How are we supposed to take your theory that Guns N' Roses Sweet Child O' Mine represents "the voice of your generation" seriously when you can't even get the lyrics right?
You wrote:
Its lyrics tell of an escapist teen love. I imagine the song's subject, "Sweet Child," wearing ripped jeans and several Cyndi Lauper bracelets, our narrator picking her up in the back of the trailer park in his green Impala, and they cruise to Makeout Point.
As the lyrics go, Axl Rose sings, "I'm just sitting here staring at your hair, and it's reminding me of a warm, safe place where as a child I'd hide." I can see them embracing tenderly, and going to shoplift a six-pack of Schaefer. So far, so good.
No Mr. Cloninger, not good at all. See, the lyrics actually go "She's got eyes of the bluest skies/As if they thought of rain/I hate to look into those eyes/And see an ounce of pain/Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place/Where as a child I'd hide/And pray for the thunder/And the rain/To quietly pass me by."
And any girl seriously listening to that song would have been way over "Cyndi Lauper bracelets."
Write what you know, sir. And clearly, you don't know Guns N' Roses.
9 comments:
This Curt guy should hang his head in shame.
And Axl Rose could never be the voice of a generation. Why do people think there should be a "voice of a generation" anyway?
I remember how Kurt Cobain was supposed to be the voice of our generation... I think our generation has alot more to say than "oh well, whatever, nevermind" and no single person could say it.
Ok, I read the article a little more closely, and now I'm really annoyed. Don't get me wrong, "Sweet Child O' Mine" is a good song, but it's not nearly as transcedent as this guy thinks it is. It's a good power ballad that fits neatly into the same neat package of many power ballads before and after.
The lyrics are nothing exceptional at all. Very straightfoward love song lyrics.
Slash's guitar is nothing exceptional either. Pretty much just like the guitar you'd find in any power ballad.
I don't mean any of this as a dis to Guns 'N' Roses, as I said it's a good song. But it ain't the voice of anything except that song.
Justin: Agreed.
A generation can never be reduced to one single voice. It's a cacophony. Besides, in selecting Axl Rose -- a musician -- you're ignoring other musicians, as well as artists, writers, actors, philosophers, scientists, politicians, religious officials, etc., some of whom haven't even made their contribution to society yet.
Similarly, selecting just one song means excluding a lot of others that echo something specific about those of us coming of age in the late 80's/early 90's.
It's a good song, but not the best -- or most original -- song ever.
Give 'em hell, Dara!
Thanks for your unwavering support, Mad.
Wow. Dara, I agree w/you completely--there is no WAY the Cyndi Lauper bracelets (and PS: what the fuck is a Cyndi Lauper bracelet, anyway??) factor...
Ryane: When I googled "Cyndi Lauper bracelet" I got those weird bright colored square things that I linked to.
I don't know anyone who wore anything that looked like that after approximately 1985.
After thinking about it a little more, I think what this doofus probably really meant were those black gummy bracelets that Madonna wore in the mid-80's -- like these. As far as I remember, some "rocker girls" wore them for a while afterwards. Heck, I still have some lying around my apartment. I think I wore them to a Cure concert.
oh HELL no. There is simply NO WAY any woman that truly listened to Guns-n-Roses wore those F-ed up Cyndi Lauper bracelet things. Shit.
What the fuck..does this Curt guy have any idea of what he speaks??
He should've consulted you, Dara, b/c I think you are correct--the black, Madonna gummy bracelet is much more likely. I was (still am??) a serious metalhead and we weren't even allowed to think about Cyndi Lauper...let alone a bracelet modeled after her questionable fashion tastes.
haha. Dare I even ask: where do you find this stuff?? And an even bigger question (to my wine addled brain, at least) is did you ever find an intern to count all of those paperclips??
;-)
Ryane, I wore bracelets like that -- when I was 8 and still listened to Cyndi Lauper. Way back in the pre-metalhead days.
Then again, now that I'm in my post-metalhead days, I still like Cyndi Lauper -- in an ironic (and most likely drunken) 80's night kind of way.
For the record, I don't find this stuff. It just finds me, as a side effect of the fact that I read too much. This, in particular, was on the ABC News website. But I also think that Gawker linked to it right around the same time I wrote my diatribe.
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