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Fun Stuff => BAND => Topic started by: Luke C on 20 Nov 2008, 09:30

Title: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Luke C on 20 Nov 2008, 09:30
Is finally on the verge of release, tbh Im not going to believe it until I actually see it in a shop.

But anyway you can stream it on myspace at the moment, http://uk.myspace.com/gunsnroses (http://uk.myspace.com/gunsnroses)
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: michaelicious on 20 Nov 2008, 09:34
Chuck Klosterman wrote a pretty interesting review (http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/chuck_klosterman_reviews) of it for the Onion's AV Club.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: De_El on 20 Nov 2008, 09:44
I am almost kind of pleased that it's actually coming out because it means I can have a can of soda for free.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Jackie Blue on 20 Nov 2008, 10:08
There are actually a few good songs on it.  It's not nearly as bad as I expected.  I wanted it to be brain-hurtingly awful like the latest Smashing Pumpkins trainwreck.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: lessthanfirst on 20 Nov 2008, 10:16
The analogy I used yesterday on discovering a friend of mine was disappointed with this album was "you shouldn't be disappointed if you go into a chemist and find they're not selling cigarettes".
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: KharBevNor on 20 Nov 2008, 10:35
Why the fuck does anyone care about this.

I mean, seriously.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Catacombs on 20 Nov 2008, 11:22
The only song off the album that I have heard so far was the title track, and I kind of liked it.  I thought there was a little too much going on, particularly with Axl's singing, but it wasn't utter shit.  Also, the guitar fills sound exactly like something Slash would write.  I'm not going to be tripping over things to get the album, but i suppose I'll at least check it out eventually.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Jackie Blue on 20 Nov 2008, 11:46
You probably haven't heard it. If you ever heard old Guns N Roses and thought "wow this is music which couldn't actually be any worse"

I still think that Appetite For Destruction is a rather good album.  Why do you think it's so bad?  It's one of the very few albums I can think of that pretty much all my friends can agree on.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: KvP on 20 Nov 2008, 12:18
I always hated Axl's voice.

My old bass teacher used to tell me tales of growing up in Indiana and knowing Axl Rose. Apparently he was a hanger-on in the local music scene, nobody really liked him, he was racked with self-doubt and was preoccupied with affectations. There are kids like him everywhere, I know a few myself.

Nobody ever really changes, I guess.

Anyway, I do hope Axl dropped the whole post-industrial / drum and bass thing. That sort of sound only would have sold within the first 5 or 6 years of Chinese Democracy's gestation period.

The two questions I have are 1) are they going to tour behind this thing? If so, are they going to keep it together this time? and 2) where does GnR go after this? Will Axl get over himself and start being productive?
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: carrotosaurus on 20 Nov 2008, 13:49
For those of you really interested, it's streamable on their myspace.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: mberan42 on 20 Nov 2008, 14:23
I can up it to the mediaf!re thread, if people want it. (mp3@v0, for those terribly concerned)
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Thrillho on 20 Nov 2008, 14:44
I'll only believe this when it's in a shop. I'll also buy it, though.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: TheFuriousWombat on 20 Nov 2008, 15:21

Quote
The album concludes with an audio representation of the Rape of Nanking.


This one is the best. I haven't listened to the album. I probably won't. GnR are on my list of "Bands I Hate the Most" and, to be honest, I don't need to remind myself why.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: sean on 20 Nov 2008, 15:31
Chuck Klosterman wrote a pretty interesting review (http://www.avclub.com/content/feature/chuck_klosterman_reviews) of it for the Onion's AV Club.

I read that when I grabbed my Onion wednesday afternoon it basically made me not want to listen to the album, despite his high score of it. This is why. (block for context, bold for main point)
Quote
(on axl rose) he can't write or record anything without obsessing over how it will be received

If somebody has that attitude about their music, I could really care less about how it sounds. This quote is taken somewhat out of context, but I feel the point of it still remains. Also, I really hate this statement as well:

Quote
For one thing, Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we'll ever contemplate in this context—it's the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file.

The last album that will matter as a coherent whole? Fucking bull. Maybe in the mainstream, but there's a whole lot of other music out there.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Catacombs on 20 Nov 2008, 16:36
Quote
For one thing, Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we'll ever contemplate in this context—it's the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file.

The last album that will matter as a coherent whole? Fucking bull. Maybe in the mainstream, but there's a whole lot of other music out there.

