New Dj interview at LegendaryRockInterviews.com (Sep 2014)

[LongGoneDay]

Yes, they have the ability to write and record on their own.
They have the ability to create frankenstein solos from multiple takes that the original player doesn?t recognize upon hearing the finished result.
They can add an endless amount of ?layers" and ?textures?, and re-record the drum parts note for note by multiple musicians.
They can re-record the entire record multiple times over the course of a decade.
Doesn?t necessarily mean that they should.

Clearly it took an extraordinary amount of time to get the sound they were happy with, but they eventually got there.
Once that happened, they had lived and breathed that music for so long, I?m sure they could have hammered it out in a few takes.
I?d be interested in hearing a more organic sounding studio take of Street of Dreams.
I don?t think a remix album is a great idea, but if that were their approach, I?d gladly pay to hear it.

[D-GenerationX]

Yes, they have the ability to write and record on their own.
They have the ability to create frankenstein solos from multiple takes that the original player doesn?t recognize upon hearing the finished result.
They can add an endless amount of ?layers" and ?textures?, and re-record the drum parts note for note by multiple musicians.
They can re-record the entire record multiple times over the course of a decade.
Doesn?t necessarily mean that they should.

Correct.  And its hard to point to the piecemeal process they used to make CD as some success story.

You can hold onto that "OMG, you guys.  They don't need to be altogether to do an album, LOLZ!!" routine all you like.  2 things hurt its credibility :

#1, as you've said, just because they could doesn't make it a great idea.

#2, they don't do it anyway.  That whole stance might make some sense if there was some evidence that while they are not all together, they are still getting stuff done via e-mail, Dropbox, carrier pigeon, or whatever the fuck.  But they don't do that either. 

[Ali]

^LGD, that was my point, that the criticism of the music is so connected to the break-up baggage, whereas with U2, the music was able to stand on it's own without being weighed down by all that baggage, despite the music being so different from its traditional sound.  In the case of CD, I personally feel that it is an incredibly good album and if it the music were judged on its own merits without all the bullshit (whether or not such bullshit was self-inflicted), then I think it would have been much better received. 

I don't know about that.  As the famous line goes, "The A & R man said 'I don't hear a single'."

Because that's the rub with that album.  14 songs, no singles.  And really, not even anything that could be a proper single.  Not every single can be a #1 hit, but bands can release singles that still become radio staples.

For the baggage and bullshit that came along with album, most of that could have been smoothed over if there were so much as one memorable song on the album.

Memorable?  Or, radio friendly?  Those are two different things.

I find the the album to be memorable.  Maybe not radio friendly outside "Better".  Still memorable.

Ali

[GeorgeSteele]

^LGD, that was my point, that the criticism of the music is so connected to the break-up baggage, whereas with U2, the music was able to stand on it's own without being weighed down by all that baggage, despite the music being so different from its traditional sound.  In the case of CD, I personally feel that it is an incredibly good album and if it the music were judged on its own merits without all the bullshit (whether or not such bullshit was self-inflicted), then I think it would have been much better received. 

I don't know about that.  As the famous line goes, "The A & R man said 'I don't hear a single'."

Because that's the rub with that album.  14 songs, no singles.  And really, not even anything that could be a proper single.  Not every single can be a #1 hit, but bands can release singles that still become radio staples.

For the baggage and bullshit that came along with album, most of that could have been smoothed over if there were so much as one memorable song on the album.

Memorable?  Or, radio friendly?  Those are two different things.

I find the the album to be memorable.  Maybe not radio friendly outside "Better".  Still memorable.

Ali

Exactly, we're discussing the quality of the album, not whether there was a single that could fit on radio rotation between Beyonce and Maroon 5.  It's next to impossible for a hard rock band to get mainstream radio play these days for their new music, but regardless, that has nothing to do with how good the album is.

