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First time listening to the entire Chinese Democracy album - WOW


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5 hours ago, fumardude said:

Whenever mike piazza leaked irs ws my first listen to anything cd.. Wait ... actually madagascar or "the blues" were played live before that 

Oh my god was actually the first song from that era. As horrible as my world, imo. So NOT GnR.

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On 4/27/2016 at 0:45 AM, JohnnyGtar said:

I just finished listening to the Chinese Democracy album for the first time. I'm impressed. Bigtime.

Seein' as I hooked up Richard with a guitar that he used on that album, I should have listened to it long ago. Yes, I feel stupid for waiting so long.

Kickass record. There are some brilliant moments on it.

In my opinion, Freese, Buckethead and Finck parts are the highlight of the album.  Unfortunately, this is overshadowed by Axl's horrid, cheesy, bitter, out-ta-get-me lyrics, awful vocals and unnecessary NIN wanna-be production.  The biggest flaw of the album is Axl.  If The World is a song that most people that like or love Chinese do not like.  I, however, like the song -- when Axl is completely removed from it.  It works as an instrumental.

Anyways, it's cool that you're enjoying your newfound love for Chinese Democracy.  :thumbsup:

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I actually really like this album. I think it's pretty great. I can understand why a lot of people don't like it though, it's not exactly a GnR album. Axl should have probably released it as a solo effort, that's really what it is when it boils down to it.

 

Edited by Jw224
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I gotta say that Chinese Democracy, the song, sounds too extravagant. In my opinion, the early versions with the industrial aspects and with more aggressives drum beats are so fuckin' good, like in Rock in Rio (2001) and in the 2002 tour. The demo below would have been perfect for the final version. I don't know why Axl (or whoever else) decided to change the Josh Freese/Brain drum arrangments. It would have been better to keep Brain on it. It's the only song on CD that it's just Frank playing.

 

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On 4/27/2016 at 6:53 AM, action said:

Axl himself worded it perfectly why I don't like Chinese democracy. I believe he said, "appetite was made to dance on, and Chinese wasn't". I think that sums up my main beef with it. I like the swing and "oomph" of appetite a lot more than the robotic rhythms of Chinese. I can see the melodies are there, but I find the album as a whole difficult to listen to. I know a great rocking album when I hear one: ace of spades, rocks, LA women, let there be rock, some girls, Izzy's 177°, master of puppets... unfortunately, Chinese isn't one of them. Appetite is though.

Axl wanted to produce "intelligent" music. It's obvious he wanted to prove he could make a good GNR record on his own: "it don't really matter, guess you'll find out for yourself", he sings in the opening lines.

I don't consider myself to be particularly intelligent though, so therefore this music is not aimed at me. I just like to rock out and have fun. Some people will tell you rock is the music of the "ordinary" people. Like one article said: intellectual people don't "want" to like guns n roses, they are not "supposed" to like them so they listen to something like muse or radiohead. it's a form of "musical elitism". I know a few intellectual people and they all look down on GNR. Then they tell me to listen to coldplay. yawn.

I don't know if there is such a thing as "intellectual" music. All I know is you have good music and bad music. I do know I find most music classified as "intellectual", including Chinese, utterly boring. Please Axl, next time make a danceable record with slash and duff.

My IQ is fairly high, was in the gifted program back in the day.  MENSA, etc. Not boasting, just wanting to make a point. 

Some of that music you referred to is just pretentious, not an intellectual exercise. 

One of the attractive qualities of GnR was the variety of songs.  Coldplay and Radiohead all sound the same. Just whiny and pretentious. 

The issue with these people, they are sheep. They are followers. A wise person picks their own path. 

You have pseudo-intellectuals everywhere. 

Hell, if they want such stimulation, I recommend the symphony. 

Appetite was so real. No facade. 

Then you take a song like Estranged, that hits on a deep emotional and intellectual side. 

Life is raw and beautiful. Thus the name, Guns N Roses. 

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I fucking love this album.  It's one of my favourites that's been released in the last 15 years (since I started getting into music). It's far from perfect, but that's ok, it's more than good enough for me. The only thing I can't stand on the album is Catcher. It's sounds so unbelievably messy, it's unbearable, and I guess i'm just not enough of a fan of the song to put up with that. The only part of the song I like is when it goes quiet and builds up before the guitar solo, with the lalala's, cause it actually sounds nice and my ears can take a break from the noise that is the rest of the song.

Apart from that, I love it. It just sounds modern and unlike anything else really. I don't really get why it's always referred to as "industrial" - it's just not my idea of industrial. To me it just sounds modern and heavy. I love what Axl's done/tried to do and admire his stubbornness, it's just such a shame that all the bullshit surrounding the making of the album has tainted it so much. And I don't think we'll ever really know what happened there that caused so much grief. All the speculation just bores me, so I just take the album as it is.

