Was ChiDem a "success" in the same way as Star Wars Ep.1?

[SeBaZ]

People still talk about Episode 1. No one but us talks about CD. Episode 1 > CD.

Oh, they do. Chinese Democracy is a mark on the music industry. Remember that ESPN article a couple of months ago? It changed the industry forever. It showed art is bad for the business. It is what allowed albums like Random Access Memories by Daft Punk to have a place. But, as the article said, the difference is that, although Random Access Memories is more sucesful, it won't be rememberd for decades to come, like Chinese Democracy. Like ir or not.

RAM is not only "Get Lucky". Here's an example

(and Get Lucky isn't shit)

[izzygirl]

If CD was like The Phantom Menace, anyone who's watched Attack of the Clones shouldn't be looking forward new music.

[Chunder Monkey]

Interesting comparison.

There are some similarities as you note:

1. Both high budget projects.

2. Both controlled essentially by a person who has achieved huge things in the past.

3. Both subject to MASSIVE expectations due to the importance of the previous work to pop culture.

Differences as I see it:

1. CD is a bit different as there's no public power struggle and fall out with the Starwars movies. Imagine Lucas had publicly announced he would never work again with anyone involved in the old movies at all, then suggested that the actors were the people who ruined the original films, imagine that they originally had been owned by a group of people and then lucas had obtained the rights to be the sole person who can use the starwars name.

2. Likewise...imagine lucas had publicly announced he wanted to move away from scifi - and that the next starwars trilogy was going to be in a different genre..with the first film being the closest to a space film but not really, then subsequent films being released as the audience adapted and was ready for the change.

3. Another difference to me is that I think CD is some of Axl himself's best stuff. Not GNR as a whole maybe. Maybe not even whole songs. But if you take just axl's contribution - the lyrics, the melodies, and some of the vocals then there's places in CD that are amongst his best stuff. To many it's not proper because the rest of old GNR is awol...but I'm just talking Axl. For example I think the lyrics/melody to catcher are very good...and there's no doubt to me a rock-based UYI band version of it, TWAT and a couple of others would be at least at UYI level greatness and probably even better. But I don't see that so much with starwars at all. I think darth maul was maybe something that could have been cool in the old starwars way - but the rest to me doesn't even have flashes of the old brilliance. It's like it's made by a different person.

I guess that's my point. To me you can tell CD is made by Axl - just Axl working with guys who arn't slash and duff etc, but it has Axl's touch all over it. But to be honest I can't tell that Phantom Menace is made by the guy who made episode 4 in 1977 or whatever...it's like a bad remake done by someone else who bought the rights to it. I watch that mess and wonder how lucas invented the whole of starwars, and indiana jones and other cool shit...and then lost the plot that badly!

[Flayer]

There was no Jar-Jar on CD.

Bumblefoot = Jar Jar Binks

Go fuck yourself.