[D-GenerationX]

^LGD, that was my point, that the criticism of the music is so connected to the break-up baggage, whereas with U2, the music was able to stand on it's own without being weighed down by all that baggage, despite the music being so different from its traditional sound.  In the case of CD, I personally feel that it is an incredibly good album and if it the music were judged on its own merits without all the bullshit (whether or not such bullshit was self-inflicted), then I think it would have been much better received. 

I don't know about that.  As the famous line goes, "The A & R man said 'I don't hear a single'."

Because that's the rub with that album.  14 songs, no singles.  And really, not even anything that could be a proper single.  Not every single can be a #1 hit, but bands can release singles that still become radio staples.

For the baggage and bullshit that came along with album, most of that could have been smoothed over if there were so much as one memorable song on the album.

Memorable?  Or, radio friendly?  Those are two different things.

I find the the album to be memorable.  Maybe not radio friendly outside "Better".  Still memorable.

Ali

If its memorable at all (and its not, except for we internet nerds) its for all the wrong reasons.

Guns N' Roses is a still a huge name.  If there was something memorable in there, we'd see some evidence of that.  But no one cared about it besides us.

[D-GenerationX]

Exactly, we're discussing the quality of the album, not whether there was a single that could fit on radio rotation between Beyonce and Maroon 5.  It's next to impossible for a hard rock band to get mainstream radio play these days for their new music, but regardless, that has nothing to do with how good the album is.

Not a fan of this argument.

Manily, because its never made by anyone except fans of a band trying to put a good spin on a bad release that made little to no impact.

So then we pivot to it how was too complex.  People didn't give it a fair shake.  In 10 years, it we be reassessed and graded fairly.  "The industry" was against it.  All that jazz.

In truth, people just didn't dig it.  It happens.  Most of us liked it, and we should be content with that. 

But I think we can stop trying to scold the world.  They came, they listened, they shrugged and moved on.  Shit happens.

[GeorgeSteele]

Exactly, we're discussing the quality of the album, not whether there was a single that could fit on radio rotation between Beyonce and Maroon 5.  It's next to impossible for a hard rock band to get mainstream radio play these days for their new music, but regardless, that has nothing to do with how good the album is.

Not a fan of this argument.

Manily, because its never made by anyone except fans of a band trying to put a good spin on a bad release that made little to no impact.

So then we pivot to it how was too complex.  People didn't give it a fair shake.  In 10 years, it we be reassessed and graded fairly.  "The industry" was against it.  All that jazz.

In truth, people just didn't dig it.  It happens.  Most of us liked it, and we should be content with that. 

But I think we can stop trying to scold the world.  They came, they listened, they shrugged and moved on.  Shit happens.

You're mischaracterizing what I'm arguing.  My comments about it getting a bad reception were mostly directed at older GNR classic era fans, not the public at large.  IMO, those old fans did not give the album a fair shake because of the breakup issues, which I'm impressed that a few here are big enough to admit to.  This radio play nonsense has nothing to with that.  To bring up the radio as a barometer for the quality of a hard rock album is ridiculous. 

[D-GenerationX]

You're mischaracterizing what I'm arguing.  My comments about it getting a bad reception were mostly directed at older GNR classic era fans, not the public at large.  IMO, those old fans did not give the album a fair shake because of the breakup issues, which I'm impressed that a few here are big enough to admit to.  This radio play nonsense has nothing to with that.  To bring up the radio as a barometer for the quality of a hard rock album is ridiculous. 

But plenty of things that got no radio airplay still made an impact with the populance.

Nothing from the first 3 Metallica albums was ever on the radio at that time.  There were no MTV videos until 'One', on their 4th release.  But it still made a mark, because people dug it. 

No one dug 'Chinese Democracy'.  If they did, someone besides one of us here could tell you a song off of it.  Because when I was in grade school when Metallica broke on the scene <there you go Emily>, I still knew 'Fade To Black' and 'Master Of Puppets'.  And if anything, that was all the more amazing in the pre-internet 1980s.

