Hard Skool

So apparently the line up for this recording is the current touring line up?

Did you guys see this?

===

GUNS N' ROSES have announced they will release a new EP with 4 songs titled "Hard Skool" out on February 25, 2022 ... it will be avaialbe exclusively on the GUNS N' ROSES official store ...and has two new songs ... "Absurd" .. "Hard Skool" and live versions of "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy".

"Hard Skool" EP track listing:

01. Hard Skool
02. ABSUЯD
03. Don't Cry (Live)
04. You're Crazy (Live)

ludurigan wrote:Did you guys see this?

===

GUNS N' ROSES have announced they will release a new EP with 4 songs titled "Hard Skool" out on February 25, 2022 ... it will be avaialbe exclusively on the GUNS N' ROSES official store ...and has two new songs ... "Absurd"  .. "Hard Skool" and live versions of "Don't Cry" and "You're Crazy".

"Hard Skool" EP track listing:

01. Hard Skool
02. ABSUЯD
03. Don't Cry (Live)
04. You're Crazy (Live)

Yes. It's rather a CD single, not an EP.

Is it me or these guys are completely out of the loop?

Who announces a release that will happen in FIVE MONTHS TIME for 4 tracks that are already AVAILABLE FOR FREE? This in a day and age when people want what they want for NOW?

Wouldn't it be better for they to announce a pre-sale for this BEFORE the release of the studio version of the song and before the live debut of it?

Like wouldn't it be better to offer this to people before anyone even heard the new version of the song?

I think these guys are so "out of time"...

ludurigan wrote:Is it me or these guys are completely out of the loop?

Who announces a release that will happen in FIVE MONTHS TIME for 4 tracks that are already AVAILABLE FOR FREE? This in a day and age when people want what they want for NOW?

Wouldn't it be better for they to announce a pre-sale for this BEFORE the release of the studio version of the song and before the live debut of it?

Like wouldn't it be better to offer this to people before anyone even heard the new version of the song?

I think these guys are so "out of time"...

It likely has to do with the current backlog in vinyl factories (and to a lesser extent in CD pressing ones) due to Covid, which has caused delays of physical releases. The Hard Skool CD single and 7'' seem to aim at the smaller market of hardcore fans who want to buy the new songs in physical form.

The press is mixing up the rumours about a forthcoming EP with the release of this maxi single.

Blackstar wrote:It likely has to do with the current backlog in vinyl factories (and to a lesser extent in CD pressing ones) due to Covid, which has caused delays of physical releases.

Hmmm... Not sure about that... If there is a known delay in making physical records that can totally be "circumnavigated". You want to release something in September 2021 then you "order" it to the factory "X" months before you would normally do because you know there is an expected delay of "X" months...

Blackstar wrote:The Hard Skool CD single and 7'' seem to aim at the smaller market of hardcore fans who want to buy the new songs in physical form.

Not sure about that also... I believe for GN'R this "small market" could actually be a (multi?) million copies market if done right. By "done right" I mean 1) good songs and 2) good marketing/sales strategy. They don't seem to have any by now and it doesn't look like they care about having any of that...

Shackler wrote:

ludurigan wrote:

Shackler wrote:The radio edit was played today on Duff's show. It has a different mix with a more prominent left-channel lead guitar in some spots. The intro is a bit shorter as well, I think they cut out a lot of parts when it comes to the solo/bridge as the song lands on roughly 2 minutes and 55 seconds; that's 46 seconds skimmed off.

Very interesting info.

Axl famously refused to edit "November Rain" for the video so it is interesting that he is "allowing" this one to have a radio edit.

Do you know if this radio edit is available for streaming somewhere?

If you're a member of SiriusXM you can stream Duff's radio show on demand. If not, I have a rip of it, I'll send you a link in PMs.

Can you share with me the radio edit?

