Naupis

I believe Chinese Democracy will be far superior to anything VR can put out

We have already heard at least half of the new album in the songs they have played live. Unless the other half we haven't heard are the far superior to what we have heard, Axl has wasted the past 10 years. People can have their opinions on how strong they feel the new material is vs. the VR stuff, but it is pretty safe to say that it is not 10 years better if what we have heard of the new GNR is their best stuff. Some (not all) of the new GNR stuff is really strong, but hardly going to set off a rock n' roll revolution. We had just better hope there are some serious gems in the vault if we ever actually hear another Axl album, otherwise he has done alot of damage to his legacy for really no reason.

But he's NOT trying to recapture the old GN'R

That may be true, but taking an entirely new group of guys and touring as GNR makes it tough for the average person to surmise anything other than the conclusion he is trying to recapture the old GNR. People would not be saying that sort of thing if he weren't using the name. It comes with the territory.

If they say that the record will be out this year, that's probably what they want and are they're working hard to accomplish that goal but it's no guarantee everything will work out perfectly as planned.

Or they are working hard to create the illusion it is coming out to increase ticket sales, knowing that if they made a stone cold denial in May there would be no album this year people might not be as excited about the tour and would be more likely to sit it out until there was a reason to be excited.

I guess it depends on what side of the coin your on, but I can't fall entirely on the "Axl and Merck have nothing but altruistic intentions" side because they stand to financially gain the more people believe the album may come out even if that is not exactly the case.

I mean honestly, if we hadn't been led to believe the album is coming out this year would people really have been excited about them being back on the road as they have been? Does anyone see it as more than coincidence that as the tour reaches the home stretch and they don't need to hawk tickets anymore we are just finding out the album is not coming out when they could have told us a couple of months ago before the tour started? Now that they aren't asking for money anymore it is OK to let the fans down.

As for the rumor -- take it with a grain of salt. Afterall, the source for the Merck quote has not exactly been a reliable one in the past. So we don't know what Merck told him - if anything.

Jarmo deleted it because he said the quote was "taken out of context" which leads me to believe the quote to be true, otherwise we would have been told it was made up.

I hope they have some positive shit about the new band and don't just focus on the AFD line up....

At this point the new band is nothing more than a better version of Adler's Appetite. They have done nothing to make GNR an important rock band, as they have never even released an album. Of course they are going to focus on the AFD line-up, because they are the ones responsible for getting them on the list in the first place.

What aggravates me a lot more is that they are touring on the back of zero new singles and zero new albums. What's the point?

For Axl to line his pockets, because he knows he has sheep like us who frequent the message boards and are more than willing to give him our money whether he releases an album or not. By supporting him 100% no matter what we are perpetuating this madness of not releasing the album, because he has no incentive to. If he knew people truly wouldn't go to concerts without some new material, he would be in a bigger hurry to release the album.

Wonder how it makes the new guys feel?

Probably about as good as they feel when having to spend most of their nights covering other people's tunes because their boss can't pull it together enough to release an album.

Well Im sure Slash had even less fans than that before his first album release (AFD).

These fans have come about because of the great live performances Finck has done.

I am also pretty sure that Slash never held the distinction of being the least talented guitarist in his own band at any time during his GNR tenure. It is safe to say no one ever left those gigs thinking "shit, you know Izzy or Gilby is a better guitarist than Slash, why the hell isn't he playing lead instead." After seeing Buckethead, Richard, and now Bumblefoot it is always clear to fans after the show who is the weak link among the new guitarists. Finck maybe the best at kicking his leg around in the air like he has a load in his pants, but in terms of guitar talent he is not in Bumble or Richard's league.

He gets slighted probably because he is the 3rd most talented guitar player (out of 3) in his own band. No one on this board can say with a straight face that Robin is a more talented player than Richard or Bumble, and that is kind of pathetic seeing as he is the "lead guitarist". Who knew major rock bands practiced the union type seniority mentality?

What do these people expect. If you're going to a guns show you gotta know it's gonna be late.

In all fairness we would never know to expect Guns to come on at 11:30 on a week night if we weren't all little internet fanboys. Joe Public thinks he is probably leaving the show at that time, not starting it.

Better may have a poppy feel during the verse parts, but taking the song as a whole I don't think it is pandering to the masses.

It's not, but when you haven't released any music for 15 years and this is the first thing people hear of your new venture, it makes him seem kind of soft as the specific clip sounds ultra poppy, even though the rest of the song is heavier.

Establishing that he can still do balls to the wall rock might have been the best plan of attack if you want to perpetuate to an audience that this is really GNR. I doubt at first glance that type of song is what people are going to be expecting from the new Guns N' Roses album.

I think it's the same as the leak with a few additions, and some remixing of the vocal track. There's a couple layers added, the vocals are louder and the guitar is softer.

I don't think it's all that different. The drumming at the start still sounds like a machine.

