Everybody Needs Some Time On Their Own
July 19, 2018 2:37 PM Subscribe
'November Rain' is the oldest music video with a billion YouTube views. What does that mean?
(Bonus link: Revisiting the Magnificent Excess of Guns 'n' Roses' 'Use Your Illlusion' Video Trilogy)
(Bonus link: Revisiting the Magnificent Excess of Guns 'n' Roses' 'Use Your Illlusion' Video Trilogy)
Pretty sure I'm responsible for at least 50,000 of those views. I have no regrets.
posted by VioletU at 2:48 PM on July 19, 2018 [22 favorites]
posted by VioletU at 2:48 PM on July 19, 2018 [22 favorites]
It means we need a groundswell effort to get everyone watching some Biz Markie.
posted by Navelgazer at 2:49 PM on July 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by Navelgazer at 2:49 PM on July 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
Slash. It's because of Slash.
posted by threetwentytwo at 2:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
posted by threetwentytwo at 2:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [17 favorites]
It's because of the scene where that one dude is in such a hurry to get out of the rain he dives through the wedding cake.
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:52 PM on July 19, 2018 [11 favorites]
posted by The Card Cheat at 2:52 PM on July 19, 2018 [11 favorites]
Pretty sure I'm responsible for at least 50,000 of those views. I have no regrets.
Likewise, but I think it my case it shows that I have a drinking problem, because I don't think I have ever watched the video sober.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:55 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
Likewise, but I think it my case it shows that I have a drinking problem, because I don't think I have ever watched the video sober.
posted by Literaryhero at 2:55 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
They mustn't be counting the billion times I've been rickrolled. That video is from 1987.
posted by adept256 at 2:56 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by adept256 at 2:56 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
It's also incredibly long for a music video. It's wild to think that humanity has spent 9 billion minutes watching it just since December 2009. That's like 5,000 years worth of guitar solos alone.
posted by Copronymus at 2:59 PM on July 19, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by Copronymus at 2:59 PM on July 19, 2018 [14 favorites]
My first post-internet contact with the video was this piece, which kinda makes it hard for me to take it seriously.
posted by lmfsilva at 3:02 PM on July 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by lmfsilva at 3:02 PM on July 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
Damn, I forgot about both those guitar solos. It's been listened to a billion times because there ain't no melodic shredding like that on the radio anymore.
posted by clawsoon at 3:05 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by clawsoon at 3:05 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
I literally just now watched that video for the first time in my life, and the main thing for me is. so. much. smoking.
Really remarkable how many cigarettes are in that video.
posted by aramaic at 3:08 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
Really remarkable how many cigarettes are in that video.
posted by aramaic at 3:08 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
They mustn't be counting the billion times I've been rickrolled.
November Rain has twice as many views as Never Gonna Give You Up. Both of the videos were uploaded in their current form in 2009. However, rickrolling was definitely a thing before then, so peak rickrolling might be missed in the current video count.
(November Rain would also miss any pre-2009 views, but I assume its been more of a steady view while rickrolling peaked long ago)
posted by thefoxgod at 3:13 PM on July 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
November Rain has twice as many views as Never Gonna Give You Up. Both of the videos were uploaded in their current form in 2009. However, rickrolling was definitely a thing before then, so peak rickrolling might be missed in the current video count.
(November Rain would also miss any pre-2009 views, but I assume its been more of a steady view while rickrolling peaked long ago)
posted by thefoxgod at 3:13 PM on July 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
HAH! My little brother (youngest of 3, before remarriages placed a few on either side) was the go-to guy for mix tapes for the family car. I suppose he occupied that special place in the family where he was influenced by and looked up to everyone else as far as music went (course he eventually showed some serious musical chops).