And I never thought, until it happened, that when Slash and Axl reunited, that I'd miss Robin and Buckethead so much - yeah it's been a long time since they were in the band, but that's pretty much when I lost interest, when Robin left. Looking back, I always sort of resented them for looking the way they did in my precious 80's band and found it embarrassing, but I always loved their writing. (And i actually really liked Buckethead outside of GNR). I think i was more embarrassed because you couldn't say to your friends "hey, check these guys out.." cause you always got laughed out the room. But their work on the album is phenomenal - more exciting than anything Slash has done for years. I want them back. I grew up playing guitar and Slash was my idol, absolutely worshipped the guy, but i'm so bored with his solo work, I'm worried about what he's gonna bring to Axl when it comes to writing. Slash seems to always want to do more of the same, whereas Axl clearly wants to do something more. I hope they do write together, just so I can hear Uncle Axl, cause he's really being wasted, just touring and touring. The excitement over Slash being on stage with Axl pretty much wore off after the first 2 gigs and I've barely watched any video's of it. I want more music, please. I'm bored.

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Chinese Democracy is one of my favourite records of all time, the mystique envelopes and permeates it, I find Axl a fascinating character so having one record with just his imagination and demented ambition burning through each track really gets me every listen, I must listen to it at least ten times a year. Catcher in the Rye, Prostitute and Better are my favourites.

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14 hours ago, NoNameThe1st said:

My IQ is fairly high, was in the gifted program back in the day.  MENSA, etc. Not boasting, just wanting to make a point. 

Some of that music you referred to is just pretentious, not an intellectual exercise. 

One of the attractive qualities of GnR was the variety of songs.  Coldplay and Radiohead all sound the same. Just whiny and pretentious. 

The issue with these people, they are sheep. They are followers. A wise person picks their own path. 

You have pseudo-intellectuals everywhere. 

Hell, if they want such stimulation, I recommend the symphony. 

Appetite was so real. No facade. 

Then you take a song like Estranged, that hits on a deep emotional and intellectual side. 

Life is raw and beautiful. Thus the name, Guns N Roses. 

well said...

I have to say my friends and I are hot geeks and LOVE GNR...like you said...its VARIETY...has reptilian-brain pound your fist in the air songs to deep soulful music. I think musical taste is just that...TASTE...everyone differs...

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15 hours ago, coolranchdressing! said:

well said...

I have to say my friends and I are hot geeks and LOVE GNR...like you said...its VARIETY...has reptilian-brain pound your fist in the air songs to deep soulful music. I think musical taste is just that...TASTE...everyone differs...

Indeed.  

 

Right, despite my comments above, I believe entertainment choices are just a matter of opinion.  Some are obviously force fed and marketed in manipulative ways, but if the people like the product, so be it.  

 

 

 

 

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37 minutes ago, NoNameThe1st said:

Me too, a Budweiser. Horrible. LOL

i think mine was Natural Light :lol:

still hate beer to this day...much rather have a mixed drink...there nothing pussy about a Long Island :max:

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On 30/4/2016 at 7:11 PM, jpduff said:

I gotta say that Chinese Democracy, the song, sounds too extravagant. In my opinion, the early versions with the industrial aspects and with more aggressives drum beats are so fuckin' good, like in Rock in Rio (2001) and in the 2002 tour. The demo below would have been perfect for the final version. I don't know why Axl (or whoever else) decided to change the Josh Freese/Brain drum arrangments. It would have been better to keep Brain on it. It's the only song on CD that it's just Frank playing.

 

It sounds empty to me... I don't know, like it's unfinished

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I have just listened to Sorry on YouTube (first time I've listened to it) I think I quite liked it?

I will give the other tracks a listen maybe one each day. I'm giving CD a fair chance and as a Slash and classic Guns fan it has taken me a while

i know, but hey it's never to late....is it???

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4 hours ago, GNRfanMILO said:

It sounds empty to me... I don't know, like it's unfinished

I got your point, but for me the coolest feature of the song is its industrial side, with less overdubs, less guitars. I mean, I prefer the rawness rathern then the guitar wall with hard rock beats.

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On 5/2/2016 at 2:31 PM, -W.A.R- said:

i think mine was Natural Light :lol:

still hate beer to this day...much rather have a mixed drink...there nothing pussy about a Long Island :max:

That stuff is like the beer that spills out during transport. LOL

 

Yeah, give me a Margarita anyday.

 

 

Edited by NoNameThe1st
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On April 28, 2016 at 9:58 AM, weaponsnflowers said:

Agreed. I'm sure it will be appreciated more and more as time goes on. 

Why? If somebody didn't like the album in 2008 what makes you think they will like it in 2028?

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3 minutes ago, Apollo said:

Why? If somebody didn't like the album in 2008 what makes you think they will like it in 2028?

Because taste evolves and/or changes, at least for some people.

Edited by Rovim
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