Warning. Controversial topic. Should Axl retire now/soon? 🤔☢️

[Karice]

5 hours ago, Tom2112 said:

What exactly does a AFD/UYI reunion do to face the actual issue? Axl would still sound less than what people expect.

Only logical thing that can be done is hire a vocal specialist and do the work. And besides that, alter keys to make it less challenging for him. Been said numerous times since his vocals started to decline, and nothing's likely to change.

Yep, Axl needs to focus on making his voice better. On a funny side note, Axl in the Kurt Loader interview said,"I need to protect my voice," and then took smoked a  cigarette.  🤣🥴😵‍💫 Oh yeah smoking cigarettes will do good wonders on protecting your voice, Axl! 🤣🥴😵‍💫 Current Axl seems to be refusing to work with voice coaches to make his voice better, Young Axl smoked cigarettes after saying he needed to protect his voice! What great ways to make his voice BETTER! 🤣🤭😵‍💫🥴

[jamillos]

1 hour ago, Karice said:

Yep, Axl needs to focus on making his voice better. On a funny side note, Axl in the Kurt Loader interview said,"I need to protect my voice," and then took smoked a  cigarette.  🤣🥴😵‍💫 Oh yeah smoking cigarettes will do good wonders on protecting your voice, Axl! 🤣🥴😵‍💫 Current Axl seems to be refusing to work with voice coaches to make his voice better, Young Axl smoked cigarettes after saying he needed to protect his voice! What great ways to make his voice BETTER! 🤣🤭😵‍💫🥴

Young Axl still had a strong voice, so even though cigarettes didn’t do him much good, it was no real issue. He doesn’t smoke any longer anyway; last time we’ve seen him smoking cigars was around 2010 (and those are a different thing anyway, even if he still occasionally enjoys them). 
Axl used a vocal coach in 2016 because of AC/DC, since it was very challenging. However, the current situation is plain wear and tear (combined with age, of course), and no vocal coach can do much about it (and we don’t know whether or not he uses one anyway). Plus, after 40 years of singing, he surely knows how to handle his vocal cords - it’s not like there’s some miraculous technique that he hasn’t discovered and if he would, it would make him sound like in 2006 again. The AC/DC stunt took its toll, and most of what was left has been taken by the following 7 years of unnecessary touring. It should have ended in 2017, he should have taken a break and move the band to a new chapter. Alas, that wasn’t the plan, and half a billion dollars from 2016/17 apparently wasn’t enough. These are the consequences. 

[Karice]

19 hours ago, jamillos said:

Young Axl still had a strong voice, so even though cigarettes didn’t do him much good, it was no real issue. He doesn’t smoke any longer anyway; last time we’ve seen him smoking cigars was around 2010 (and those are a different thing anyway, even if he still occasionally enjoys them). 
Axl used a vocal coach in 2016 because of AC/DC, since it was very challenging. However, the current situation is plain wear and tear (combined with age, of course), and no vocal coach can do much about it (and we don’t know whether or not he uses one anyway). Plus, after 40 years of singing, he surely knows how to handle his vocal cords - it’s not like there’s some miraculous technique that he hasn’t discovered and if he would, it would make him sound like in 2006 again. The AC/DC stunt took its toll, and most of what was left has been taken by the following 7 years of unnecessary touring. It should have ended in 2017, he should have taken a break and move the band to a new chapter. Alas, that wasn’t the plan, and half a billion dollars from 2016/17 apparently wasn’t enough. These are the consequences. 

Speaking about 2006, the roughly 23 "Are," in Welcome To The Jungle live show was one of the best notes Axl has ever sung ! 😀Fan girl emojis incoming! 😍🤩🥰

[Rindmelon]

He has worked with a voice coach. Same guy I think bon jovi has used, I forget his name

[Ratam]

42 minutes ago, Rindmelon said:

He has worked with a voice coach. Same guy I think bon jovi has used, I forget his name

Anderson❓

[Gordon Comstock]

3 minutes ago, Ratam said:

Anderson❓

 

He worked with Ron Anderson many times, but Ron passed in 2021.

Axl posted about working with a vocal coach after the London 2022 shows, I think it was Don Lawrence.

[megaguns1982]

He should spend a year getting his vocals strong then do and AFD world tour with the original 5 farewell tour for 18 months.  Drop a dvd box set at the end of it with live stuff plus old stuff.

possibly drop a new album by the Afd 5 mid way thru the tour to get a bit more interest.

 Then retire forever.

[axlvai]

3 hours ago, megaguns1982 said:

He should spend a year getting his vocals strong then do and AFD world tour with the original 5 farewell tour for 18 months.  Drop a dvd box set at the end of it with live stuff plus old stuff.

possibly drop a new album by the Afd 5 mid way thru the tour to get a bit more interest.

 Then retire forever.

