Duff McKagan:Believe in Me – did anybody like it?

[endstand]

I don’t remember much discussion about this album around here, or anywhere…ever.

Believe in Me came out in 1993 and while I doubt anybody expected it to be a chart topper, it only hit #137 on Billboard.
I think there was not a big promotion or anything, but Duff did tour around it and had some press.
Sure it was not a hot year for Gn’r anymore but they still were HUGE and Duff was well known name so just for the sake of it maybe it could have made at least a bit bigger splash.

I remember buying it when it came out. I was 12 years old and while I was still a big Guns fanboy I thought it was not good. Cover was kinda cool and it had some ok songs, but mostly throwaway stuff.

So did anybody actually like it?

[LurkingAtWork]

I liked some of it, the song with Kravitz, the one with Bach, even that rap song. I remember the rest being pretty terrible though. Duff shouldn't be anywhere near a microphone.

[kwf]

Nothing GNR or related has caught my ear since You Could Be Mine. Their cover of Hair Of The Dog was cool though. Without AFD they are boring

[SterileEyes1]

I liked the title track. Duff pulls that ‘drunk guy at the bar’ vocal style off quite well on it. Authenticity is key.

[LadyJaneGrey]

I haven't listened to that album in years, but I remember liking some of the songs. I also had a thing for Duff back then, so I didn't have the most unbiased opinion.

[rockker]

I remember being fond of it at the time.

[ParaDime77]

Duff seems like a pretty cool dude but honestly his vocal prowess is really poor. He may release a song or two here and there but does anyone listen to it after a day or two?

[cook_jaime]

Hard to believe that came out in 93. Don't think I ever heard it until around 2010. I liked it. His vocals aren't great but they have a certain charm.

[skinni]

Duff seems like a pretty cool dude but honestly his vocal prowess is really poor. He may release a song or two here and there but does anyone listen to it after a day or two?

I am in full agreement

[demolition23]

I really liked it at the time, and still do. But it was pretty off the cuff stuff that mostly sounded nothing like Guns so not surprised it wasn’t popular.

[DonJuanDeMarco]

All the guys from Guns n Roses should’ve got together and formed a band without Axl.

Think about it…. Axl did Chinese Democracy while all the other guys did solo albums. Duff, Slash, Gilby, Izzy…. I’m sure if you put it all together we could come up with an awesome album!

[FreddyFender]

Got it in the bargain bin, listened to it once. Awful.

GNR Solo Albums, Rated
#1. Gilby - Pawnshop Guitars
#2. Izzy - Like a Dog
#3. Slash - Ain't Life Grand

Pretty much everything else, save for some more Izzy cuts, are crimes against humanity.

[endstand]

Duff seems like a pretty cool dude but honestly his vocal prowess is really poor. He may release a song or two here and there but does anyone listen to it after a day or two?

Yeah. I don’t think anybody has anything bad to say about Duff. One of the rare stars of that caliber who actually seemed to have done lots of work with himself and is not wrapped around his own ego. So he seems like a cool person.

However being a songwriter prolly is not his forté and as a lead vocalist the same. But on the other hand, I would think he is happy with the fact that he has been able to do what he’s done. Since the commercial success has been not his responsibility with the bands he has been in. Well, expect his solo projects, but hard to imagine there has been any success expectations with those either.

[aznsquirt]

I always thought his sound and voice was in someone's mind when Jesse and the 8th Street Kidz was being polished together.

Does anybody know who was in his band here? I can't find the info anywhere. They're a good band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFG79A_OGg

Edit: The website for the album lists these guys as "touring members", so probably them:

Joie Mastrokalos – lead guitar (touring band member), backing vocals on "Swamp Song" and "Fuck You"
Richard Duguay – bass (touring band member)
Aaron Brooks – drums (touring band member)

[GoodJudge]

I saw him touring it, at the Cathouse in Glasgow, capacity about 500. The last UK show he'd played was with GnR at Milton Keynes Bowl, capacity 50,000. I guess it showed what confidence the promoters had. All I remember it was OK and that the only GnR song played was It's So Easy. It didn't make me want to get the album.

[ckgent]

I was at Glasgow too. I enjoyed it. Had to use a fake ID to get in.

[HORRORHOLIC1979]

Yeah I really like it and still listen to it.