I completely agree.  Other than that, i thought the review made it sound like an interesting album, plus, i love Chuck Klosterman's writing.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Inlander on 20 Nov 2008, 17:03
A reliably well-written review by Alexis Petridis in today's Guardian:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/21/guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy (http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2008/nov/21/guns-n-roses-chinese-democracy)
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: RedLion on 20 Nov 2008, 18:42
Appetite for Destruction is an overvalued but energetic and good album. They also did a great cover of Live and Let Die. Other than that, I've never had much interest in G'n'R.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Alex C on 20 Nov 2008, 20:00
My brother likes it; he says it's weird at times but that there's just about always something worth listening to in the mix. I myself am pretty ambivalent about the album and haven't really given it a full listen yet; so far it's not focused enough for my tastes but I don't really care about its gestation time or whether Axl is crazy or merely a perfectionist, so I am not about to just utterly dismiss it yet.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Alex C on 20 Nov 2008, 20:10
Blech.


Okay, yeah, now I'm ready to utterly dismiss it. Hey Axl, at least you nearly made it 10 minutes.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Christophe on 20 Nov 2008, 20:23
Good things about Guns 'n Roses:

-Inspired the 1-to-5 Axl rating system back when Buddyhead.com did record reviews.
-Eventually kept Scott Weiland off of smack for a few months. Oh, wait., that didn't actually happen.

If Axl Rose had spent the last decade shitting in one giant metallic bucket, it would have been a better use of his time and ultimately a finer end product.

What if that metallic bucket was Lars Ulrich's snare drum?
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: KickThatBathProf on 20 Nov 2008, 20:25
Truly it would be the finest masterpiece of our time
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: FireAarro on 20 Nov 2008, 21:50
It's quite funny that they chose this title. Guns 'n' Roses are pretty popular in China- fake versions of their albums abound every CD store. I wonder if *this* one will be allowed to sell, with a title like that?
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Johnny C on 21 Nov 2008, 00:31
Remember: Go to Dr. Pepper's website on Sunday to print out a coupon for a free Dr. Pepper.

Yes, they're making good on their promise.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: DMart on 21 Nov 2008, 00:42
There are actually a few good songs on it.  It's not nearly as bad as I expected.  I wanted it to be brain-hurtingly awful like the latest Smashing Pumpkins trainwreck.


I really wanted to be able to rebut this.

They have done some good things since Zeitgeist though. Youtube 'superchrist'.
(Well, I think it's good anyway).

Oh yeah, the OP... um yeah those guns and roses really don't entertain me huh isn't that something
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: David_Dovey on 21 Nov 2008, 01:17
This album probably would've been really popular on the Em Tee Vees and then ignored for a solid decade and then brought up again in this thread (http://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php/topic,21727.0.html) if it was made by some other band and released 1998-ish.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Nodaisho on 21 Nov 2008, 01:39
Remember: Go to Dr. Pepper's website on Sunday to print out a coupon for a free Dr. Pepper.

Yes, they're making good on their promise.
Awesome. I'm not big on dr pepper (it's alright), but free stuff!

I've been listening to the album on and off, pretty mediocre for the most part, with some shitty stuff. Definitely wouldn't buy it.

So, uh... any news on Duke Nukem Forever?
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: David_Dovey on 21 Nov 2008, 02:03
Quote from: Klosterman's review of Chinese Democracy
n the aforementioned "Sorry," Rose suddenly sings an otherwise innocuous line ("But I don't want to do it") in some bizarre, quasi-Transylvanian accent, and I cannot begin to speculate as to why. I mean, one has to assume Axl thought about all of these individual choices a minimum of a thousand times over the past 15 years. Somewhere in Los Angles, there's gotta be 400 hours of DAT tape with nothing on it except multiple versions of the "Sorry" vocal. So why is this the one we finally hear? What finally made him decide, "You know, I've weighed all my options and all their potential consequences, and I'm going with the Mexican vampire accent. This is the vision I will embrace. But only on that one line! The rest of it will just be sung like a non-dead human."

I just listened to this part of the song like ten times consecutively. Klosterman is not exaggerating one tiny bit. Utterly bizarre.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Misereatur on 21 Nov 2008, 08:27
Why the fuck does anyone care about this.

I mean, seriously.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: KharBevNor on 21 Nov 2008, 09:10
Y'all might as well just let Axel Rose jizz in your eyes and wipe himself clean with your fucking hair.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: SleeperCylon on 21 Nov 2008, 13:37
I might get it, but unless everyone says it's really, really good, like Appetite For Destruction level, no way I'm getting it at a ****ing Best Buy.  No Guns N Roses, you don't get to dictate where I buy an album.   You play the music, I'll listen to it, and if I decide it's worth spending money?  Then I'll buy it from the retailer of my own choosing.