This was great until he went through his Guns and Roses phase, which meant November Rain would show up on any 90 or 120 minute tape; even he had the good sense not to stick it on a 60. The upshot (read:downside) of this was that whenever November Rain came on during a trip to school or the stores, you knew that it was the only song you were going to hear for the whole car ride. At least we didn't have to listen to it twice.
posted by es_de_bah at 3:29 PM on July 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
This was great until he went through his Guns and Roses phase, which meant November Rain would show up on any 90 or 120 minute tape; even he had the good sense not to stick it on a 60. The upshot (read:downside) of this was that whenever November Rain came on during a trip to school or the stores, you knew that it was the only song you were going to hear for the whole car ride. At least we didn't have to listen to it twice.
posted by es_de_bah at 3:29 PM on July 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
Well I hope that you're happy that I just watched all nine minutes and sixteen seconds of that crap. It was just as bad as when I saw it on MTV in '92.
posted by octothorpe at 3:32 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by octothorpe at 3:32 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
Slash seems like a bog-standard rock guitar player to me, and I never got why people seem to think he is anything special
posted by thelonius at 3:37 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by thelonius at 3:37 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
it's just water
It was enough to kill that poor bride, you monster! Why do you hate people made out of sugar?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:50 PM on July 19, 2018 [23 favorites]
It was enough to kill that poor bride, you monster! Why do you hate people made out of sugar?
posted by It's Raining Florence Henderson at 3:50 PM on July 19, 2018 [23 favorites]
This song is so long that after the first guitar solo, I was like, oh the next one is the good one. And then the second guitar solo started and I was like, oh I guess it’s the next one.
That last guitar solo is the absolute apex of Sunset Strip rock.
posted by uncleozzy at 3:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
That last guitar solo is the absolute apex of Sunset Strip rock.
posted by uncleozzy at 3:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
but it's just water. You don't need to shove each other out of the way or cower under tables. Calm down. Just walk inside in an orderly manner.
Everybody was from LA. Not freaking out about rain (especially of the cold November variety) would be like asking people who come here not to have a coronary over the traffic.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:14 PM on July 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
Everybody was from LA. Not freaking out about rain (especially of the cold November variety) would be like asking people who come here not to have a coronary over the traffic.
posted by Celsius1414 at 4:14 PM on July 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
November Rain tells us "Nothing lasts forever" and then goes on to challenge this very presumption.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:14 PM on July 19, 2018 [33 favorites]
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 4:14 PM on July 19, 2018 [33 favorites]
I still remember what a big deal MTV made about it when it was first aired because it was 9 minutes long and they were going to show the whole thing! I think there was a special for the world premier and because I was a 9 year old glued to MTV that year, I know I watched it and had a real "what the fuck was that" feeling. I didn't really like it then. I still don't like it, but it's a somewhat captivating spectacle.
posted by kendrak at 4:15 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by kendrak at 4:15 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
I had my mixtape phase in high school, and my brother had a really sweet double-deck stereo setup with crossfade and all sorts of other rad features. So I isolated the second guitar solo and would add it -- and only it -- on just about every mixtape I made during my junior and senior year.
I wish I could say it made me a lot of friends but no. No it did not.
posted by offalark at 4:30 PM on July 19, 2018 [24 favorites]
I wish I could say it made me a lot of friends but no. No it did not.
posted by offalark at 4:30 PM on July 19, 2018 [24 favorites]
Well I hope that you're happy that I just watched all nine minutes and sixteen seconds of that crap. It was just as bad as when I saw it on MTV in '92.
I remember watching this premiere on like, prime time broadcast TV, with my dad. I guess around 92 or so.
I always liked the reference in Regina Spektor's song "On the Radio"
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:48 PM on July 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
I remember watching this premiere on like, prime time broadcast TV, with my dad. I guess around 92 or so.
I always liked the reference in Regina Spektor's song "On the Radio"
posted by RustyBrooks at 4:48 PM on July 19, 2018 [4 favorites]
Likewise, but I think it my case it shows that I have a drinking problem, because I don't think I have ever watched the video sober.
