When I first heard the leak, I was a bit disappointed. No wonder though, considering the exceptions I had. Just as the other NITL releases, the song suffers from repetitiveness. Especially The General and Perhaps would have greatly benefitted from more lyrics or a little change up in the structure. Perhaps could've been a 10/10 song for me, if it weren't for the copy and paste shit. The final version of The General also really doesn't sound good. I feel like the leak had more punch?! I don't know what clipping is and therefore don't hear it ( I think), and I'd rather not find out because that would probably ruin the song completely.
That said, I still like the song. It really grew on me since the leak. I like the sinister vibe, the outro is great and overall the song is really catchy. Chinese Democracy is probably my favourite album of all time, and while TG doesn't compare to songs like TWAT, Prostitute or CITR, it still scratches an itch for me. I'm a bit surprised that the reception on the forum is that horrible. I get that it's not everyone's cup of tea, but worse than My World? Well, each to their own.
I'm glad I cancelled the Vinyl, though, especially after seeing what they did to the cover. God, this band. How I wish I didn't love GnR the way I do. Music life would be so much better if I was on a Metallica forum instead.