Archives for June 2016

Certain Songs #571: Guns N’ Roses – “Breakdown”

June 20, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Use Your Illusion II
Year: 1991

Out of all of the ridiculous epics that either graced (or ruined, depending on your opinion) the Illusion twins, the piano-driven “Breakdown” is easily my favorite.

For one thing, it’s got one of most sublime musical passages in all of their music. It’s about 1:20 in, and Axl has already sung the first verse, Izzy & Slash have slammed in with some power chords, and the whole song comes to a near halt for a second, before a gorgeous jumble of drums, pianos and guitars weave in and out of each other for just a couple of measures until a Matt Sorum snare slam kicks the song into gear.

Certain Songs #570: Guns N’ Roses – “Get in The Ring”

June 19, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Use Your Illusion II
Year: 1991

Back in 1977, The Clash were offended that CBS released “Remote Control” as a single and responded with “Complete Control,” one of the greatest lyrics ever written about the need for artistic freedom, combined one of the most ferocious performances ever put to vinyl.

Both the music and lyrics perfectly complemented each other, and the combination resulted in a song that is an undisputed classic, full stop.

Certain Songs #569: Guns N’ Roses – “Civil War”

June 18, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Use Your Illusion II
Year: 1991

One of the fun parts of doing something like Certain Songs is that I get to finally explain some of my long-held but hardly-expressed theories. Which I have a lot of!!

And here comes one of the most indefensible: not only is Use Your Illusion II the greatest Guns N’ Roses album, it’s the greatest metal album ever made by Americans.

You’ll, of course, note that “Americans” qualifier. Because Led Zeppelin. And maybe even Black Sabbath & Deep Purple. So if you’ll accept that (and that GN’R qualify as “metal”) — and of course there’s no reason you have to — then what’s better?

Certain Songs #568: Guns N’ Roses – “November Rain”

June 17, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Use Your Illusion I
Year: 1991

In the early 1990s, if you wanted to prove how big of an artist you were, it wasn’t about your riders or groupies or drugs or private planes.

Nope. It was about how big your videos were. We didn’t know it at the time, but the early 1990s was the the last great moment of the MTV-oriented video era, and Guns N’ Roses took full advantage of the gynormous budgets guaranteed by their stardom to make ridiculously over-the-top videos that matched both their ridiculously over-the-top songs and their ridiculously over-the-top egos.

Certain Songs #567: Guns N’ Roses – “Double Talkin’ Jive”

June 16, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Use Your Illusion I
Year: 1991

Izzy Stradlin was always my favorite. While he could have seemed like the lukewarm water between Axl Rose’s fire and Slash’s ice, to me he was also the guy who embodied the straight-ahead rock ‘n’ roll groove at the heart of Guns n’ Roses.

He was also arguably the best songwriter in the band, which was why their first move after he left was to do a covers album, and their second move was to break up.

Certain Songs #566: Guns N’ Roses – “Sweet Child O’ Mine”

June 15, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Appetite For Destruction
Year: 1987

Right. This song. A number #1 hit single in 1988, which seemed a little weird even then, because it wasn’t like it as a slow power ballad, or even a conventional pop song that ended with the chorus repeating over and over again.

But what “Sweet Child O’ Mine” did have was loads of drama, and a weird seat-of-your pants feel to it that somehow connected deeply to just about anybody who heard it.

Certain Songs #565: Guns N’ Roses – “Paradise City”

June 14, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Appetite for Destruction
Year: 1987

Has there ever been a more perfectly crafted stadium rock song? Especially when you consider that it was by a band that hadn’t even come close to playing stadiums?

Sure, I guess you could make a case for “We Will Rock You / We Are The Champions,” but Queen were already huge by the time time News of The World came out, and I still think that “Paradise City” is — at the very least — more relatable. After all, very few of us well ever be champions, but we all got a shot at paradise.

Certain Songs #564: Guns N’ Roses – “Welcome to the Jungle”

June 13, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Appetite for Destruction
Year: 1987

If I had to choose a year where I peaked out as an indie rock snob hipster douchebag, it was probably 1987. So if you were to tell me at any point that year that I would soon (or ever) be head-over-heels for a LA-based metal band, I would have laughed and laughed.

Right? While I still loved Led Zeppelin & Deep Purple & Black Sabbath and even saw Aerosmith in concert that year, I basically considered most of the contemporary metal of 1987 either a bunch of gussied-up pop crap or amelodic thrash. And don’t even get me started on grunge.

Guns N’ Roses changed that.

Certain Songs #563: Guided by Voices – “How’s My Drinking?”

June 11, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Isolation Drills
Year: 2001

Of course, drinking is one of those things that is all bound up in the mythology of Guided by Voices, as anybody who has ever seen Robert Pollard on stage, chugging beer after beer in between (or during) his songs would know.

So figure “How’s My Drinking” to be Pollard’s version of “Here Comes a Regular,” a slow, sad ballad that takes a deep dark look at what he might be doing to himself.

Certain Songs #562: Guided by Voices – “Run Wild”

June 10, 2016 by Jim Connelly

Album: Isolation Drills
Year: 2001

Just wanna to get some perspective here. Isolation Drills was the 12th studio album from Guided by Voices, not counting all of the singles, EPs, collections of ephemera and Robert Pollard solo albums that had come out in the second half of the 1990s.

So by this time, the song count was deep into the 100s, and yet, like I said yesterday, Isolation Drills might just be the best album Pollard ever released, and the an “Run Wild” is a key reason why.