After popping in this thread, I went back and listened to CD from Rio '01 - I'd forgotten how much it has changed!
It was a cool song before, but way better now - sounds so much more powerful both on the album and live. A great modern rock song, that sounds both contemporary and classic at the same time.
It did change an awful lot from 2001, didn't it?.
Makes me wonder if it was more than just the songs evolution, but more of a situation where Axl decided he wanted to change the direction of the album. In 2001, it was widely rumoured that CD was going to be in an industrial direction, and songs like Oh My God, Silkworms and Rio's version of Chinese Democracy, all back up the theory that may have been
true.
So with Chinese Democracy changing from an industrial feel to a more rock feel, does that also reflect Axl's change of mind in regards to the actual album style?.