Tommy Stinson On GN'R Reunion: I Had To Decline Taking A Few Tours - Axl Had To Make A Decision To Do Some Other Things

[RONIN]

1 hour ago, IncitingChaos said:

CD seemed to struggle from not being a very fun album to listen to. A lot of the songs aren't uplifting, the sound is all over the place, and the vocals are not appealing to the listener. 

In some ways it was nice for a hardcore fan to listen to it and hear the many layers. And effort brought to the album, but for the casual listener it didn't do anything for them. It bothered myself and many that people didn't like the album just bc we were all hoping it would be this epic album however when the album doesn't live up to that hype it puts the fan on the losing side. 

The backstories and mystery of the album still makes it appealing for a big gnr fan, but you can't get away with an album like this if it's the first album after over a decade of work or it's the only album you end up releasing. 

Overall my feeling is the album would have  been received poorly in 2002, 2006, and 2008...now if those were the release years of each album in the trilogy we were hoping for then it's a different story, but as it stands CD is a punchline.

Great post. Agreed on the tone of the album being off, but it may have been a less produced album back in '02 with a different track list. Either way, the interest and hype from the late 90's-02 for a GnR record would have guaranteed a blockbuster performance from CD initially. The GnR brand was still sort of relevant even in the late 90's. That was right around the time music piracy was beginning and CD sales were peaking. Even '02-03 could have worked as there was a mainstream revival of hard rock as we saw with Velvet Revolver. By '06? Album sales were dying and interest in retro-rock was waning. Nu guns missed their window of relevance by 6-8 years.

That's the problem with following trends. Nu metal was dead by 2000 and so were acts like Moby, Prodigy, etc. Whatever Axl was cooking up was already irrelevant by '99. I hope we get a box set of all this stuff but with the reunion, it seems doubtful. I'm one of the few here who loved "Oh my God" and I still would be curious to hear the Sean Beaven "2000 intentions" aka Chinese Democracy as originally envisioned by Axl.

[Modano09]

7 hours ago, username said:

In retrospect - no. 

What killed the new GnR was failing to release Chinese Democracy and move forward. CD not coming out in 2002 was essentially the death sentence. Buckethead leaving in 2004 was the final nail in the coffin (although personally I always hated him as a part of GnR). Everything after that was just pointless for the long term and mission impossible for commercial success, even though I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them live in 2006. There was a genuine mythical excitement about that. The Hammerstein Ballroom shows alone were absolutely buzzing with anticipation and energy. But looking back now, it was already too late despite all that. 

2006 was when it seemed to be happening for real. The band looked more like a band, the leaks were well received, Axl appeared on MTV. I remember friends and classmates liking the new songs and being curious about Chinese Democracy's impending arrival and having a group of 11 traveling to see GNR play and everyone loving the show. And then it just fizzle and by the time it finally came out in 2008 the same casual fan friends I had in 2006 didn't really care. They loved Shackler's Revenge though.

[DieselDaisy]

11 minutes ago, Modano09 said:

2006 was when it seemed to be happening for real. The band looked more like a band, the leaks were well received, Axl appeared on MTV. I remember friends and classmates liking the new songs and being curious about Chinese Democracy's impending arrival and having a group of 11 traveling to see GNR play and everyone loving the show. And then it just fizzle and by the time it finally came out in 2008 the same casual fan friends I had in 2006 didn't really care. They loved Shackler's Revenge though.

2006. Axl turned up with a new hairstyle, cornrows or dreadlocks (I confess to not being able to differentiate between the two), and a replacement for his lead guitarist, a replacement who just so happened to share (confusingly) a similar three syllable silly name (beginning with the letter 'B'), alongside a penchant for aimless shred! Axl then recommenced 'playing the hits' for circa a year in half empty arenas (I believe the touring entered 2007) before buggering off again without so much as a thank you note, and certainly no album on the agenda!

Thus was 2006.

[username]

10 hours ago, Modano09 said:

2006 was when it seemed to be happening for real. The band looked more like a band, the leaks were well received, Axl appeared on MTV. I remember friends and classmates liking the new songs and being curious about Chinese Democracy's impending arrival and having a group of 11 traveling to see GNR play and everyone loving the show. And then it just fizzle and by the time it finally came out in 2008 the same casual fan friends I had in 2006 didn't really care. They loved Shackler's Revenge though.

 

13 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Personally, I think they still could've released the album in 2006 and been OK. 

Like you said, there was so much buzz from the start with the Hammerstein shows. Then they turned in great to excellent festival appearances I'm Europe. Then the US tour was very popular. 

On top of all of that, US radio stations were trying to play Better until they got the ignorant C&D from Universal. 

I think if they would have just released Better as a single, then the album by Christmas that year, the last 10 years could've been far different. 

Agreed, but my main problem with a 2006 release is that I think the material was already greatly ruined with overproduction by then. A 2002 release would have been a lot more crisp and straight-forward judging by the demo's from that era. But that's a guess. It could have been ruined anywhere from 2004 to 2008. 

Edited October 6, 2016 by username