I admit I've been drinking but I followed my own link to Regina Spektor and now I'm tearing up a lil bit.
posted by RustyBrooks at 5:02 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
I admit I've been drinking but I followed my own link to Regina Spektor and now I'm tearing up a lil bit.
posted by RustyBrooks at 5:02 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
I remember watching MTV's top 100 videos of all time the year November Rain overtook Thriller for the #1 spot.. I remember it being a big deal at the time. This was when MTV still showed videos BTW.
posted by Dr. Twist at 5:09 PM on July 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Dr. Twist at 5:09 PM on July 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
i feel bad that i did not anticipate how good this thread would be. i am sorry for doubting you metafilter.
posted by poffin boffin at 5:11 PM on July 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
posted by poffin boffin at 5:11 PM on July 19, 2018 [9 favorites]
It's extra weird when you consider it's one of the worst songs on the album. Listen to Civil War, Live and Let Die or You Could be Mine. I was too young for hair metal and I can still appreciate those songs.
The former is due for a "surprisingly relevant" soundtrack related comeback any day now and we'll have to explain to a whole new generation how completely out of left field a nuanced song about pacifism was from guns n roses, even at the time.
posted by fshgrl at 5:25 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
The former is due for a "surprisingly relevant" soundtrack related comeback any day now and we'll have to explain to a whole new generation how completely out of left field a nuanced song about pacifism was from guns n roses, even at the time.
posted by fshgrl at 5:25 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
There are a bunch of anecdotes out there that Axl had been working on this song for years before it was released, like before the classic GnR lineup even formed. Tracii Guns (the band's other namesake, later of LA Guns) talked about how they'd be playing in some random town, and he'd go out and get drunk and do heroin with hookers and whatnot, and he'd come back to the hotel at like 4am and Axl would be playing the hotel's piano, working out the chord changes to "November Rain". I've even seen it suggested that the entire Appetite album was part of Axl's plan so that he could be a big enough star that he could subsequently release a double album with a nine minute ballad as its centerpiece. I kind of believe it, too. Axl's a weird dude, to be sure, and probably not the nicest guy in the world, but I think he operates on a different level than most people.
posted by kevinbelt at 5:44 PM on July 19, 2018 [14 favorites]
posted by kevinbelt at 5:44 PM on July 19, 2018 [14 favorites]
followed by the neck-and-neck pair of Wiz Khalifa's "See You Again" and Ed Sheeran's "Shape of You"
The what and the what now?
posted by bongo_x at 5:48 PM on July 19, 2018
The what and the what now?
posted by bongo_x at 5:48 PM on July 19, 2018
I knee-jerk hated Guns n Roses back in the day because all things hair band were big at my high school (my class's spirit week song was Welcome to the Jungle and our class color was camo and did I mention I went to an all girls Catholic school? My class was nothing to fuck with.).
But years later I had to admit to myself that these are great songs and I always secretly liked them. Sorry all the high-haired girls I scoffed at. I was completely right about GreatWhiteLionSnake or whatever, but wrong about Guns n Roses.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [15 favorites]
But years later I had to admit to myself that these are great songs and I always secretly liked them. Sorry all the high-haired girls I scoffed at. I was completely right about GreatWhiteLionSnake or whatever, but wrong about Guns n Roses.
posted by soren_lorensen at 5:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [15 favorites]
Everybody was from LA.
Anecdotally, and as a visitor to LA and not a resident, they still play Guns N Roses a ridiculous amount on the radio. I'm pretty sure I've heard this particular song on their various radio stations 3-4 times in the past month. They play them so much, I swear some teenage rock kids might think they are a current band.
posted by The_Vegetables at 5:53 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
Anecdotally, and as a visitor to LA and not a resident, they still play Guns N Roses a ridiculous amount on the radio. I'm pretty sure I've heard this particular song on their various radio stations 3-4 times in the past month. They play them so much, I swear some teenage rock kids might think they are a current band.
posted by The_Vegetables at 5:53 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
Sorry all the high-haired girls I scoffed at. I was completely right about GreatWhiteLionSnake or whatever, but wrong about Guns n Roses.
