What if The General sucks?

[Jakey Styley]

Through Bach and excited Brazilian hype, The General has been elevated into mythical status. It's expected to be grand and magnificent.

It might not be that good at all.

[Amir]

[EvH]

It may not even exist at all as a completed song.

[Rovim]

No way. That's crazy talk.

[Randy Lahey]

We will use our delusions if that is the case.

[Nick85]

The good news is, Axl's still crazy and (barring a leak) we'll never get to hear it.

[saber_]

Well then I blame all you assholes for repeatedly mentioning it for the last almost-decade as if it were some holy grail.

[Gordon Comstock]

What if it doesn't suck?

"Prostitute" was lifted to an almost mythical status before it leaked. I love the song, but others hate it. For those who dislike Prostitute, you should've learned your lesson, I guess?

I dunno, look at something like "The Blues". A song titled "The General" may never come out at all. And if it does, then we can judge it... I guess it's just because it's one of those titles thats been a constant in the nu-era... When I think unreleased CD songs, the first things that come to mind are Atlas, the General, Soul Monster and Checkmate. It's like "Ok, we know it's there, we know it's supposed to be a good song, it may or may not be related to Estranged...." and people build shit like that up.

[Rovim]

We'll always have the Jackie Chan clip to listen to on repeat.

[Raz0r]

[Amir]

I don't think The General is related to Estranged, I think Baz was getting confused; I'd go with Baz's initial statement where he said Axl said it was the third part of a trilogy, and would be on the third album. Maybe Riad is the first part? I read something somewhere it was a parable about a soldier, maybe?

I wonder how many of the "Chinese Democracy Concept" songs actually made it onto the album we got? Songs like Shackler's, Better, Catcher, Scraped, Sorry and TIL seem like they were added onto the tracklist towards 2007 or so. My guess is CD, The Blues, OMG, Silkworms, Riad, Madagascar and maybe Atlas Shrugged would have been on the initial CD tracklist. The concept seems to be one of struggle, with Axl comparing his personal struggles with those of the Chinese people and people in general. While I think he still would have mixed in some Stephanie Seymour ballads like The Blues and TWAT, I don't think as many of them were planned for the first disc as ended up happening.

I think by 2008 or so he decided to cut down the concept to 2 albums, and maybe one disc of extra tracks. Or he may have been planning that sooner, like in 2006 when he told that band it'd be a 3-disc thing. He did mention a CD of bonus tracks at some point, maybe songs like Going Down and Shackler's and Scraped were planned for that bonus disc.

Just need one interviewer to ask all these questions.

[RussTCB]

It's not "Bach and Brazilians" to blame for this song being elevated to huge heights. I constantly see posts where people proclaim how badly they want to hear The General and Atlus Shrugged and my question is always the same; based on what??

Outside of some of the orchestrations we were told were used as an intro at times, we have no idea what the unreleased material will sound like.

[Gordon Comstock]

I constantly see posts where people proclaim how badly they want to hear The General and Atlus Shrugged and my question is always the same; based on what??

Those titles have been consistently mentioned by people "in the know" since 1999, and people just wanna hear new music.

[izzygirl]

That's impossible. Bach and the Brazilians fans are the most objective sources in the world.

But I think Going Down was the real deal. It was the one getting leaked for a reason.

[RussTCB]

I constantly see posts where people proclaim how badly they want to hear The General and Atlus Shrugged and my question is always the same; based on what??

Those titles have been consistently mentioned by people "in the know" since 1999, and people just wanna hear new music.

I think I worded that wrong. That's not what I meant. Take Prostitute for example. People were talking about how it was going to "rock" for years prior to CD's release. Then when the anti-quiet leaks happened, people almost didn't want to believe that Prostitute sounded like that. I saw posts where people would say "No way that's Prostitute, that song is going to be a big rock song". It was like they set an expectation for the song based on nothing. I see that these days with the two I mentioned. I've seen people describe how much they're going to like those songs based on things they think they'll sound like.

[Broskirose]

To be fair Prostitute is the best song on CD, and the second best GNR song ever.

[PITBOSS]

so should it remain legendary and unheard? just for fear it might suck?

I'm not sure if it will live up to many peoples expectations, but i'd like to hear it someday.

prostitute is a great song.

[Gordon Comstock]

I constantly see posts where people proclaim how badly they want to hear The General and Atlus Shrugged and my question is always the same; based on what??

Those titles have been consistently mentioned by people "in the know" since 1999, and people just wanna hear new music.

I think I worded that wrong. That's not what I meant. Take Prostitute for example. People were talking about how it was going to "rock" for years prior to CD's release. Then when the anti-quiet leaks happened, people almost didn't want to believe that Prostitute sounded like that. I saw posts where people would say "No way that's Prostitute, that song is going to be a big rock song". It was like they set an expectation for the song based on nothing. I see that these days with the two I mentioned. I've seen people describe how much they're going to like those songs based on things they think they'll sound like.

