chinese democracy

[dolly]

i haven't been able to bring myself to listening to the full album yet...

i almost threw up on myself when i heard the first single though, ughhh. i wasn't expecting much though

[cash]

It's a good wig.

[nattomoto]

I really wanted to like 'Chinese Democracy' as I grew up around the band. Most songs have their moments, but there isn't a single song that holds it throughout. It has potential, but Axl needs the Slash, Duff and Izzy.

[kiya]

Fuck all this noise..

Sidney, you gonna camp out with me in San Bruno Sunday morning?

Then we go get brunch and shit.

[min2max]

noone is going to argue that slash isn't a phenomenal musician, but cmon. most of the GNR songs that still kill are AXL songs.

i know for a fact that slash came up with the arpeggio for sweet child o mine (probably the most iconic GnR track), and i'm sure many others as well. Axl is the frontman, agreed, but can you really call it GnR with only one member left of the original line-up??!

either way this album blows...

[cash]

If the exclusive distribution is a deal breaker, here is a list of independent record stores that may, or may not, already have Chinese Democracy in house.

http://www.musicmonitornetwork.com/directory.htm

And, here is a story in the local rag about how these indie stores are dealing with exclusive distribution deals.

http://www.sltrib.com/themix/ci_11032303

Also, Kiya, here's to being old enough to know better. It'll never sound as good as it did on a Walkman.

[poly800rock]

i know for a fact that slash came up with the arpeggio for sweet child o mine (probably the most iconic GnR track), and i'm sure many others as well. Axl is the frontman, agreed, but can you really call it GnR with only one member left of the original line-up??!

either way this album blows...

and that was only kept because axl said it was good. that was a practice riff that was never really a song until axl said it was

[sidneylo]

Fuck all this noise..

Sidney, you gonna camp out with me in San Bruno Sunday morning?

Then we go get brunch and shit.

Fuck yes. Best Buy and then motherfucking Millbrae Pancake HAUSE.

[kiya]

Fuck yes. Best Buy and then motherfucking Millbrae Pancake HAUSE.

No dude..

Gunter's in South SF.. trust me on this.

It's way more Axl than MHofP is.

[readytoignite]

I would like to point out...

When the last GnR album came out i skipped class during my freshman year of high school with a friend to go buy Use Your Illusion at Tower Records; that was in 1991.

I'm assuming that most people here were far from high school when that album came out...

they didn't do a midnight (well 12:01) release on monday night? wack.

point 1 re: klosterman - don't understand what the objection is here, it takes minimal effort to unpack his first paragraph and it raises some pretty good points on what a record review means and how hype and expectations come into play. if you want smug and useless, look no further than anthony lane

point 2 re: no more slash - there are a number of bands that achieved greatness despite the loss of a key founding member, for instance the velvet underground, fleetwood mac, no doubt, ac/dc. and anyway you really think his absence is a key factor between this record being whatever it is (haven't heard it) vs an instant classic?

[denimdestroyedmylife]

i think GNR stopped being GNR after Steven Adler left

i lost interest in the band by the time UYI I & II came out

and i recently listened to LIES (after having found my old cassettes [i somehow had it twice] at my mom's house) and it sucks pretty bad

there was only one GNR album and that was APPETITE

the rest can suck it

[enojy]

I would like to point out...

When the last GnR album came out i skipped class during my freshman year of high school with a friend to go buy Use Your Illusion at Tower Records; that was in 1991.

I'm assuming that most people here were far from high school when that album came out...

My "skip class during freshman year" album is a fair deal more embarrassing -- At the Drive-In's first major label debut; forget what it's called but it had One Armed Scissor on it. Wasn't worth it. I did get to spend two weeks at home with the flu when Use Your Illusion came out, lying on the couch, watching some Clint Eastwood movie on tv, boombox in hand. I think I was in 5th grade.