I like this story. It shows you weren't afraid to walk alone, that you made up your mind and weren't wasting any time on lesser bands.
posted by nubs at 6:09 PM on July 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
I like this story. It shows you weren't afraid to walk alone, that you made up your mind and weren't wasting any time on lesser bands.
posted by nubs at 6:09 PM on July 19, 2018 [5 favorites]
Y’all can be all snobby if y’all want, but Kix is playing up in Baltimore this fall, and that’s going to be a good time!
posted by wintermind at 6:27 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by wintermind at 6:27 PM on July 19, 2018 [6 favorites]
Trivia: Shannon Hoon of Blind Melon, whose sister was a high school friend of Axl Rose’s back in Indiana, sang backup on a lot of Use Your Illusion (notably, the high stuff on “Don’t Cry”). The following year his own band had its biggest hit by taking half the letters out of “November Rain.”
posted by Sys Rq at 6:45 PM on July 19, 2018 [16 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 6:45 PM on July 19, 2018 [16 favorites]
Slash. It's because of Slash.
featuring a rare guest appearance by SLASH'S FACE
Seriously though I think part of the reason (beyond the song's popularity) is the relative quality of the video. So many well-produced 80s and 90s videos look absolutely terrible on Youtube/Vevo. (psst uploader tip: if it's letterboxed, add the tag "yt:crop=16:9")
posted by neckro23 at 6:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
featuring a rare guest appearance by SLASH'S FACE
Seriously though I think part of the reason (beyond the song's popularity) is the relative quality of the video. So many well-produced 80s and 90s videos look absolutely terrible on Youtube/Vevo. (psst uploader tip: if it's letterboxed, add the tag "yt:crop=16:9")
posted by neckro23 at 6:51 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
It's the song, as well. It's really good.
And everybody wants to be as cool as Slash was in the video.
posted by signal at 6:53 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
And everybody wants to be as cool as Slash was in the video.
posted by signal at 6:53 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
I showed my kid the video tonight. She says she wants the party-up-front wedding dress.
God help me.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:56 PM on July 19, 2018 [11 favorites]
God help me.
posted by uncleozzy at 6:56 PM on July 19, 2018 [11 favorites]
Show her Duran Duran’s “Ordinary World,” stat!
posted by Sys Rq at 7:15 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 7:15 PM on July 19, 2018 [2 favorites]
Ugh, now I need to cleanse my palate with some Mr. Brownstone ;)
posted by Lyme Drop at 7:52 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Lyme Drop at 7:52 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
We can thank GNR videos for leaking that Beavis knows how to read.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:54 PM on July 19, 2018
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 7:54 PM on July 19, 2018
In 2008 Saigon there was a bar called Bong Hong Guns 'n' Roses which had only GnR on the jukebox and a giant Axl mural on the wall. It was a magical place.
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:49 PM on July 19, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by grumpybear69 at 8:49 PM on July 19, 2018 [8 favorites]
My husband just asked, "Is it the one where they jumped through a cake?"
It's clearly the cake.
posted by Toddles at 9:19 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
It's clearly the cake.
posted by Toddles at 9:19 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
I watched it, once, and don't see the need to repeat the experience. I'll admit that part of my distaste had to do with disliking Axl, who arguably began his Worst Person in Rock 'n' Roll period by the band's second album, with "One in a Million." But I don't particularly begrudge any generation their own personal Epic Rawk Song, so if you want to drive around at night alone listening to this thing rather than "'Heroes'" or "Jungleland" or "Hey Jude", hey, it's your car and your mood.
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:23 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 9:23 PM on July 19, 2018 [3 favorites]
Everyone was trying to figure out just how Guitarist murdered Bride because he was in love with Groom?
