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"All of the material that hadn't been released was coming out in 2016, then the reunion happened." Tom Zutaut


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11 hours ago, RussTCB said:

While I don't believe for a second that the material actually would have been released in 2016, let's get assume it would have. Given the choice between hearing everything else that was recorded for CD and seeing the NITL tour, I would take the CD material being released all day, every day.

CD is my favorite GN'R album, so why wouldn't I want to hear everything else they recorded for it? On top of that, Slash isn't my favorite GN'R guitarist so seeing him back wasn't that big of a deal to me.

 

Ahhh, what?  You're sick man, you need help. 

The reunion was something that we never thought would ever, ever happen. So seeing Axl and Slash reconcile and share a stage together again trumps everything - Even world peace or curing puppy dogs of cancer or whatever...

Edited by DownUnderScott
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9 hours ago, GnR Chris said:

Look on the bright side: Had the material released in 2016, it means the lineup would have included Bumblefoot and Ashba. No one wants that. Worse yet, those two would have played on the material in lieu of Buckethead and Finck. No one wants that either. It sucks to have to wait, but I'd rather see a record with Slash and Duff versus Ashba and Bumblefoot.

It's easier now after three years of NITL to say CD material would have been preferable. HOWEVER, there is no way in hell if I was ever presented with a choice would I say, "No, thank you" to seeing SLASH AND AXL play together again. St. Louis, Chicago, Indio. That was a dream come true and I can't wait for the next show.

When I think of the "Chinese sessions" I'm really only talking 2000-2004, Finck and Buckethead. That stuff is gold to me. Ashba, not interested in (other than to hear Axl vocals).

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6 minutes ago, ToonGuns said:

When I think of the "Chinese sessions" I'm really only talking 2000-2004, Finck and Buckethead. That stuff is gold to me. Ashba, not interested in (other than to hear Axl vocals).

I feel exactly the same. I think a lot of the material started in 1998/1999.. So yeah, the closer we can get to that the better. Anything post-2004 I don't really care about. Based on the leaked demo's things only got worse after that point. 

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7 minutes ago, ToonGuns said:

When I think of the "Chinese sessions" I'm really only talking 2000-2004, Finck and Buckethead. That stuff is gold to me. Ashba, not interested in (other than to hear Axl vocals).

Same here man. I was 20 when gnr played the vmas in 2002, aleays wanted to hear what they had 

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40 minutes ago, DownUnderScott said:

Ahhh, what?  You're sick man, you need help. 

The reunion was something that we never thought would ever, ever happen. So seeing Axl and Slash reconcile and share a stage together again trumps everything - Even world peace or curing puppy dogs of cancer or whatever...

That doesn't change the fact that it meant nothing to me personally and it wasn't anything I was ever hoping to see. 

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To answer the initial question. 

In 2015, if we had basically the 2006 version of GnR (Finck, Brain, and a highly functioning Axl), I’d say the new material. That was a good GnR. 

Reality, however, wasn’t that. Axl was done - in bad shape and playing small theatres with a demoralized and inauthentic band. DJ Ashba killed my interest in what Axl was doing. 

Therefore, the reunion was the best outcome. Now they need to release material! 🐬🙏

Edited by nycgunner
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Reunion has reignited interest in GNR.

ChiDem II with Slash & Duff

Digital only or Limited Physical Release with Finck & Bucket versions on bonus disc for die-hards.

Then, if they want, new material with the current line-up (I feel like this is the hardest as the old disagreements may arise again).

Edited by Amir
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Don't believe material would have been released in 2016, there was no band left. 

It was either reunion or Nu Guns 3.0

Even Axl must have known that he couldn't put together another new band and remain credible.

The timing was perfect for a reunion. Nu Guns was finished, Slash was getting an expensive divorce, Duff was already kind of back and all 3 creeping closer to retirement age but still enough in the tank for another decade of destruction. Albeit a more corporate destruction.

Whatever material they have will sell better and have more public support with Slash involved. 