The fact that we are dealing with a world now where these things are available at the simple push of a button (every CD tune is on Youtube), and its bolstered by one of the most recognizable names in rock, yet STILL struggles to be noticed.....these things all add up after awhile and paint a picture.

Unless you just don't want to see it, don't want admit it, or both.

I guess I don't see how people can't say they dug it, they felt it was a good album, but most people didn't.  Why is that a crime?  Isn't it just being honest?

[14 Yrs Of Silence]

What hard rock albums today really make an impression on people?  None that i can think of.  Mainly because older fans don't care anymore, not just GN'R, but they just don't buy music or even listen to new music as they're stuck on the classic stuff.  And younger audiences are largely not into hard rock.  This isn't a Gn'R issue or a Chinese Democracy issue, its just the state of music today.  Can't compare this to Metallica 1986, thats a bit of a stretch.

[D-GenerationX]

What hard rock albums today really make an impression on people?  None that i can think of.  Mainly because older fans don't care anymore, not just GN'R, but they just don't buy music or even listen to new music as they're stuck on the classic stuff.  And younger audiences are largely not into hard rock.  This isn't a Gn'R issue or a Chinese Democracy issue, its just the state of music today.  Can't compare this to Metallica 1986, thats a bit of a stretch.

But the argument is being made about the quality of CD, right?  I'm arguing if it had all this supposed quality, why is it going so unnoticed?

GNR isn't some indie nobody band.  And I'm told all the time that this was "the most anticipated album of all time".  I'm trying to reconcile that with the its near total lack of impact. 

If it had all this quality and appeal, coupled with being "the most anticipated album of alltime",  don't you sort of figure a song or two (at the least) would have caught on with someone other than us? 

[GeorgeSteele]

You're mischaracterizing what I'm arguing.  My comments about it getting a bad reception were mostly directed at older GNR classic era fans, not the public at large.  IMO, those old fans did not give the album a fair shake because of the breakup issues, which I'm impressed that a few here are big enough to admit to.  This radio play nonsense has nothing to with that.  To bring up the radio as a barometer for the quality of a hard rock album is ridiculous. 

But plenty of things that got no radio airplay still made an impact with the populance.

Nothing from the first 3 Metallica albums was ever on the radio at that time.  There were no MTV videos until 'One', on their 4th release.  But it still made a mark, because people dug it. 

No one dug 'Chinese Democracy'.  If they did, someone besides one of us here could tell you a song off of it.  Because when I was in grade school when Metallica broke on the scene <there you go Emily>, I still knew 'Fade To Black' and 'Master Of Puppets'.  And if anything, that was all the more amazing in the pre-internet 1980s.

The fact that we are dealing with a world now where these things are available at the simple push of a button (every CD tune is on Youtube), and its bolstered by one of the most recognizable names in rock, yet STILL struggles to be noticed.....these things all add up after awhile and paint a picture.

Unless you just don't want to see it, don't want admit it, or both.

I guess I don't see how people can't say they dug it, they felt it was a good album, but most people didn't.  Why is that a crime?  Isn't it just being honest?

Christ, I'm not having the impact/no impact debate, I just told you I'm talking about old Guns fans who consistently dump on the album and why they do that.  Impact on public at large is irrelevant to me, I'm in my 40s with a social circle the size of a quarter.  Of course in high school it's easier to gauge what's big, now, I have no clue.  If you still have your finger on that pulse, I'm impressed.  But again, I wasn't talking about that... and again, has that has zero to do with the quality of the album.  

[D-GenerationX]

Christ, I'm not having the impact/no impact debate, I just told you I'm talking about old Guns fans who consistently dump on the album and why they do that.  Impact on public at large is irrelevant to me, I'm in my 40s with a social circle the size of a quarter.  Of course in high school it's easier to gauge what's big, now, I have no clue.  If you still have your finger on that pulse, I'm impressed.  But again, I wasn't talking about that... and again, has that has zero to do with the quality of the album.  