Hey hey hey don fuck with my UYI Retour... 1991 line up ..... make UYI 3 AND 4..... then retire.

[Rindmelon]

56 minutes ago, axlvai said:

Hey hey hey don fuck with my UYI Retour... 1991 line up ..... make UYI 3 AND 4..... then retire.

If they did do another album calling it UYI 3 would be a very cool idea. Same artwork but different colour again, maybe green like the old bootleg cover from back in the day

[Sisyphus]

On 7/30/2024 at 3:34 PM, Tom-Ass said:

It is up to him. He obviously doesn't want to, so he shouldn't.

That said, I wish they would put Guns N' Roses to rest at this point. The reunion was cool for a minute, but it was never as good as it should or could have been. This lineup never really did it for me and it was 10 years too late.  Aside from the 2016/2017 tours the band has kind of been a joke. Axl as a performer is terrible now and I find it hard to believe that anyone can honestly enjoy listening to his voice. He lacks the stage presence and charisma that once made him so great. And he just looks weird.  The 4 songs they released are terrible... They really don't have anything to offer anymore. The shows are ok for nostalgia purposes but continually get more stale as time goes by.

 

I couldn't agree more except for the new music part. I've enjoyed 'new' songs a lot.

So true what you said about stage presence and charisma. And he does look weird. I'm sorry if that makes people angry. I don't fault the guy for getting old and I get that we all change with age but he comes across as an entirely different person to me, almost like an impostor. Whether it's the voice, the moves, the look in his eyes, the way he acts in interviews (small sample but still). But I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

At the end of the day I want him to be happy. He's given me so much and I'll always cherish that.

I'm not going to a GN'R show anytime soon but I will buy any music they put out in a heartbeat.

As far as retirement goes, I think that is entirely up to him. That being said, I haven't enjoyed a performance from Axl in a long time. I find it cringe as fuck. His voice is godawful, it's amazing he gets away with it. It's not just the lack of power or rasp, his mid-range voice just doesn't exist anymore. And I don't think vocal excercises would make much of a difference at this point, the voice we all loved so much is just gone.

There are glimpses of it and I do believe he could improve to a certain degree to at least make it respectable but that colorful, layered, rich, incredible, second to none voice that he used to have no longer exists.

Edited August 1 by Sisyphus

[bumcheecksmcghee]

Yes.

The only answer is yes.

Correct answers are yes only.

The end.

More studio stuff (new and old)

less touring..

Fare thee well Axl

And good day ol chap 🙏😊

[Karice]

3 hours ago, Sisyphus said:

I couldn't agree more except for the new music part. I've enjoyed 'new' songs a lot.

So true what you said about stage presence and charisma. And he does look weird. I'm sorry if that makes people angry. I don't fault the guy for getting old and I get that we all change with age but he comes across as an entirely different person to me, almost like an impostor. Whether it's the voice, the moves, the look in his eyes, the way he acts in interviews (small sample but still). But I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles.

At the end of the day I want him to be happy. He's given me so much and I'll always cherish that.

I'm not going to a GN'R show anytime soon but I will buy any music they put out in a heartbeat.

As far as retirement goes, I think that is entirely up to him. That being said, I haven't enjoyed a performance from Axl in a long time. I find it cringe as fuck. His voice is godawful, it's amazing he gets away with it. It's not just the lack of power or rasp, his mid-range voice just doesn't exist anymore. And I don't think vocal excercises would make much of a difference at this point, the voice we all loved so much is just gone.

There are glimpses of it and I do believe he could improve to a certain degree to at least make it respectable but that colorful, layered, rich, incredible, second to none voice that he used to have no longer exists.

I still see the playful energy of the Young Axl when I look at Older Axl. 😀🤭💡🤔 For instance, in 1988, Axl did a glance to his right that was EXACTLY the same pose he did in say 2022. 😀🤭💡🤔 In my Fictional Axl Rose story, Young Axl from 1987 accidentally time travels to 2022 and automatically assumes that Older Axl will look JUST like him, just a lot Older, and when he first sees Older Axl in a Promo for an upcoming Guns N'Roses Show, (Older Axl was happy in the Promo)

 

Young Axl is SHOCKED by how awful Older Axl looks compared to him. 😳 But Young Axl is like,"I'm glad he's still alive and he's happy." When Young Axl sees Older Axl at his first Guns N'Roses Concert, Young Axl is like,"Older Axl definitely still has my playful energy, he's just a lot  Older." 😀 In real life,once again, the real world Older Axl still has the same playful energy as Young Axl. 😀🤭💡🤔

[Sisyphus]

37 minutes ago, Karice said:

