I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend. It's always hard to get back into the normal routine after a long weekend. But Christmas is fast approaching, and it will be nice to have a few more days off. This is my second year since high school that I've been out of retail and can actually enjoy the holidays. I can't express how good that feels. I love Christmas again!
I ran across this video while internet surfing a few weeks ago and found it really interesting. It is Guns N' Roses in May of 1986, playing a small club in Hollywood. This a year before Appetite for Destruction came out. Nearly two years before they exploded into the mainstream, pop culture, and rock n' roll history.
I found this video interesting for two reasons (other than just being a big GN'R fan). One, Don't Cry was released in 1991 on Use Your Illusion 1. I never knew that it was written so much earlier, and it seems like this acoustic version would have been a great additional track on GN'R Lies. And two, listening to all the people in the bar talking over the music. In about 2 years, this band will be one of the biggest bands in the world, and very few people in the bar seem to care. Everyone's not mesmerized because they're not yet famous. This isn't one of GN'R's early songs that has since been forgotten like Reckless Life and Move to the City. This is a song that will be one of their major hits, the first of their trilogy of big production videos (followed by November Rain and Estranged) and played regularly before stadiums of people.
Even Guns N' Roses wasn't noticed immediately.
love guns'n'roses! i remember having their tape and listening to it over and over...
ReplyDeleteYeah, everyone remembers them hitting it big in 1988, but the album had been out almost a year before that happened.
ReplyDeleteWhat's sad is when you see that happen in reverse. I saw BOC headline at huge arenas several times as a teen, and then twenty years ago, I saw them play at a bar. Granted, it was a big bar and standing room only, but it was a BAR. How the mighty had fallen...
I love this song! I wonder how many of those people were even playing attention... It goes to show you that only those who keep fighting and knocking doors make it. Rejection comes in many forms and I would think that singing for a small crowd that doesn't even care you are there is one of them. Lets keep fighting to get to the big stadiums. Who knows, maybe the one creation that will makes us brake big is already out there.
ReplyDeleteGreat inspiration to work harder when everybody is hangover this Christmas season. Thanks Michael!
I love GN'R so this video was great to see. I had to smile at your comment about enjoying Christmas now that you're out of retail. I worked at a department store over the holidays for a few years and I can definitely understand that sentiment.
ReplyDeleteI hope you and your family had a great Thanksgiving holiday! :)
Guns & Roses got lots of airtime when I was in high school. Kids listened to them non-stop in Idaho.
ReplyDeleteI do love some good ole' Guns N' Roses. As a matter of fact, my family has me on video doing the Axel Rose backwards shuffle. I'm glad it's on VHS and everyone has forgotten about it!
ReplyDeleteHappy Belated Thanksgiving. :)
People talking loud over the music is something that drives me nuts at concerts. My husband bought me very expensive seats to a concert for my birthday once and some jerks sitting behind us ruined it by their loud, drunk conversation.
ReplyDeleteKnow what you mean about retail. I did that a few years. Terrible.
It's true, almost everyone starts off as an unknown. What's fun is seeing who rises to the top.
ReplyDeleteWhat an important lesson to take to heart! :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE stories like this... it makes it seem like anything is possible... Thanks for this, Michael. You've always got solid posts. ;D
ReplyDeleteGreat song! Very inspiring.
ReplyDeleteMan, I love that song! Very cool to see how it all started.
ReplyDelete