Eric Cantona

God I'm excited for this. For all the flaws GN'R has, there is not a single other artist that could keep me by my toes waiting for a single song which we've discussed for so many years yet concretely know so little about. Bring on The f'n General (and Monsterss!!!!)

There's some serious Mandela effect shit going on here

I'm going by memory, but it's based around the orchestral intro played before shows between 2006-2011, which GN'R confirmed as being The General. I just checked both the tempo and keys of the phone recording and the concert intro, and they match. (67bpm and D minor). You can make out a lot in the phone recording imo, except for the lyrics. The small guitar solo is crystal clear in the recording as well. I have a 2:30 minute long version of Evader's remake, with no clicks or anything. Although I have seen many different versions around, a version without vocals and a longer version (I think it's just a looped recording)

I saw some pages back that ''The General = State of Grace?'' doubt was brewing again. I wrote down some simple sheet music to show how they are two completely different tunes. State of Grace intro: The General (orchestral middle part deciphered from both the 2010 phone recording and Evader's remake): They definitely share similarities in that they have a similar tempo (SoG is in 76bpm and The General in 67bpm) and feature a prominent semitone interval. But that's pretty much where the similarities end. These two songs are in completely different keys, State of Grace being in F# minor and The General being in D minor, while also having completely different rhythmic structures. It's just a tiring discussion to read through and I hope this can in some way quell the doubt that these songs are in any way the same.

Missing my dog today. He passed away a little over three years ago, I heard about it fifteen minutes before our band was supposed to be on stage. He was a fun dog, fat yet stupidly athletic. One of my favourite tunes of my own is about him, I like to sing it for myself and reminisce about my old pal.

It’s a strange thought for sure. With the band members (and certain forum members ) growing ever so older by the day it just gives a sense of some finality. There’s only so much you can speculate regarding unheard songs, and an aging rock band isn’t going to get any more exciting. Life goes on. Hopefully there’s some more to come, though!!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m horribly anxious to finally listen to The General, but I think it’s gonna be very bittersweet. Of course there’s Soulmonster, Oklahoma etc left, but with the history this fanbase has with the unheard songs, it truly feels like the ChiDem era finally will be bookended come Friday. What’s next? We have nothing that we know of on the horizon in regards to post-reunion new material. After hearing Atlas, Hardskool, Perhaps, all of the locker CD’s and soon The General, it kind of feels like the final stop of a long journey. A part of me is kind of going to miss the mystery!

Monsters coming!

Badass pic

https://time.com/6259144/greta-thunberg-norway-protests-climate-activists/

Yes! I’m a bit tied up and unable to explain in detail, but hopefully this article explains it a bit! https://apnews.com/article/norway-wind-turbine-sami-protest-4e793917265bd63a6bf319ffb7806107 https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/sami-activist-sets-up-camp-outside-norway-parliament-protest-wind-turbines-2023-09-11/

Yes, although not for long. Were it not for studies and work I’d be here for as long as needed.

I am prepared to prove via the power of sheet music that The General and State of Grace are two completely different tunes

Years from now we'll read essays on how it came to be so highly regarded worldwide that the titles of the highest ranking military officials were named after this one magnum opus.

Visited Edinburgh and Glasgow earlier this summer with a pal. Truly a beautiful country, and such great people there. Would love to go back sooner rather than later.

Woke up to some snow today

Being an early 2000s kid, Chinese Democracy was my proper introduction to GN'R. I'm too young to remember any of the pre-release shenanigans and madness, but I distinctly remember listening to the whole record shortly after it was released. I loved reading through the album booklet, and being fascinated by all the artwork and photos of the band. The pictures of Buckethead and Axl really intrigued me somehow, and gave some mystique to the music I was hearing. I remember thinking that some day I wanna be able to sing like Axl and learn the Shackler's Revenge solo. (Both of which I've yet to do! ) English is far from being my first language, so I think honestly I learnt a lot in a short period of time by reading the lyrics and listening to the songs. Better quickly became my favourite tune as a kid, and a shoddy rendition of the intro was some of the first things I was taught on the guitar. There's a funny home video of me as a small kid playing it on guitar and trying to sing it. GN'R and Chinese Democracy was introduced to me by family, and it was a pretty big bonding moment of shared interests which have only grown through the years. Eventually I was turned on to some of the leaks, which truly began my fascination with GN'R. Those eight seconds of Jackie Chan really stick out in my memory, knowing that there's more out there yet to be heard. Funnily enough I started exploring the old records more, and watching horrid rips of Ritz 1988 and Tokyo 1992 and so forth. I loved the music and the energy, yet the idea of a pre-ChiDem GN'R with Slash and co. was so distant and foreign to me, that I kept returning to the familiarity of NuGuns and the ''new'' music. The first heartbreak of my life was when GN'R came to play in our country, and seeing my siblings go to their show while I was too young to be tagging along! The biggest heartbreak, though, was seeing my brother and cousin go to the London O2 show, and getting to see Izzy and hear Shackler's Revenge. Still kind of bitter to this day I was very excited to hear the 2013 leaks and remixes, and started reading the forums more and more. Eventually I made an account and posted more and more, which coincided with the rumours of a reunion. That was very exciting to me, as I had been exploring old GN'R more and more, and seeing DJ Ashba leaving the band wasn't particularily tragic to me. This year is probably when I fully rediscovered and fell in love again with Chinese Democracy. I've been playing in bands for a few years now and seen some progress, and it's just fun to think that Chinese Democracy and NuGuns was probably the element in my childhood which truly lit a musical spark inside me.

No idea, but your video popped up on my recommended feed too! Great cover

I'd love to have a collection of isolated tracks (like the ones from Chinese) which we could just use to Frankenstein every song! Neither of the Slash/Finck solos on Perhaps are particularly outstanding to my ear, but it's got more to do with the band's accopagnement methinks. If the solo went on for a while longer with more dynamics in the rhythm section it could've maybe been a lot cooler. Something in the vein of Street of Dreams, where it the rhythm section builds up in intensity and allows for the solo to reach its peak without dragging on for too long.

As a side note I really appreciate the additional subtle riffing Slash does on these ChiDem tunes. His little chromatic run on the chorus adds a lot in my opinion. He does the same on the Hard Skool verses and Absurd choruses, I dig it.

Listened thru both the leak and official release again, and was pretty surprised to find I much prefer the official release. I think it obviously is benefitted by a superior mix, but the rhythm section sounds a lot more focused to me as well in the release. Was also kinda weird to hear the rest of the Robin solo after the inital guitar bend The only thing I really miss from the leak is the three-note guitar motif during the verses. Kinda like how Street of Dreams is missing the guitar fills from the intro in the Blues.