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Chinese Democracy may become the most underrated album in history.


Ace Nova

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While I do feel that Chinese Democracy is underrated, I wouldn't call it the most underrated album of all-time for the following reasons:

-It received a fair amount of good reviews--SPIN, Rolling Stone, All Music Guide, etc.

-It may be a polarizing album for fans, but a lot of GN'R fans like it.

-Over time, it is likely that more and more people will come to appreciate it. It won't wind up in the dustbin of history, i.e., Vince Neil's solo albums, David Lee Roth's 90's albums.

In my humble opinion, two of the most underrated rock albums ever feature singer/guitarist John Corabi.

Corabi is probably known by most people as the guy who replaced Vince Neil in Motley Crue for one album, but that album is arguably the best thing that Motley ever put out. Motley Crue's 1994 self-titled album was a fantastic hard-rock album that, unfortunately, was a huge flop.

Motley's fans were like, "what the fuck? That doesn't sound like 'Girls Girls Girls'" and younger fans weren't interested in some cock-rock band trying to sound like Soundgarden. That said, the album is very well written, rocks hard, sounds great (only better over time) and the musicianship is top-notch.

But while Motley's self-titled album has always had a cult-following, it's been more-or-less forgotten. Chinese Democracy, on the other hand, will be reevaluated and will gain recognition in the years to come.

After Motley Crue, Corabi formed a band with KISS' Bruce Kullick called Union. Their self-titled album was one of the finest hard-rock albums from the latter-half of the 1990's IMHO.

But despite some good reviews, the album went nowhere, as did the follow-up The Blue Room. Perhaps if it had been released on a major label and gotten a push, it could have gotten some traction.

I would say that Motley's self-titled album and Union's self-titled debut are two of the most underrated albums of all-time.

Corabi also released the excellent Let it Scream with his band The Scream and the post-Union Twenty 4 Seven.

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...Chinese Democracy, on the other hand, will be reevaluated and will gain recognition in the years to come...

While I completely agree with your points on the Crue S/T record and of course I agree about Chinese being under-rated, the part I quoted above is the thing I don't get.

I just don't understand what makes anyone think that CD will gain some sort of interest as time goes on. Do I think it should? Absolutely. I just don't see any reason for that to happen. There's so much music out there and so much of it doesn't get the recognition that it deserves. I guess I just don't understand the idea that all of a sudden people are just going to take a new look at CD in the future.

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...Chinese Democracy, on the other hand, will be reevaluated and will gain recognition in the years to come...

While I completely agree with your points on the Crue S/T record and of course I agree about Chinese being under-rated, the part I quoted above is the thing I don't get.

I just don't understand what makes anyone think that CD will gain some sort of interest as time goes on. Do I think it should? Absolutely. I just don't see any reason for that to happen. There's so much music out there and so much of it doesn't get the recognition that it deserves. I guess I just don't understand the idea that all of a sudden people are just going to take a new look at CD in the future.

I'm not saying that it will someday sell 10 million copies or anything like that, but I do think it's on the back-burner and won't just be forgotten. It's may be like the Blade Runner of hard-rock--people will warm up to it and someday and "get" it. Yes, there is a lot of new music, but it's mostly shit. In the hard-rock genre, which is more or less dead, has their been a Nevermind or an AFD in the last few years? Are The Strokes and Jack White the best that there is?

Edited by RichardNixon
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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Haters gonna hate.

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Haters gonna hate.

It isn't 2008 anymore. Improve yourself.

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The last person who said "it'll be appreciated in time" was Eddie Van Halen about III (the Gary Cherone album).

VH3 sold 500k at a time when people actually bought CDs, so it was a much bigger flop. It received mostly poor reviews and the fans hated it then and now, as it is a very flawed album. Chinese Democracy is a divisive album among GN'R fans, while nearly all VH fans dislike VH3.

It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Haters gonna hate.

It isn't 2008 anymore. Improve yourself.

Oh, the irony.

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Haters gonna hate.
It isn't 2008 anymore. Improve yourself.
Oh, the irony.

Oh, the absurdity.

