When Guns N Roses first came out, they were one of the most dangerous bands I'd ever heard. They looked like guys you'd only meet on the seedy side of town. They had names like Slash, Axl, Izzy, and Duff. They came across as people who were doing some heavy shit and would probably end up dead before you listened to their entire record. I had never come across anything in mainstream music that sounded like "Appetite for Destruction." Simulated sex moans. Tossed off lines like "Why don't you just... FUCK OFF!" An inner sleeve design that showed a girl getting raped by some kind of robot. I didn't know who these guys were but I knew they were cool. They blew all the hair-metal posers completely off the map.When I first started teaching, one of my musical claims-to-fame was the fact that I saw GNR back in the day as an opening band. They had an opening slot on an Aerosmith tour just after "Welcome to the Jungle" had blown up on MTV. Honestly, they were terrible. Axl sounded awful and the band just kind of looked out of it. It didn't matter to my students though. Only seeing an early Nirvana show could've topped that one.
Unfortunately for Guns, they became everything they weren't when they started. They went from Jack Daniels, cocaine, hookers, and blues to spandex shorts, back-up singers, piano ballads, and gigantic bloated stage shows. I'm not saying that songs like "November Rain" weren't good. I actually love "Use Your Illusion II," but these guys weren't scary anymore. The whole thing had become a little too polished. Not surprisingly, it didn't last for long after that.
Though GNR was doing a number of things that I thought were going to cause them to implode, the first real sign of the end was when Izzy Stradlin left the band. Izzy was Keith Richards ressurected. He wasn't the hairy, sweaty, top-hatted fury that Slash was. He was the cool, constantly-smoking rhythm guitarist and backing vocalist. To the casual observer, he may have seemed like just a supporting player, but it ended up that Izzy Stradlin brought a lot more to GNR than anyone realized. He co-wrote a lot of their great songs, had a dirty guitar sound that wonderfully played off of Slash's leads, and his voice was an excellent compliment to Axl's screechy howls. As soon as I heard that he left the band I thought, "These guys are done."
"Double-Talkin' Jive" is one of Izzy's several solo-esque contributions to the "Use Your Illusion" records. It sounds like the more dangerous GNR tunes from when they first began. It chronicles the street life of a drug dealer who's "got to go collect" after he's been "livin' on the run" for too long. I love the chorus of "Double-talkin' jive, get the money mother-f*cker 'cause I got no more patience." It's right in your face, and certainly not the kind of thing you'd hear other radio-friendly artists singing about. I guess that's why "Don't Cry" and "November Rain" ended up as the first singles from UYI. What's also great about this song is the cool acoustic ending. It's this Mexican-bandito part that you'd expect to hear at the closing of a Sergio Leone movie or something. I love it, and that's the other thing that was great about GNR. They were so diverse, though they rarely get enough credit for it.
"Double-Talkin' Jive" is from the album "Use Your Illusion I." To hear the song, click on the icon in the widget jukebox along the side of the page.
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