I think we are going to realize when the album's released that those "leaks" management put out there were alot closer to a finished product than alot of people would like to believe. We all wrote off any weakness to "oh its just a demo", but I think that those were a very very good idea of what the finished product was going to be. Better is not tremendously different other than it is obviously more refined and cleaned up.

You obviously don't know the difference of "actually being in commercial selling cars" and a band promoting a record!

Where in there does that promote GNR's new album? It is cool the song is in the commercial, but I didn't hear nor see anything about a new GNR album. Did I miss something. I thought it was just letting Harley use the song to try and sell motorcycles? I thought we were supposed to be against whoring out the music for commercial purposes?

Also, if this album flops we may never see another one, so I would like for it to succeed in that aspect as well. So we can have great music from this band for years to come.

That is dead on. If this album does not do fantastic, and is anyway viewed as a flop it will be the last album we see from Axl Rose. Seeing as I like the guys music, I want the project to be enough of a success he wants to release other albums.

Are you saying that a number one song on the rock charts won't be anywhere to be found in the popular top 40 charts?

Slither and Fall to Pieces were both #1 rock and modern rock singles for a while, but never made it onto the Kiss FM format. I think the highest FTP ever made on the Billboard 200 was #52, and it was #1 rock for like 6 weeks at one point. Being #1 in your format does not ensure crossing over into top 40. Kiss FM is very picky about what type of "rock" music might make it into the rotation, most of which is EMO stuff. Look no further than TRL to see that, as that and the Kiss FM playlist rotation are nearly identical.

It will maybe be a #1 rock single, but there is no way it will ever make top 40 because it won't penetrate the Kiss FM sphere necessary to have a top 10 single.

I'm sure the whole song is going to be amazing but what do you think the people who haven't heard Axl for fifteen years are going to say?

The clip makes Axl sound wimpy as the song comes off very poppy. People still think of GNR as the band that gave them WTTJ, and probably would have been better served releasing a balls to the wall rock song to show the fan base they still have it. Better is so poppy GNR will come off as being soft, and not the rock band people want to remember.

You would think Axl is aspiring to go the way of Bon Jovi or something. Poppy tunes in TV commercials. I wonder if that is going to be viewed as a sell-out or not if this is a large ad-campaign for the company. To think it was only a couple weeks ago a former GNR icon was being crucified for doing a similar thing.

I just watched the ad. The song is... decent... I suppose. But it doesn't ROCK!

Just saw that comment repeated a few times on the site listed above. I think that is the major crux of the problem when releasing Better as a first single. They needed a balls to the wall rock song to show people that while they might be a different line-up, they can still rock. Better sounds like a pop song, and is not going to be what people are expecting to hear from GNR right out of the gate. That is going to alienate people even more, and if anything further the notion this isn't really GNR.

GNR released a double album in the early 90's so you could buy one, and your friend could buy one. Then make a copy and share. I don't see how burning it and giving it out is any different really.

Beside, downloading has been nothing but good for the industry as it has forced labels to cut the fat and stop gorging consumers. They have stopped paying out giant advances like the one Axl is still living off of, so it has forced artists to get a little more creative and get out of the studio. That is nothing but a good thing for everyone.

JB..I hate to break this to you...but...Buckethead, Bumblefoot, and Fortus literally blow Finck off the stage. They play better than Finck. I think where Finck is earning his pay is his songwriting ability.

Finck is the only lead guitarist of a major band in Rock N' Roll history to be the least talented player in his own band. If his songwriting is whats keeping him around, then he should be a rythm player like Izzy was, giving way to the obviously more talented players to play lead.

Axl is really smart playing the AFD songs, he need to show the World that GN'R are back.

And when CD comes out and GN'R is a famous name aigen we get more new songs.

Hes only playing what the majority of people wants to hear you know...

If those are the songs that people want to hear, than it stands to reason they most likely are huge fans of the people who wrote them, of which only 1 remains. Playing all of the old material so much only reinforces that group doesn't exist anymore, and reminding people so heavily of the old line-up actually makes it tougher to get the new project over the hump.

I actually think his guitar in Street Child may be some of the best work he has ever done period. His playing is just haunting when you listen to the song the whole way through. It justs fits so well within the song, he is a master at that.

The UK Hall of Fame may be one of the highlights of his career. Playing with those guys and getting to play the Hendrix song, he looked and sounded absolutely as cool as he ever has.

He isn't fuckin bashing anybody. He is just stating how things are. He explained it very maturely. So everytime anyone criticizes Slash, it's just a pile of horseshit? Now who is the biased one here? Pathetic dude...

This is the same kid who made the comment "they're tighter then Slash n' Izzy were back in their heyday." Things like that have know business being said on a GNR fan board. He is obviously not living in reality.

they're tighter then Slash n' Izzy were back in their heyday

I do have to mention that this is possibly the single most outrageous thing ever written on this board.