Chinese Democracy's Influence

[Axlspants]

I guess that CD not sounding like the classic lineup is no real surprise, I mean Axl kinda went through a lot to get his vision of what GnR is out there.

In terms of CD compared to previous Guns albums. For me it's the best, I think the old albums represent a different time in my life and as much as i love them i dont listen to them much. I've listened to CD pretty much every day since it came out and I just love it all. I think i might be an Axl fan boy because i love everything he has ever sang. For me Axl is Guns n Roses, just wish we had more music from him but I'm sure he does too.

[Dok]

I guess that CD not sounding like the classic lineup is no real surprise, I mean Axl kinda went through a lot to get his vision of what GnR is out there.

In terms of CD compared to previous Guns albums. For me it's the best, I think the old albums represent a different time in my life and as much as i love them i dont listen to them much. I've listened to CD pretty much every day since it came out and I just love it all. I think i might be an Axl fan boy because i love everything he has ever sang. For me Axl is Guns n Roses, just wish we had more music from him but I'm sure he does too.

Congratulations. I also wish Axl would have released more because I feel the time that's went by is equivalent to the waste of his talent/rasp.
Btw: The old albums don't represent a different time in "your life", they're a statement of the time they've been made in.

[Princess Leia]

I guess that CD not sounding like the classic lineup is no real surprise, I mean Axl kinda went through a lot to get his vision of what GnR is out there.

In terms of CD compared to previous Guns albums. For me it's the best, I think the old albums represent a different time in my life and as much as i love them i dont listen to them much. I've listened to CD pretty much every day since it came out and I just love it all. I think i might be an Axl fan boy because i love everything he has ever sang. For me Axl is Guns n Roses, just wish we had more music from him but I'm sure he does too.

And that?s perfectly fine with me and I respect that. However you can?t expect every single fan out there to think and feel the same way. You think Axl is GN?R and I?m sure you have good reasons to feel that way. I don?t feel that way and I have my own reasons. At the same time I don?t think Slash is GN?R or Duff is GN?R. Off all their solo projects or supergroups they?ve been in the only one I like was Duff with Neurotic Outsides. But I don?t think that band and album were the best thing ever. The only reason that would make me to go to a show of a Slash band or Duff band was the hope that they might play It?s So Easy or some other old song. At some point I stopped doing that. I thought it wasn?t worthy to go see them just to listen one or two songs I love, get picture with them and an autograph. The big difference I see with the current GN?R is that they play a lot of those old songs.And it?s Axl singing them. So I find it it?s worthy to pay for a ticket. Sorry if some people feel offended. But that?s how I feel and this is my truth.

My problem is when fans get too judgmental and make claims that people who don?t like CD never liked Estrange. Did they conduct a poll about who like or didn?t like Estrange and CD? Why are there people who think they have the right to judge other fans? I don?t hate CD. I like a couple of songs. But as an album I don?t think CD is better than AFD, Lies or UYI. If I respect others opinion. Please respect mine.

I know there are many fans out there who still follow what Fink or Buckethead are doing.I couldn?t care less about those two. But if others like whatever they are doing, fine with me. The same way I couldn?t care less about Tommy or DJ might be doing. But if fans love all that and they are happy about it, well, good for them.

I don?t mean I want a reunion. If a marrige is not working then a divorce is the only solution to the problem. If there is a reunion I?ll be very happy. But I?m not dreaming about it nor I think they should it just to please me, other fans or the industry.

[Axlspants]

I guess that CD not sounding like the classic lineup is no real surprise, I mean Axl kinda went through a lot to get his vision of what GnR is out there.

In terms of CD compared to previous Guns albums. For me it's the best, I think the old albums represent a different time in my life and as much as i love them i dont listen to them much. I've listened to CD pretty much every day since it came out and I just love it all. I think i might be an Axl fan boy because i love everything he has ever sang. For me Axl is Guns n Roses, just wish we had more music from him but I'm sure he does too.

Congratulations. I also wish Axl would have released more because I feel the time that's went by is equivalent to the waste of his talent/rasp.
Btw: The old albums don't represent a different time in "your life", they're a statement of the time they've been made in.


As I said 'for me' the albums represent a different time in my life 'for me' - I understand the cultural impact they made but I was talking about me.

