Music trivia

ThreatMatrix

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Been studying music theory. Occasionally I run across some interesting stories. IDK. This stuff fascinates me.

Sweet Child O' Mine.


So that iconic riff was not a favorite of Slash's. In fact he thought it sounded "circusy". And it was just a warmup exercise.(Side note - Slash plays an alternate tuning with each string down a half step - makes bending easier).
Anyway he was playing it at practice one day and the rhythm guitarist (Izzy Stradlin) kinda liked it and laid some chords over the top. Then the bass player and drummer jumped in.
Axel was upstairs writing a poem for his then girlfriend Erin Everly daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers.
erin-everly-images.jpg

Axel liked what he heard and by the next day had penned some lyrics. So they had a harmony, a melody and a bridge but didn't know how to end the song. When playing it for their producer, when they got to the part after the solo Axel just sang out "where to we go now?". The producer liked it and said keep it in, so the song ends with that line repeated about 40 times. From a "circusy" warmup riff GnR had their first and only #1 hit.

The moar you know.
 
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ThreatMatrix

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Steppenwolf: Magic Carpet Ride.

The prominent thing about this song is that funky rhythm. It's just the same 3 chords repeated in each bar but the rhythm changes each bar (must be a term for that). It's simple but tricky to keep up for a noob like me. The funky rhythm is why that it came (again) from a warmup exercise. When I first read the music I thought bass line and sure enough it was the bass player's riff.
The lyrics contrary to popular belief aren't about drugs. They are however a love song.. to John Kay's stereo. They hadn't made it when they laid down the tracks. When they finally got some money Kay went out and bought an expensive stereo. When he went home and listened to the music he was so blown away by the sound that he started writing about the stereo. Of course he had to embellish the lyrics but if anything the "little girl" in the song is his stereo.

The moar you know.
 

CGgater

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Been studying music theory. Occasionally I run across some interesting stories. IDK. This stuff fascinates me.

Sweet Child O' Mine.


So that iconic riff was not a favorite of Slash's. In fact he thought it sounded "circusy". And it was just a warmup exercise.(Side note - Slash plays an alternate tuning with each string down a half step - makes bending easier).
Anyway he was playing it at practice one day and the rhythm guitarist (Izzy Stradlin) kinda liked it and laid some chords over the top. Then the bass player and drummer jumped in.
Axel was upstairs writing a poem for his then girlfriend Erin Everly daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers.
View attachment 15065

Axel liked what he heard and by the next day had penned some lyrics. So they had a harmony, a melody and a bridge but didn't know how to end the song. When playing it for their producer, when they got to the part after the solo Axel just sang out "where to we go now?". The producer liked it and said keep it in, so the song ends with that line repeated about 40 times. From a "circusy" warmup riff GnR had their first and only #1 hit.

The moar you know.


Welcome to the Jungle is really the only song I like from GnR.

BTW - Slash’s work with Velvet Revolver is even better.
 

Gator515151

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I always thought "Why don't we get drunk and screw" was written about some of my late night escapades at the Stumble Inn on Holmes beach in the 70's.
 

ThreatMatrix

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Steppenwolf got me thinking about another song. At the beginning of Magic Carpet Ride there's a bunch of feedback that Kay created by banging his strings against the pickups. Of course he couldn't create the exact same sounds each time so they ended up laying two tracks on top of each other to get the sound they wanted.
Something kind a similar happened with Whole Lotta Love

Around the 3:20 mark you hear Plant's vocals echo ( more like pre-echo). It's kind of iconic in the song and you'd think it was done on purpose. But actually a previous vocal track had bled over into another track and with the equipment they had at the time they couldn't get rid of it. So they just left it in.
 

78

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I always thought "Why don't we get drunk and screw" was written about some of my late night escapades at the Stumble Inn on Holmes beach in the 70's.
Haha. I often wonder if I might know some of the people who post here. I'm sure we crossed paths.
 

Gator515151

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Haha. I often wonder if I might know some of the people who post here. I'm sure we crossed paths.
Yeah my wife and I probably beat you on the foosball table a few times. We were't married at the time but always played together....seldom lost. Guys used to get pissed because I wasn't that good all I could do was sit back and block shots...she was unbeatable. More than once somebody who couldn't stand getting beat by a girl wanted to pick a fight with me using the comment "You suck, she is the team".
 

Gator by the Sea

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Welcome to the Jungle is really the only song I like from GnR.

BTW - Slash’s work with Velvet Revolver is even better.
emoji106.png

Agree completely about Velvet Revolver, and Jungle is definitely GnR’s best song.

BTW, Velvet Revolver live was an incredible concert
 

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