GnR Chris

Duff: What’s left of the band has nothing to do with what we had created. I even think what’s left is not Guns N’ Roses.

Says the man who is still searching for a replacement frontman for his own band.

Hypocrite.

Wait ... am I missing something? How are those comments hypocritical? If you're referring to Velvet Revolver, you still have Slash, Duff and Sorum. A new singer doesn't mean it isn't Velvet Revolver anymore. With Axl, as others have stated, it's a revolving door of members, and as currently comprised, it's basically a touring lineup playing covers from the original lineup and the last incarnation of the group with Finck and Bucket.

I loved Chinese Democracy. I refer to the latest band as Gn'R, sure. But everyone knows the truest and best Guns N' Roses is Slash, Duff, Izzy, Axl and Adler. I don't care if THIS person has more technical talent than THAT person. Slash is the greatest lead guitarist Gn'R has known.Listen to the stuff he wrote and the solos. Again, they may not be "technically" as good as Buckethead's (as some argue), but they those classic songs still beat the shit out of almost anything on CD. Damn, that solo in "Nov. Rain." Wow. Or "Sweet Child."

As I said before, I'll take that Ritz show (warts and all) over the most technically sound killer performance from the new band, if I had a choice to see only one live and in person. Gn'R back then was I don't give a fuck rock and roll. Young, dumb and reckless.

"No one is stopping you from doing what you want to do."

"When your great wall rocks, blame yourself, while their arms reach up for your help."

"Its not a question of whether my heart is true. Streamlined, I had to pull through."

"If I were you, I'd manage to avoid the invitation of promised love that can't keep up with your adoration."

"I won't be told anymore that I've been brought down in this storm and left so far out from the shore that I can't find my way back, my way anymore."

The Ritz concert was the perfect representation of what early GNR meant to so many millions of people and why they became the last Great rock n roll band. It wasn't about being "perfect" in your playing or seeming polished...GNR was in it's essence enormous talent/potential running on the rails and it embodied the liberation and wildness of what rock n roll is in its greatest moments.

If you don't get that, then frankly, you don't get what Guns N Roses was all about.

Well said!

Slash himself stated in his book, I believe, that Ritz wasn't nearly their best show. But you can clearly see when watching today that the band possessed a young, hungry energy then that can't be duplicated. As you said, it was raw and dirty and the small club atmosphere was exquisite. People say it's the best because it's one of the few decent quality recorded shows from the original lineup. I love that Ritz show, warts and all. "It's so Easy" and "My Michelle" ... good God. I wish I was there.

"What I thought was true before were lies I couldn't see. What I thought was beautiful is only memories."

"Now you're sleepin' like an angel, never mind who you gave head."

"Sometimes I feel like the world is on top of me, breakin' me down with an endless monotony."

"I searched the universe and found myself within her eyes."

Honestly, it's hard for me to choose. It changes always. I love the songs and I love the way Axl sings 'em, especially "The Blues." Every line of "Better" and "There Was a Time" is awesome.

We're talking about lists again. Exciting stuff coming soon

I don't think "Knockin'" is a horrible cover, but I do agree it's a little embarrassing. I wish they would have recorded the mellower version they played at the time, but like much of Illusions, Axl felt the need to add too much pomp and circumstance. Oh, well. Gn'R has a ton of better covers. "Dust in the Wind" and "Live and Let Die" are two of them.

The readers are stupid.

I think Nirvana's In Utero is a better record than Nevermind, for one thing.

Smashing Pumpkins don't belong there at all, particularly their double album. Now THAT'S the true definition of bloated.

Where's 40 oz. to Freedom?

The eponymous Third Eye Blind record as another good one.

Edit: And as others have mentioned already: Chili Peppers.

Guns n' Roses is a nostalgic act nowdays, a consolation, people are attending the show to hear classic song, most of the them don't care new music and of course forums of the web neither. Unless we got a GNR reunion, we will never see again a band as colossal as Guns used to be.

I disagree with this. If you watch a lot of the live videos, you hear a ton of people singing along to the Chinese Democracy stuff.

