Welcome to the Jungle Gn'R Fan Club

[evenflow]

Not that i believe it or am even willing to get excited...

Chinese Democracy Feb. 12th

[Matt]

Interesting, but it's worth noting that February 12 falls on a Tuesday next year, and this is the Amazon UK website--in the UK, new music is usually released on Mondays, instead of Tuesdays like here.

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In other news, Sebastian Bach's album comes out on November 20.  Axl sings on two tracks:  "(Love Is) A Bitchslap" and "Back in the Saddle" (yes, the Aerosmith song).

[Matt]

Anyone else aware that Slash wrote a book?



I didn't know the man could even read, much less write his own autobiography.

(Kidding.)

Anyway, saw him hawking it, along with Guitar Hero III, on Conan last night.  The description on Amazon makes it sound like, well, it's Slash's autobiography:

Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survived insane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history's greatest rock 'n' roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash's friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.

It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N' Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.

I didn't know that he ever drank or did drugs.  This may be worth checking out.

[S_A_Longhorn]

Nothing new, but some cool videos I found on YouTube:

GNR November Rain circa 1993 (toned down version)

New GNR November Rain circa 2006

While I don't care that Axl is playing old GNR songs, Slash is also GNR and the two songs that are pure Slash are Sweet Child and November Rain, IMO.  To hear Robin and Bumblefoot play Slash's parts on November Rain (not that well either), is just blasphemy.

Here's hoping the RR HoF bring them back together.  If nothing else will.

[Carpeteria3000]

Danny Devito presents... the best cover of all time, man.

[BillCable]

Damnit, I was expecting Danny Devito to sing it!!   

[Carpeteria3000]

nope. WAY better than that.

[Matt]

Danny Devito presents... the best cover of all time, man.

Hmm.  An awful cover of an awful cover of what was a pretty awful song to begin with.  Thanks, Fergie.

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Guns N' Roses Lyrics Cause Teacher to Lock Self in Classroom

[Carpeteria3000]

Hmm.  An awful cover of an awful cover of what was a pretty awful song to begin with.  Thanks, Fergie.

plus choreography! don't forget that. it would have been nice if they were all dressed like Slash. very classy.

[S_A_Longhorn]

Danny Devito presents... the best cover of all time, man.

Hmm.  An awful cover of an awful cover of what was a pretty awful song to begin with.  Thanks, Fergie.

Ugh....that was horrible.  Someone needs to quickly tell Fergie to stick to her "Humps" style music and the occasional background vocal on BEP songs. 

And what the hell was the audience listening to that prompted them to do a standing ovation?!? 

Found this the other day: Carrie Underwood performing "Sweet Child O'Mine".  And if you can't play the guitar parts even half as good as Slash, then don't play it all. 

Wonder which Idol exectutive told blondie to start singing this song?  Seriously, I need a name so I can find him and shoot him. 

[Scott]

11 more days...

[Matt]

11 more days...

Funny you mention that.  I saw this--I guess it's an op-ed piece--the other day, which I thought was kind of funny.  The timeline is fascinating:

Guns N'Roses N'promises

There's something missing this holiday season, and it's not just the lack of inclement weather.

For the first time in years, nobody is spreading rumors about the imminent arrival of a new Guns N' Roses album. "Chinese Democracy," which has been on the verge of coming out for the better part of a decade, currently has no pre-release buzz, a fact that makes us want to start a rumor right now. Things are a little bit too quiet ...

At this point, though, it might be better if the album didn't come out. A release of "Chinese Democracy" would be like O.J. Simpson suddenly finding the real killer. Aging metal-heads' hearts would give out. Stock markets would crash. MTV newsman Kurt Loder would probably have to stop working, and so would Larry King. (At this point, does anyone doubt that they're the same person?)

When Peanuts creator Charles Schulz announced his retirement in the late 1990s, there was much talk about his final strip. One popular prediction was that Charlie Brown would finally get to kick the football - advice that Schulz very wisely didn't take. If Charlie Brown kicked the football, it would undo 50 years of good comics with one bad one.

That's exactly how I feel about "Chinese Democracy." We, the remaining Guns N' Roses fan base, are Charlie Brown. The album is the football. And Axl Rose is Lucy, repeatedly setting deadlines he knows he'll never make, because the public is gullible enough to believe him. (I think Slash is Schroeder in this analogy, and Stephanie Seymour is the Little Red-Haired Girl, although I haven't totally thought that part out.)

The last time Rose announced a "tentative" release date of March 2007, no less than three dozen different news agencies reported it, including the Chicago Tribune, Hollywood Reporter and Agence France-Presse. March 2007 has come and gone, and here we are, still clutching worn-out copies of "Lose Your Illusion II" to our chests, waiting anxiously for the next rumor. There's something that's so sweet and human about the whole charade.

