Here Today... Gone To Hell!

http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1600146/20081124/guns_n_roses.jhtml

Kanye West Vs. Guns N' Roses: Akon, Jonas Brothers, Ne-Yo Weigh In On Chart Battle
'I want to pull for both of them,' Jordin Sparks says, before leaning toward GN'R.
By Chris Harris, with reporting by Jeff Cornell

Will it be Guns N' Roses or Kanye West?

That was the question on everybody's minds Sunday night outside Los Angeles' Nokia Theatre, just before the start of the 36th annual American Music Awards. With two of the year's biggest releases dropping within the past 48 hours ? GN'R's more-than-16-years-in-the-making Chinese Democracy and Mr. West's 808s & Heartbreak ? the battle for Billboard's coveted peak position is on.

Music-industry insiders are paying close attention, because no one knows for sure who will end up opening at #1 when sales figures are released December 3. Could Rose's long-awaited opus outsell the latest album from one of hip-hop's biggest MCs? We surveyed several of the performers, winners and presenters during Sunday's AMAs to find out who they're backing in next week's Billboard showdown. Not surprisingly, most of those who spoke with us said they think it will be a tight race but one that will eventually end with Kanye walking away the victor.


"Oh, I don't know," "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks said when asked who she thought would sell more records. "Guns N' Roses have some pretty avid fans, but so does Kanye. I want to pull for both of them, but I'm going to say Guns N' Roses, maybe. Kanye will probably hate me now. Crap."

Last week, MTV News learned that Geffen Records, which issued Democracy on Sunday as a Best Buy exclusive, would be holding on to GN'R's first-day sales figures until November 30, the same day West's label will report his week-one sales to Nielsen SoundScan. Typically, albums are released in the U.S. on Tuesdays and SoundScan tracks weekly sales data from Monday through Sunday, meaning that most albums' debut spots on the Billboard chart are based on six sales days. At first, most assumed day-one sales of Chinese Democracy would be reported next week and released the morning of November 26. But instead, Geffen will report eight full days of sales, putting it up against West's seven.

"We've got an undeniable producer, an undeniable hip-hop artist, and we've got history," Ne-Yo said, while weighing the matchup Sunday. "Damn, man ? I don't know. It's going to be a hell of a fight. I mean, I guess Guns N' Roses needed time to get everything together, so as long as the album's good. ... If you wait that long, you need to come out with something fantastic. I can't even make a prediction on that one."

Fray frontman Isaac Slade thinks West has the best shot at opening on top but admitted that it could go Guns' way, because "16 years is a long time to wait for a record." The-Dream was very confident in his prediction: "Kanye West. I think he'll come out on top, by just a little bit."

One of Axl Rose's contemporaries, M?tley Cr?e's Vince Neil, was just as conflicted about it but thinks West will down Democracy. Of course, Neil and Rose have had their differences in the past.

"It will probably be close, but Kanye will probably take it," he said. "The thing about Guns N' Roses is, it's not really Guns N' Roses. If Slash and Duff were still in it, I'd be a little more excited. Hopefully, it's a good album. I hope it's worth it, because they spent a lot of money and a lot of time on it. I like to record in two weeks, so I never second-guess myself.

Colbie Caillat thinks both acts have a fair shot at #1 but tends to side with Kanye in next week's battle, because "people love him." Joe Jonas of the Jonas Brothers wouldn't pick one name over the other, instead wishing "great things for both of these legendary artists." He did, however, follow that up by saying, "We've been listening to Kanye's new record," and that they're all "excited to get it for ourselves."

Akon also had a hard time picking a favorite. "That's a tough one," he said. "I'll buy both. I'm sure I'm not the only person who thinks that way. Kanye's always definitely been a guy who goes outside the box. And Guns N' Roses are legends, of course. That's a tough one."

For actor Terrence Howard, it wasn't so much a question of who, but when. "It would have been Guns N' Roses 15 years ago, hands down, but the mood has changed," he said. "Kanye has a lot of people anticipating his record. I think Kanye will open bigger, but I think Guns N' Roses has a bigger fanbase, and they will catch up [to West's sales] within the next month."

