niceguy

Hahahaha, THIS is the big announcement?!

hahahaha

Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I myself am a huge fan of AFD and UYI. I gave ChiDem an honest, thorough listen, and I hear glimpses of greatness in it which are drowned out by 19 years of endless tinkering.

For me, this forum and GNR are a fun distraction. I don't actually get all worked up; it's just mindless fun for a little while each day.

GNR is long gone; this is Axl's solo work now, which I'm totally happy with. I like listening to everything that each AFD band member has done since those days. I can't say any of it has really resonated with me, but it's fun.

So Dizzy and Ashba, the 2 most important and talented members of the band are recording new songs... the new album looks promising by far!

hahahaha

Yes, "Scraped" will be remembered the way that "Black Dog" is remembered.

The ad is not that bad. It's polemic and that sells. Simple marketing.

So how many cases did you buy?

Holy shit, that's embarrassing. How out of touch is this guy? No, moron, I will not be buying your shitty hot sauce, and let me tell you, no one else will either (except your family and friends). Your shit sauce will never be on sold in stores, because no one outside of nu-GNR fanboys have heard of you.

Ohhhh, look, he said a CURSE WORD! Wow! He's so fucking EDGY! Hahaha what a joke.

I love how he's flogging a song he had nothing to do with. Why not just play Stairway to Heaven while you're at it, moron?

Reported

Reported

Holy shit, that's embarrassing. How out of touch is this guy? No, moron, I will not be buying your shitty hot sauce, and let me tell you, no one else will either (except your family and friends). Your shit sauce will never be on sold in stores, because no one outside of nu-GNR fanboys have heard of you.

Ohhhh, look, he said a CURSE WORD! Wow! He's so fucking EDGY! Hahaha what a joke.

I love how he's flogging a song he had nothing to do with. Why not just play Stairway to Heaven while you're at it, moron?

Interesting. I live in NYC and I'm frequently out in the areas he's likely to go (west village, tribeca), so I'll keep an eye out for him and Beta.

Alright! DIZZY REED is writing music!

I don't know about the rest of you, but whenever I'm down, I just put on some tunes written by Mr Dizzy Reed and I'm all psyched!

I can't imagine life without the music that Mr Dizzy Reed has given us. What a remarkable songwriter! Thank the gods above!

2012.

The person who did this poster should be permanently banned from using photoshop or any other image editor again. Awful. Even i can do a better poster.

You do realize that Beta probably just had one of her kids make the poster, right?

How old are they?

IDK, but it doesn't really matter. The point is that only an untalented amateur could create such an amateur poster. If a professional promo agency had been hired, the poster wouldn't look so idiotic.

The person who did this poster should be permanently banned from using photoshop or any other image editor again. Awful. Even i can do a better poster.

You do realize that Beta probably just had one of her kids make the poster, right?

any update on beta's assault? what happens when charges are pressed for assault?

The UN is actually holding a summit next week here in NYC to discuss Beta's assault.

There is a lot of data to collect and evidence to present; seven-tenths of the CIA's manpower has gone towards protecting Ms Beta, and while some feared this would endanger the president, Mr Obama said, "No, no, we have to face facts: Beta is the most important human being on this earth. I'm nothing next to her. If she's harmed, then the universe itself will literally explode in a giant fireball."

I myself have emptied my bank account and bought several GNR beach towels and scented candles, and I will be making a pilgrimage to Brasil to worship at the altar of Team Brasil.

I suggest you do the same.

God damn, the ideas that some people have...

Are you kidding? The "general public" has never either Oh My God or Chinese on the radio. Never.

It's a very embarrassing poster. It is very amateur.

But you gotta understand, GNR is an amateur operation now. That's what happens when you get your ex girlfriend's nanny and her kids to take over the business operations of your band. It just becomes an amateur operation.

That's pretty lame that U2 only sent Axl a six pack of Guinness. Bono must be a Slashite.

Actually, in various articles and interviews with U2, the story goes that U2 sent the band a keg of Guiness.

The honky-tonk piano is truly horrible. It's like having a 4th grader smear amateur piano shit all over an incredible work of art----you end up with shit.

I think Axl rates DJ so highly for a few reasons.

First, DJ seems to be more aggressive with ass-kissing than the other guys. DJ views his position in GNR as a great business opportunity, a way to "build his brand," like selling his custom made car (hahaha) and BullyShit and his idiotic clothing than I'm sure has sold a grand total of six units. Seriously, DJ licks Axl's asshole so clean it's ridiculous. "He's a comedian, he's funny, we beat up drunk fans together, he plays these piano songs in his room which are genius." It's all so DJ can get his brand out there.

Second, Axl likes ass-kissing. That's why Beta is there---she tells Axl exactly what he wants to hear. She and her team are yes-men. Axl fires anyone who speaks his or her mind, which is why no manager has lasted that long, and it's why Axl wants employees and not bandmates. DJ is the ultimate yes-man, and Axl likes that.

