themadcaplaughs

Rocket Queen hands down. Outro that perfectly ends the album as well as Welcome to the Jungle begins it.

So what? That's his thing. Is Ron a tool cause he doesn't know what gauge his strings are and lets McBob take care of everything?

Ron is also a superior guitarist who can play all these songs completely with his eyes closed. This is the man who had to learn the songs off Chinese Democracy by listening to them off of laptops for minutes at a time. DJ Ashba had a year to learn these songs, and still messes up the solos miserably.

I don't see how anyone can dislike DJ Ashba...he drinks Jager. He has such a cavalier attitude and is a rock and roll hero has no qualms mutilating great guitar solos, and he drinks Jager. He attaches his name to every cheap piece of crap he can, and drinks Jager. He acts like a teenage boy who just discovered Facebook and Twitter and likes to post pictures of all the crazy Jager-inspired things he's done. A true rock and roll icon.

Appetite for Destruction:

Favorite: Rocket Queen

Least Favorite: Think About You

Lies

Favorite: Patience

Least Favorite: Mama Kin

Use Your illusion I:

Favorite: Coma

Least Favorite: Live and Let Die

Use Your Illusion II:

Favorite: Locomotive (Complicity)

Least Favorite: Don't Cry (Alt.)

The Spaghetti Incident?

Favorite: Since I Don't Have You

Least Favorite: Ain't it Fun?

Chinese Democracy:

Favorite: Shackler's Revenge

Least Favorite: Scraped

I like the way Duff has been able to interact with current GnR, it shows that he has grown beyond the bullshit and can enjoy people for who they are.

I should have guessed some might see it as a bad thing.

Exactly. Duff left Guns N' Roses on his own, and acknowledges that there are people who want to keep the name alive.

VERY interesting question, and one that I have debated with myself frequently. For starters, I am twenty-one years old, and like most people my age, got into Guns N' Roses through the Greatest Hits album. This would have been about August or September 2004...I knew a tiny bit about the "classic" GN'R lineup. I knew who Axl Rose was, and of course knew the famous pictures of Slash (even if I might not have been able to call him by name). I also remember being vaguely aware of the hype surrounding Velvet Revolver, which had just had pretty big success with Contraband at that point...but for the most part, all I knew was the music. I was completely un-jaded by image, etc. When I went searching on the Internet, the first videos I found of GN'R were from the 2002 tour (at this point, Buckethead was out of the band and the next round of touring was still about two years away). Personally, I was VERY intrigued by this lineup of the band, and it was actually what got me more interested in exploring the older years. However, I soon learned from all my friends who knew more about the band (particularly those who played guitar and thought Slash was the end-all-be-all guitar God) felt this lineup was not "real." Most appreciated the skill Buckethead displayed, but most of my friends felt the (then) current lineup was some kind of weird joke Axl was playing.

Sorry about the long personal rant, but I just thought maybe the views of a fourteen year old discovering Guns N' Roses in that era would be enlightening, but I will now give my opinion as someone who has listened to Guns N' Roses every day since then, read all the books, interviews, and magazine articles, and has heard pretty much every note of music played by EVERY member of the band at any given point.

As other have pointed out, this was the first time a "new" lineup was being debuted since 1993, so naturally some people would be opposed from the get-go. I especially feel this was true of people who had been into the band since the Appetite for Destruction days. However, if you read reviews for some of those early gigs (particularly the House of Blues Show, the Rock in Rio III show, and the Vegas shows in 2001/2002), they were VERY positive: particularly Loder's review of Rock in Rio III. The view seemed to be that although the lineup was strange visually, they could play the old songs with justice while not sounding like a cover band, and the hype surrounding the new songs was big. Even reviews of the VMA show (which all commented on Axl's voice but could not deny the show's energy) and the shows in 2002 were positive, with many pointing out that Axl could still sing well and the band was energetic. Then the cracks started to show...and it became obvious we were not seeing Chinese Democracy anytime soon. AS the tour progressed, you can see the reviews go from "Wow, this band has a lot of potential" to "They really need to start playing some new material to show what the hell Axl has been doing." Once the 2002 tour was cancelled, I think people (unfairly) started to assume it was because the band was not really sturdy, and was more of a gimmick that failed.