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

Edited by wkuk04
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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

The worst of those albums is still better than Chinese Democracy. The album flopped and it's available for 99 cents at Dollar Tree. So, get off your fanboy blind-following horse and listen to Axl in Rio 2011.

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

The worst of those albums is still better than Chinese Democracy. The album flopped and it's available for 99 cents at Dollar Tree. So, get off your fanboy blind-following horse and listen to Axl in Rio 2011.

3-5 million WW for a hard-rock album in 2008 isn't bad.

And there is no way St. Anger is better than Chinese Democracy.

Edited by RichardNixon
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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

The worst of those albums is still better than Chinese Democracy. The album flopped and it's available for 99 cents at Dollar Tree. So, get off your fanboy blind-following horse and listen to Axl in Rio 2011.

"It will eventually gain a cult following".

Based on what? I like lots of things that weren't commercially successful. But just because *I* like them, that doesn't mean they're destined to become cult favourites.

And what constitutes a hit on vinyl?

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

The worst of those albums is still better than Chinese Democracy. The album flopped and it's available for 99 cents at Dollar Tree. So, get off your fanboy blind-following horse and listen to Axl in Rio 2011.

"It will eventually gain a cult following".

Based on what? I like lots of things that weren't commercially successful. But just because *I* like them, that doesn't mean they're destined to become cult favourites.

And what constitutes a hit on vinyl?

I think the better question is, "doesn't it already have a cult following"? I mean there's pretty many of us who love CD passionately, but not many enough to consider it a mainstream success. In other words it has a cult following.

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

It is true that St Anger is worse than Chinese Democracy, but then St Anger is probably the worst album ever released by a credible major artist, since the genre of rock music was created, however I disagree about Slash's latest, and vehemently disagree about AC/DC's. Of those albums I would go,

1. Rock or Bust

2. World on Fire

3. Chinese Democracy

4. St Anger

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

The worst of those albums is still better than Chinese Democracy. The album flopped and it's available for 99 cents at Dollar Tree. So, get off your fanboy blind-following horse and listen to Axl in Rio 2011.

"It will eventually gain a cult following".

Based on what? I like lots of things that weren't commercially successful. But just because *I* like them, that doesn't mean they're destined to become cult favourites.

And what constitutes a hit on vinyl?

I think the better question is, "doesn't it already have a cult following"? I mean there's pretty many of us who love CD passionately, but not many enough to consider it a mainstream success. In other words it has a cult following.

That's a pretty lonely cult. Everyone that liked the album seems to post here.

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It's already been forgotten, or what it's worse, people don't know it exists, so they can't even forget about its existence. I mean, go outside your house and ask 100 people what band released Chinese Democracy. Then ask them who released Appetite for Destruction.

"Chinese Democracy will be appreciated in time" :rofl-lol:

#axlfanlogic

Well its better than "St Anger" (unless you like Lars hitting his sticks on pots & pans & tincans), AC/DC's latest album, Slash latest album, it will eventually gain a cult following, its a hit on vinyl, and sold millions, so get off your high horse and listen to Nickleback.

The worst of those albums is still better than Chinese Democracy. The album flopped and it's available for 99 cents at Dollar Tree. So, get off your fanboy blind-following horse and listen to Axl in Rio 2011.

"It will eventually gain a cult following".

Based on what? I like lots of things that weren't commercially successful. But just because *I* like them, that doesn't mean they're destined to become cult favourites.

And what constitutes a hit on vinyl?

I think the better question is, "doesn't it already have a cult following"? I mean there's pretty many of us who love CD passionately, but not many enough to consider it a mainstream success. In other words it has a cult following.

That's a pretty lonely cult. Everyone that liked the album seems to post here.

Based on what?

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I was listening to 30 seconds to Mars self titled album and man, that is a great and modern rock album. There are so many great albums from the last decade. It's funny because CD fans are supposed to be open minded but they mostly know other mainstream albums.

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It really is an excellent record....

No, nowhere near. Not in this universe.


I was listening to 30 seconds to Mars self titled album and man, that is a great and modern rock album. There are so many great albums from the last decade. It's funny because CD fans are supposed to be open minded but they mostly know other mainstream albums.

Should've seen them here on the night of the Revolver Golden Gods, when they shit on every band that played that wasn't Axl's band.

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