The song got 3/6 in one of Norway's largest newspaper. A bit of an annoying review, the song was apparently decent enough but the reviewer complained about it being old and that the current lineup hasn't created anything new together. I feel the song wasn't reviewed fairly.

I've just made a short video of Hard Skool with some footage of "Three O'Clock High" movie (1987), with Casey Siemaszko (Jerry Mitchell) e Richard Tyson (Buddy Revell). I hope you enjoy it!

If this content is not allowed, please, rip it off!

lipeguns wrote:I've just made a short video of Hard Skool with some footage of "Three O'Clock High" movie (1987), with Casey Siemaszko (Jerry Mitchell) e Richard Tyson (Buddy Revell). I hope you enjoy it!

If this content is not allowed, please, rip it off!

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/617148860

I LOVED it!

Soulmonster wrote:

lipeguns wrote:I've just made a short video of Hard Skool with some footage of "Three O'Clock High" movie (1987), with Casey Siemaszko (Jerry Mitchell) e Richard Tyson (Buddy Revell). I hope you enjoy it!

If this content is not allowed, please, rip it off!

https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/617148860

I LOVED it!

Thanks, dude!

I would like to put it at my YouTube's channel, but would be deleted in a few minutes... so, Vimeo is a good alternative to upload these things.

Shackler wrote:

ludurigan wrote:

Shackler wrote:The radio edit was played today on Duff's show. It has a different mix with a more prominent left-channel lead guitar in some spots. The intro is a bit shorter as well, I think they cut out a lot of parts when it comes to the solo/bridge as the song lands on roughly 2 minutes and 55 seconds; that's 46 seconds skimmed off.

Very interesting info.

Axl famously refused to edit "November Rain" for the video so it is interesting that he is "allowing" this one to have a radio edit.

Do you know if this radio edit is available for streaming somewhere?

If you're a member of SiriusXM you can stream Duff's radio show on demand. If not, I have a rip of it, I'll send you a link in PMs.

Hey guys. Can I have a link too by pm of the Hard Skool radio edit that was played on Duff's show?

Guns123 wrote:

Shackler wrote:

ludurigan wrote:

Shackler wrote:The radio edit was played today on Duff's show. It has a different mix with a more prominent left-channel lead guitar in some spots. The intro is a bit shorter as well, I think they cut out a lot of parts when it comes to the solo/bridge as the song lands on roughly 2 minutes and 55 seconds; that's 46 seconds skimmed off.

Very interesting info.

Axl famously refused to edit "November Rain" for the video so it is interesting that he is "allowing" this one to have a radio edit.

Do you know if this radio edit is available for streaming somewhere?

If you're a member of SiriusXM you can stream Duff's radio show on demand. If not, I have a rip of it, I'll send you a link in PMs.

Hey guys. Can I have a link too by pm of the Hard Skool radio edit that was played on Duff's show?

I have never heard it myself, so can't help you.

I'm asking Shackler to send me a link of the Duff rado show that features the Hard Skool edit for radio.

Guns123 wrote:
Hey guys. Can I have a link too by pm of the Hard Skool radio edit that was played on Duff's show?

Sorry, don't have that one

but Shackler was going to send you the rip of Duff's radio show that featured it. didn't you get it?

Love it!

Lyric video was teased during NFL:

@gunsnroses acaba de salir en los comerciales de la NFL con un anuncio inesperado: mañana saldrá el video oficial de HARD SKOOL.

Se espera que sea un 'lyrics video', similar al de Shadow of Your Love de 2018.pic.twitter.com/UcqjFdFUZy

— GN'R Sudamérica (@gnrsud) December 3, 2021

I see the video is getting a lot of criticism from fans. Many of them would have wanted something more elaborate, more of an effort. I get that. I also find it highly unlikely that they would make a "proper" music video, something similar to what they did back in the 90s. I expected nothing and got more than what I expected. And as far as low budget lyrics video go, I don't think this is too bad. In fact, I think it is pretty good.

