#the november rain trilogy as seen through shells' eyes

[greeneyezblackheart]

I saw a post you made from a really long time ago where you were talking about how much you loved GnR's music videos. And I have to agree. And if you don't mind, allow me to talk your ear off again with another one of my GnR rants.

Their music videos in the 80s (Welcome to the Jungle, Paradise City, and Sweet Child O' Mine, in particular) were just your stereotypical, 80s rock music videos. Footage of the band doing things such as riding on buses, walking down streets, with the majority of it being a crazy performance/concert. Maybe this is just me, but in the 90s- actually, as early as Patience- they seemed to shift gears from that completely. Their music videos literally became little movies. As dumb as that sounds, I'm serious! I could pop a bag of popcorn and binge GnR music videos like I'm watching movies, Shells. ESPECIALLY November Rain. When I was watching it for the first time, it literally had me thinking, "Oh, what's gonna happen next?" In Estranged, after Axl jumped off the boat: "Oh, what's gonna happen next?" Am I the only one who feels that way? Patience, November Rain, Don't Cry, and Estranged all are like little movies, to me. They have plot twists (exhibit A: Stephanie's death in November Rain) and suspenseful moments, and it's like watching a little movie. I was watching Estranged earlier today, and just...wow. I see that video a lot, and it gets me every time. So good. So, so, so good. Band performance videos are near and dear to my heart, but GnR blew me AWAY with their music videos. They're truly amazing.

Hehe, I'll never forget the first time I watched a lot of GnR's videos- November Rain and Estranged, in particular. My best friend and I went to an arcade together. She loves GnR too, and like me, she is desperately in love with Slash. Anyway, we were there for two and a half hours, and we only played two or three games. What did we do for the rest of the time? She and I sat in a broken photo booth and BINGED GnR videos. I'm being dead serious. People thought we were just hogging the photo booth, but it was broken, so she and I sat in it and watched GnR stuff. It was such a good time. I was a brand new GnR fan at the time, and once I watched November Rain, there was no turning back. I was hooked for life.

I probably sound like SUCH a lunatic. But that's my thoughts on the loveliness of GnR's music videos. 💕

The Don’t Cry/November Rain/Estranged videos are actually supposed to be a trilogy. There’s a documentary out there of the making of these videos and the stories behind them. I’ve seen bits and pieces of this documentary on YouTube, but not the whole thing in its entirety. I know the video for November Rain is based on a short story called Without You, written by Del James, a really good friend of the band’s (particularly Axl’s). It’s about a rock star who’s hung up on a chick who kills herself and the story is a look into this dude’s fucked up, drug addled mind AFTER her suicide. Anyway, DC and NR are my favorite all-time music videos. And yes, I’m old enough to remember when they were being played on MTV. I was legit obsessed with Stephanie’s wedding dress in that video. Let me tell you a little secret: I played with Barbies until I was about 12 or 13 years old. I’ve always had a very vivid imagination and I’ve always done this thing where I make up stories in my head. I still do it to this day, I have this entire alternative universe where me and Izzy are together and…

Ok, sorry…back to the topic at hand. My Barbies. I would always make up stories in my head when I’d play with them. I was a huge GNR fan from the time I was 10 years old. In my stories, my Barbies were dating the GNR guys. I had plenty of Barbies to go around and I’d pretend my Ken dolls were the GNR guys. My main Barbie was with Duff (which is who I liked best in the band until about a year ago when all of a sudden Izzy turned me FERAL), and I was so enamored of Stephanie’s dress, that I cut the front of my wedding Barbie’s dress out to resemble the NR wedding dress. It was such a mess, but with my fantastic little imagination, my Barbie’s dress was an exact replica. I even made her a little garter for her leg like Stephanie’s in the video.

Okaaaaay. So. Yes, I have a long history with my GNR boys.

So, here’s what we know about the trilogy: Stephanie and Axl are fighting in the DC video. Fact: that happened in real life with Axl and Erin Everly—he was threatening to kill himself, they fought, she grabbed the gun away from him (like in the video). Then Steph catches Ax with another chick. She knocks ol' girl RIGHT OFF the piano bench and proceeds to beat the shit out of her as the rest of the band looks on in amusement. Slash and Duff have their little tiffs with their girls. Slash drives off a cliff with his girl in the car. But let’s forget Slash and Duff for now bcs they both appear (rather comedically) in the NR video. Stephanie and Axl are married in the NR video. But why does she look so freaking unhappy? She’s choosing to marry him even tho she knows he’s a cheater. Gorgeous wedding, Duff and Slash are so adorable with the whole ring thing. As they’re leaving the church, as the (happy?) couple gets in the car, Stephanie STILL looks so sad. But why? Surely, life COULD be worse, right? Reception: RAIN! Duff (providing the comedic relief) scrambles to get under a table. Cut to the funeral, where it’s obvious that Stephanie has died from gunshot suicide, as the casket has a mirror over one side of her face, as presumably the side of her face behind the mirror is not suitable for viewing. Pretty fancy way to have an open casket funeral for a gunshot to the head death. Hmmm, yes. My first time seeing something like that. Very interesting. Axl is sad. Sorry, bud. Maybe you should’ve been nicer to your girl. The Estranged video. I think it represents Axl going crazy finally? Very indulgent. Dolphins, the ocean, a boat, Slash playing the guitar while standing on ocean waves. Axl says FUCK IT, decides to end his life by jumping off the boat, gets rescued by Duff, aaaaand all is right in the GNR world again.

I wrote you a book. One that probably doesn’t make any sense. But one thing you know I can talk forever about is my GNR. 🖤