"Don't Cry" was the initial breakup...."November Rain" was a dream of what could have been if she didn't commit suicide...and "Estranged" is him dealing with the emotions afterwards. Long time Guns fan here... Hope this helps. Take Care and God Bless.
Actually slash cheated on Axl with his estranged wife... hence the biracial kids who were shown outside the house.. and slash exiting the house 🏠 Also, in the November rain video she is cozing up the slash at the bar. Her death in NR is just an analogy, the death of the relationship. Estranged is coming to terms with that break up
@@scottvance7520 I will take your theory as another angle that could be true because these videos were released almost 30 years ago....but from what I can remember, Don't Cry was based off of a relationship that both Axl and Izzy had with the same girl (she's tattooed on Axls arm) November Rain video was based off the short story, written by Del James (their longtime friend) called "Without You" and she committed suicide before they could plan the wedding (face plate in casket, gun in mouth, pulled the trigger in the short story) Del James didn't release "THE Language of Fear" book with that short shory until 1995 which led to alot of theories of her death... could also be a metaphor as you claim but I think it's just not the case here.....Estranged video was a current thing going on with Axl and Stefanie Seymour breaking up, during the filming of.....alot of easter eggs of their relationship and that was Seymour's son in the video.... IMO, I don't think it's much of a trilogy but if GN'R said so in '92, I guess it is what it is. Take Care and God Bless.
@@sylmyl might not to you but it is for others. Either way it’s a great solo. Slash is not the greatest by all means but the way he plays just makes my girl dance on that pole.
My son was born Feb 1990, when he was just 2-3 months old and MTV actually still premiered videos. I remember the day I first noticed the effect this video had on him. He would just fixate on it, perfectly still and not a peep for the entirety of the song. 3 months old is when I started driving him to daycare, about a month before Brock was born I'd bought a '73 Chevy Cheyenne step side, it was immaculate and I had put a new sound system. So for the first month to help ease any possible anxiety issues with daycare, I just stuck to our routine of strapping into his car seat, he'd watch me get in and buckle up, fire up the 350 sm blk then turn CD player on select Estranged, and for the next 15 minutes Brock's soul would be one with this song! He went on to be an exceptional student, a two Combat Tour Army Vet. with a beautiful 8yr old daughter. 11/4/20 on his way home from work 5:45pm, an inexperienced 17yr old driver, turned his full size '86 Chevy p/u on a red arrow directly into Brock's path, who was operating a motorcycle. For 4+ hours they worked on him, at 11:27pm my only son passed at the very hospital he'd been born 30 1/2yrs prior. 11/18/20 an hour before his viewing, his 2nd daughter was born, the following morning 11/19/20/ Sergeant Brock Allen Baker, was laid to rest with full Military Honors. "Estranged" will forever take me back to a much simpler time, and literally my son's entire life before him!
That’s tough. I can’t imagine the pain of losing a child. Even tho he was 30, he will always be your little boy. God Bless. You can do everything right in this life & still get hit w/a tragedy. Well I hope this song brings g you sone peace. It’s 1 of there best. 🙏
This my favorite gnr song.. This is basically the aftermath of a break up from the love of your life .. Fun fact he actually jumped off the big boat for the video
This could have been the 1st time I've seen Brad go back after pausing to listen to the music, "that drummin' right there was tough". I continue to see good analysis of songs and now your feeling the music too. Great chemistry with Lex as always.
@@teijaflink2226 they did not, famously the band was annoyed at Axl for the money spend in the dolphins and the oil carrier, it was one of the triggers for the band implosion. Also they don't look fake at all (with then being real dolphins and all, also it's ignorant to claim that the technology in the early 90 could animate anything even close to this) so maybe you're so used to CGI that the real thing looks fake to you.
Axl broke up with Stephenie (girl from November rain) prior to this video, so that’s why this video doesn’t correlate with the other two. This video is more about Stephenie taking everything from Axl. He loved her son Dylan (the scene where he’s in a UCLA jersey picking him up in this video) and always wanted to be a father so when they broke up he lost that relationship as well. The dolphins are about Axl’s inner peace (walking down sunset strip) That’s what they represented to him. There’s some biblical metaphors here too in the video. But the song itself was written in line with November rain. Don’t cry just had a correlating video. Estranged was originally for Erin Everly (sweet child girl) Axl sat there and wrote this long 20 min song that got broken up into November rain and estranged. Regardless it’s just about losing someone and trying to put the pieces of your life back together.
