Quote:
Originally Posted by The Batlord
He seems to be one of the most beloved frontmen in all of rock music, and I just don't get it. I can't say anything about is stage presence, since I've never seen Guns N' Roses live, but I just never got the appeal. I suppose I can see liking him better than Bret Michaels, if for no other reason than he has a bit more personality to him, but if nobody had ever told me he was supposed to be special then I would have just considered him a slightly-above-average glam metal singer and moved on. If I had two main issues with him...
1.) I say this as a moderate lover of hair bands---with some especial love for Vince Neil, Blackie Lawless, and the guy from Faster Pussycat---but I find his voice ever-so-slightly grating. I suppose it's supposed to sound sleazy, but I just don't see anything special about his take on sleaze. He just comes off like another in a long line of guys who just aren't as good as Steven Tyler.
2.) When he's not doing the raspy sleaze thing he likes to drop his voice low (e.g. "Mr. Brownstone"), which I just find to be even more annoying than his normal singing voice.
P.S. And what's the thing with people who try to describe GNR as a punk band, or I guess a punk band that plays glam? Don't just about all of the not-as-derivative-as-Poison have a heavy punk influence? Wasn't that half the point of the New York Dolls worship? It just comes across as whiny tools who don't want their favorite band thrown in with the likes of Warrant.
|
Axl Rose falls into a long list of white rockers who have really squeaky voices (Neil Young, Tom Petty, John Lydon ect) it must drive black people nuts to have to listen to it, lol.
I agree with everyone that Axl has a much wider range than Vince Neil, he is simply a better vocalist, that being said Vince Neil's voice does sound slightly less squeaky than Axl's, so I can see where your coming from.
To my regret I never saw GNR live, but I have heard that Axl is a phenomenal front man from countless people, and I believe it.
The whole punk thing largely comes from some of the band members influences, particularly Duff Mckagen who played in North West punk bands before joining GNR. That being said GNR's primary influence were bands like Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones & AC/DC ect, so I would say they are a hard rock band with some punk influence, but overall they have always been in the hardrock metal category.