Vince Neil of Motley Crue vs. Axl Rose of Guns n' Roses and Van Halen vs. AC/DC

I was a huge fan of Axl and Guns n Roses. I didn't really care too much about those other bands. I think it has to do with my age. If I was 5 years older at the time, I would have been more into AC/DC.

Wow. You are comparing 4 VERY different bands. First, let me preface this whole thing by saying that I'm a HUGE Motley Crue fan. Not so much because of Vince, but because their bass player, Nikki Sixx is a pretty f***ing amazing guy. The guy was a full blown heroin addict and now is clean and the head of a record label and all of the proceeds of his book, "The Heroin Diaries" went to the Running with the Night Foundation, which houses and helps runaway kids. I've seen Motley Live 4 times and plan to see them again soon.They've never given a shit about what was going to be popular on the radio, they just wrote about whatever they wanted. "Home Sweet Home" was the first video ever retired by MTV because it had been #1 for so long and "You're All I Need" was the first video ever banned by MTV for non-sexual content. I've read their autobiography, "The Dirt" as well. When you say "Party Like A Rock Star", these guys did.

AC DC...are you comparing the Bon Scott era AC DC or the Brian Johnson era. I much prefer the Bon Scott era.Not a big fan since then.

Van Halen. David Lee Roth is a hell of a showman, but Sammy Hagar is a far superior singer (in my opinion). I saw 'Van Hagar' on the Monsters of Rock tour in 1988. Great show, although I have to admit that the Scorpions outplayed VH. I did think that Van Halen's 5150 album was pretty good stuff.I do like a lot of Van Halen's older stuff with DLR though as well.

Guns N Roses. Could have been one of the best and most prolific bands in history if Axl wasn't such a prick. I love G N R's older stuff. Appetite for Destruction was an AMAZING album from end to end. Haven't listened to any of the new album.

Motley is still rocking. Got their 'Saints of Los Angeles' album last summer and especially like the title track and "Down at the Whiskey". "This Aint A Love Song(It's Just A f*** Song)" is classic Motley. Nikki's side band, Sixx A.M. are kick ass and are like Motley with a much better singer. Their song "Life Is Beautiful" hit #2 on the Billboard modern rock chart in late 2007.

My vote goes to Motley, no questions ask. Read their autobiography, "The Dirt". A really fun and interesting read.

In this order:

1. Van Halen

2. Motley Crue

3. ACDC

10. GNR

My two cents:

I was the exact perfect age to really be into these bands. When VH 1984 came out I was a junior in High School and sat in 11th row center at the Civic Center(Xcel Energy Center) Greatest concert I've ever seen and people make fun of me for how many I've been to. Two nights earlier I saw Motley and Ozzy(with Jake) at the old Met Center where the North Stars played. Good show Tommy Lee had his spinning drum deal but for me Jake E Lee stole the show. Seen AC/DC a few times didn't do much for me. I remember it being really loud. I think GNR could have been the greatest ever if they would have kept their shit together. Now that I'm 41 I enjoy listening to GNR the most when I'm in the mood.

Listen to AC/DC's - Thunderstruck - Live at Donnington. One of a kind.

GNR was great when it was great with a few songs. Mediocre other than that.

Van Halen is good - but really morphed into more of a pop act

rather than a rock act.

Motley Crue not my cup of tea.

Guns N Roses for me, the others don't even come close.

Vince Neil sucks at life. Axl is total ego-tripping a-hole, but still a great singer of a great band.

I like AC/DC, but VanHalen so much more musically diverse and talented than them. With most bands it's true that "all their songs sound the same" to one degree or another, but AC/DC may be the poster child for this phenomenon. When I heard the first single off their new album I just thought "yeah, I've heard this already." That said, "Long Way to the Top" "For Those About to Rock" and "Hell's Bells" are classics.

Having only seen VH live out of the four, I would rate them this way:

1. *****G-n-R -- Appetite is probably one of the top-10 rock albums of all time.

2. ***Van Halen -- yeah, they got fairly poppy late in their career, plus Eddie is almost as big an egomaniac as Axl and kicked out most of the band. But they did some good stuff in the Hagar era.

3. ***AC/DC -- good, solid band for many years, but as I said, at all (since "TNT" at least) sounds the same.

4. **Motley Crue -- had the chance to see them next month and I passed. Dr. Feelgood was a solid album but that's about it. Really just the best of the true glam-rock "hair bands" of the 80s. They're superior to Warrant, Ratt, etc. but that's really not saying much.

Motley Crue Is way overrated in my opinion and is no where near the level of the other three bands listed.

Good question. Being a teenager back in the day when each of the four bands were hot, I can say that I was a fan of each and bought just about all of their albums. So for what it's worth here is my 2 cents....