Weirdly, Appetite-era GnR was just about the only white band you could admit listening to at my 95% black high school and still retain an ounce of street cred.
posted by praemunire at 9:31 PM on July 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
Weirdly, Appetite-era GnR was just about the only white band you could admit listening to at my 95% black high school and still retain an ounce of street cred.
posted by praemunire at 9:31 PM on July 19, 2018 [7 favorites]
So this video is the reason I hate the song and, by extension, hate Guns 'n' Roses. Back in the early-90's, when I was at boarding school, this stupid whiny song was one of the last songs to play on Rage (music clip show that ran from like 10 at night to like 7 or 8 in the morning) on Saturday morning.
There was only one television in the common room, and only one thing ever worth watching on the television in the common room (i.e. Rage), and so I was subjected to this this bleating nasal song every single Saturday morning for the entire three years I was at boarding school. This long-haired clutz, with his big horsey mouth, wearing a headband to his own fucking wedding, to a woman who I fancy was like three feet taller than him, and then it starts raining in the church or something? Or...and Slash is there, and he's the priest? Whatever. Fuck this clip. No respect.
But everybody else was mad for GnR. So we'd have this tin-cup-hollering garbage in the morning, and THEN during the day all the other kids would be playing a bunch of bootleg tapes of some live GnR concert, so this song was coming out of that too, except even shittier because it didn't have any production on it. Ugh. Awful!
EVEN WORSE was that the "You Could Be Mine" clip, which was around at the same time, was basically a Terminator 2 preview. I was MAD for The Terminator and so I would force myself to watch the "You Could Be Mine" clip whenever it came on, hating every second of "ayyyyiiiieeeeayyyyiiiieeeee" that kazooed from Axel's stupid face, just because of all the Terminatoring that was in the clip. It's not like I could ask to turn the volume off just to watch the Terminatoring, I would have got the shit kicked out of me. So that DOUBLED my hate for GnR.
I despised GnR so much that I permanently installed myself in the Metallica camp (who I already liked anyway because I wanted to be a drummer, and Lars Ulrich was a better drummer that Duffs McCoogan or whatever the fuck his name was from GnR), and also became a Satanist (because I deduced that Metallica loved Satan, while GnR were probably like, Buddhists or Protestants or some shit). But like, a reactive-Catholic-boy devil worshipping Satanist, not a proper one. Which led me to picking up a copy of the Vampire: The Masquerade rulebook, because I was hoping it would offer me some inroads to Satan. Some handy shortcuts, y'know? Which planted the seed for me to become a goth, which I later did.
So: I hated "November Rain" and GnR so much that I became a goth. Which I don't regret at all, it was a fun time.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:37 PM on July 19, 2018 [27 favorites]
There was only one television in the common room, and only one thing ever worth watching on the television in the common room (i.e. Rage), and so I was subjected to this this bleating nasal song every single Saturday morning for the entire three years I was at boarding school. This long-haired clutz, with his big horsey mouth, wearing a headband to his own fucking wedding, to a woman who I fancy was like three feet taller than him, and then it starts raining in the church or something? Or...and Slash is there, and he's the priest? Whatever. Fuck this clip. No respect.
But everybody else was mad for GnR. So we'd have this tin-cup-hollering garbage in the morning, and THEN during the day all the other kids would be playing a bunch of bootleg tapes of some live GnR concert, so this song was coming out of that too, except even shittier because it didn't have any production on it. Ugh. Awful!
EVEN WORSE was that the "You Could Be Mine" clip, which was around at the same time, was basically a Terminator 2 preview. I was MAD for The Terminator and so I would force myself to watch the "You Could Be Mine" clip whenever it came on, hating every second of "ayyyyiiiieeeeayyyyiiiieeeee" that kazooed from Axel's stupid face, just because of all the Terminatoring that was in the clip. It's not like I could ask to turn the volume off just to watch the Terminatoring, I would have got the shit kicked out of me. So that DOUBLED my hate for GnR.