I still see the playful energy of the Young Axl when I look at Older Axl. 😀🤭💡🤔 For instance, in 1988, Axl did a glance to his right that was EXACTLY the same pose he did in say 2022. 😀🤭💡🤔 In my Fictional Axl Rose story, Young Axl from 1987 accidentally time travels to 2022 and automatically assumes that Older Axl will look JUST like him, just a lot Older, and when he first sees Older Axl in a Promo for an upcoming Guns N'Roses Show, (Older Axl was happy in the Promo)

 

Young Axl is SHOCKED by how awful Older Axl looks compared to him. 😳 But Young Axl is like,"I'm glad he's still alive and he's happy." When Young Axl sees Older Axl at his first Guns N'Roses Concert, Young Axl is like,"Older Axl definitely still has my playful energy, he's just a lot  Older." 😀 In real life,once again, the real world Older Axl still has the same playful energy as Young Axl. 😀🤭💡🤔

I see glimpses of his former self as well, don't get me wrong, it's just that blank stare of his, the weird look and the lack of coherence compared to his younger self. He used to strive for greatness, now he's content being substandard. He shouldn't have criticized bands like Kiss and Iron Maiden considering how the story of GN'R has played out. He used to stand for something, now it's all about the $$$.

[Voodoochild]

I truly think Axl should reinvent himself. He tried to do this in the CD era, but that was way too much time and effort for such a minimal output (and returns). 

He shouldn't retire, but he should focus on some different approaches. Maybe a solo career singing more mellow songs with his low-register and without the pressure of having to release anything under the GNR brand.

[Karice]

6 hours ago, Sisyphus said:

I see glimpses of his former self as well, don't get me wrong, it's just that blank stare of his, the weird look and the lack of coherence compared to his younger self. He used to strive for greatness, now he's content being substandard. He shouldn't have criticized bands like Kiss and Iron Maiden considering how the story of GN'R has played out. He used to stand for something, now it's all about the $$$.

A Fan on a Guns N'Roses recent Concert Video said something like,"Oh my God, at 1:36, Axl is staring blankly into space like a 93 elderly man. This would have been understandable if he were a 93 elderly man, but he's only a 62 year old middle aged man!" 

 

I don't get that quote. To me that "Blank stare," looked playful and happy. He looked full of LIFE, 😀 not like he was staring blankly into space. I don't know WHAT that Fan was looking at, it definitely didn't look like a blank stare to me. 🤨

[lunastar]

4 hours ago, Sisyphus said:

Я полностью согласен, за исключением новой музыкальной части. Мне очень понравились «новые» песни.

Так верно то, что вы сказали о сценическом обаянии и харизме. И он действительно выглядит странно. Мне жаль, если это злит людей. Я не виню парня за то, что он стареет, и я понимаю, что мы все меняемся с возрастом, но он кажется мне совершенно другим человеком, почти самозванцем. Будь то голос, движения, взгляд в его глазах, то, как он ведет себя во время интервью (небольшая выборка, но все же). Но я думаю, что так печенье и рассыпается.

В конце концов, я хочу, чтобы он был счастлив. Он дал мне так много, и я всегда буду это ценить.

В ближайшее время я не пойду на концерт GN'R, но я без раздумий куплю любую их музыку.

Что касается ухода на пенсию, я думаю, это полностью его дело. При этом я давно не получал удовольствия от выступлений Эксла. Я нахожу это чертовски неприятным. Его голос ужасен, удивительно, что ему это сходит с рук. Дело не только в отсутствии силы или хрипа, его среднечастотный голос просто исчез. И я не думаю, что вокальные упражнения что-то изменят в этот момент, голос, который мы все так любили, просто исчез.

Есть проблески этого, и я верю, что он мог бы улучшить его до определенной степени, чтобы сделать его хотя бы респектабельным, но того красочного, многослойного, богатого, невероятного, непревзойденного голоса, который у него был раньше, больше не существует.

I would like to sharpen the topic of the impostor, as it is well noticed. According to Axl, Axl was a project that reflected his personality, how he thinks, speaks, and lives, and Izzy suggested to his friend Bill to take the name of the project as a name. I have a feeling that Axl Rose is rejecting this artistic personality of his, because there is no longer a creative atmosphere around him. At least the Brazilian family can't give him that. Izzy is not around, and Slash and Duff will never be able to cope with this task. And it's not about old age, It looks like the project  AXL has outlived itself and Bill Bailey is coming back again.

[Karice]

4 hours ago, lunastar said:

I would like to sharpen the topic of the impostor, as it is well noticed. According to Axl, Axl was a project that reflected his personality, how he thinks, speaks, and lives, and Izzy suggested to his friend Bill to take the name of the project as a name. I have a feeling that Axl Rose is rejecting this artistic personality of his, because there is no longer a creative atmosphere around him. At least the Brazilian family can't give him that. Izzy is not around, and Slash and Duff will never be able to cope with this task. And it's not about old age, It looks like the project  AXL has outlived itself and Bill Bailey is coming back again.

