Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy (2008)

[Magic]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

If I may set aside a personal observation, this thread, which started out as a review of the music of "Chinese Democracy" has boiled down to little more than a "Does Axl Rose Suck?/Was Chinese Democracy Over Hyped?" thread.

Unfortunately, Cosmic, you cannot separate the two. Chinese Democracy is Guns N' Roses, which in turn is the work of Axl Rose. There was no way to avoid the controvery that surrounds this album.

On a more positive note, though, as far as the music industry goes, any kind of publicity that a band/album can get only means dollar signs for the musicians. As history dictates, sometimes the best publicity is negative, people flock in groves to buy something with bad publicity. Madonna proved this fact over and over.

 

[LG]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

I would have had way more respect if Axl had released this album in his Own name. If he is going to use the power of G 'n R to attract attention to his latest project, then he is entitled to accept the criticisms or the accolades, considering it is a Guns 'N Roses CD what did you expect Cosmic?

Plain and simple it is not a very good album.

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

I agree. I think Cosmic did an excellent job of writing up the album.

And controversial though it may be, it's generally a decent album. Just not top of the charts material.

Thank you to both you and LG for the same compliment.

Well I've said it before and I'll keep saying it, I like "Chinese Democracy". While I don't approve of everything surrounding the album or all of Axl's actions I still approve of this album. Maybe it wasn't worth the 15 year wait but how could any album live up to that? The reason it charted so well and has sold as well as it has is because of the wait and because of the Guns N' Roses name being tied to it. He knew that the album would sell better under the G N' R banner than his own name (which I know how much that ****** you off LG) and I'm sure he was right, but even if he had wished to release the album under his own name I'm nearly certain that after all the time and money put into the album NO record company would have aloud that to happen.

As history dictates, sometimes the best publicity is negative, people flock in groves to buy something with bad publicity. Madonna proved this fact over and over.

That why people keep buying Kayne West records, which really just adds fuel to his "voice of a generation" fire. Unless you're Gary Glitter it's very very rare for any sort of publicity to be bad in rock music. She is a forgiving mistress.

 

[rtbuck]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

I finally was able to get around & check out this post( & other posts here as well!!) & I loved reading all the posts on this topic.

Cosmic your review made me go back & listen to the album & it actually helped me enjoy the album more. I've listened to it in its entirety since reading the review. I do really enjoy the title track & agree with what you say about the begining & ending of the tune. Since reading your review & listening to the album I've gone back & listened to the title track, Scraped,IRS, & Prostittue again as to me those are my favorites off the album. When I first bought the album I gave it a listen & thought it was a good album but to tell you the truth it was gaining dust since I bought it but your review did open me up to it & I know at least those 4 tunes I mentioned will be listened to on a more regular basis.
I agree with LG when he said: "To be a little fair to Axl...(Which is hard for me...), taking 15 years to finally release an album would be almost impossible to satisfy expectations." Wow 15 years! I remember back in the seventies when it seemed like forever for Boston to release their second album & then when it finally came out at the time it was pretty much a disappointment that didn't live up to the hype & expectations & it made it's way to the cut out section pretty quickly & that was ONLY a two year wait!(I can listen to it now & think it was a pretty decent record but at the time I was disappointed in it)

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

Glad I could help you enjoy it a little more this time around.

 

[PizzaFace]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

The only thing in worse production hell than this Album is the video game "Duke Nukem Forever" any gamer can tell you about this if you don't know, lol

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

Well to be fair Duke Nukem Forever still has a couple years before it passes up "Chinese Democracy" so in like 2012 when the world ends (HAHAHAHA) and Duke Nukem still isn't out I think we can all fairly say that Axl is not the worst with delays.

 

[FoxyPage]

Re: Chinese Democracy ~~~ Guns N' Roses

The only thing in worse production hell than this Album is the video game "Duke Nukem Forever" any gamer can tell you about this if you don't know, lol

One word:


Wintersun.

 

[Soot and Stars]

Re: Guns & Roses

Chinese Democracy


I finally bought and have listened to this album for the first time and it's great! I know the hype was impossible to live up to but I don't see how anyone could think this was a bad album. I kind of understand that it's not typical G N' R so you'd have to judge it on it's own merits. The album encompasses a lot of styles and is very ambitious! Besides rock and metal it has some funk, R & B, pop, dance beats, blues, operatic theatrical moments mixed in! Here are my favorite tracks from it!

Better


This I Love


There Was A Time

 

[Cosmic Harmony]

Re: Guns & Roses

I finally bought and have listened to this album for the first time and it's great! I know the hype was impossible to live up to but I don't see how anyone could think this was a bad album. I kind of understand that it's not typical G N' R so you'd have to judge it on it's own merits. The album encompasses a lot of styles and is very ambitious! Besides rock and metal it has some funk, R & B, pop, dance beats, blues, operatic theatrical moments mixed in! Here are my favorite tracks from it!

Well the biggest complaint I've heard from people is that "It doesn't sound like Guns N' Roses." and with seemingly countless lineup changes I don't see how they expect it to. But yeah, I think people say this album sucks because they don't look at it based on it's own merits.

I think it's sad because is a great album as a whole.