I didn't know that he really wanted a child, sad now that he has never found anyone to have a child with (but maybe he chanced his mind, he just really cared for her kid).
I was eleven when this video came out. I immediately started saving my lunch money for a year to buy an electric guitar because of the “ocean solo” part. Now in my forties all my guitars are Les Paul’s. Coincidence?
That's awesome and my story is similar. It was Welcome to the Jungle and Sweet Child 'O Mine for me, then all of Appetite, then discovering Led Zeppelin. I got a cherry burst Les Paul Standard when I was 14 thanks to a very generous father in a particularly generous mood after months of prodding and waiting to get a mid level Stratocaster. That day was unbelievable. The guitar sounds incredible, though it has some electrical issue I need to fix. It's cutting the output of the bridge pickup by about 60%.
The trilogy goes with the short story "Without You" by Del James who's friends and works for the band behind the scenes. And yes this is GNR at the height in the industry and unlimited budget for videos in the MTV generation. Axl did go through mental health issues but he worked past them and now after 20+ years 3 of the original 5 founding members are back together and touring. I highly recommend you guys catching them live, you will not be disappointed. The play almost every song and play for 3+ hours long and it's an event. Have seen them play too many times to count starting in 1988 up to recently. If you sit in the first 20 rows you might get rhe whistle from the start of Paradise City (last song) or Axl's microphone which he also throws into the crowd after the song. Slash, Duff and Axl are worth the price... just seeing Slash play in person is mesmerizing!
The song is so elaborate it's easy to miss the wonderfully subtle techniques Slash employs in this song. There are sections where he uses controlled feedback to create long smoothly fluctuating notes that seem to go on forever. When the dolphins arrive in the video Slash uses volume swells to make notes that sound like a whale, not something you hear every day. To my knowledge, this is the only G N' R track where Axl actually says thank you to Slash in the sleeve notes for his guitar playing so that shows you how good it is.
“I think it’s almost there, but it’s still missing som…. dolphins, we need dolphins.” He had a bit of a flair for the dramatic 😂 Now that you did the trilogy, if you want to do anymore, I’d recommend Patience and Used to Love Her. I think you’ll dig both.
When the use your illusion double album's came out, they were huge, very different from the previous guns and Roses we were used to, still bloody awesome though.
Axle had a rough up and down relationship with model Stephanie Seymour, they got engaged and broke it off before the wedding.. (November Rain) Axle really wanted to be a dad, and loved her son like he was his own, she took him away from him (Estranged). Axle definitely had some issues, but being molested by your own father as a child will do that to you. Pretty sure the Dolphins represent her and the kid, in the end when he is with the one Dolphin (the kid) he is all smiling.
This is the best answer ive seen on here so far. And the original plan was for Stephanie to be in this video. But Axl said that he would rather do a video with a bunch of dolphins than to be around her again for another video. So that is the origin of the dolphins
12:32 In an already amazing song & video, Slash bursting up out of the ocean to deliver another brilliant solo is one of the greatest moments in music video history. (and I've watched thousands, if not tens of thousands, of them). Yes, I have a fair amount of time on my hands... 😉
God, I Love This Song!!! How did I miss you two doing this one? I've always thought this to be their Greatest Masterpiece. And they've got several, but this one is tops for me...
I was about 9 years old when my teacher asked all the kids in class to bring in their favourite song and it would be played. Most of the kids brought in guff pop tunes, 2 cool kids brought some snoop and NWA. I brought this. I didn't understand how people didn't feel like I did. I was pretty much the weird kid after that point.
In 1988 I was 10 years old. My dad had just bought a pioneer CD player to add to his stereo setup, and joined Columbia House to begin building his CD collection. I was allowed to pick one CD. The first CD I would ever own. I went with Appetite for Destruction. My parents were pretty angry with me when they first heard it. After a few months though I remember my dad saying "Buddy, this band may be the only group from your generation worth a damn." That said, as much as I love every song on that album, I have to say Estranged is my favorite GnR song ever.
Charles manson also wrote songs and guns n roses covered one called "look at your game,girl” from his album "lie :the love and terror cult” its on guns’s "spaghetti incident “ covers album.
Love how the analysis goes from trying to decipher the deep, meaningful context of the song to "None of the dolphins are real?? It's all fake dolphins??"
Yes Brad, he was dealing with a painful breakup at that time. All the songs that Lex mentioned belongs to the Use Your Illusions Albums, it was a rough period for Axl in his romantic life which led him to write these fantastic songs.