I remember a Guns N'Roses HATER criticizing Slash and Axl and saying something like,"William and Saul are both jerks. William and Saul deserve each other," and it gave me a weird feeling to see that Hater not only insult SLASH and AXL, but use their REAL names, not their legally changed name(Axl) and stage name (Slash) 😵‍💫

[Karice]

About Axl's current voice sounding bad often, is it possible that Axl's ear monitor isn't working properly when he sounds bad? 🤔 Ashlee Simpson sounded awful at the Rose Bowl Halftime in the early 2000's. Ashlee said her ear monitor wasn't working properly when she was performing, so she couldn't actually hear how awful she sounded and thought she sounded great but when she watched the rerun later at home without the ear monitor, she was SHOCKED at how AWFUL she sounded. So maybe Axl THINKS he sounds great when he sounds AWFUL due to the ear monitor not working properly? 🤔

 

And I also have a theory that Axl is surrounded by a bunch of yes me, Axl ass kissers, and Axl pleasers who will tell him,"You sounded GREAT Axl, you sounded PHENOMENAL, you sounded REALLY AWESOME!" When they TRULY think he sounded AWFUL but don't want to tell him that to his face because they don't want to make him upset. 🤔💡

[highvoltage]

Yes.

[axlslash]

1 minute ago, highvoltage said:

Yes.

Counterpoint: No. :p

 

[Tom2112]

On 8/1/2024 at 3:11 PM, Karice said:

About Axl's current voice sounding bad often, is it possible that Axl's ear monitor isn't working properly when he sounds bad? 🤔 Ashlee Simpson sounded awful at the Rose Bowl Halftime in the early 2000's. Ashlee said her ear monitor wasn't working properly when she was performing, so she couldn't actually hear how awful she sounded and thought she sounded great but when she watched the rerun later at home without the ear monitor, she was SHOCKED at how AWFUL she sounded. So maybe Axl THINKS he sounds great when he sounds AWFUL due to the ear monitor not working properly? 🤔

 

And I also have a theory that Axl is surrounded by a bunch of yes me, Axl ass kissers, and Axl pleasers who will tell him,"You sounded GREAT Axl, you sounded PHENOMENAL, you sounded REALLY AWESOME!" When they TRULY think he sounded AWFUL but don't want to tell him that to his face because they don't want to make him upset. 🤔💡

No. If his in ears aren't working then he throws a fit. He has a custom mix to his exact taste, it's not the in ear system. 

And I would confidently guess that he is surrounded by yes men/women. 

[Karice]

1 hour ago, Tom2112 said:

No. If his in ears aren't working then he throws a fit. He has a custom mix to his exact taste, it's not the in ear system. 

And I would confidently guess that he is surrounded by yes men/women. 

Hmm. Now that you mention it, there have been videos of Axl getting PISSED when his ear monitor isn't working. 🤔💡

 

About the yes men/women, I wonder if Axl KNOWS he sounded AWFUL and his yes men /women  are like,"You sounded GREAT, AWESOME, PHENOMENAL, and he responds something like,"Please don't patronize me. Just tell the truth . I know I sounded AWFUL." And his yes men/women are like," Well, it wasn't the best singing you did today, but we didn't want to make you upset." And he says something like," You don't have to kiss my ass and suck up to me. You can be honest with me," and they agree to be HONEST with him, not praise him when they know he sounded AWFUL. 🤔💡

Edited August 2 by Karice

[Seb91]

Voted for him focusing on making his voice better. I mean, by that I mean looking at things like detuning the songs, shorter sets, an acoustic section, that kind of thing. I think Robert Plant's been a model of how to maintain that sort of vocal style as he's gotten older. I mean, I'm not saying Axl should go the roots music route but I've seen Plant's current band (Saving Grace) several times and he can still do his signature wails but there are some more mellow songs and parts of the set where other people sing lead. During the shows he plays bass on one song. 

I think it's perfectly possible for Guns to keep going but evidently the three hour extravaganzas and trying to sing songs the same way as he's always done isn't working as well as it used to. That being said, I'd take Axl's current form over a lot of other singers and he's one heck of a performer and he feels every word he's singing. Which, considering how many times he's sang those songs is impressive!   

[WhazUp]

I don't think any musician should retire if they don't feel ready to, on behalf of anyone, however I do think Axl should definitely take a look at his vocal strengths nowadays and cater to those.  There was that one gig where he, due to illness a couple years back had to sing mostly in his lower register and it actually sounded pretty good and I think going to something like that wouldn't be bad for him at all

[Free Bird]

Axl should find a way to get his voice back or change his style of singing so that he sounds awesome again on stage. If he manages that, he should fronting Slash‘s Blues Ball, getting his lazy m*therf*cking ass into the studio and do a whole record of own songs with those guys. I‘m 100% serious.