Sérgio Rodrigues de Souza
Pedagogue. Philosopher. Post-Doctorate in
Psychology. Scientific Consultant. Email: srgrodriguesdesouza@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
This essay explores the music, song and video for
Estranged, by Guns N' Roses, released in 1991, on the album Use Your Illusion
II. It is a true masterpiece of the international recording industry, and can
be classified as a song that has an incomparable production, and cannot be
surpassed in technical and sound terms. It's such an incredible composition
that, live, you can hear the piano, guitar and double bass playing at the same
level, that is, what you expect from base instruments, they are producing melody
in the same timbre. This makes it no longer a rock song but a rock opera with
traditional elements. The lyrics reveal Axl's feelings of fear regarding the
loneliness that loomed with the end of his marriage to Erin Everlin. This
feeling was due to his manic-depressive behavior, with expressions of excessive
aggression and deep bouts of depression and variation in mood. The video clip
represents a revelation by the vocalist about his psychic world and how he was
driven to certain attitudes, especially towards death and, always, an unknown
force took care of bringing him back to life. There is a detail in the
performance of the song Estranged (when played live), which is the emotional
charge that Axl imposes on it; a special type of feeling, of anguish, of
melancholy, that is not noticeable in the other songs. Both the lyrics and the
song were composed at a very delicate moment in Axl Rose's life, such as drug
and alcohol addiction, divorce, stardom, confusion on and off stage, with the
press, with his group mates, with fans and anyone who would face a good fight
and, when the press realized that all that adrenaline mixed with the anger and
hatred that consumed the boy, made her earn a lot of money and sell a lot of
magazines, around the world she bet everything, while the young rockstar
attacked her more and more, without understanding that he was playing the game
she wanted so much.
Keywords: Foreign. Axl Rose. Armas e Rosas. Eros and Thanatos.
Reviewed by Current Scientific Journal
on
abril 12, 2024
Rating:
