Nice Boy Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 The short clip of this song that has been on youtube stood out for me as one of the most catchy rockers I've heard from the band since 1993, better than most of the tracks on CD.. I don't understand why it didn't make the album, or why it hasn't been released properly or played live or anything? Anyone have any info on it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Boy Posted August 15, 2018 Author Share Posted August 15, 2018 You mean there were certain people playing on it from outside the band, which caused legal issues? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post NeonKinight Posted August 15, 2018 Popular Post Share Posted August 15, 2018 The Human Being is the only mamal who releases Scraped and If The World when they have The General and Atlas Shrugged in their vaults. 3 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitarpatch Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Wagszilla said: My guess: liability reasons. (Emphasis mine) This quote is directly related to the issues with UMG/Azoff/Best Buy and finding a way to release the record and recoup on the large costs to the label. Best Buy and GNR getting the short stick there when there was no need to sink really any substantial marketing costs into the venture when UMG recouped up front on those units. Axl and co shutting down any cooperation with the release moving the situation even further into disagreement. All of which resulting in lawsuits. The more minor stuff was getting clearance from the MLK estate for Madagascar, etc.... The follow up from my guess is an issue with giving the band another advance. They couldn’t agree on that number and a marketing budget to push it through. There was a lot of red tape between GNR and UMG. They were prob far apart on an agreement to facilitate a release due to where each party stood in the scope of the industry and their rights Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fashionista Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I do wonder if Slash/Duff had anything to do with Checkmate/Jackie Chan. In one of Duff's last interviews before quitting GN'R, conducted in 1996, he said the band was working on a song for the next Jackie Chan movie. And didn't Richard say some stuff they were working on had its origins with Slash? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
liers Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I think Axl was saving some of the better stuff for the next album once he saw CD was going to tank. I remember an interview around 2002 where he said the songs the band was playing at the time weren’t considered the big guns. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Boy Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 57 minutes ago, Fashionista said: I do wonder if Slash/Duff had anything to do with Checkmate/Jackie Chan. In one of Duff's last interviews before quitting GN'R, conducted in 1996, he said the band was working on a song for the next Jackie Chan movie. And didn't Richard say some stuff they were working on had its origins with Slash? Hmm that's interesting. From the clip, it does sound more in line with something that they would write, i.e. more of an upbeat rocker. Are there any other known clips, apart from the short studio segment that most people have heard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGeneral Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 If that song ever comes out and will be called "Jackie Chan" instead of "Checkmate" I will first set all my GNR stuff on fire and then myself. "Checkmate" sounds like a really cool song title. "Jackie Chan" sounds just ridiculous. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Endless2404 Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Since Axl wanted to release multiple albums at that time, it's possible that he had planned for this song to be in the "second part of CD" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jordan Rose Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 18 hours ago, Wagszilla said: My guess: liability reasons. (Emphasis mine) Meaner sections ahead. One day... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lies They Tell Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Why wasn't it included on the album? Probably because of the same reason why The General, Seven, Soulmonster and other A-listed songs weren't included. Because they wanted to save some big guns for the later albums. It's a pretty common thing in music business actually. Bands don't just put all of their best songs on one album. Sometimes they save some of the better songs for future albums. Sometimes certain songs work with some songs thematically better than with some other songs. They probably wanted to include Scraped on CD because they wanted to have an uplifting song. Perhaps Checkmate/Jackie Chan just wasn't thematically the kind of a song that they wanted to include on the album. Normally albums aren't just compilations of the best songs available. Those kind of records are called best of albums. But normally bands have a certain vision of an album. For example AFD was supposed to be a raw in your face rock n' roll album. That's why they didn't include for example Don't Cry on that album even though most would agree that it's a better song than Anything Goes. But Don't Cry didn't fit AFD and they probably also wanted to save some big guns for later. Same thing with Checkmate, The General etc... Those songs didn't fit the theme of CD and they wanted to save some of the better songs for future albums. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Boy Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 That makes sense in the context of AFD, because most of the songs have a similar tempo and drive. But UYI was a total mish mash of styles, veering from one type of song to the other and back again. In fact I'd goes as far as saying there is no flow to the tracklisting at all on UYI. They probably should have stuck all the rockers on one album and the slower ones on another, but were worried that one would outperform the other too much. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nice Boy Posted August 16, 2018 Author Share Posted August 16, 2018 Also, considering there was so much expectation for CD, it was a risky move holding back better songs for the next album. When I first heard CD it didn't blow me away and I struggled to get into any of the songs really. If something like Checkmate had been the opener, I would have been all hell yeah this rocks, etc, and given the rest of the album more of a chance (I do like some of CD now though.) Saying all that, my first listening of UYI was number II, and hearing Civil War, 14 Years, Yesterdays, my first reaction was what the hell is this shit, it sounds totally different to AFD, it's all slow and weak, I'm not into it etc, but fast forward a few months and I was digging it, Civil War is one of the best songs of theirs imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweersa Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 3 hours ago, TheGeneral said: If that song ever comes out and will be called "Jackie Chan" instead of "Checkmate" I will first set all my GNR stuff on fire and then myself. "Checkmate" sounds like a really cool song title. "Jackie Chan" sounds just ridiculous. Jackie Chan is a working title and subject to change. Checkmate was the name given to the clip by the leaker. Rumor has it he had the entire 1999 Beavan album. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jacdaniel Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 30 second snippets can often be Very misleading. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lies They Tell Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 1 hour ago, Wagszilla said: But the point is, it's not just saving some good songs for future albums, but also Axl's vision. That's what I said. Did you even read my whole post? I talked about how it probably didn't fit the theme of CD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweersa Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 36 minutes ago, Wagszilla said: Not true. Only 16 seconds were leaked publicly, unless you're sharing. Only Terry knows. I wonder if he is still in town? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Propaganda Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 "Up Town Terry" that is! Are you there, somewhere "Up Town Brotha ?!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F*ck Fear Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 The clip was intriguing, but there is no way to tell it's the best rocker since 1993! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Live Like a Suicide Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 13 minutes ago, F*ck Fear said: The clip was intriguing, but there is no way to tell it's the best rocker since 1993! Indeed. The clip we have of The General sounds far more promising in any case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trin9498 Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 There’s no way to tell the song was ever finished..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stoymatic Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Will waiting longer and longer for these songs give them more mystique, or will it make us forget about them? In 20 years, (assuming none of the other CD stuff is released) will we still care about this music? In the clips we've heard, the music sounds very promising. If these songs are actually as good as advertised, we MUST hear them at some point before no one cares!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GnR Chris Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 Just a guess, but I think the track list for Chinese Democracy had a lot to do with what already leaked. Songs were already out there, so studio versions were put on the record and they held off on others that hadn't leaked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F*ck Fear Posted August 17, 2018 Share Posted August 17, 2018 11 hours ago, Live Like a Suicide said: Indeed. The clip we have of The General sounds far more promising in any case. I haven't even bothered with The General clip. I want to hear the song of course, but won't listen to something of such low quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RussTCB Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 I can't remember how long the clip I heard of Checkmate was but I never thought it was anything special. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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