Finally, Axl just isn't cool anymore. Look at him, he looks terrible. He fits the term "douche bag" perfectly, with those gaudy jeans and Dick Tracy rainjackets and that stupid cane. Axl just isn't cool, and to him, DJ is the definition of cool. "Oh look, he has a giant tribal skull painted on his guitar! That's cool! He has a lip ring a seven million over-the-top cliche tattoos, that MUST mean he's cool!"

The overall theme of ChiDem appears to be Axl railing against people who he perceives are trying to "hold him down," whether it's ex girlfriends or ex bandmates.

It's like how he said that Duff and Slash are the reason he couldn't write music, because they damaged his confidence. He has this bizarre persecution complex which really shines thru on this album.

Izzy wasn't around for the recording sessions for UYI, unlike when they recorded AFD. He wasn't physically there.

Slash has said that Izzy recorded his guitar parts on his own and just handed the producer some DAT tapes of his parts. That's like trying to splice smartphone video into a major motion picture---it won't gel together.

So, Slash pretty much played all the guitar on UYI. Honestly, for such a highly-anticipated release, it makes sense to want to produce something really high-quality, rather than something crappily recorded, and hence you don't hear Izzy much.

Beta

This is the best answer, because if it ever did happen, there would still be people screaming "GNR was NEVER any good until Slash left and Beta took over lead guitar! Just you wait til the year 2065 when Axl releases the followup to Chinese Democracy. Beta is gonna SMOKE that fucking album with her awesome, classic riffs and solos!"

There are thousands and thousands of guitarists, both famous and amateur, who can play Slash's leads note for note. Bumby, Buckethead, DJ, Robin, they ALL played Slash's leads.

So yes, GNR can continue on as a cover band once the current crop of employees is fired or quits.

I became a fan when Paul Tobias joined the band.

/trolling

I should qualify my fandom first: I love AFD a lot, and I think UYI was a missed opportunity at greatness.

I also think Chinese Democracy was another missed attempt at greatness---not for GNR, but for Axl Rose. To me, this is Axl's solo work, not GNR. I genuinely don't mind, because I'll gladly listen to anything Axl releases.

Here's why I think CD isn't so great:

1. Overproduction. There are needless layers of "shit." The fake Chinese voices, the absurd quadruple-layering of vocal harmonies, the MLK speech samples, the endless symphonic layers. It's just too much, and it chokes the life out of the songs. Oh, and Axl's stupid Dracula-style "but I don't want to do it" in Sorry.

Glimmers of this idiotic overproduction are what prevented UYI from being great. Listen to Axl's idiotic Elmer Fudd impersonation in the opening of Don't Damn Me, or the idiotic YEAH! at the end of You Could Be Mine, or the telephone call in Knockin', etc. It's like Axl took this shit and ran with it for ChiDem, just piling on shit, layer after layer after layer, killing the organic feel of the songs.

2. Noodly guitars. I'm a big fan of guitar music, from 60s all the way to modern guitar bands. I like big guitars. But the lead guitars on ChiDem are severe overkill. All the god damn sweep picking! It's like a 1980s Ninetendo game suddenly appears. It just doesn't fit. Fine, it's techinically proficient virtuoso work, but if I can't hum the solos, then I don't really remember them. There's no melody to the guitar solos, it's all just masturbatory wanking and sweep picking.

Clearly, Axl overcompensated for Slash's absence by finding the most severely over-the-top guitarists he could find, and none of it works. Finck tries the Slash tone (neck pickup of Gibson with tone all the way down), but god damn, his playing is so terrible. It's like "Hey, I can't compose a melody, so I'll just play five notes a million miles and hour. Or, I'll keep bending this one note for hours. THAT'LL show em!" It doesn't work for GNR, and it sure as fuck doesn't match Axl's songwriting.

3. Self-indulgent song arrangement. Dig the intro to the title track: NINETY SECONDS of fake Chinese voices, crappy guitar, synths. Or the intro to Scraped, with all the "EHHH!!!!!" shit. Or the choppy back and forth of Better. Better would have been such an incredible song if the arrangement were tightened up, with fewer prechorus repeats and FAR fewer guitar solos and ZERO noodling wheedly dee wheedly doo. And this all ties in to my first complaint (overproduction).

In summary, ChiDem would have been a remarkable album in the hands of the right producer, and if Axl were open to listening to the producer. Instead, it comes off as sloppy, lifeless, and painful to listen to at times. It's all the problems of UYI multiplied by a thousand.

Matt Sorum hits the drums very hard and with a lot of precision. Steven Adler hits more mildly and with a slight messiness, NOT in a bad way.

Adler's loose style was a far better fit for Izzy and Slash's rhythm guitars. Like Izzy said, Sorum turned GNR from a rock band into a metal band.