I personally agree that the album has quality to it.

I also agree that I'm a GNR fan since I'm 12 years old and, let's face it, I was probably going to think that anyway, on some level, at least.  I'm not sure I (or you, or any of us here for that matter) is the most unbiased opinion on that matter.  Chances are that we were going to tell each other we thought it was a strong effort, no?

The old fans that never gave it a chance, I don't even factor them into this discussion.  Or any discussion.  They are just going to be mad and, oh well.

 

[mortismurphy]

There is still some life in the old format, Sabbath's 13 is proof of that.

[GeorgeSteele]

Christ, I'm not having the impact/no impact debate, I just told you I'm talking about old Guns fans who consistently dump on the album and why they do that.  Impact on public at large is irrelevant to me, I'm in my 40s with a social circle the size of a quarter.  Of course in high school it's easier to gauge what's big, now, I have no clue.  If you still have your finger on that pulse, I'm impressed.  But again, I wasn't talking about that... and again, has that has zero to do with the quality of the album.  

I personally agree that the album has quality to it.

I also agree that I'm a GNR fan since I'm 12 years old and, let's face it, I was probably going to think that anyway, on some level, at least.  I'm not sure I (or you, or any of us here for that matter) is the most unbiased opinion on that matter.  Chances are that we were going to tell each other we thought it was a strong effort, no?

The old fans that never gave it a chance, I don't even factor them into this discussion.  Or any discussion.  They are just going to be mad and, oh well.

 

You, me and most music critics dug it.  64 out of 100 on Metacritic:  http://www.metacritic.com/music/chinese-democracy/guns-n-roses .   That's pretty good and as unbiased as a reference we can get. 

[GNR2014]

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons was a huge hit.
I don't buy the argument that rock music cannot be successful these days.

[D-GenerationX]

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons was a huge hit.
I don't buy the argument that rock music cannot be successful these days.

Nor I. 

A hit is a hit, regardless.

 

[GeorgeSteele]

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons was a huge hit.
I don't buy the argument that rock music cannot be successful these days.

Not that it means anything, but I personally never heard of them.  Is that a hard rock band?  In any case, good for them, they'd be in the minority, but popularity is not quality. 

[D-GenerationX]

Radioactive by Imagine Dragons was a huge hit.
I don't buy the argument that rock music cannot be successful these days.

Not that it means anything, but I personally never heard of them.  Is that a hard rock band?  In any case, good for them, they'd be in the minority, but popularity is not quality. 

You would probably know the song if you heard it. 

It was everywhere.  Sports highlights, ads for TV shows, etc.

[EmilyGNR]

The voice is a really complicated instrument. There is no way Axl isn't putting a shit load of work into his voice. There is no way any person could pull off Axl's style of singing without working very hard at it. If you don't believe me, just ask Juan the Beast on youtube. Have you tried to imitate Axl? What does it sound like? Not sure if this is still being argued about or what but that's my two cents on it anyway.

If a guy trained real hard at singing it wouldn't matter if he went to rehearsals or not. It would be like any other practice session for him. He could just put the songs he's going to perform on a CD and sing along with them on his own. I used to do this with my roommate last semester. He would record the guitar part of a song for me and I would sing along with it on my own until I was comfortable enough to sing along with him as he played. I can't see Jarmo making up the whole thing about seeing Axl do rehearsals. I can see him seeing things in a certain light because he knows the band personally but I can't see him just making something up. To each his own though.

Chinese definitely has flow. It flows on different levels. The CD in it's entirety flows like a film, like it's telling some kind of story. As for songs, each one is like a kaleidoscope of different colors (sounds) flowing outwards in different intertwining directions that all weave into one giant intricate pattern. That's what is great about having songs rich with so many layers. The songs have a great way of building up too. The Blues is a perfect example of this. Before I heard the whole song I was wondering "Is Axl really going to be able to pull this one off?". Then when everything is coming to a close, here come's Axl going "What'd I tell ya?". I was like shit Axl, you told me what was gonna happen. I should have known you weren't fucking around. Twat has an epic build too with the solo and Axl's insanely high voice both coming in at the perfect times.