1. VH but only the DLR years. The Sammy years got too poppy and they turned into Journey. The DLR years were totally raw with tons of guitar. Eddie revolutionized guitar playing. The ultimate party band. Youtube their 1983 US Festival performance. Stellar.

2. GNR. Appetite as previously mentioned is one of the top 10 rock albums of all time. When I first heard it I called all of my friends and told them to buy this album. At the time of Poison, Bon Jovi, Cinderella, etc, they sounded like nothing else. The Illusion albums would've made another great single album but were bloated and mediocre as two albums. Unfortunately they imploded and never fulfilled their promising career as the next Stones.

3. AC/DC. A great band and the length of their career proves it. Their songs do sound all the same but if the formula works don't fix it. Back in Black and Highway to Hell (the albums) are true classics.

4. The Crue. A good band but each album has only 2-3 good songs and the rest are throwaways. Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil (albums) are their best IMO.

Vince Neil and Axl have both had plastic surgery. That doesn't seem like a very "rock 'n' roll" thing to do, at least it didn't used to be.

Funny, I thought this was a thread about the feud between Axl and Vince from back in the early 90s. According to Vince, he knocked out a drunken Izzy after Izzy said something to Vince's girlfriend at the time. Apparently Axl didn't take too kindly to it, and he started talking smack through various outlets about kicking Vince's ass. Vince called him out, on MTV I believe, and said he'd fight Axl anywhere, anytime. I think that was the end of it. Interesting, since the Gunners opened for the Crue while they were promoting Appetite. Apparently Vince has always been kind of a prick- never partying with the rest of the guys in the group. And, well, Axl is a supreme d bag- just search "axl rose rants" on youtube and take your pick, old or new. I'm amazed and impressed Slash and co. managed to stick things out as long as they did before quitting Guns.

In terms of rating the groups musically and influentially, I'd go:

1. GnR 2. VH 3. AC/DC 4. Crue

Truthfully, I don't think the Crue even deserves to be mentioned in the same sentence as the other bands... Dr Feelgood was popular, but they just weren't on the same level musically as the others. And for my money, Appetite is definitely one of the top 10 rock albums ever. Possibly still the best, most complete hard rock ALBUM from the last 20 years.

haha! funny thread!

Motley Crue is easily last on this list. They blow more then ever. Their new music sucks hardcore, while AC/DC's new stuff is awesome. wow. GnR is f***en awesome. VH are legendary.

so ummm

van halen

ac'dc

GnR

Crue

van halen and ac/dc could be interchanged. Ac/DC is f***en raw as hell. i would compare it to van halen's old stuff. van hagar was differen't

peacce.

Yeah, I never got the impression Crue was any good at all. I'm not saying that the guitarist who actually LOOKs like he's from Mars and the drummer Tommy Lee can't play, but the material is just so uninteresting.

I mean, crue had some cool songs. but now their such tools. and their shit gets old.

i think its a tie between gnr and vh at the top.

guns n roses had by far the biggest most influential album of any of these bands. after that a lot of their music sucked, they did have a good song here and there (civil war, patience, estranged, you could be mine, november rain) but nothing matches appetite. there are songs on that album that didn't get released as singles that are awesome: rocket queen, mr brownstone, my michelle. as soon as izzy left they were done. everyone credits axl/slash, izzy was the "composer" of a lot of their songs.

van halen was just as good as gnr just over a longer period of time. their success spans multiple albums instead of one giant success. vhI and 1984 are both awesome.

acdc i just cant get all that into the singer.

motley crue is ok. dr feelgood is their best album and best song. they have maybe 5-6 good songs. a lot of their songs drag on for 1-2 minutes longer than they should and it gets really old. mick mars isn't half the guitarist eddie van halen is and isn't close to slash either. i can't really comment on whoever acdc's guitarist is. i don't think they have a solid album beginning to end like vh and gnr. and whoever said saints of los angeles was good.....no way. i listened to that album once and i don't think i heard a single good song on it. same thing with chinese democracy, 1 listen and that was enough, nothing inspiring, just crap.

I think this thread is evidence how bad music really was in the 80's. It's like comparing MacDonald's vs. vs. Wendy's vs. Burger King.

Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, and Mick Mars are all fairly great on their own respective instrument. GNR has Slash. Some people really like Axl's voice, but I think he just shrieks. I don't care for Vince Neil's much either, but I'd take Crue over GNR anyday.

Van Halen is better than AC/DC. Eddie and Alex are both great on their respective instrument. David Lee Roth as both a frontman and a singer is great. Michael Anthony seems to hold his own on bass if nothing else. AC/DC has Angus Young. He's pretty good. But that's it. Phil Rudd can keep it simple. That's all he's good for. Which is just a cop out to say that he's got very little talent.

They are all mediocre - at best.

rest is good wrote:

Guns n Roses was good because of slash, not axl.

No way, as much as Axl is a prick, there's no way that Gnr was only good because of Slash. There can only be one Axl.