[Anthrax442]

I don’t remember much discussion about this album around here, or anywhere…ever.

Believe in Me came out in 1993 and while I doubt anybody expected it to be a chart topper, it only hit #137 on Billboard.
I think there was not a big promotion or anything, but Duff did tour around it and had some press.
Sure it was not a hot year for Gn’r anymore but they still were HUGE and Duff was well known name so just for the sake of it maybe it could have made at least a bit bigger splash.

I remember buying it when it came out. I was 12 years old and while I was still a big Guns fanboy I thought it was not good. Cover was kinda cool and it had some ok songs, but mostly throwaway stuff.

So did anybody actually like it?

The only song I ever heard off of it was when "Believe in Me" got airplay, and honestly, it was so bad, that I had no interest in hearing any of the rest of it. As mentioned in the thread, Duff seems like a cool dude, but I can't imagine enjoying an entire album sung in that...style.

Who knows, though, maybe I'll catch it used at some point and listen to it.

[Rocker4Real]

Duff played the song live on Headbangers Ball. I don't think he has a strong enough voice to be a front man.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

It's like Johnny Thunders was given a million dollars to do whatever he wanted in the studio.

Not great.

[HueyRamone]

Im just surprised so many people have heard it. I saw it in a bargain bin once with it's garish cover and was like "who would buy this?"

[Wild Obsession]

Out of the GN'R solo albums (Slash, Axl, Duff, Izzy, Gilby), IMO, Slash's "Ain't Life Grand" is the only one that comes close to AFD/Lies/Illusions.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

Out of the GN'R solo albums (Slash, Axl, Duff, Izzy, Gilby), IMO, Slash's "Ain't Life Grand" is the only one that comes close to AFD/Lies/Illusions.

What aboot Pawn Shop Guitars?

[Wild Obsession]

Out of the GN'R solo albums (Slash, Axl, Duff, Izzy, Gilby), IMO, Slash's "Ain't Life Grand" is the only one that comes close to AFD/Lies/Illusions.

What aboot Pawn Shop Guitars?

I really like most of Gilby's stuff, (and Pawn Shop Guitars is my favorite of the "GN'R solo albums"), but stylistically/musically I think "Ain't Life Grand" sounds the closest to "classic GN'R.

[ar1888]

I loved w it when it came out, but i was high a lot back then. I tried listening to it a few years back. Sounds horrible to me now.

[endstand]

I always thought his sound and voice was in someone's mind when Jesse and the 8th Street Kidz was being polished together.

Does anybody know who was in his band here? I can't find the info anywhere. They're a good band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoFG79A_OGg

Edit: The website for the album lists these guys as "touring members", so probably them:

Joie Mastrokalos – lead guitar (touring band member), backing vocals on "Swamp Song" and "Fuck You"
Richard Duguay – bass (touring band member)
Aaron Brooks – drums (touring band member)

Thanks for the link, have not seen this before.

However, huh, really reminds how even the title track of the album was not a good song at all! It does not even sound like a finished idea, rather just some random song parts and a very boring riff patched together.

I remember that I liked the song 10 Years from the album (kinda sappy downtempo one, but somehow catchy in a sloppy way) and Just Not There, which also was kinda cool.

[Mister Freeze]

Gn'R was the ultimate "sum is greater than the individual parts" band.

Yet each and every member couldn't wait to scamper off and make a solo album.

[alexleehooker]

‘Man in the meadow’ or whatever it’s called is good, so are a few others.

Decent album a 7/10

I play it on Spotify.

Back then I didn’t rate Duff as a singer cos I was used to hearing Axl or even Izzy (gruff but in tune and kept it simple).

Duff sounded a bit sloppy and without melody by comparison however listening years later he’s alright and does the iggy pop vocal style , so I listen to it for what it is and appreciate what he does.

[aznsquirt]

Yet each and every member couldn't wait to scamper off and make a solo album.[/size]

Well, GnR was also probably the ultimate "record labels were chomping at the bit to hand any one of them a solo record contract with a fat advance" band, too.

People tend to mock all of the "lame attempt at a solo project" moments in music history, but don't realize how many quick bucks have been made over the years by a lot of those artists.

[Love_Industry]

I remember being fond of it at the time.

I didn't like it at all back then, but now I listened to it after not hearing it for 25 years or more and it's actually not bad.
Will listen to it at least once more.