Popular Post SoulMonster Posted November 18, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2015 This essay is brilliant: http://www.stereogum.com/1844250/heres-why-id-hate-a-guns-n-roses-reunion/franchises/essay/Particularly these ending paragraphs:Most disheartening of all, though, is what this reunion would mean for Axl Rose’s legacy: He’d be downgrading from “paranoid, perfectionistic, and tyrannical” to “acquisitive, avaricious, and cynical.” He’d be evolving from “genuine eccentric” to “just another middle-aged musician trading on nostalgia, trying to cash in while cash is still on the table.” He’d be dismissing the goodwill of every fan who dedicated serious time to Chinese Democracy, every fan who heard that spoken-sung Count Chocula accent and wondered, How and why the holy hell did he come up with THAT? After spending more than 11 years and $13 million on Chinese Democracy, he’d be disowning the thing. His magnum opus, disavowed. More than a decade of his life, tossed aside in favor of rehashing songs he co-wrote when he was 23 years old, when Ronald Reagan was in office. He’d be betraying us a little bit, but he’d be betraying himself a whole lot more.He’d also be shutting the door on those Chinese Democracy sequels. In the case of the remix album, that’s probably a good thing. Nobody wants that. I’m not even sure anybody would release that. But I, for one, was sincerely and eagerly looking forward to hearing the “second half” of Chinese Democracy, irrespective of how the world at large might respond to such a proposition. I mean it! I didn’t expect that album to yield a vast trove of great music, but Axl Rose rarely puts his name on anything that’s not at least pretty good and inherently interesting. Furthermore, the very existence of both those albums — even if they existed chiefly in Axl Rose’s imagination — suggested an artist altogether unmoored from reality, and therefore, an artist guided by an idiosyncratic muse, an artist uninterested in making a profit or pleasing anyone.Scoff all you like, but those choices require an almost religious-fanatical commitment; a commitment to a deluded worldview, yes, but a commitment that’s all too rare in art today. We need more musicians like batshit Axl Rose: musicians who pursue their vision at any cost, financial or personal. We don’t need more reunion tours: reprehensible cash-grabs that spurn integrity and monetize nostalgia. If caring about music is supposed to mean something — anything — we need at least a handful of unyielding, unreasonable, uncompromising iconoclasts to give it definition, to give us direction. Where do we go? Where do we go now?I couldn't agree more. 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kogun Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 nobody cares about cd2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Chewbacca Posted November 18, 2015 Popular Post Share Posted November 18, 2015 He's already a nostalgia act... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DieselDaisy Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 This essay is brilliant: http://www.stereogum.com/1844250/heres-why-id-hate-a-guns-n-roses-reunion/franchises/essay/Particularly these ending paragraphs:Most disheartening of all, though, is what this reunion would mean for Axl Rose’s legacy: He’d be downgrading from “paranoid, perfectionistic, and tyrannical” to “acquisitive, avaricious, and cynical.” He’d be evolving from “genuine eccentric” to “just another middle-aged musician trading on nostalgia, trying to cash in while cash is still on the table.” He’d be dismissing the goodwill of every fan who dedicated serious time to Chinese Democracy, every fan who heard that spoken-sung Count Chocula accent and wondered, How and why the holy hell did he come up with THAT? After spending more than 11 years and $13 million on Chinese Democracy, he’d be disowning the thing. His magnum opus, disavowed. More than a decade of his life, tossed aside in favor of rehashing songs he co-wrote when he was 23 years old, when Ronald Reagan was in office. He’d be betraying us a little bit, but he’d be betraying himself a whole lot more.Axl has been “just another middle-aged musician trading on nostalgia, trying to cash in while cash is still on the table” since about 2011.but Axl Rose rarely puts his name on anything that’s not at least pretty good and inherently interesting.Corrected.an artist uninterested in making a profit or pleasing anyone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billsfan Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Pretty dumb article. If gnr wasn't a nostalgia act right now they'd at least would have played new music. No the general, no silkworms, no oh my god, no atlas.. NOTHING. If all they're ever going to do is keep playing the old songs, might as well have the guys who wrote and performed them to be playing them.This was wrote by that psycho fan with the ADHD medication that just wants to rebel and go against the crowd thinking they'll prove a point going against the mass.. Aka a 40 year old living in their moms basement. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BreakDown2014 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 In 2010 I would have agreed. Now it's obvious that Axl just gave up on pretty much everything 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russel Nash Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I want the rest of CD more than anything else from GNR. