[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XUKRZGVW6Q[/youtube]
All last week, we’ve been teased with audio snippets and video teasers of That Metal Show’s interview with Axl Rose. But this past Friday, November 11, the special episode aired on VH1 Classic. Though we’re sure that the channel is re-airing it numerous times, you can now watch the entire special in the video above (at least until it’s taken down).
Here are a few thoughts we had after watching the special one time through:
-While we think it’s great that Axl is being seen in public with members of the new GN’R, did guitarist DJ Ashba really have to be there? It would have been one thing if he contributed a little more to the piece, but he barely spoke up. There were many points throughout the episode where we even forgot he was there. At least Axl recognized this by joking “Well next time, if only DJ would stop talking over me…” With that said, we did enjoy That Metal Show’s brief chat with GN’R guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal in the beginning of the episode.
-It was cool to see Guns N’ Roses performing “Live And Let Die” and (a snippet of) the title track of Chinese Democracy on the special. It showed off the new lineup live pretty well, and definitely sounded better than the footage we saw of their recent Rock In Rio performance.
-Though the interview itself wasn’t extremely riveting, it was pretty cool to simply hear Axl talk freely and share old memories with Eddie Trunk, Jim Florentine, and Don Jamieson. For a long time, Axl has come off as reclusive and quiet. So to hear him speak at length about anything is pretty neat.
-As Trunk promised, Rose revealed that GN’R would be playing a few shows with former bassist Duff McKagan. It was also pretty cool to hear Axl recall the time Duff joined him onstage in London.
-Even though Chinese Democracy failed to meet expectations (well, that’s a bit of an understatement), we still understand why Axl would be proud of the work that went into the album. With that said, though, it’s a little sad hearing him say that thinks it going to “do more.” Maybe if the album was only a year old we’d agree that Chinese Democracy still has potential to grow, but it’s been three years now.
So all in all we feel that it was a solid special. Even though the focus was mainly on Axl, That Metal Show’s episode was probably the best (actually, possibly the first) TV coverage the new GN’R lineup has ever received. How ironic, then, that this Friday’s (November 19) episode of That Metal Show features none other than Slash.