Sorry for such a long response, and to answer the OP question shortly, I feel a good number of people were just close-minded to a new lineup, something that would have happened even if the 2009-2011 lineup was playing. Others, however, kept an open mind and saw a lot of potential, and were willing to accept this was a different band trying to capture the same spirit as the original, but a lot of negativity towards the horrible ending of the 2001-2002 era was placed on the band...riots, Axl's "look" at the time, the bizarre rants, and of course the lack of substantial material from Chinese Democracy.

Now, I still feel image definitely has a part of things. People were definitely hard on Finck in 2002, but seemed more accepting of him in 2006. While there was always complaints of his "sloppy" playing, people seemed to accept him more when he looked like a "traditional" rock star (i.e. long hair and ZZ Top beard). When Bumblefoot joined in 2006, fans just saw him as another faceless shredder replacing Buckethead and tore him a new asshole over minor mistakes (i.e. messing up the "There was a Time" solo). On the other hand, when DJ Ashba, a completely unoriginal guitar player and overall tool, stepped up in 2009, people were all over him, despite the fact that he massacred solos MUCH worse than Bumbelfoot or Robin at some of his first shows. What was the difference? DJ looked more like the "caricature" of rock music and therefore I feel people responded better to him.

does anyone know why he went from being called Paul Hughe to Paul Tobias?

His real name is Paul Tobias. Paul Huge (pronounced something like "Hue-Ghee") is, I suppose, some kind of inside joke.

Slash said in his book his real name is Huge was his real name and Paul Tobias was what he asked to be called. Also, his songwriting credit in Use Your Illusion I is listed as Huge.

Chill out people. Axl and Fortus have both said that he will be on future music.

Besides Axl, all the existing comments we have on Paul Tobias (from Slash, Duff, and Matt) are all so negative; it actually caught me completely off guard to hear someone describe Paul as "awesome." On another note, does anyone know why he went from being called Paul Hughe to Paul Tobias?

Although Axl and Izzy have obviously patched things up personally, I do not think Axl has ever forgotten the fact that Izzy essentially left them up s--- creek in the middle of one of the biggest tours in history. However, the recent Eddie Trunk interview shows that Axl still considers him a great friend.

No disrespect to Axl as he is a genius, but I think people are expecting too much from all the unreleased material. Would it have been different from GN'R fare from 1986-1993, definitely, but I think people have it in their minds that we have this unreleased album of Axl inventing dub step music. Fact is, I think "Oh My God" and "Silkworms" are the best indicators of what we might have gotten...hard rock/metal songs with slight industrial undertones.

In the end it does not matter to me; Axl felt that the songs on Chinese Democracy were the definitive songs he wanted to release and I respect that and think it is an A+ album.

Awesome reviews...thanks for sharing!

One of the best performances of "Madagascar" of all time...hard to believe this was the very first performance.

Axl knows where his strengths lie...I'm sure he could be quite the guitarist if he wants but he knows he wants to focus his attention on songwriting/arranging/singing/performing.

His guitaring is cheesy run-of-the-mill stuff, his sound is generic and I hate his stage antics, hand-behind-the-ear pose, the stupid cigarette and all that. The guy is almost 40 and it's 2011 for fucks sake. DJ is basically a PARODY of anything I like about rock music.

He could gain some resepect if he'd just stop trying so hard and playing it safe all the time, but it doesn't look like that's gonna happen any time soon.

I'll agree with this. Adding to this image for me are all the Facebook/Twitter posts he does about all the "hardcore" stuff he does as a rock star. Destroying hotel property, smoking in places where he knows he shouldn't, getting bartenders fired, starting fights with Axl, etc. It just makes him seem like some kind of adolescent trying to play the part of a Guns N' Roses member.

Although I miss Robin, I will admit DJ has really come into his own as a GN'R guitarist and seems to bring an energy to the band (particularly Axl and Ron) that I did not get in 2002 or 2006.

Only good thing to come of all this is to see how much love their is for Bubmble. I wish him nothing but the best.

Getting a new band together, writing songs, etc. He mentioned that he had material where he could have just written a "new Appetite" but chose to completely reinvent the wheel so to speak.