Use Your Illusion 1 & 2

PJStatTracker

How fucking great are these albums??? Been awhile since I've listened to them all the way through.

I was only in 8th grade when these came out, so I couldn't truly appreciate what they did by dropping such a bomb on the music world. Loads of variety on two full albums with almost no filler with many epic songs which are now classics.

Say what you will about Axl, but it's pretty cool that other band members sing, etc. Oh and Shannon Hoon. Really a collaborative effort...shame about everything after!

PJStatTracker

Meant for the other music forum...please move! Sorry folks!

cp3iverson

Def great songs on there. Especially Estranged. Im glad they were able to make 3 great albums before Slash and Axl's egos got the best of them.
Love that Shannon Hoon is on there too

danny

awesome

F Me In The Brain

Was in high school when they came out (Junior or Senior) and loved the shit out of them. Knew every word then and still do now -- busted out #1 a few months back and was shocked and how I still knew every twist and turn throughout. Some songs I dont like as much now but there is no way I will ever look past these albums as they are not only kick ass, imo, but so steeped in nostalgia for me.

Kearn5y

Guns N Roses were my favourite band for years after the Illusion albums. Still love them, even in their current form. Got tired waiting for years for a proper follow up to those albums and a tour, I switched my attention to Pearl Jam.

hrd2imgn

If they had made them into one album it would have sold 20 million copies. Slash has some of the best solos ,too bad he sucked live that tour, same with Axel. Total shit live at alpine to open the tour. Late, sloppy. Thank goodness Skid Row opened as they were awesome live

PJStatTracker

GN'R was my first concert ever in '93...fucking loved it. Then I saw PJ later that year and it was pretty soon like Guns N' Who?

But still...those albums have actually aged well, which I can't say the same for a lot of the 90s stuff (lookin' at you DMB)

RoleModelsinBlood31

I think I'll pick em up on vinyl- I've been eyeing them for a while. I was in middle school too eighth grade I think. Man the music those days was totally fucking killer. Every album was topping the one before it and the bands were intensely recording and making new shit. Somehow it doesn't feel that way to me anymore.

BLACK35

cp3iverson said:

Def great songs on there. Especially Estranged. Im glad they were able to make 3 great albums before Slash and Axl's egos got the best of them.
Love that Shannon Hoon is on there too

Estranged is my favorite of the 2 albums, great song

lowbudgetlush

hrd2imgn said:

If they had made them into one album it would have sold 20 million copies. Slash has some of the best solos ,too bad he sucked live that tour, same with Axel. Total shit live at alpine to open the tour. Late, sloppy. Thank goodness Skid Row opened as they were awesome live

People always say that if they were cut to one album it would have been better. I like them just the way they are. The only songs I can honestly say that could be cut would be Back off Bitch & My world. I love everything else.

Last-12-Exit

Until PJ came around, GnR were my favorite. Appetite and Use your Illusion are still in my top 10 favorite albums. GnR could have been the biggest band of all time had Axel not been so damn selfish.

PJ_Soul

I love both of these albums. Actually, they're my favorite from GnR. I've caught some flack for that opinion, lol. Apparently I'm supposed to like their earlier albums more. :P

F Me In The Brain

Coma was my favorite song as an angry 17 year old. I remember writing all of the lyrics down and it taking 2 pages.

coco butter

I know a lot of people think it's corny but November Rain is a masterpiece! You Could Be Mine also rocks!

JimmyV

For years Estranged was my favorite song. Great lyrics, killer guitar.

If you get the chance to see Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators DO IT! Just an awesome show overall with a good dose of classic GN'R sprinkled in. Kennedy does a better job on the vocals for those songs than Axl has done in years.

cp3iverson

I dont think I could see myself giving Axl or Slash any money these days. Maybe if they reunite. Duff rejoined GNR this year for a tour. Maybe we're getting closer to some kind of appearance one day.

PJStatTracker

JimmyV said:

For years Estranged was my favorite song. Great lyrics, killer guitar.

If you get the chance to see Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators DO IT! Just an awesome show overall with a good dose of classic GN'R sprinkled in. Kennedy does a better job on the vocals for those songs than Axl has done in years.

Yeah, I've seen the new incarnation a couple of times and Axl just doesn't have it anymore. They were never a good live band to begin with, but now he really can't sing those songs well. It's borderline embarrassing.

PJStatTracker

lowbudgetlush said:

People always say that if they were cut to one album it would have been better. I like them just the way they are. The only songs I can honestly say that could be cut would be Back off Bitch & My world. I love everything else.

No fucking way it should be one album. I would probably take off two or three songs on each, but that's it. My World, of course...that may be the only one I'd take off of 2. I like Back Off Bitch fine - but would probably remove both Garden songs off of 1.

