Was Axl really forced to release Chinese against his will?

[dalsh327]

I think part of understanding the delays is understanding how the record company's treated other artists. In this case, a pop star.

This is a 2007 Entertainment Weekly article about the singer for Pussycat Dolls.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20530309_20166116,00.html

Album delays are just the cost of doing business in the music industry — and Iovine is notorious for holding discs until they're up to his standards. Just this year, the label held 50 Cent's Curtis for three months; it went on to debut at No. 2, selling 691,000 the first week. Artists like Gavin Rossdale, whose own solo effort has been on the shelf for years, fondly calls it being in ''Jimmy Jail.'' The Interscope head tells EW he won't apologize for keeping discs hostage: ''I will not put anyone's album out in this climate unless it's properly set up with the right songs.''

Finding herself amongst talented ''Jimmy Jail'' cellmates, Scherzinger says she isn't worried about the wait. ''If it was all left up to me, it would probably never come out, because I'm such a perfectionist. But it's all in the right time. It'll happen the beginning of next year, and I'm loving the new stuff that I've come up with.'' Still, all this reworking comes with a price, and not just for Scherzinger. Interscope won't officially comment on specific costs, but an outside source estimates that the label has laid out at least $1.5 million so far on recording and videos. The delays have also kept Scherzinger from recording a second album with the Dolls, potentially hampering the group's momentum. The Dolls are tentatively scheduled to return to the studio next year — and EW has learned that Interscope may rework some of Scherzinger's discarded solo tracks for the band's next album.

If her disc ever does see the light of day, fans can expect upbeat, pleasant pop (at least based on the tracks EW has heard). Highlights are the sexy, funky ''Physical,'' produced by Timbaland; an ode to female genitalia called ''Puakenikeni'' (also the name of a Hawaiian flower); ''Just Say Yes,'' an elegant ballad penned by Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody; and a duet between Scherzinger and Iovine pal Sting called ''Power's Out.'' Added to this lineup are the three previously released singles, along with the Britney tracks and a new song Scherzinger recorded with rising star The-Dream. ''Her album is what the game needs right now because it's so diverse and it's so different,'' says Polow Da Don. ''It reminds me of when I first heard Alanis Morissette or Norah Jones.'' The singer, meanwhile, believes that one day people will in fact know who she is — by her first and last names. ''It isn't until you think you're on top of the mountain and then you get rejected time after time after time — it isn't until you go through all those things in life that you're like, Okay, now let me make my music.'

The album was NEVER released. An album called "Killer Love" was released in 2011. Her second solo album is slated for release later this year.

Also, read up on 50 Cent's feud with Iovine & Reznor's criticisms about Interscope. It puts things in perspective about why the release took so long. And "Chinese Whispers" had it laid out pretty good as far as timelines go.

[Gordon Comstock]

Summer 2008 there were a number of rumors flying around.... Apparently Axl was still working on certain songs (we don't know which) until the very last possible minute, and then tried to stop or delay the release (probably to do with the booklets). I think the "forced to release it" thing refers mostly to CD as a whole, not just the music, y'know? Artwork, credits, liner notes and all that other shit.

On a side note, does anyone else laugh to themselves when they read the booklet, and it lists Youth in Madagascar as something ridiculous, it's like "original demo arrangement" or something like that. It seems like he tried to list everyone that was ever in the same room during the CD sessions....

[alfierose]

That's interesting. What is Iovine's/Interscope's rationale behind shelving albums that presumably have high costs to attached to them. Four or five years ago Nicole S had quite a following based on TPCD success. Why not capitalise on that? I would have thought that timing was just as if not more important than quality in the music industry.

[Russel Nash]

Chinese Democracy is the worst record any GNR member past or present has ever released. Axl should be thankful that Buckethead, Finck and Freese made it sound mediocre at best.

Did you try an otolaryngologist to check your ears?

[originalgnrnewgnr]

Chinese Democracy is the worst record any GNR member past or present has ever released. Axl should be thankful that Buckethead, Finck and Freese made it sound mediocre at best.

Did you try an otolaryngologist to check your ears?

shut up idiot.

[volcano62]

Chinese Democracy is the worst record any GNR member past or present has ever released. Axl should be thankful that Buckethead, Finck and Freese made it sound mediocre at best.

Did you try an otolaryngologist to check your ears?

shut up idiot.

Reported

[dalsh327]

That's interesting. What is Iovine's/Interscope's rationale behind shelving albums that presumably have high costs to attached to them. Four or five years ago Nicole S had quite a following based on TPCD success. Why not capitalise on that? I would have thought that timing was just as if not more important than quality in the music industry.

I think Iovine being a respected producer/engineer as well as a mogul has been part of the problem. The most successful record labels were by people with business savvy and music fans, not so much a music background. You rarely have musicians doing two things: running a business or going into politics.

Tommy Mottola, Clive Davis, and Walter Yetnikoff have all written books about their point of view in the music industry, and there's stories about out of control artists from their point of view and how they dealt with it, but you also read about how many people are in the middle.

It's those people in the middle you have to put a light on to understand why some of the delays happen, but most of us want to know why an album would take 15 years and cost millions to make. Michael Jackson's Invincible was double Chinese Democracy. The costs are driven up because of the people the artists want, I don't know what would have been more of a money saver, Slash, Duff, and Izzy in the band, or the 1998-2000 members of GNR.

I do think Interscope's takeover of Geffen was a huge setback. That's one thing I got out of this. You'd have to look at Interscope's successes and criticisms to get the overall story with them.

I think in Nicole's case, it was a first solo album which could turn into a huge failure and make her damaged goods. I wouldn't be surprised if she even knew why ChiDem was delayed. Same office, same employees.

[Russel Nash]

Chinese Democracy is the worst record any GNR member past or present has ever released. Axl should be thankful that Buckethead, Finck and Freese made it sound mediocre at best.

Did you try an otolaryngologist to check your ears?

shut up idiot.

Nosaj alt. account or just his girlfriend?

[DieselDaisy]

There was a level of coercion as Geffen/Interscope held Axl ransom over his contract: they in effect refused to negotiate unless Axl handed over the masters. They also jumped the gun on the packaging, hence the mistakes in the booklet and the fact that cover b and cover c never materialised. It is a fair bet that the reason Axl refused to promote the thing was because of all of this.