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4 hours ago, Live Like a Suicide said:

I love Chinese Democracy, however, i prefer the semi-reunion due to multiple reasons:

1) It actually improves the chance of a new album. More people are now interested in new GN'R material. What CD songs Slash and Duff decide to work on can be included in a new album while the rest can be relegated to a boxset. This is better than the limbo we were in, as now the band has multiple avenues to pursue and has been given a new lease on life.

2) It reinvigorated the band. Guns N' Roses is now one of the biggest bands on the planet again. The band is getting more attention, radio stations are playing more of their songs, and more people are streaming them and wearing their merchandise.

3) Axl and GN'R are no longer a laughing stock. Axl was frequently the butt of many jokes among the industry and fans until he reunited with Slash and Duff. His performance during the NITL tour and Rock or Bust tour further garnered respect from audiences.

Agree with all of these points, however regarding the third, I've always found it strange that Axl and the band were the butt of every joke in 06-10 despite giving consistently white hot performances, but Axl's voice now is arguably consistently the worst it's ever been (at least live) but he has more respect than ever in the last 20 years, just because he sucked it up and brought Slash back, quality be damned.

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1 hour ago, jacdaniel said:

Don't believe material would have been released in 2016, there was no band left. 

It was either reunion or Nu Guns 3.0

Even Axl must have known that he couldn't put together another new band and remain credible.

The timing was perfect for a reunion. Nu Guns was finished, Slash was getting an expensive divorce, Duff was already kind of back and all 3 creeping closer to retirement age but still enough in the tank for another decade of destruction. Albeit a more corporate destruction.

Whatever material they have will sell better and have more public support with Slash involved. 

I think the movement within the then band was due to the behind the scenes prep for a reunion

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While I understand his reasoning for keeping the GNR name, this makes it much more difficult for Axl to release anything under that label to this day. If you look at System of a Down, you can see Daron Malakian finally released some music this year that he had recorded back in 2012 under "Daron Malakian & Scars On Broadway". From interviews he's said repeatedly that he was considering working on this music with other members of SOAD, but when he realised that wasn't going to be the case he released it under his own name (none of the '08 members of Scars on Broadway are still in the band). He's also doing smaller club shows with this music.

Slash has that luxury with Myles Kennedy & The Conspirators, but imagine if Axl could do that with his past collaborators like Finck, Bucket, & Bumble? If Axl and Slash can't agree on recording, they can both still tour together playing the hits, but only Slash can perform solo shows with new music. If nuGuns had been its own band, Axl could do the same with those guys without the pressure of having to work with people who might not dig the music he's envisioned.

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I believe they wanted to release the material. However they were prob stuck with the label in trying to negotiate a release strategy and more importantly both parties trying renegotiate a new advance.  

It wasn’t released because they were prob too far apart there. GNR wasn’t going to release a new record without a substantial  advance, and the label prob didn’t want to pay the advance stipulated in their older contract as the industry had changed considerably in what they’d recoup in just album sales. They prob wanted to dip their hands in touring rev to pay that number which would of been a nonstarter 

I could see the label “rejecting” material in that situation so they weren’t burden with the costs that had already been written off through the years and w the Best Buy deal 

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I don’t think Zutaut was telling the truth there but, assuming he was, I still woulda picked the reunion, with NITL tour and all. No question whatsoever.

in 2016, restoring GNR’s historical reputation was just too important to scrap in favor of CD leftovers.

of course, now that the NITL tour has come and gone, anything is possible, and personally I’m open to whatever now. 

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43 minutes ago, guitarpatch said:

I believe they wanted to release the material. However they were prob stuck with the label in trying to negotiate a release strategy and more importantly both parties trying renegotiate a new advance.  

