that were sort of... let's say ideas. So we've just cleaned the date, y'know?

[...]

"[...] we've gone through a lot of shit since we got successful but we managed to stay together and we wrote a lot of material and it's very emotional, it's very heartfelt, it's all f***ing dead-on real, d'you know what I mean? It's experiences and so on. So... I dunno, we just had all this material that covered all this crap that we went through and we wanted to release it. Y'know, just f*** the standards, y'know, all that. And the only reason it's a double record and it's separated is because there's a lotta Guns fans and they're loyal because there's a certain wavelength that we're on and the public that we play for understand it because a lot of people go through this shit, okay?

"I mean, everything isn't peaches and cream, everybody has a hard time and life is difficult and, y'know, you work through it and so what we do as a band is write and play and people seem to relate to it. Okay, so there's no way you're gonna put out a $30 f***ing record. C'mon, y'know! But we did wanna release it, so we separated 'em. There's two records. You can buy one. If you get off on it then you can try the other one."

Slash's autobiography:

BACK AT THE STUDIO, WE HAD THIRTY- six songs, which was more than enough to fill a double album. I wanted to choose the twelve best of the thirty-six and hone them down to perfection, but I let it go because as long as were moving forward, I was happy. Axl wanted to record all thirty-six and go the double-album route. He didn’t want to sit on these tunes. I understood that: many of them were old by this point—they’d been held over from our last album, and some were even older. Also, there was a whole bunch of new songs that represented where we were at that moment in time. It might be retrospect talking, but the general consensus was that we were cleaning the slate, getting out everything we had. As a whole, these songs were representative of something important: the band’s past and present. It had been such an incredible journey and the only way to express it was all in this body of material.

by **Blackstar** Wed Jan 16, 2019 2:37 pm

From Slash's autobiography about touring with Skid Row:

While the records were packaged for release, we went on to do the other shows with Skid Row opening—you can imagine the degree of debauchery Matt, Duff, Sebastian Bach, and I got into. Sebastian was totally enthusiastic and totally green; we’d done it all before but we did it all again with Sebastian. That leg of the tour through the States to Europe was debauched and sick and took hedonism to a new level. It was way too much fun because Skid Row was blowing up at that point and was as young and hungry as we’d been with Mötley.

Sebastian Back mentions in his autobiography an encounter with one of Izzy's brothers at the first Alpine Valley show:

I had an eight ball of potent, high-powered cocaine that night. When we were done with our set, I dug in and the party was on. Duff McKagan invited me to sit under the stage next to his bass rig and watch the show from there. I crouched under the awning, and was actually sitting cross-legged, so the crowd wouldn’t see me. I chopped up lines of coke, on a handheld mirror, as Duff would run over between songs to take snorts of blow off the mirror.

The crowd went wild.

I was guzzling Jack Daniel’s. Duff was hammering Vodka and Cranberrys the whole show, while snorting blow at the same time. It was already becoming a crazy evening and we hadn’t even got backstage yet.

All of a sudden some guy I don’t know staggers up to me. He’s obviously drunk, like everyone else. He crouches down, to my level, and leans into my face.

“Hey! Sebastian Bach!! Is that you?” the man slurs.

I go, “Yeah. What’s happening??”

“Because you’re a fucking faggot. You’re a pretty-boy faggot!!!! You know that, right? Fag boy?”

And with that, as he uttered the words, spitting into my face at the same time, I stood up, cocked back my arm, and punched this motherfucker right in the face. As hard as I could.

I always chuckle when people think that they can come up to me and talk to me in this way. Maybe because I was sitting down, he didn’t realize that I am in fact six foot four, as well as way drunker and higher than he was anyway. I had no idea who he was. He went flying, from the backstage area, straight onto the side of the stage. He was lying on his back as the security guard John Reese picked him up and took him out of harm’s way. Out of my way.

I sat back down and chopped out some more lines.

Near the end of the show, the same security guards that hauled off this drunken dude picked me up, by the scruff of my neck. From the side of the stage, they took me off to a remote backstage room. One guard on each of my arms. I was saying, “What the fuck??” the whole time.

“What’s going on?”

I could not understand why I was in trouble. After all, if some guy called me a pretty-boy faggot, it was my sworn rock ’n’ roll duty to punch him in the nose. I should be receiving a round of applause, not being reprimanded. For this? There was just one problem. This guy wasn’t just some dude.

