Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club

[BillCable]

Or maybe people have different taste in music than you?

[Jim]

I will speak up and feel free to crucify me.  The man wasted almost 2 decades of his life and those fanatical fans out there.  I would of been perfectly fine if this was an Axl Rose solo album but GNR it is not.  The guy obviously has issues and needs to seek treatment from not one but a panel of shrinks. 

[Rob]

Or maybe people have different taste in music than you?

Yeah, that'd be the obvious answer if I wasn't a huge Guns n Roses fan too.  Everyone who comes into this thread at least has some level of similarity when it comes to musical tastes given that it's a single place for people who like one band in particular.

I don't pretend that everyone needs to have the same tastes and that people who love the old stuff should universally like or dislike the new CD, but it's really really bad.  It just doesn't hold up, at all IMO.  I'm just a little surprised that so many people here are liking it given that I don't even think it's comes close to the old stuff.

[BillCable]

I haven't picked it up yet, but I think it's a mistake to try to measure it against the old stuff.  The old stuff has 20 years of baggage, and was the definitive music of our youth.  Nothing anybody could write could ever compare to that.  I think you need to compare it to other stuff coming out now.

[evenflow]

I think you guys are getting Episode I Syndrome.  You've been waiting for this for so long that you're looking at the album with your Axl Rose colored glasses on.

I view this album as Axl's vision. I never expected it to sound like Appetite because that was never really Axl. This what i always expected, its a mix a Axl's vision with a Queen / Elton John influence. I think the ballads are beautiful. I have been listening to it non-stop and even the 2 tracks i wasn't crazy about have grown on me. I think that it was worth the long wait and has lived up to it. It is for me, the album of the year. I can only hope he releases the rest of the tracks he has.

[iFett]

stoopid question - is this a BB exclusive disc?

[Rob]

I haven't picked it up yet, but I think it's a mistake to try to measure it against the old stuff.  The old stuff has 20 years of baggage, and was the definitive music of our youth.  Nothing anybody could write could ever compare to that.  I think you need to compare it to other stuff coming out now.

I'd be much more willing to do that if Axl hadn't insisted on calling it a Guns n' Roses album. 

[BillCable]

Well, that's your hang-up.  I don't think Axl had any choice but to call it GnR, with the contractual obligations he had.  Not that I think he'd have changed it if he was free to... but still.

[BillCable]

Due to "consumer demand," soft drink manufacturer Dr Pepper has extended its offer of a free drink to everyone if GUNS N' ROSES' long-awaited new album, "Chinese Democracy", actually dropped in 2008.

Interested fans have until 6:00 p.m. today (Monday, November 24) to visit DrPepper.com. After registering online, they will receive a coupon redeemable for a 20-oz. Dr Pepper wherever the drink is sold.

The twist: the coupon will expire on February 28.

According to WalletPop.com, Dr Pepper's web site had a hard time keeping up with demand for a soda yesterday, with may fans receivng a "loading" message on the main page when trying to access the site.

"We never thought this day would come," said Tony Jacobs, vice president of marketing for Dr Pepper. "But now that it's here, all we can say is: The Dr Pepper's on us."

[Scott]

To me...I prefer the Gn'R of UYI over the Appetite Gn'R...and the Gn'R of UYI is way way more Axl influenced than Appetite...these songs are extensions and cousins of songs like November Rain, Don't Cry, Estranged, Locomotive, Coma, Civil War and Breakdown...all some of my favorite songs.  

I like it, I really do...sorry Rob

[Carpeteria3000]

Axl Rose colored glasses

That was good. I like that.

[Sprry75]

Yeah, it may be all about what GnR you like.  The UYI albums are where I hopped on board; I'd dismissed Appetite as just more of the Cinderella/Poison hair metal crap that I hated.  Of course I went back and now love it, but I always liked the UYI sound.

That's the magic of GnR, I think--that tension between Axl's proggy punky rock and Slash's classic rock and blues.  They were two great tastes that went great together.  As Axl exerted more and more influence and creative control, the other members' contributions became more and more marginalized and you got UYI.  Chinese Democracy, obviously, is all Axl, so the Slash/Izzy element of the old band is gone.  Which is unfortunate, but the Axl stuff is still okay if you're into it.  And I am.  Like I said, I'm not blown away by its brilliance or anything, but I like it.  If I had to guess, I'd say I'll listen to Chinese Democracy more than I will either of the Velvet Revolver (The Revolvers?  Is that what we're calling them?) albums (even though I like those too).

[Rob]

Well, that's your hang-up.  I don't think Axl had any choice but to call it GnR, with the contractual obligations he had.  Not that I think he'd have changed it if he was free to... but still.

My hang up is that I don't think this album is anywhere near as good as anything else Guns n' Roses ever did and that it's obvious that Axl was only one part of the equation that worked.

But I really liked the new Indiana Jones movie and a lot of you guys hated it, so I do understand where everyone is coming from.  I just think that this is one of those things where a lot of you guys want it to be good so much that you're convincing yourselves that it is. 

[ruiner]

I still can't believe you, of all people, enjoyed the Crystal Skull.

 

[Chris M]

Some people have already echoes some of my sentiments, but I'll go ahead and post my thoughts (copy and pasted from another message board) on this album.

I've listened to a few songs and I'm mixed. I did like the Chinese Democracy single. But I'm a huge fan of the original GnR, not the watered down version of Axl and his revolving door band. I just can't get past the fact that Slash is not he guitarist and that just kills it for me. I know it shouldn't but it does. GnR with all the changes just isn't GnR anymore. This just doesn't have the GnR feel to me...it's got some good music, don't get me wrong. I think though a number of people (me included) are trying to compare this album to previous GnR albums and maybe we shouldn't. The band is different and we are 15+ years after the last true GnR albums. Maybe it would be better to compare CD to the other current rock/metal albums out right now.

BTW, if you want a really good read on one perspective of what happened to GnR, read "Slash". Obviously it's Slash's insight into his life and what ended up happening to the band after UYI came out and how they fell apart.