I despised GnR so much that I permanently installed myself in the Metallica camp (who I already liked anyway because I wanted to be a drummer, and Lars Ulrich was a better drummer that Duffs McCoogan or whatever the fuck his name was from GnR), and also became a Satanist (because I deduced that Metallica loved Satan, while GnR were probably like, Buddhists or Protestants or some shit). But like, a reactive-Catholic-boy devil worshipping Satanist, not a proper one. Which led me to picking up a copy of the Vampire: The Masquerade rulebook, because I was hoping it would offer me some inroads to Satan. Some handy shortcuts, y'know? Which planted the seed for me to become a goth, which I later did.
So: I hated "November Rain" and GnR so much that I became a goth. Which I don't regret at all, it was a fun time.
posted by turbid dahlia at 9:37 PM on July 19, 2018 [27 favorites]
listening to this thing rather than Heroes
...the correct answer is The Passenger, folllowed by Velvet Goldmine.
All other answers devolve to Heroes.
...
...
possibly STATIONTOSTATION if certain circumstances are met.
posted by aramaic at 9:41 PM on July 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
...the correct answer is The Passenger, folllowed by Velvet Goldmine.
All other answers devolve to Heroes.
...
...
possibly STATIONTOSTATION if certain circumstances are met.
posted by aramaic at 9:41 PM on July 19, 2018 [1 favorite]
Y’all can be all snobby if y’all want, but Kix is playing up in Baltimore this fall, and that’s going to be a good time!
I know you didn't just compare Kix to White Lion.
posted by bongo_x at 12:35 AM on July 20, 2018
I know you didn't just compare Kix to White Lion.
posted by bongo_x at 12:35 AM on July 20, 2018
My favorite bits are the guitarists in the first half of the song strutting around on stage in the opera house as if they are doing anything besides listening to Axel play piano.
posted by straight at 1:34 AM on July 20, 2018
posted by straight at 1:34 AM on July 20, 2018
Oh boy, that was a lot of tongue for a wedding kiss. This strikes me as pretty onanistic schlock, but I guess the spectacle makes billion-plus views make sense.
posted by stillmoving at 1:45 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by stillmoving at 1:45 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh wait, sorry for serial comments, but: Smells Like Teen Spirit only has 730 million and Bohemian Rhapsody only has 538 million? That seems very wrong to me.
posted by stillmoving at 2:04 AM on July 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by stillmoving at 2:04 AM on July 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Why is the video so popular? I guess you could....blame it on the rain.
posted by ian1977 at 5:14 AM on July 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by ian1977 at 5:14 AM on July 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
My college roommate was a HUGE G’n’R fan (as in “totally unable to admit that Use Your Illusion would have been a decent single album once the filler was removed, and that The Spaghetti Incident? was utter crap”)
We had lots of fun debating the relative merits of various bands. Still like this video, largely because it reminds me of my good friend.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:19 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
We had lots of fun debating the relative merits of various bands. Still like this video, largely because it reminds me of my good friend.
posted by caution live frogs at 5:19 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
I had a copy of Use Your Illusion II as a kid, didn't love it because I was kind of lost without all of the backstory from the first one.
posted by doctornecessiter at 6:10 AM on July 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by doctornecessiter at 6:10 AM on July 20, 2018 [3 favorites]
bongo_x, I’d love to see White Lion but they’re not a thing anymore. You go to rock with the 80s bands you have, not the ones you want. I promise you that my “Hair” playlist has far more White Lion than Kix on it.
posted by wintermind at 7:32 AM on July 20, 2018
posted by wintermind at 7:32 AM on July 20, 2018
It means Purple Rain has a lot of catching up to do.
Well, considering there’s no music video for it...
posted by Sys Rq at 7:40 AM on July 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Well, considering there’s no music video for it...
posted by Sys Rq at 7:40 AM on July 20, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh hell, I hadn't thought about Kix since about 1983. I went to school near Chambersburg, PA and Kix were huge around there in the early eighties.
posted by octothorpe at 7:41 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by octothorpe at 7:41 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
God what a self-indulgent monstrosity. At least the video for the other single had Terminators in it.
posted by aspersioncast at 8:48 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by aspersioncast at 8:48 AM on July 20, 2018 [1 favorite]
Bohemian Rhapsody only has 538 million? That seems very wrong to me.