People give Nirvana credit (and rightly so) for killing glam rock and ushering in a new era of rock. But I also think these two albums basically left glam rock with nowhere else to go anyway. To me they are the absolute peak of that era.

aspoonfulweighsaton

All-time classics IMO. I remember the day they came out like it was yesterday (September 17th, 1991). I always preferred II song for song, but the last three songs on I were an epic way to close out an album. Put me in the "Estranged is the best song" camp as well. They were my second concert ever on April 15th, 1993. They came out late as usual and I thought there was going to be a riot, but it was an amazing show regardless.

jason_94

Cool thread! I'll try & tag on to all the posts a little.

These 2 albums were definitely some of my favorites back then. I was starting my junior year of high school when they came out. I had been a fan since Appetite & seeing the show from the Ritz on MTV.

Same as someone else said earlier, I saw them on that tour with Skid Row. Mine was at the old Richfield Colesium just outside of Cleveland. That was my 3rd concert ever (1st-Aerosmith Pump tour, 2nd- Iron Maiden No Prayer tour) and my ears rang for about 5 days after that.

The thing that kind of sucked at the time was that the albums weren't released until a week or 2 after our show.

It's kind of funny to hear a lot of people say that Estranged is their favorite song. That was always my favorite & I always felt & was made to feel that I was the only one that liked it back then. I also remember really liking Coma a lot too.

I haven't listened to those albums in while & might give them a spin here in the near future.

Oh, I did see them again on the tour with Metallica in Pittsburgh and I remember thinking they sounded much better than the first time I saw them. Especially Nobember Rain and a few others.

I caught part of that new concert they just released that was on cable recently. As someone mentioned before, it wasn't very good & kind of embarrassing.

Last-12-Exit

Civil war is my favorite GNR song.

badbrains

Last-12-Exit said:

Until PJ came around, GnR were my favorite. Appetite and Use your Illusion are still in my top 10 favorite albums. GnR could have been the biggest band of all time had Axel not been so damn selfish.

Hahahaha me too!

badbrains

JimmyV said:

For years Estranged was my favorite song. Great lyrics, killer guitar.

If you get the chance to see Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators DO IT! Just an awesome show overall with a good dose of classic GN'R sprinkled in. Kennedy does a better job on the vocals for those songs than Axl has done in years.

Best part of the song:

When I find out all the reasons
Maybe I'll find another way
Find another day
With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Any more, and what for

Well I jumped into the river
Too many times to make it home
I'm out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn't show give it time
To read between the lines
'Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything We've ever known's here
Why must it drift away and die

I'll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I'll have to make it thru, this time- Oh this time
Without you

cp3iverson

Axl is a PJ fan so maybe thats why this thread has hung around here today LOL

JimmyV

badbrains said:

JimmyV said:

For years Estranged was my favorite song. Great lyrics, killer guitar.

If you get the chance to see Slash with Myles Kennedy and The Conspirators DO IT! Just an awesome show overall with a good dose of classic GN'R sprinkled in. Kennedy does a better job on the vocals for those songs than Axl has done in years.

Best part of the song:

When I find out all the reasons
Maybe I'll find another way
Find another day
With all the changing seasons of my life
Maybe I'll get it right next time
An now that you've been broken down
Got your head out of the clouds
You're back down on the ground
And you don't talk so loud
An you don't walk so proud
Any more, and what for

Well I jumped into the river
Too many times to make it home
I'm out here on my own, an drifting all alone
If it doesn't show give it time
To read between the lines
'Cause I see the storm getting closer
And the waves they get so high
Seems everything We've ever known's here
Why must it drift away and die

I'll never find anyone to replace you
Guess I'll have to make it thru, this time- Oh this time
Without you

So true! Soooo many nights I listened to that on repeat.

JimmyV

Does anybody else get super happy about the McCready/McKagan bromance? Two of the most important bands to the soundtrack of my life coming together...so very cool.

badbrains

JimmyV said:

Does anybody else get super happy about the McCready/McKagan bromance? Two of the most important bands to the soundtrack of my life coming together...so very cool.

Yes/yes repeat over and over on the song. That part is unreal. It hits home, so emotional. And you know what, duff prob got Mikee to write sirens cuz sirens is pearl jams "November rain" maybe, know what I mean? Sort of like an 80's early 90's rock ballad. Got that solo too. I think jimmy knows what I'm talking about.

bootlegger10

November Rain is a masterpiece. Sirens can't touch it.

PJStatTracker

cp3iverson said:

Axl is a PJ fan so maybe thats why this thread has hung around here today LOL

Hahaha maybe...again, sorry about putting this in the porch!

mr_perfect

being a fan from appetite/lies, i thought axl made a brilliant move putting back off bitch on the album with november rain. that song really blew up big on mtv/radio and all the teeny bopper girls were only picking up illusions 1 for it....