The guy that I had punched, in the face, turned out to be Izzy Stradlin’s brother.

Izzy Stradlin.

I had punched out the guitar player for Guns N’ Roses’ brother, on the first night of our tour opening for Guns N’ Roses.

Not a good way to start the tour. Not exactly a wonderful way for an opening act to ingratiate themselves to the headliner.

I was in some seriously deep shit. Here I was, again, being held up to the wall by security guards. Much as I was on the Bon Jovi tour. Only that was at the end of the tour. This was the first night.

Izzy Stradlin entered the room. He was not happy. Followed by GNR manager Doug Goldstein, he addressed me as my arms were pinned to the wall. He had dark black shades on. It was about 1: 00 in the morning.

“Sebastian. Why did you do that?”

“I didn’t know it was your brother, dude. He called me a pretty-boy faggot. He was drunk off his ass.” Then, unexpectedly, he shrugged and said, “I know.”

Izzy didn’t really say much more after that. Doug Goldstein did the talking.

“Well, we really don’t know what to do with you, Sebastian. You’re a loose cannon. We can’t have any more incidents like this, obviously.”

Izzy kind of shuffled around the room. He looked like he had been through stuff like this before. He left.

“No more of this kind of shit, okay?” And then everybody split. I went back to my dressing room and chopped out some more lines. The tour had just begun.

Source: Sebastian Bach, 18 and Life on Skid Row, Harper Collins, 2016.

by **Blackstar** Thu Jan 17, 2019 8:57 pm

Axl talking about sponsorship onstage in Toronto, June 7, 1991:

I wanna talk to you for a minute because I wanna get your opinion on something. And I’m real serious. You know, being a band in our position, you wander about cuz you’re interested in making some more money. And the offers get made and you go, well, you know, I drink the beer. So there’s all this talk of sponsorship. And I was pretty much undecided either way, since I drink Budweiser and I smoke Marlboro, then I couldn’t care less if they want to slap the sticker on you. Until today. I don’t have anything against the companies that sponsor and manage us here, except I’ve got a tattoo on this shoulder. It’s a tattoo of a Thin Lizzy album cover, you know? And since both my father and my stepfather were assholes, Phil Lynott kinda like took the place of dad for me when I was a kid. And I’m watching TV today and I see this Molson commercial with The Boys Are Back In Town on it. I mean, I heard the bassline and shit and I was like, what the fuck is this? And I’ve never been more pissed off and hurt in my life, you know, at least not in a long fucking time that I can think of. Because, I mean, whoever sold that to them, I hope they’re a big motherfucker, cuz if I find them anywhere, I’ll crack their skull. I mean, Phil’s gone. What do you think about our sponsorship? If you’re into it and hey yes, you know, yell “yes”, really loud. If you think it’s, like, selling out, let me hear you yelling “no”. [The crowd is rather yelling “yes”] Let’s put it down right in a ballot box (laughs).

by **Soulmonster** Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:38 am

I regret not starting writing full dates on references. I have started doing it now, though.

by **Blackstar** Sat Feb 09, 2019 9:52 pm

Soulmonster wrote:1989-1992 - COLLABORATIONS AND SIDE-BANDS
[...]
Axl also added vocals to Steve Jones' 'I Did You No Wrong' in 1989 [source?].

https://www.a-4-d.com/t2847p90-the-history-of-guns-n-roses-in-their-own-words#12517

A couple of interviews with Steve Jones from 1989 where he talks about the collaboration:
https://tinyurl.com/y4ms4fow

Also an interview with Michael Monroe where he mentions how Axl ended up appearing in his video for the song "Dead, Jail or Rock 'n' Roll."
https://tinyurl.com/y66mntxb

by **Soulmonster** Sun Feb 10, 2019 7:32 am

Thanks!

by **Soulmonster** Wed Mar 06, 2019 6:25 pm

Completed adding the text to this: https://www.a-4-d.com/t3776-1991-08-10-melody-maker-rising-from-the-ruins-slash#13902

by **Soulmonster** Sun Mar 10, 2019 8:30 am

Is there a new interview in here (I haven't seen it yet): http://www.mygnrforum.com/topic/222122-the-historic-marquee-shows-new-slashduff-interview-from-87/

by **Blackstar** Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:28 am

There is a 40 sec clip in the beginning with Slash and Duff talking about being in England two months before. I haven't found a longer video so far.

by **Blackstar** Sun Mar 10, 2019 10:57 am

Blackstar wrote:There is a 40 sec clip in the beginning with Slash and Duff talking about being in England two months before. I haven't found a longer video so far.