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DIST Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) Sounds like a butthurt hipster... Edited November 18, 2015 by DIST 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moreblack Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 "He’d also be shutting the door on those Chinese Democracy sequels. In the case of the remix album, that’s probably a good thing. Nobody wants that. I’m not even sure anybody would release that. But I, for one, was sincerely and eagerly looking forward to hearing the “second half” of Chinese Democracy"He can still put that out. That's no reason to stop reunion, none of them are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lies They Tell Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) I don't really agree with any of that. IMO a reunion doesn't shut the door for CD2. And I seriously doubt the reason for the reunion is nostalgia. But let's wait and see. Edited November 18, 2015 by Lies They Tell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Black Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 You and maybe about 100 people would hate it. Millions would love it.Chinese democracy was a failure and Axl knows it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caught_in_a_Coma Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Why does it have to be that way though? Whether or not CD is his magnum opus, he didn't do anything with CD other than eventually releasing it and touring it alongside classic GNR music. Why would a reunion of the classic lineup (a completely different band and thing than what NuGNR was) disavow his solo project? As much as he doesn't want CD to be viewed as his solo project, it definitely isn't viewed as a GNR project because GNR was the classic/Illisuion lineup, NuGNR was never accepted as an organic evolution of what GNR is (just like VR isn't viewed as an evolution of GNR), it was always viewed as a new and different beast.A reunion could be viewed as Axl going along with the crowd of his peers and doing a reunion while it's still on the table. But it could also be viewed just as much (if not more) as friends reconnecting and making an effort to do something for their fans Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Bird Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I stopped reading after the second sentence and know for sure this essay is full of shit. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
niceguy Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I'm confused. How on earth has Axl NOT been a nostalgia act for the past decade? 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Free Bird Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I'm confused. How on earth has Axl NOT been a nostalgia act for the past decade?Axl nut swingers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvH Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Define "brilliant". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
downzy Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I still maintain that regardless of what happens with all this reunion news we're still as likely to hear the follow up to Chinese Democracy. If anyone were up for confusing fans by reuniting with Slash, Duff, and his former bandmates AND release a new album with none of them on it, it's Axl. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick85 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 I still maintain that regardless of what happens with all this reunion news we're still as likely to hear the follow up to Chinese Democracy. If anyone were up for confusing fans by reuniting with Slash, Duff, and his former bandmates AND release a new album with none of them on it, it's Axl. Yep. And it's all being done under the GNR name anyway. Meaning, I'm sure the label would be happy to release Chi Dem 2 on the heals of a reunion tour to boost sales. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Black Sabbath Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Lol all people have been saying for years is about a reunion and now all this speculation is about and people don't want it. Stupid people.That said, I still want new music before anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick85 Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) Gun to my head, I'd take the next album over seeing a reunion show. Album has more "miles". But I agree that one does not necessarily nullify the other....They can keep the remix album though. Edited November 18, 2015 by sofine11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) Meanwhile, a Chinese Democracy remix album seems significantly less compelling still: It would be hard to imagine anything else quite so inessential in 2015. (Or even in 2008.)Yes. 1000x yes. Can we never mention this stupid thing ever again on this forum? Edited November 18, 2015 by Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
moreblack Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Define "brilliant".Anything not that article. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ant Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 (edited) I liked that article a lot... and it really reaffirmed my disdain for the proposed Ferrer/Fortus/Duff/Slash/Axl lineup.I still want a reunion but... No Izzy no DICE, man. Edited November 18, 2015 by Ant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoulMonster Posted November 18, 2015 Author Share Posted November 18, 2015 Define "brilliant".In the sense I used the term: A well-written, insightful and fun essay that happened to mostly overlap perfectly with my own views on Axl Rose, CD and a reunion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EvH Posted November 18, 2015 Share Posted November 18, 2015 Define "brilliant".Anything not that article.Yep, it was my point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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