Maybe there is a mini-jonmc out there...

February 4, 2004 11:09 AM

Li'l G n' R - the first ever Guns N' Roses Kids Tribute Band. Check the audition video here (quicktime). They're playing CBGB's in a couple of weeks. Only $5, c'mon NYC MeFi'ers....one of you has to go and report.
posted by Ufez Jones (20 comments total)

Liked it when they asked one kid; will you drop out of school to go on tour? Even though he said, yes, not too sure he knew what school or dropping out is.
posted by thomcatspike at 11:23 AM on February 4, 2004

Amusing, though the "director" of the music act looks like a comedian trying to be a bad actor. The movie was just a little too overdone to be funny.

I'm not sure if the street interviews were faked though. Do teens today really have no idea who GnR is?
posted by mathowie at 11:25 AM on February 4, 2004

I'm sure you could find some people who don't know of GNR and he probably just left the people who knew out of the final cut.

Pretty funny little site. Yeah the movie's a bit overdone but it's alright nonetheless.
posted by xmutex at 11:34 AM on February 4, 2004

Not CBGB, by the way -- CB's Gallery. BIG difference.
posted by drinkcoffee at 11:35 AM on February 4, 2004

Perhaps Li'l GNR will release Chinese Democracy before the other GNR.
posted by shoepal at 11:39 AM on February 4, 2004

One of my runnin' buddies in high school was a dead ringer for Slash, hair and all. Lookin at L'il Slash is like seeing his baby picture.
posted by jonmc at 11:46 AM on February 4, 2004

that mark guy is the anti-comedian. so. not. funny.
posted by t r a c y at 12:07 PM on February 4, 2004

For a few years in college, I was a teaching assistant. I taught a new group of students every couple of weeks. I remember coming to the realization one day that for the next rotation, my new students (freshman) were born in 1980... which freaked me out. But my day was totally ruined when none of them had ever heard of Dokken. I have no idea how it came up... but yea. None of them knew who I was talking about.
posted by Witty at 12:07 PM on February 4, 2004

Do teens today really have no idea who GnR is?

Well, a kid who is 18 today was born in 1986, and the last GnR album was what, 1993? Kids don't tend to have a firm grasp on the musical spectrum at the age of 7, so I could definitely say it's conceivable.

Kids just entering their teens were born in 1991, around the time GnR were actually selling records.
posted by mikeh at 12:09 PM on February 4, 2004

Sunday night at CBGB's is audition night, where any lousy band (and I mean *really* lousy) can play in hopes of getting a real show there.
posted by car_bomb at 12:59 PM on February 4, 2004

In an alternate universe, the Guns N' Roses long-awaited Chinese Democracy LP has ignited a whole new generation's interest in the band.
posted by inksyndicate at 1:17 PM on February 4, 2004

inksyndicate: i didn't think my respect for the offspring could actually go any lower, but it just did. that's one of the stupidest things i've heard out of anyones (including musicians') mouths in a long, long time.
posted by untuckedshirts at 2:20 PM on February 4, 2004

Wow. That video (pretty much the only real content on that the lil gnr website) is heinous. AWFUL.
posted by arielmeadow at 2:46 PM on February 4, 2004

Not to open a G n' R sucks/doesn't suck debate, but in the grand scheme of things, wasn't W. Axl & Co. just kind of a hard rock band with an excellent debut album, that fizzled, and don't have real historical relevance? Not that they belong on the dustbin of history, but in different genres, I put them in the same league as the La's or Badfinger.

As far as Dokken goes... that made me giggle a little bit. I kind of liked Ratt back in the day, but I'll admit that they were just another middle of the pack hair band, and it comes as no particular surprise to me that kids today... Kids today! [shakes fist]... have no idea who they are.
posted by psmealey at 3:18 PM on February 4, 2004

Is that Offspring link outdated or purely a joke? They already released the followup to Conspiracy of One, but called it Splinter.
posted by tirade at 3:26 PM on February 4, 2004

it comes as no particular surprise to me that kids today... Kids today! [shakes fist]... have no idea who they are.

I hear ya psmealey. It was just a sad realization for me at the time. I guess it was my first "wow, I am getting old(er)" experience. I didn't expect them to rattle off the chorus to Dream Warriors, but never even HEARD of them? Haha!

wasn't W. Axl & Co. just kind of a hard rock band with an excellent debut album, that fizzled, and don't have real historical relevance?

Yep. But they sure were icons of the time.
posted by Witty at 3:40 PM on February 4, 2004

li'l jonmc is old -- and dream warriors ROCKS
posted by Satapher at 3:59 PM on February 4, 2004

But my day was totally ruined when none of them had ever heard of Dokken.

A generational disaster averted!
posted by inpHilltr8r at 4:35 PM on February 4, 2004

Is that Offspring link outdated or purely a joke? They already released the followup to Conspiracy of One, but called it Splinter.

I think they changed their plans after realizing GNR really wasn't about to release Chinese Democracy in 45 minutes or less. For a while it seemed imminent, with Axl and neo-Roses about to stage a comeback tour. But then it collapsed amid Axl's nervous breakdown.

The joke is that Chinese Democracy is an album so long in the making, it originally was going to have a young Moby as producer (in an attempt to cash in on the then-burgeoning techno trend.) Producers have come and gone, but the album remains unreleased since Axl started work on it in 1994.

That's actually the only respectable thing I've ever heard the Offspring say, actually...
posted by inksyndicate at 5:25 PM on February 4, 2004

Well, a kid who is 18 today was born in 1986

Wow. Well, I might as well put away the punk boots and get out the walker, 'cause suddenly I'm very, very old. ::sigh::

One of my weirdest memories about coming home between terms for Christmas from being at school abroad '88 - '89 was that suddenly everyone was talking about this Great New Band G&R, who had not yet hit it big in Britain. Very weird feeling to come home to an alien pop culture.
posted by anastasiav at 5:26 PM on February 4, 2004