I consider Guns N' Roses to be the greatest American rock band of all time. They never faded away. They burned out/disbanded.

gunsnroses Guns N' Roses

@DuffMcKagan64 hope we're not too late and you had a great day - happy belated birthday

"gunsnroses Guns N' Roses

@DuffMcKagan64 hope we're not too late and you had a great day - happy belated birthday"

Hardee har har! Even this dude who creates glee (tbh - i have no fucking clue what he does) hates on Slash!

Former Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash also turned down the "Glee" licensing request and described the show as "worse than 'Grease,' and 'Grease' is bad enough." Murphy responded by saying that people like Slash "who make those comments, their careers are over; they're uneducated and quite stupid."

http://www.billboard.com/news/kings-of-leon-to-glee-s-ryan-murphy-go-see-1005012762.story#/news/kings-of-leon-to-glee-s-ryan-murphy-go-see-1005012762.story

Yes, we should all sell our soul's so we can sell music to 12 year old girls. What a TOOL!!!

That guy is a complete asshole! He thinks his show is actually IMPORTANT and is shocked when someone turns him down. To call Slash stupid and uneducated for not wanting a bunch of prepubescent jerks going auto-tune karaoke on his classic songs? Oh, please.

Good topic. Here is my list in no particular order. There are so much more. I've been spinning CD since it came out.

1:23 in "Chinese Democracy" with Axl's trademark growl that basically kicks off the record. It gave me goosebumps when I first spun it in my car on the way home from Best Buy.

3:52 of the same song. The outro is epic. It took me forever to make out what Axl was saying.

:11 in "Shackler's Revenge" when the words start, basically. It's wicked.

3:39 second solo in "Better."

3:58 in the same song." It sounds like "no, no, no" over and over and then goes to the last verse. I just love the layered audio track over it.

3:36 and on to the end of "Street of Dreams." It gets quiet and then just wails. Man, this is probably my favorite thing to listen to on the entire record.

3:20 in "There was a Time." I love the whole "Didn't wanna know it all..." part. And then

4:25 solo in the same song.

2:40 in "IRS." It's killer.

2:32 solo in "This I Love." It really harkens back to the more soulful stuff of Gn'R of old.

This is a pretty great live version. The recording isn't the best, but Axl had it this night.

I respectfully COMPLETELY disagree.

Appetite for Destruction is, to me, the greatest American rock record ever. By saying people would regard Gn'R as just another sleaze rock act had they not released Illusions records completely disregards how incredible AfD is.

Afd and Lies is the epitome of Guns N' Roses. That fusion of rock and the blues and the dueling guitars and Duff's base and of course Axl's high pitched growls. It still gives me chills at times when you key it up real loud.

The Illusions records have a lot of good stuff, but to me it represents a time when the band was all pulling in different directions and Izzy's reduced involvement. The tracks I seem to like most harken back to the Appetite era.

Right Next Door to Hell

Perfect Crime

Don't Damn Me

You Could Be Mine

Yesterdays

I think demos of "Don't Cry," "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and even "November Rain" sounded much better in simpler form, though the piano in Nov. Rain added a lot to the song.

All the synthesizers and the backup singers (at least in concert) and the cheesy audio samples and all that ... keep it. I like the grittier, raw version of Guns N' Roses. The act you see in the small venues, like the Ritz 88 show. Look at the sheer energy on stage. Man, it was incredible. By the time they added a church choir and Dizzy and the rest of the shit, it just lost something.

I don't know if I'd call it a good album. It's an album.

If this wasn't their last album before the original lineup completely dissolved, perhaps it would get more credit as just a transition record or something thrown out there to fans. It IS just a bunch of covers after all.

I like "Since I Don't Have You," "Hair of the Dog," and "Attitude." And though I'm a little ashamed to admit it, "Look At Your Game, Girl."

That list is largely garbage. James Hetfield shouldn't be in the top 25 at all. And I'm a Metallica fan.

Where is Klaus Meine? Sebastian Bach?

Frankly, I have zero respect for Music Radar. Did you guys even see their review for Chinese Democracy?

I have a question:

If the band had about six or seven songs in the can, or at least recorded as demos they were swapping back and forth, what became of them? Did the evolve into Velvet Revolver songs or current Gn'R material? I wonder why demos or bootlegs have never surfaced. Or have they?