Below is a brief timeline, culled from a three-hour-long LexisNexis search, which contains just a fraction of the "Chinese Democracy" fake-outs that fans have endured. A new GNR album has been rumored to be in the works since 1994, but purists consider the "Chinese Democracy" AD mark to be late 1999, when the name of the new album was announced.

Nov. 7, 1999: Guns N' Roses manager Doug Goldstein says "Chinese Democracy" is nearly complete, and should be out in early 2000. "It's not entirely indicative of what the album's going to be," he says of "Oh My God," a Guns track that appears on the soundtrack to "End of Days," a 1999 action picture starring Arnold Schwarzenegger. "It's a song that seemed to fit the movie."

January 2000: Rolling Stone magazine interviews Rose and reports that the new album is penciled in for a summer 2000 release. "I'd like to take some of the old Guns fans along with me into the 21st Century," Rose tells the magazine.

May 11, 2001: The New York Daily News quotes an "insider," who says the album is basically done. "The album has been finished to everybody else's satisfaction for over a year now," the source says. "But Axl keeps going back to remix it and add vocals."

November 2002: Guns N' Roses keyboard player Dizzy Reed tells the Cleveland Plain Dealer that the album should be out by summer 2003. "There are just a few odds and ends left to do - a couple of finishing touches, a couple of vocals - and we need to mix it," Reed says.

Aug. 21, 2003: Guns N' Roses bass player Tommy Stinson tells the Albany Times-Union that work on the album has "been going great." "It's closer to the end of the record being completed than the beginning," he says. "... I'm not drinking the company Kool-Aid on all that. That's all straight info. I guarantee that the album's coming out. Hopefully it'll be out sometime before the end of the year."

April 5, 2004: After new Guns N' Roses guitarist Buckethead quits, Rose says in a release, "We hope to announce a release date within the next few months."

January 2006: On a Philadelphia radio show, former Guns guitarist Slash says of "Chinese Democracy," "It's coming out in March ... I've been told a lot of things over the years, but it definitely sounds like it's coming out in March."

January 2006: Rose tells Rolling Stone that the band is working on 32 songs, with 13 expected to make the final cut. "People will hear the music this year," he says.

November 2006: Several publications report that the album will be released by the end of the year, with the band's Web site strongly suggesting it will be released on a Tuesday in November or December.

Dec. 15, 2006: Rose puts a statement on the official Guns N' Roses Web site, announcing a tentative March 6, 2007, release date. "To say the making of this album has been an unbearably long and incomprehensible journey would be an understatement," Rose says.

March 2007 passed, and we haven't heard another definitive word about the album, which reportedly has accumulated more than $10 million in recording costs. Meanwhile, the band continued on a short world tour in June and July.

Whatever minor inconvenience Guns N' Roses fans are enduring, I feel much more sympathy for W. Axl Rose, whose life at this point must be like Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day." (Axl's Journal: Clock radio wakes me up at noon. That f- Velvet Revolver song is on again ... Come to the slow realization that for the 3,126th day, "Chinese Democracy" isn't done ... Have breakfast with Andie MacDowell and Chris Elliot ...)

The delay of the album, which was frustrating at first, has become a more entertaining spectacle than anything that could possibly be on the album. Every generation has its crazy musicians, and for the children of the 1980s, Axl Rose is definitely our heaviest hitter. Although the unreleased GNR album hasn't yet approached the madness surrounding Brian Wilson's 37-years-in-the-making "Smile," I'm definitely rooting for it to break the record. If "Chinese Democracy" comes out a year before 2031, it will be too soon.

It's also hard to feel like I'm missing out on new Guns N' Roses, because I've already heard most of the content. Between the songs that have already commercial airplay, the tracks I've heard in concert (Axl has been playing "Chinese Democracy" content since a 2001 Guns tour) and a mysterious Internet download that arrived on my desk in CD form last year, I feel like I've listened to the entire album three or four times. I've certainly listened to more of the new album than "The Spaghetti Incident," the last GNR album, which came out in 1993.

The "Chinese Democracy" tracks that have surfaced offer no clues as to why the album has been delayed so long. The songs are actually not that bad. And other than a slight industrial edge (and an exodus of nearly every band member other than Rose), it barely differs from the last two original Guns N' Roses albums. "Chinese Democracy" could be "Use Your Illusion III."

Even if it's another "Appetite for Destruction," it can't possibly eclipse the fun journalists have had writing about the album. My search revealed at least a dozen different writers who used the same punch line, speculating whether there will be a democracy in China before we see "Chinese Democracy."

Axl Rose may get wrinkly and gray before his next album drops, but that joke will never, ever grow old.

[Sprry75]

Hell yeah!  2011 is gonna ******' raawwwwk with GnFnR!  I can't wait.

Hell yeah! 2031 is gonna ******' raawwwwk with GnFnR! I can't wait.

[Scott]

I have a good feeling about 2008...

[Diddly]

I finally found Appetite for Destruction at a decent price and picked it up. I've been holding off on it for like 4-5 years but have never seen it under $13. Wal-Mart had it for $8. Great album.