It's from Musique Plus (Canada). I found a 2.5 minutes video with a segment of it.

by **Soulmonster** Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:06 am

Blackstar wrote:
Blackstar wrote:There is a 40 sec clip in the beginning with Slash and Duff talking about being in England two months before. I haven't found a longer video so far.

It's from Musique Plus (Canada). I found a 2.5 minutes video with a segment of it.

Great. Will you include it?

by **Blackstar** Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:39 am

Done.

by **Soulmonster** Sun Mar 10, 2019 11:44 am

by **Blackstar** Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:04 pm

There's another Conspiracy Inc. newsletter from 1990 that hasn't been included in the index:
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3771-1990-05-dd-conspiracy-incorporated-fan-club-newsletter

by **Soulmonster** Sun Mar 10, 2019 12:32 pm

Ooops!

by **Soulmonster** Fri Mar 15, 2019 5:39 pm

Just finished transcribing this: http://tinyurl.com/yaul8e9v

by **Soulmonster** Sun Mar 17, 2019 12:57 pm

Just finished transcribing this: http://tinyurl.com/y5h62kal

by **Soulmonster** Sun Apr 28, 2019 1:09 pm

Stumbled upon this little conundrum:

The first single off 'Appetite' was 'It's So Easy/Mr. Brownstone' and it was released in the UK already in June 15, 1987, well before the release of the record. This was to coincide with the band playing at the Marquee in London. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article from August 1987 [The San Francisco Chronicle, August 30, 1987], the single was accompanied with a music video that cost $85,000, and was banned from MTV for "being too racy and violent." This is confusing since the band would make a video for 'It's So Easy' in October 1989, which would be banned due to sexual content. It could be that the Chronicle is talking about the music video for 'Welcome to the Jungle' which contained violent clips, but this video wouldn't be released until the next month, September 1987. So perhaps the band made an early music video for 'It's So Easy' which would later be edited with live clips from 1989? Or perhaps the music video for 'Jungle' was released prior to the single release?

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:09 pm

Soulmonster wrote:Stumbled upon this little conundrum:

The first single off 'Appetite' was 'It's So Easy/Mr. Brownstone' and it was released in the UK already in June 15, 1987, well before the release of the record. This was to coincide with the band playing at the Marquee in London. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article from August 1987 [The San Francisco Chronicle, August 30, 1987], the single was accompanied with a music video that cost $85,000, and was banned from MTV for "being too racy and violent." This is confusing since the band would make a video for 'It's So Easy' in October 1989, which would be banned due to sexual content. It could be that the Chronicle is talking about the music video for 'Welcome to the Jungle' which contained violent clips, but this video wouldn't be released until the next month, September 1987. So perhaps the band made an early music video for 'It's So Easy' which would later be edited with live clips from 1989? Or perhaps the music video for 'Jungle' was released prior to the single release?

I noticed this too. I'm inclined to think that it's a mistake and the San Francisco Examiner is talking about the Welcome to the Jungle video. It's quite possible that the video was released before the single, because, if I'm not mistaken, it was filmed in June before the band went to England for the Marquee shows. There's also the quote from MTV Headbangers Ball October 1987 where Axl says that they had to cut a lot of footage out. I've also found a short article from 1988 with a Slash quote saying that they had to edit the video and cut out some violent scenes so that it could be played on MTV.

by **Soulmonster** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:14 pm

Blackstar wrote:
Soulmonster wrote:Stumbled upon this little conundrum:

The first single off 'Appetite' was 'It's So Easy/Mr. Brownstone' and it was released in the UK already in June 15, 1987, well before the release of the record. This was to coincide with the band playing at the Marquee in London. According to a San Francisco Chronicle article from August 1987 [The San Francisco Chronicle, August 30, 1987], the single was accompanied with a music video that cost $85,000, and was banned from MTV for "being too racy and violent." This is confusing since the band would make a video for 'It's So Easy' in October 1989, which would be banned due to sexual content. It could be that the Chronicle is talking about the music video for 'Welcome to the Jungle' which contained violent clips, but this video wouldn't be released until the next month, September 1987. So perhaps the band made an early music video for 'It's So Easy' which would later be edited with live clips from 1989? Or perhaps the music video for 'Jungle' was released prior to the single release?