Ah, gotcha

I agree. I don't think anyone expected ITW to sound the way it does either. When [if] it gets released it's gonna take some time to sink in for the people who have set up expectations. I expect it to be a good song, but I don't have any expectations as to how it will sound, y'know?

[rockerman]

What if:

Phantom Menace, Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith all sucked?

or

What if:

Chinese Democracy sucked.

Life went on after the credits rolled. We got up and dusted ourselves off and went on consuming shit maybe just a litte wiser, a little less nieve and perhaps more cynical and jaded than we were before."oh well" what was it that we expected??

Im not sure I could be wrong about this but to my knowledge no one jumped off a bridge because of This I Love, Rhiad and the Bedouins or Scaped as much as those songs would have made anyone of sound mind want to...in the end life went on pretty much the same as they always did.

The long wait was proven to be somewhat of a frivolous and folly filled event with the climax never really being achieved.

In the case of Guns and Roses those that didnt get thier lesson taught to them from the CD fiasco are all lubing themselves up for the second drubbing, still expecting a reach around and maybe a gentle kiss on the lips. Its possible. Im not going to bet the farm that its anything more or anything less than the continuation of whatever CD was and was not. I will listen for it it and to it and if the day comes that it is released Im sure me and the fellas at the senior center will ask the nurse to turn up her ipod so we can hear it. It might be a comfort to me in my old age...who knows..it might make me want to curl up and go back to sleep.

Expectation and looking forward to new music is a fantastic thing to keep distracted by in this world of distraction... Im hoping Axl wasnt just spewing shit again when he said they were playing the songs they were thinking of NOT putting on the album( only to do so) Now its safe to say, with any reasonalble rational mind to think that once bitten you would be twice shy: but in the phenomenon that is Guns and Roses fans we tend to love the abuse more than anything in the world and so when and if any new music hits the scene from GNR .. the bitching and moaning will be just as loud as the ooohs and ahhhs And the MYGNR.COM FORUM will erupt with is self satifying pissing contests for another decade or so.

[Georgy Zhukov]

Now someone has to leak the song.

[ITG]

You could just loop the 20 second cell phone recording and make house music out of it.

[ManetsBR]

I didn't know Prostitute had a mythical level before the release. Well, reality certainly matched the expectation, because it's one of the finest pieces of music Axl has ever released.

Edited November 6, 2013 by ManetsBR

[Apollo]

I didn't know Prostitute had a mythical level before the release. Well, reality certainly matched the expectation, because it's one of the finest pieces of music Axl has ever released.

All personal preference my friend!!!

I think SOD is 100 times better than Prostitute. This I Love as well.

I'll take SOD, TIL and CITR over Sorry, Prostitute and Madgascar every day of the week.

[Gordon Comstock]

I'll take SOD, TIL and CITR over Sorry, Prostitute and Madgascar every day of the week.

It's the opposite for me.

CITR > Madagascar, though.

[themadcaplaughs]

It's not "Bach and Brazilians" to blame for this song being elevated to huge heights. I constantly see posts where people proclaim how badly they want to hear The General and Atlus Shrugged and my question is always the same; based on what??

Outside of some of the orchestrations we were told were used as an intro at times, we have no idea what the unreleased material will sound like.

Agreed. When things (back in May or so) were at an all time low, we'd get these ridiculous lists around here of what the next album's track lists should be, and inevitably it would be...

The General

Atlas Shrugged

Seven

Jackie Chan

And all I could do was laugh. This is a bunch of people who thought "Sorry" was going to be the heaviest thing Axl ever recorded because Baz described it as doom metal.

To their credit though, Bumblefoot told us at least one chord that's going to be in it...

That's impossible. Bach and the Brazilians fans are the most objective sources in the world.

But I think Going Down was the real deal. It was the one getting leaked for a reason.

Completely forgot that "Going Down" was one of those songs that everybody would put on those lists mentored above. "It's gonna be Tommy's time to shine; we're going to hear what NuGNR is REALLY capable of." Guess what, it turned out to be a doctored up Tommy song that people seem to have forgotten completely.

I constantly see posts where people proclaim how badly they want to hear The General and Atlus Shrugged and my question is always the same; based on what??

Those titles have been consistently mentioned by people "in the know" since 1999, and people just wanna hear new music.

I think I worded that wrong. That's not what I meant. Take Prostitute for example. People were talking about how it was going to "rock" for years prior to CD's release. Then when the anti-quiet leaks happened, people almost didn't want to believe that Prostitute sounded like that. I saw posts where people would say "No way that's Prostitute, that song is going to be a big rock song". It was like they set an expectation for the song based on nothing. I see that these days with the two I mentioned. I've seen people describe how much they're going to like those songs based on things they think they'll sound like.

Once more, glad to see some sense around here.