It wasn’t released because they were prob too far apart there. GNR wasn’t going to release a new record without a substantial  advance, and the label prob didn’t want to pay the advance stipulated in their older contract as the industry had changed considerably in what they’d recoup in just album sales. They prob wanted to dip their hands in touring rev to pay that number which would of been a nonstarter 

I could see the label “rejecting” material in that situation so they weren’t burden with the costs that had already been written off through the years and w the Best Buy deal 

That would be logical in any other case, but the most puzzling thing is that all of the material was already recorded, so that would have been included on the $14 mil spent on recording, and the label made that money back instantly with the Best Buy deal, so releasing CD2 or even CD3 would only be easy money.

...unless, Axl really needed to have Ashba re-record all of Robin's parts, in which case I understand why the label rejected it.

It's more likely that the label had simply humoured Axl by letting him finally put out his pet project, and afterwards were interested in nothing other than a reunion.

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18 minutes ago, Azifwekare said:

That would be logical in any other case, but the most puzzling thing is that all of the material was already recorded, so that would have been included on the $14 mil spent on recording, and the label made that money back instantly with the Best Buy deal, so releasing CD2 or even CD3 would only be easy money.

...unless, Axl really needed to have Ashba re-record all of Robin's parts, in which case I understand why the label rejected it.

It's more likely that the label had simply humoured Axl by letting him finally put out his pet project, and afterwards were interested in nothing other than a reunion.

Doesnt  matter if the stuff was recorded during those sessions. Plenty of artists use leftover recordings from previous album cycles. In most record contracts during that time, a new release means a new advance. 

Who knows how that contract was reconstructed over the years, but those advances for each record are escalating numbers in most cases. Even if renegotiated in the early 2000’s,,it’s still a different landscape come 2010-2016. It could very well the number was too high for the label to continue on

Universal definitely didn’t have a “free release” with no money to put upfront. That never happens 

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16 minutes ago, guitarpatch said:

Doesnt  matter if the stuff was recorded during those sessions. Plenty of artists use leftover recordings from previous album cycles. In most record contracts during that time, a new release means a new advance. 

Who knows how that contract was reconstructed over the years, but those advances for each record are escalating numbers in most cases. Even if renegotiated in the early 2000’s,,it’s still a different landscape come 2010-2016. It could very well the number was too high for the label to continue on

Universal definitely didn’t have a “free release” with no money to put upfront. That never happens 

If it's a case of Universal spending $14 mil to supposedly record a trilogy of albums, and Axl was demanding even more as an advance to just hand over the other two albums, I'm not suprised they told him to fuck off.

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Just now, Azifwekare said:

If it's a case of Universal spending $14 mil to supposedly record a trilogy of albums, and Axl was demanding even more as an advance to just hand over the other two albums, I'm not suprised they told him to fuck off.

They prob borrowed from the other future advances on some of it later on in the process. However there’s no way they took all of it. 

Even if it were just 1- 2 million left on the advance for album #2, it wouldn’t make sense for the label to release when it might move 150k units. Theyd want a piece of your touring, merch, etc... which wasn’t going to happen. That’s all changed now that Slash/Duff could be involved  

If the contract stipulates you get an advance to release a record, why shouldnt he demand it? That’s the deal they signed back in the 90’s

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If you think those Chinese Democracy leftovers haven't been tinkered and reworked again and again since they were recorded, you are insane.  It's pretty much guaranteed that those CD leftovers would have featured Bumblefoot, Ashba and Pittman.  I know that version of Axl's band has its followers but I don't think Axl would have been happy with selling a hundred copies worldwide.

I would be interested in listening to the untouched material from 1999-2002 but that's very unlikely.  I really enjoyed the Buckethead + Finck + Brain combo.  But in 2016, I would have taken the reunion over that, no questions asked.

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39 minutes ago, shotsfired cro said:

If what ended up on CD was the best of the material, I can only imagine how bad was everythig else that didn't make the cut.

How about someone rings Iz and we finally get mythic 1996 'the best album ever'.

That's the thing though; while CD is my favorite album so far, I don't think it was "the best" of what they recorded. I think we got the album we did because so much of it had already leaked. 

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