Apparently, if 2 other former members were there it would "still" be Guns N' Roses. I'm getting sick of that fuckin line.


 :peace:

Especially from bands that had members replaced, yet still kept the name.  I guess it was okay for THEM to do it, but not Axl.

Motley did one album with a different singer, and one with a different drummer... And obviously Vince was only involved with one of those.
So yeah, slightly different scenario than the Chi-Dem lineup IMO... And they DID catch a lot of shit from people for still calling the dramatically different sounding Corabi album 'Motley Crue' so its not like Axl/GnR are being singled out for criticism on this front.

He records everything in two weeks?....well at least we now know why his vocals suck so bad on everything he has done since 1997's Generation Swine...I think Motley (Sixx)  should bring back John Corabi

Yeah, that comment raised eyebrows. I'm sure HE does only take two weeks cos he doesn't do a great deal of writing, just comes in and sings. I actually think his vocals were solid on the last album, but live is another matter entirely...  :-\

I don't even know who more then half those people are.

talk about feeling old and out of the loop.

It makes me sick to my stomach knowing that Kanye is going to beat us.

Rap stars are the new Gods though. Kanye will move close to 800k easy, they said CD was on pace to do 300 to 500k which would be way less than AC/DC and Metallica..... maybe they should've went with Walmart. Way more Walmarts in the US

Also, for as little promotion they've done, 500k would be really huge.

read somewhere that Kanye was only on pace to do 450- 500k . so it could be a close race.

Yeah, the lack of promotion is a bit disheartening, compared to 2006 when everyone and their dog was talking about the possible release of CD.

Could be smart strategy from Axl though.

Get a couple of big week sales just on the mystique and already generated buzz from the album, and once that dies down THEN start giving interviews etc to build that buzz back up.

Yeah, who knows? Certainly not me, lol.

yeah I'm sick of it too, but that line is not going anywhere..One of my friends was over the house listening to "Sorry" and he liked the song and then said "So I guess Slash will be playing this with Axl on stage in 2 years"?  There are alot of people who really think that it's only a matter of time before the orignal line-up gets back together..so they will continue with lines like that.....bullshit if you ask me...It has been over a decade since Slash or Duff were in the band....time to move on....having said that I feel that the whole "its not really GNR" line was not said anywhere near as much as I anticipated it being said in the past few weeks...

Good God!!! Kanye's new album is crappy.

I could never be friendly with anyone who refuses to get over the fact that Slash is gone.

kanye's new album is great, no matter who wins this "chart battle" i'm happy.  honestly i think it doesn't matter that much, a good album is a good album.

 What's it been, like over 12 years now?

All you have to do is listen to the music. Does it suffer without having Slash there?? Hell no....

I won't lose any real sleep over the whole Kayne VS GNR. As long as CD does some respectable numbers saleswise it will give Axl a mandate to do what he wants on the next album, that is my only concern.

hes a modern day hip-hip/rap artist.

what do you expect.

Same here. And above all, I don't get why Duff is always brought up instead of Izzy. As far as I'm concerned, Izzy's had a far bigger role in GNR than Duff.

i guess cause Izzy was never as upfront as the rest of the guys.
Hes more the Mick Mars of Guns N Roses.

Kanye's vocal compression...

So annoying.

Looks like west is going to win with about 500k and guns will be 2nd with about 300k.

Where are you getting your numbers from?

http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/news/newsPage.cgi?news07362
KANYE CAUSES HEARTBREAK FOR CHALLENGERS

West?s New Album Will Approach 500k, as Guns (300k), Ludacris (225k) and The Killers (200k) All Trail

November 26, 2008

Kanye?s the king of Thanksgiving week.

West's Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam album, 808s and Heartbreak, in which he tackles the Auto-Tuner and his own inner demons, will be #1 on next Tuesday?s chart with a total that looks to be between 450-500k.