I agree with everyone saying you should do Coma. There’s no video for it, which I think is better because it’s one you really have to just listen to and let it wash over you. But make sure to not do a live version the first time or you’ll miss a lot-the studio version is perfection.
There are few reactions to coma and the few there are don’t do it justice. Brad and LEX will give COMA the reaction it deserves. Come on guys, react to Coma it will be epic.!
Looks like Axl is loosing his grip on reality after his new bride died and crushed his whole world after he worked so hard for his sanity during Don't Cry. I feel like Don't Cry is him trying to reassure his gf/future wife that he can pull it together for her
November Rain is about unrequited love, Estranged is acknowledging it and being there & having to figure out what the fuck to do about it. It's like being catapulted out into the universe with no choice about it because all the things you wanted and worked for cannot happen and have to figure out what the fuck to do. Watch the documentary called Making Fucking Videos part 3 & Axl says those words.
I knew it lol.... so glad you guys did this song.... time for a glass of wine and chill as I watch you watch Gunners! Wooooo! I may be wrong but, I think that when this music video was made it was the most expensive music video ever made.
@@BockwinkleB This song is their dirtiest, grimiest, hardest, raw, track. It's the epitome of the band, and the late-80's sunset strip scene's, hard rock decadence. It's leagues above Jungle, It's so easy, and Nightrain, and that's saying something.
When Lex started talking about artists not having the power to be themselves because they're owned by their label, she nailed it. I think Axl has always been a loose cannon but he was always an artist. He was angry a lot of the time, maybe the label had something to do with it, and he got a lotta hate for it, but GnR made some damn good music either way. Maybe the label was big enough to tell him what to do in the beginning, but by the time they got to Use Your Illusion 1 and 2, GnR were too big to keep down and the label finally said "f*ck it, doowutchyalike"...resulting in the band giving us this masterpiece, along with the rest of the trilogy. Even Michael Jackson couldn't make a Thriller type of video in the Off the Wall days.
I love seeing you guys appreciate GnR. You guys are adorable as well. I never knew watching these kinds of vids is so entertaining. You guys were my first and now I think I’m hooked. The 3 songs/vid story- Don’t cry, Nov Rain and Estranged is based of the Novel by Del James.
Charles Manson wrote a song, Look at Your Game Girl, that GnR covered on The Spaghetti Incident. It's like a psycho singing a beach boys song. It's worth a listen
Guns 'N Roses later went on to cover a Charles Manson song (he was a singer-songwriter before he became infamous as a cult leader). Axl really liked the song, and it's probable the shirt is due to his appreciation for Manson's music. Also, I agree with some of the other commenters here that you should check out "Coma". It's one of my favorites from the album, personally. Lyrics are pretty deep, too.
A song of love and loss and figuring out how to go on with the rest of your life. This album came out around the same time as a huge break up for me. I think I listened to this song everyday for a year and a half!!! My new girl who eventually became my wife won’t even listen to g and r anymore because I played this song and others from use your illusion 1 and 2 constantly!!!! For way too long…my wife saw them back in the day before their first album came out Philadelphia when she was in college. They were the bar band. No one even paid any attention to them!!!
Saw Guns N’ Roses on the Use Your Illusion tour with Metallica and Faith No More at Foxboro Stadium in MA 9/11/1991 was turning 21 in two days went my true inner circle friends we rented an RV and a driver so we could tailgate think we got to the Stadium at 11:30AM and it was on…got hammered but what a time…I always say each decade doesn’t end right on the number the 80’s ended around 1992 when Nirvana hit…then the hair and metal band era took a back seat to grunge…90’s were great but I loved the 80’s into the early 90’s actually anything up to 9/11/01 was great then the PC asshats started taking over …
weird phenomena happening.. the songs that gave goosebumps lost there magic after a while....seeing your intial reactions reinvoke those feelings.. and the music touches me again.
Great review guys. No lead guitarist can say they did a solo standing on water in the ocean 🤘 You gotta do Patience, Knocking on Heaven's Door and one of my personal favorites their cover of Live and Let die 👍
The Sinatra mug shot may be from when he got arrested for supporting blacks being able to go in white areas. He was a huge proponent of equal rights and refused to play some venues if they wouldn't allow blacks to be able to go in the front door like whites. His support helped facilitate a lot of positive change.
A couple recommendations from Appetite for Destruction worth a listen, quintessential Guns : Mr Brownstone Nightrain My Michelle also the whole album from Use Your Illusions Coma Locomotive Pretty Tied Up