[crthiel]

I think some of the unfinished demos got out there more than people think and it caused people to pre-judge the entire album.  There are a lot more people, besides the Grantland Writer, that wrote off the album before they ever listened to it as a whole.  I don't expect everyone to like it but I think there is something good there for most fans of rock 'n roll. I just wish people would not write off an album before even listening to it.

[LIGuns]

Interesting opinions..For those of us that were around in September of 1991 remember some UYI criticism..There were some that wanted AFD II (Axl felt it would have been too easy and lazy of the band) than there were others who felt it was too bloated and should have been condensed to 1 album (the nerve). Actually at roughy 70 minutes each UYI was more like "a double 1/2 alum"
CD is definitely a departure from previous releases due to lyrical content of some songs and musical direction of others. Many are  keyboard heavy something Izzy and Slash were against from the days when Axl incoorporated them last minute onto PC..
 But to say CD doesn't sound like the hey day of GN'R is soo wrong..SOD,TWAT, TIL, ITW and Madagascar are all GREAT songs that could have made up UYI III..Sorry is also a great song that Slash could have fit in comfortably on..
Point is although different it still sounds like GN'R to me!!

[Bridge]

Yes, Axl said he wanted to bury AFD. He made a mistake. .

I didn't see anyone else address this, so I will...

Axl said this in 1989, and if you watch the entire interview and GNR segment (it's on youtube), you'll see it's obvious what Axl meant -- that he didn't want his life or the band to be pigeonholed into one style of music, song, direction, or aura.  That statement was made while the band was reeling from the overwhelming success of Appetite for Destruction, which he also mentioned.

99% of people who recall the quote, "I wanna bury Appetite..." have only heard that brief sound byte, so they've never heard it in proper context.  I completely understood it, since I was watching it when it aired in 1989, and I still have that MTV Rockmentary on tape.

For those of us that were around in September of 1991 remember some UYI criticism..There were some that wanted AFD II than there were others who felt it was too bloated

Yeah, I remember it.  I heard all sides at the time, but for the most part, I was lucky enough to be around those who just appreciated the fuckin' music, that we finally had more Guns N Roses music.  The thing I thought sucked was the absence of Steven on drums, but otherwise, I was happy with most of the music, and so were fans generally.  The most criticisms I heard came years later and are often applied retroactively as if people back then had a problem with the music.  I don't remember the music ever being much of an issue back then.  The late shows and rioting were giving GNR its problems then, not the song selections.

[norway]

From the article:
They wanted a competent re-creation of music they knew they already liked.

But...that is was CD IS!

I find it to be much more influenced by classic rock than I expected. Gonna admit omg owns most CD.

/flameshield on

I guess that CD not sounding like the classic lineup is no real surprise

I think cd is good, but mediocre and sounds too much like old gnr. Imo it needs more Buckethead and voice-acrobatics.

Maybe a bit more influence of electronic stuff too, but thats me =p



Edit:
I gotta say that Bumblefoot (except for axl) really made me go from liking the livemusic to going 'this rocks' @ rio (lisboa). He is pretty good.

[D-GenerationX]

I was surprised Street of Dreams wasn't the first single, as I felt that was a song fans of UYI could identify with and the song most resembling the style of the old band.
I personally think Street of Dreams and CITR are great songs, but I know plenty of GN'R diehards who were unimpressed with them and Chinese Democracy as a whole.

I agree with all of this.  'Street Of Dreams' is the most accessible song of the bunch.  Would have been a better first single than the title track.  Love the older live arrangement of the 2002 tour, but the studio effort is a bit of a mess.

Ultimately, the album failed to make any sort of impact because it had no hits because there are no real choruses.  Its a problem.  Not to say everything needs to be poppy, but you should be able to answer the simplest of musical questions, that being, "how does it go?"

You would struggle with that.  You would not struggle to tell someone how 'Jungle' or 'Paradise' went.  But how would you explain 'There Was A Time'?  And I thought that was the best of the bunch, by far.

[slashsbaconpit]

Eh. Just one more guy who did all his research on the Internet, pulled out the most outrageous details, and used them to talk smack about the album. The fact that he's writing about it five years later shows that it not only has relevance, but some sort of resonance.
I rank CD right near AFD, and above most of the UYI stuff. But that's just me. I really didn't want Axl to come out with another album where he's singing about strippers, booze and drugs. Recording the same album over and over again and releasing it with a new name to cash in is Bon Jovi's game, not GNR.
I like the new band, I like most of the new songs. The ones I don't care for, other people adore.