That?ll be more than enough to beat back Axl Rose and his first Guns N? Roses album in some 15 years, Chinese Democracy, which will move around 300k, more or less, out of Best Buy outlets. And that?s including the 25k or so not counted opening week at iTunes for the Sunday release.

Ludacris? Island Def Jam album, Theater of the Mind, looks good for 225k, followed by the other one of IDJ?s big holiday power trio, The Killers? Day and Age, clocking in with 200k more or less.

Finally, what would the turkey shoot be without Barry Manilow? The "Copacabana" guy scores 85k for his new Arista/RMG album, The Greatest Songs of the Eighties, thanks to huge QVC sales.

Coldplay?s Prospekt?s March EP on Capitol will chalk up between 75-80k, while Capitol Nashville?s Trace Adkins appears headed for the 40-45k area for his new album, X.

After some Monday confusion over release dates (all three major circulars advertised the IDJ albums coming on Tuesday), the numbers seem back to normal.

Meanwhile, the market was up 6% vs. last week, down 32% vs. same week last year and now down 14% year to date. Feels like a tryptophan hangover even before the turkey is served.

Truth is, the truth hurts.  :-[

does it really matter , the album is out and it kicks ass. plus the truth is west album is a stinker, dude should have to turn in his mic for that pill of shit.

Amen on all counts.

Hell, we could bust an AFD and hit #1 later on! 

Considering what AC/DC and Metallica sold......... I expected a bit more.

Sir both of those band have done more in the past decade then Gusn , they have stayed more in the minds of people . Plus they had a lot more promoand tours going on .

I think if you factor in the cumloads of promo AC/DC and Metallica did compared to the ZERO promo GN'R did, we are ahead of them.

LOL. Yeah.

Black Sabbath has done it with only one original member.

Hooray!! :D







Sorry.

Speaking of the AMA's

I was pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of great performances.

Miley Cyrus kicked some serious ass. She has the heart of a little rocker in her.

Taylor Swift's "White Horses" song was very good and emotional, She got seriously tore up singing it and I miss that realness in music.

Kanye West also, his performance of "Heartless" was intense and he really is able to get a song across.

You just lost your man card, sir.

 :hihi: :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:

Watch the fookin performance first!

Miley *chekout the last half*
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fTe827oEW9U


Taylor Swift:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAfGZIf2GYM&feature=related

Kanye;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=un4A8dsj-9c&feature=related

I waiting for that achy breaky girl to reach 18 then go buck ass wild. MAybe even lesbo it up , maybe with Taylor.

I'm not gonna lie, I enjoy Kanye's new album a lot.

i feel the same damn way at times. Look at Whitesnake, David Coverdale has had 10x as many people come in and out of that damn band (at least 50 different artists have come in and out over the years) and yet the call G'n'R a revolving door?.......please they're more like an emergency exit than a revolving door compared to Whitesnake.

and don't post after me saying Whitesnake kicks ass because i know that i like them i'm jsut saying.......

I was very skeptical of a whole CD with Kanye singing in auto-tune... and I was also worried the album was just "thrown together"... but I'm liking it a lot too.

The lyrics and hooks are awesome, and he opens the CD with a 6 minute slow song with an extended outro?  He's obviously doing whatever he feels like and that's the way it should be.

How great is the song "Street Lights"?

yeah that song is awesome, I love the Coldest Winter he wrote after his mom died.  Robocop is also good and I love the song "Paranoid"

Yeah, Paranoid is my favourite on the album... it's upbeat so it's really easy to get into.  I like the breakdown in the second-half of Robocop... I can't imagine ANY other hip hop artist doing something like that with strings, and I get a laugh out of that "Your first good one in awhile!"

Even if you classify the album as pop, it's still pretty unique.  There is such a cool atmosphere around the hidden track and it's awesome he left it on there as a live version.

Eazy, I think u and I could be the only hip hop fans on the board. :hihi:

I like Hip hop , you fucking cock smoker. Just this West  album suck ass.

haha.