I'm curious, to those of you that do not care for CD, have you ever taken psychedelics and listened to it? It will blow you away, especially on a good sound system. (Yes I realize that just about any album will blow you away on a good sound system under the influence of psychedelics but this one is really something special).

Good post Rudy 

It is very satisfying when Jarmo sets the record straight about some of the lies some like to spin and repeat.

I don't really care about some of the whining about what the band "needs" to do ie: "jam together", "get in a studio together" etc. With today's digital technology you can write and record with someone without being in the same room, or state, or country.

Great.... then we should never have to hear again the excuse that peoples lives are so busy and it's hard to get everybody in the same room to write and record!

When have you heard that? Who has said everyone needed to be in the same room?
Here's a new interview with Dizzy!Notice he mentions files being handed back and forth, viva the digital era
 

Guns N? Roses keyboardist Dizzy Reed told the VH1 Radio Network (via Blabbermouth) earlier this week that a lot of new Guns N? Roses material is close to being finished, and that it could be coming soon.

?There?s a lot of material that?s already done and I think it?s in the process of being finished and eventually we?ll pick out which songs need to come out with which other songs. So that?s in the works. Hopefully it will be out really soon.?

Reed told The Pulse Of Radio that there is both older and newer material lurking around. ?We?ve all been at it,? he said. ?We?ve all been, you know, handing files back and forth to one another in various combinations of different people, but also there is quite a bit of material that still needs to be finished and needs to be released. And so one or both of those things is gonna happen.?

Duff McKagan commented on the possibility of recording with Guns N? Roses again in a recent interview with The Blairing Out With Eric Blair Show, ?I never say never to anything, actually, these days. I?ve kind of learned. You never know what?s around the corner. And all that aside, I?m just glad he and I were able to get together and talk about some stuff and then laugh about a lot of other shit that happened.?


www.alternativenation.net/new-guns-n-roses-in-process-of-being-finished/

[ice cream sand pig]

Yeah, imagine dragons is so cool... such better quality than CD. That's why their stuff was so much more popular than CD was. 

(After reading that statement I thought I may have not been giving imagine dragons that much credit. Maybe they are great, I don't really know anything about them but I wasn't much into the Radioactive song. That's all I have to go off of really).

I guess it's hard to talk about whether or not an album is a quality album in an objective sense. But obviously popularity is not some sure fire indicator.

I think Radioactive happened to fit in more with what was going on in the mainstream at the time of it's release. It was likely heavily influenced by the sounds that dominated the popular music scene at the time of its creation. It's impossible for GNR to make songs like that (which are relevant to the most cutting edge music trends) because they choose to put music together consciously over long periods of time.

The music trends of today are not something I would want GNR to be influenced by too much. The top one hundred has basically sounded the same for at least the past four years. It's all club music and country music. I realize radioactive isn't club music per say but you can still get away with playing it in a club because it has a modern sound. If GNR wants to fall in line with today's music trends for the sake of gaining more exposure or whatever, then I think the remix album is the perfect opportunity to try that. I wouldn't mind GNR club music, but if that was all I got and didn't get anything rock oriented I would have been a little bummed and confused. So I think to do it this way is a kind of best of both worlds scenario.

As I said before, I think it was extremely important to Axl that he released something he was confident he would continue to be happy with even after a long time has passed. It was likely important for him to undertake the fabrication of CD in the most intentional way possible without sparing any of the effort or patience required to do so. Far more important than creating something relevant to the young crowd the radio stations and club DJs cater to.

To say that CD didn't have a single is a bit of a stretch. I think the album would have done better if the single wasn't the title track though.
 
That sure would be cool if Duff could record some things with the band. It might even make GNR more credible to the people that have hated on it since (or because of) the break up.

PS Thanks Emily.