Whoever picks which Singles to release?

[31illusions]

Seriously, Chi-Dem was a poor choice of Singles to release first. Better would have blown everyone away as a single.

It is such a kick-ass song. Same could be said about Slash's single By The Sword, I think Back To Cali would have

been an awsome single. I think these poor choices hurt sales. Why keep the best ones hidden?

Edited August 2, 2010 by 31illusion

[henfjel]

agree.

but i don't think it hurt the sales too much. too much anticipation and all that stuff blew the sales if anything. but five million isn't bad

[ITW 2012]

Hopefully whoever picked that single has been fired. It should have never even been considered as a single in the first place. That song had no hook, no chorus, and no memorable guitar solos. Plus, it was already the least popular of the new songs (Blues, Maddy and CD) that had consistently been played live since 2001.

Edited August 3, 2010 by ITW 2012

[Sweersa]

Agreed, Better would have been the best first single

[Jackie Moon]

better - if the world - street of dreams.

[henfjel]

better - if the world - street of dreams.

that would have been killer

[ronartest2004]

coulda woulda shoulda

[Brodie]

Singles? Chi Dem has singles on it?

I mean there's Beeter but that song leaked years before the album came out so what was the goddamn point huh huh

[bloodyhell1]

there was potential singles but was never promoted as such, like radio stations would play them anyway, too busy playing pop shit

[DaNutz]

Not so sure the order was too important..Just the selection...Better did make it to top 15 in rock charts.

SOD and This I Love wouldve worked because POP and ROCK stations wouldve played them.

Sorry has a great hook and if they had any momentum at all wouldve got heavy play on the ROCK stations.

[James Bond]

Hopefully whoever picked that single has been fired. It should have never even been considered as a single in the first place. That song had no hook, no chorus, and no memorable guitar solos. Plus, it was already the least popular of the new songs (Blues, Maddy and CD) that had consistently been played live since 2001.

I agree. While I like the song, and the agressive kind of "in your face" feel it has makes it a great introduction to the album, it was indeed a poor choice for a single for the reasons you mentioned. Better naturally would have been a better choice for the first single.

That being said, I can understand why they went with Chinese Democracy. With it being the title track, just hearing the title mentioned on radio was a good way of raising awareness that the long-awaited "Chinese Democracy" album was on its way.

[Brodie]

This I Love? Maybe on the classical station or Double Clef FM with Morgan Merriweather..... I love that track but seriously... get some brains moran.

Sorry? As awesome and Floydian as it is. No way that get plays nowadays.

Chinese would've been a great single without that longass intro and using the 01 version it would have kicked the radios ass back then but that ship sailed long ago.

Looking at it with fresh eyes only Better and Chinese could possibly do well on the radio. Eh If The World maybe too, besides that none of it is commercially viable music. Not a bad thing, but we're pandering to the dummies on the radio.

[Naupis]

Neither Better, nor CD should have been singles.

Whether he liked it or not, the reality is that those songs were 2 and a half years old (in almost identical form to the finish version) at the time they were released as singles. They had been played live on a consistent basis (in CD's case for 7 years at that point).

A big part of the problem was that for an album people had waited so long on, there was no newness feel to it or excitement when you release old songs that had gotten hundreds of thousands/millions of views on youtube already for the past few years prior to the album's release.

That's been a recurring problem with GNR as a whole since Axl took the reigns. It is like the land of make believe. Let's pretend that no one heard them even though they had been out for a while. Ignoring the reality of the situation as if the leaks in 06 didn't happen was retarded. It's one thing to create a fantasy world on GNR message boards where you can have your minions control the flow of information, but that never represented the real world. To this day I think it is a large part of the reason the public was somewhat apathetic to the album as a whole.

Over the course of the 2 and a half years since the leaks initially happened until the album release, much of the rock world had at least in passing heard some of the songs given how big a deal studio cuts were at the time given how long it had been since anyone heard anything.

Had Better never leaked in 06, probably would have been a great first single. However, had it been released instead of CD I still don't think it would have generated a whole lot of enthusiasm because it had been floating around for so long. It wasn't "new" even though in Axl's mind it and CD clearly were.

First single out of the gates needed to be something fresh and new (new being the operative word) that was going to knock people's socks off because if the first single fails it is hard to bring an album back from the grave.

[Cdlove]

Better-IRS-Madagascar

All those songs have hooks and lots of them.

[mrandyk]

Better then Street of Dreams, I dont think there is a good third single.

[ITW 2012]

If The World should have been the second single after Better, It's got great vocals, killer chorus, and a sexy fucking guitar solo from Mr. Buckethead. Plus they could have done a rap remix for the clubs.

[FuddMckagan]

Better (because it's the most radio friendly) then maybe Street Of Dreams would've been good. If they were gonna go for three I'd say toss Madagascar in there too.

[ThinkAboutYou]

the so called singles were only released as downloads and promos

Better was perfect pick then I probably would have went with prostitute

Edited August 3, 2010 by ThinkAboutYou

[The Glow Inc.]

the so called singles were only released as downloads and promos

This...And when the radios realised the band was nowhere to be seen, they immediately stopped playing them.

[Jackie Moon]

If The World should have been the second single after Better, It's got great vocals, killer chorus, and a sexy fucking guitar solo from Mr. Buckethead. Plus they could have done a rap remix for the clubs.

i think if the world has the most modern appeal. ladies seemed to love it. i played it for a few girls and they were shocked. loved the groove.

i think it was important for new singles to really send a message, this isnt slashs gnr. i felt shacklers revenge did that well on RB2 and i think people were intrigued, following that up with better, 80's rock roots with a bit of a twist, and then if the world, a total departure, really would have set the stage for the CD tour and CDii, me thinks.

but no, they went with CD, an original band rocker that lacks the balls of original guns. CD has to be 12-13/14 on CD IMO. its good for what it is, but it isnt a lead single. the highlights of the song:

-intro (ends up becoming anti-climatic)

-axls mean vocals

-bucketheads unreal solo

no chorus, no real hook, no real appeal.

thank god bumble added those little rhythm sections, without it was even worse.

[J Dog]

Better - SOD or Catcher - Sorry or IRS

I just think CD came out way too late. This hurt more than anything. Any of these songs are better than whats popular on the radio for the most part.

Edited August 3, 2010 by J Dog

[gnrjanus]

front line picked it or should I say mr. Azoff!

think it was part of the agreement axl had with him.

official they were are singles. and released he only choosed not to do anything with em.