I agree about Appetite being the only real GnR album... So great from start to finish. "Yowza" still makes me laugh. I think the only reason I even listen to Illusion I/II these days is for Estranged (still trying to figure this one out.) Shit like Get In The Ring blows it.

[sean_]

guns and roses have always sucked

[↓ Is The New ↑]

So where's the free Dr. Pepper? HOLLA AT CHA BOI.

[AstroWolf]

it is not good, its sad, he is sad, hes lost, i miss the good ol days... or the later on good ol days in this case...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YmwJpnor6o

[poly800rock]

My "skip class during freshman year" album is a fair deal more embarrassing -- At the Drive-In's first major label debut; forget what it's called but it had One Armed Scissor on it. Wasn't worth it. I did get to spend two weeks at home with the flu when Use Your Illusion came out, lying on the couch, watching some Clint Eastwood movie on tv, boombox in hand. I think I was in 5th grade.

I agree about Appetite being the only real GnR album... So great from start to finish. "Yowza" still makes me laugh. I think the only reason I even listen to Illusion I/II these days is for Estranged (still trying to figure this one out.) Shit like Get In The Ring blows it.

it took me a long time to really "get" relationship of command, but it's actually the best ATDI record

[RobotRock]

Not to go against the grain here but this album seriously kicks ass! It may start a little slow but kicks up midway through. Give it an honest listen though and there's some epic shit in there. There was a time (TWAT) is probably the best track on the album but Better, The Blues, IRS, Rihad and the Bedouins are all great too.

I've been listening to the demos for the last couple years and to hear it all polished and finished is a work of art.

[kiya]

At the drive in?

I've honestly never even heard of this band.. I had to google the shit.

No matter, my life is purely rockabilly and idm any more..

And the new GnR in 8 hours at fucking Best Buy.

[broneck]

"In an article Monday headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," the Global Times said unidentified Chinese Internet users had described the album as part of a plot by the West to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn."

The album "turns its spear point on China," the article said.

Reports suggested that the China National Publications Import and Export Group, the state-owned monopoly responsible for importing all music, has told record shops not to bother trying to order the long-awaited album, which took the band 17 years to produce.

In addition, the album's official website, chinesedemocracy.com, has been blocked automatically by internet censors, while Baidu, the Chinese version of Google, is self-censoring any searches for the album.

Chinesedemocracy.com has responded with a poll asking visitors if they thought the Chinese should be allowed to access it and about 70 per cent of respondents said yes.

So far, the only way Chinese fans of the rock group have been able to listen to the album is on the band's Myspace page.

Guns N' Roses became hugely popular in China in the late 1980s, when its music was associated with the rebellious student movements that flowered before the massacre in Tiananmen Square."

truly amazing.

[habia]

http://www.drpepper.com/freeDrPepper/?icamp=hp_dpfree_coupon

[landho]

Rushed out and bought this immediately when I found out that it was released on Sunday (instead of today as I thought it would be).

Was at my friend's making awkward but life-affirming noises at his baby when his wife told me of Dr. Pepper making good on its claim to give a soda to everyone in America if Chinese Democracy came out in 2008. LA Times reported that seven of the top ten Google searches on Sunday (!) dealt with free Dr. Pepper and Chinese Democracy in some fashion. We tried to get ours, but no dice; apparently, so many people tried to get their free Dr. Pepper that it crashed their servers.

But apparently it's not as easy as you think, either; Dr. Pepper will send you a coupon in four to six weeks and then you can redeem it for a 20-ounce bottle. But you have to use it before February 28, 2009.

Also, I hate Dr. Pepper.

Will write notes on the album itself later and maybe copy/paste them here. Will say this: listened to it about four or five times already and the thing that caught me most was how underwhelming it was. It wasn't the best rock album ever made. It wasn't a colossal, epic failure. There was nothing epic really about it. It was just an album.

[denimdestroyedmylife]

ok. i am a little pissed i missed out on the free dr. pepper. my soda of choice.

COUGH SYRUP! (why don't you cough it up?)