I noticed this too. I'm inclined to think that it's a mistake and the San Francisco Examiner is talking about the Welcome to the Jungle video. It's quite possible that the video was released before the single, because, if I'm not mistaken, it was filmed in June before the band went to England for the Marquee shows. I've also found a short article from 1988 with a Slash quote saying that they had to edit the video and cut some violent scenes so that it could be played on MTV.

Axl: "There's a few changes been made to this video. We bought actual news footage that had been shown on television from NBC and CBS and ABC, but we had to cut a lot of that out" [MTV Headbanger's Ball, October 24, 1987].

Yes, you are probably right. If so, did they cut out some sexual content, too? Because the article says the video was both violent and racy.

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:22 pm

Soulmonster wrote:
Yes, you are probably right. If so, did they cut out some sexual content, too? Because the article says the video was both violent and racy.

In the 1988 quote I mentioned (I haven't been able to find the interview it was from), Slash says they had to cut out sex scenes too.

by **Soulmonster** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:24 pm

Blackstar wrote:
Soulmonster wrote:
Yes, you are probably right. If so, did they cut out some sexual content, too? Because the article says the video was both violent and racy.

In the 1988 quote I mentioned (I haven't been able to find the interview it was from), Slash says they had to cut out sex scenes too.

That's interesting. Also highly interesting that there is an interview from 1988 with Slash talking about editing the Welcome video and that I haven't included it in the history section yet!

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:31 pm

Soulmonster wrote:
That's interesting. Also highly interesting that there is an interview from 1988 with Slash talking about editing the Welcome video and that I haven't included it in the history section yet!

I haven't added it yet. Smile

I'll do it in a little while. I wanted to dig into the newspapers collection a little more in case I found the bigger article that contained the quote, but I haven't found it. Maybe it was from a magazine or video interview that we're missing.
I decided to do the searching around the 1987 and 1988 show dates now, and I've found some previews and reviews. I also have some ads for the early club shows. I'm thinking of starting to update those show threads, so that any information about those shows can be added to the History section. What do you think?

by **Soulmonster** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:36 pm

Blackstar wrote:
Soulmonster wrote:
That's interesting. Also highly interesting that there is an interview from 1988 with Slash talking about editing the Welcome video and that I haven't included it in the history section yet!

I haven't added it yet. I'll do it in a little while. I wanted to dig into the newspapers collection a little more in case I found the bigger article that contained the quote, but I haven't found it. Maybe it was from a magazine or video interview that we're missing.
I decided to do the searching around the 1987 and 1988 show dates now, and I've found some previews and reviews. I also have some ads for the early club shows. I'm thinking of starting to update those show threads, so that any information about those shows can be added to the History section. What do you think?

Ah

I did the same thing a few years ago but I could only use free newspapers archives and it was limited what I could find. It is actually a bit exciting to know that there are dozens (maybe hundreds) of interviews and articles out there waiting to be discovered. And as more and more old papers are digitized and made available, we can find them.

I think that is a great idea, and I have been updating them too whenever I find something relevant.

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 2:44 pm

Okay

About the updating of the History section with what has been uploaded so far and dating prior to September 1992:

There's also this:
/t3474-1992-mm-dd-much-music-in-the-ring-with-guns-n-roses-slash-duff-gilby-dizzy
I found that it was aired on August 9 1992, so I am about to update the date in the title (I have transcribed it).

I had also added a compilation of quotes by members of Nirvana from 1991:
https://www.a-4-d.com/t3795-1991-mm-dd-excerpts-from-various-interviews-with-members-of-nirvana

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 4:11 pm

I have found this ad in L.A. Times, March 23, 1986 for a benefit show at Music Machine on the same night (March 23):

Do we know anything about it?

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 5:01 pm

I also found this in the San Francisco Examiner, Friday Aug. 22 1986. So the date of the show was Thursday, August 28, 1986:

I see here that Marc Canter confirmed that show happened (Slash mentions it in his book), but didn't remember the exact day:
http://www.mygnrforum.com/topic/197666-1986-club-dates/?do=findComment&comment=3402815

by **Blackstar** Sun Apr 28, 2019 5:10 pm

Oops, sorry. I just realized that the Stone show already exists in the database. It just didn't appear as next show after the Aug. 24 show.

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