[D-GenerationX]

Eh. Just one more guy who did all his research on the Internet, pulled out the most outrageous details, and used them to talk smack about the album. The fact that he's writing about it five years later shows that it not only has relevance, but some sort of resonance.
I rank CD right near AFD, and above most of the UYI stuff. But that's just me. I really didn't want Axl to come out with another album where he's singing about strippers, booze and drugs. Recording the same album over and over again and releasing it with a new name to cash in is Bon Jovi's game, not GNR.
I like the new band, I like most of the new songs. The ones I don't care for, other people adore.

I like it more than I don't.  Still listen to the tracks I like fairly often, and some I'd put right up with some of the classic line-up's material.

As for relevance, I don't see it.  Its supposedly "the most talked about album EVER!!" but no one could tell you a song off of it, unless they perhaps just took a shot with a title track.   

[raindogs70]

It just shows that the making of CD should be told and what was going on for those 15 years it took. It can't be told in an essay or in an interview. People are always going to talk about it as an underrated album, an overrated album, a shitty album, or a great album, but they're still going to talk about it.

"The Great Unreleased Album" that some people wanted it to be, makes for a good rock n' roll story.

[Axlative]

Seems like the whole problem for some people stems from two facts. First, their inability to understand their own (or anyone else's) limited perception of reality. And second, the fact that AFD was a concept album. That concept being blues-based hard rock.

Since AFD in all its greatness is what most people first came to know about GNR, it's also what some use to define GNR with. The problem is that the band obviously made a very conscious decision to NOT try and define what their sound is all about in their debut album, but rather only show what they are capable of when sticking strictly in the realm of hard-ass rockers. Okay, SCOM is more like hard rocking soft-ass song, but still... 

So it follows that people who define GNR mostly through AFD are victims of their own limited world view and the inability to grasp the fact that even the band itself didn't define by or limit themselves to what was on AFD. Very unfortunate, really, as GNR has and always had so much more to offer.

[LongGoneDay]

Seems like the whole problem for some people stems from two facts. First, their inability to understand their own (or anyone else's) limited perception of reality. And second, the fact that AFD was a concept album. That concept being blues-based hard rock.

Since AFD in all its greatness is what most people first came to know about GNR, it's also what some use to define GNR with. The problem is that the band obviously made a very conscious decision to NOT try and define what their sound is all about in their debut album, but rather only show what they are capable of when sticking strictly in the realm of hard-ass rockers. Okay, SCOM is more like hard rocking soft-ass song, but still... 

So it follows that people who define GNR mostly through AFD are victims of their own limited world view and the inability to grasp the fact that even the band itself didn't define by or limit themselves to what was on AFD. Very unfortunate, really, as GNR has and always had so much more to offer.

Not sure there is a "problem" per se. Think it's more the reality that people view Chinese Democracy for what it is.
A record made by an entirely different band than the one that recorded AFD, Lies, UYI, and one with a sound they (people with the "problem") don't enjoy as much as the former.

The problem might be the thinking that those who don't enjoy Chinese Democracy as much as others don't "get it", or are holding on to the past, need to be more open minded, be reminded that GN'R was always Axl's vision, etc etc. It really could simply be the fact that some don't enjoy the music itself on Chinese as much as others, regardless of the musicians, circumstances.

[Axlative]

The problem might be the thinking that those who don't enjoy Chinese Democracy as much as others don't "get it", or are holding on to the past, need to be more open minded, be reminded that GN'R was always Axl's vision, etc etc. It really could simply be the fact that some don't enjoy the music itself on Chinese as much as others, regardless of the musicians, circumstances.

True. I think what I was trying to say was that especially those who define GNR through AFD and renounce CD (maybe even UYIs) are not on the same page even with the AFD-era band claiming this or that not being "true GNR".

Bottom line: It's a matter of taste, but GNR was always much more than just AFD as far as musical tastes go. So a narrow view of what's "true GNR" has never been in line with reality. There's a difference to liking an album and liking a whole band.