Didn't Guns N Roses used to have a tough guy anti-establishment image?  Psh.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Catacombs on 21 Nov 2008, 23:33
I heard one of their new songs on the radio tonight.  I think it was called "If the World" or something.  First of all, the title sounds like a terrible James Bond movie.  Second, the song is awful, and nothing like other GnR stuff
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Emaline on 21 Nov 2008, 23:49
I hate GnR, but I really want to listen to this album. Mostly to laugh I suppose. I wonder if they will tour. I wonder if they will come to St. Louis.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Dazed on 22 Nov 2008, 08:35
I actually really like about half of "Zeitgeist."

On the other hand, GnR has always been absolutely horrible. Upon hearing some of the new stuff, I am unsurprised to say that the status quo has been maintained. There's some good guitar work, mainly by Buckethead, but the music just sucks something awful, and Axl still can't sing worth a damn.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Ballard on 22 Nov 2008, 08:42
And that last reason is why I much prefer Velvet Revolver. It's all the talented members of GnR plus Scott Weiland and Dave Kushner (the guy who nobody really knows).
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Alex C on 22 Nov 2008, 11:57
I dunno, I'm not a GNR fan, but I do think Appetite for Destruction was a lot better than anything Velvet Revolver put out. It's also worth noting that Velvet Revolver is missing Izzy Stradlin from the GNR lineup, and Izzy was the group's primary songwriter on Appetite.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Jackie Blue on 22 Nov 2008, 12:04
Yeah, Slash had the solos but Izzy wrote the good songs in their catalogue.

Also, Velvet Revolver are horrifically bad.  The first two STP albums were servicable enough but after that Weiland became more and more of a creepy douchebag.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: RedLion on 22 Nov 2008, 15:12
Velvet Revolver only ever put out one song that I liked, and I can't even remember the name of it now...

No wait, i think I do. "Slither"? Something like that. It was really shmaltzy and cheesy and unoriginal, but it was a pretty good stereotypical rock-out tune. Nothing special, but fun to listen to every once in awhile.

Anyway, here's another (http://www.slate.com/id/2205180/pagenum/all/#p2) (and, in my opinion, much better) review of the album, from Slate.

Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Patrick on 22 Nov 2008, 17:47
If I may quote the ever-brilliant David Cross:

"I would rather hear the death rattle of my only child."
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Bayley on 23 Nov 2008, 12:16
You probably haven't heard it. If you ever heard old Guns N Roses and thought "wow this is music which couldn't actually be any worse", you were very mistaken.

If Axl Rose had spent the last decade shitting in one giant metallic bucket, it would have been a better use of his time and ultimately a finer end product.


I agree. I think people underestimate the value of shit. It can be used as fertilizer. Food could be grown to feed the hungry. Which is more than can be said about this album.

Granted if we used Axl Rose's shit as fertilizer, it might take 16 years for anything to grow.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: MrBlu on 24 Nov 2008, 00:09
You probably haven't heard it. If you ever heard old Guns N Roses and thought "wow this is music which couldn't actually be any worse"

I still think that Appetite For Destruction is a rather good album.  Why do you think it's so bad?  It's one of the very few albums I can think of that pretty much all my friends can agree on.

No no, he's saying if you thought GnR's music was crap, you're wrong.

And this... This... Is the biggest disappointment ever. Freaking hell. This was on par with Duke Nukem Forever for vaporware, and they release this unmastered... Crap.

I feel like listening to that new Kanye West album now. I've lost faith in music.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Spluff on 24 Nov 2008, 04:11
I'm pretty sure he was saying that GnR is crap, but this is even crappier.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Thrillho on 24 Nov 2008, 06:50
Holy fuck this thing actually exists, 'cause I just bought it.

I'll let people know what I think of it later, but then no-one on this forum gives a shit what I think anyway. So, while I'm at it, Deerhoof, Neutral Milk Hotel and Low are all fucking terrible.

IN A BIT






I've never listened to those bands.
Title: Re: So...Chinese Democracy
Post by: Thrillho on 24 Nov 2008, 07:40
Okay, I've listened to 'Madagascar' (which I heard in 2002 and loved then, and I love it now) and the first three songs and so far... well, I think it's pretty fucking good. It's astounding busy, but honestly, these are some pretty great songs, and while Axl's voice is fucked onstage, in the studio he's still got some wallop.