Hard Skool hasn't appeared yet on any databases like ASCAP, which are about who gets royalties for songwriting.

But, as I saw on a GnR forum, it is on the database of Universal Music Publishing:



https://www.umusicpub.com/us/Digital-Music-Library/search/Hard%20Skool

According to it, the writers are Axl, Slash, Duff, Paul Tobias, Robin, Tommy and Josh.

So it seems that Axl has given credits/royalties to former members. I guess it also means that the song doesn't originate from 1996 and it's not the same song Duff referred to then as the Jackie Chan song?

On the other hand, the press release said it was written by Axl. So maybe the other members just helped develop it.

How does this information mean the song didn't originate in 1996? It could have been a song Axl, Duff, Paul and Dizzy worked on back then which was later worked on by Josh, Tommy and Robin, and eventually Slash added guitars, earning all of them writing credits?

Soulmonster wrote:How does this information mean the song didn't originate in 1996? It could have been a song Axl, Duff, Paul and Dizzy worked on back then which was later worked on by Josh, Tommy and Robin, and eventually Slash added guitars, earning all of them writing credits?

Yes, it could have gone down like that (except Dizzy, who doesn't have a writing credit). Or, like I said in the follow-up comment, Axl had come up with the basic sketch and then members helped arrange it and so they got credit.

what a weird mess

ludurigan wrote:what a weird mess

Ever read the Chinese Democracy booklet? Putting those song credits together must've taken a few years...

Back in the summer of 1996, GN’R working on a song that was meant for a Jackie Chan film. This was stated both in an interview done by Howard Stern with Duff back in July 1996, and years later by Matt in his book.

In that July ‘96 interview Duff said they were working on it at that time; Matt implied a song meant for a Jackie Chan film was finished instrumentally, to be produced potentially by Rick Rubin in the mid 90s.

When HS traded as a bootleg years before its eventual release, it went by the name “Checkmate”, later Axl clarified that the actual working title of the song was Jackie Chan.

Now, its possible someone listened to that Duff interview - but then again, it was a really obscure reference buried in a solo Howard Stern appearance. It’s also possible that Jackie Chan was a working title for another song.

As noted, Axl confirmed that Jackie Chan was a working title for a song dubbed “Checkmate” by the fans (he said Checkmate was a fake title).

But was this song what we would come to know as HS?

If so, is it perhaps pure coincidence that they were working on a song for a Jackie Chan movie in 96 that stand out to both Duff and Matt AND Axl happened to give (perhaps a later) song a working title of Jackie Chan?

Or does the song in some way branch back to 1996?

Fortus did say songs for the “next record” were grown from seeds laid down by Slash, implying they’d worked on material that was initially done while Slash was still in tow

I know there’s no way for anyone here to know “the answer”, but I am really curious to hear YOUR answers

Thx in advance

@Wilco

I merged your post with our "Hard Skool" thread. If you see further up in the thread you can see we discussed this before. I have also written about this in the history section: https://www.a-4-d.com/t5018-19-december-1994-october-1996-axl-and-slash-fights-slash-quits#20214

Soulmonster wrote: @Wilco

I merged your post with our "Hard Skool" thread. If you see further up in the thread you can see we discussed this before. I have also written about this in the history section: https://www.a-4-d.com/t5018-19-december-1994-october-1996-axl-and-slash-fights-slash-quits#20214

Thanks…Am curious, a year later (post the official release), what are your thoughts re if it goes back to 96 or not?

Wilco wrote:

Soulmonster wrote: @Wilco

I merged your post with our "Hard Skool" thread. If you see further up in the thread you can see we discussed this before. I have also written about this in the history section: https://www.a-4-d.com/t5018-19-december-1994-october-1996-axl-and-slash-fights-slash-quits#20214

Thanks…Am curious, a year later (post the official release), what are your thoughts re if it goes back to 96 or not?

We just don't know enough to conclude, either way, I think.