Bohemian Rhapsody needs no sympathy.
posted by nubs at 9:20 AM on July 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
Bohemian Rhapsody needs no sympathy.
posted by nubs at 9:20 AM on July 20, 2018 [5 favorites]
The former is due for a "surprisingly relevant" soundtrack related comeback any day now and we'll have to explain to a whole new generation how completely out of left field a nuanced song about pacifism was from guns n roses, even at the time.
Revisit the lyrics to One In A Million and then maybe skip that idea. It's isolationist Proud Boy pacifism at best.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:26 PM on July 20, 2018
Revisit the lyrics to One In A Million and then maybe skip that idea. It's isolationist Proud Boy pacifism at best.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:26 PM on July 20, 2018
I enjoy the music of my youth, in large part for the histrionics, but a lot of it is uncomfortably of its time. There's lots of sexism, and some racism, too, no question.
posted by wintermind at 3:31 PM on July 20, 2018
posted by wintermind at 3:31 PM on July 20, 2018
Also wasn't November Rain sort of a bookend with Don't Cry in terms of their weird operatic melodrama misogynist snuff video moment?
...oh, that's in the second link.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:39 PM on July 20, 2018
...oh, that's in the second link.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:39 PM on July 20, 2018
I just watched this video like five times in stereo on the big TV and it was transcendent.
posted by triggerfinger at 7:08 PM on July 20, 2018
posted by triggerfinger at 7:08 PM on July 20, 2018
"Heavy" music videos got so much better just a year or two later, like that weird Joel Peter Witkin-esque NIN video from Downward Spiral, or the stop-motion Tool one, or "Paranoid Android."
I think the funniest thing about November Rain on re-watching is that this was every heavy metal ballad cliche in the book--they pretty much combined that horrid Lita Ford / Ozzy duet with the interminable Bat out of Hell and stretched it out even longer.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:18 AM on July 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
I think the funniest thing about November Rain on re-watching is that this was every heavy metal ballad cliche in the book--they pretty much combined that horrid Lita Ford / Ozzy duet with the interminable Bat out of Hell and stretched it out even longer.
posted by aspersioncast at 7:18 AM on July 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
My relationship is with Gunners has got more complicated over the years, I first heard Appetite in late primary school and it just blew my mind. The nuances were completely lost on me I just knew it had the word fuck, mentioned pretty girls, which were just starting to interest me, and absolutely caned it in a way that Bon Jovi really didn't.
At this point it's essentially summed up by the fact that I've just listened to Appetite, at some volume, and doesn't it still fucking crank?, got to Rocket Queen at the end and ditched it a quarter of the way in and chucked on Live Through This by Hole instead. Mostly because I reckon a few more people putting a bit of "If she was asking for it, did she ask you twice?" to the band might have been a good thing.
But musically, not much matches that album for a particular get up and go mood. (Or today, sit down and draw a bathroom in CAD. Let's go mild indeed.)
posted by deadwax at 5:03 PM on July 22, 2018
At this point it's essentially summed up by the fact that I've just listened to Appetite, at some volume, and doesn't it still fucking crank?, got to Rocket Queen at the end and ditched it a quarter of the way in and chucked on Live Through This by Hole instead. Mostly because I reckon a few more people putting a bit of "If she was asking for it, did she ask you twice?" to the band might have been a good thing.
But musically, not much matches that album for a particular get up and go mood. (Or today, sit down and draw a bathroom in CAD. Let's go mild indeed.)
posted by deadwax at 5:03 PM on July 22, 2018
At their sweaty early best: Live at the Ritz.
posted by clawsoon at 8:15 AM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by clawsoon at 8:15 AM on July 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by PMdixon at 2:42 PM on July 19, 2018 [22 favorites]