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5 Unpopular Albums That I Love


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Is that a room in your house? Do you use it as a set for the videos or you listen to music there too? Cause that looks dope. Definitely a vibe. 
 

Always nice to see people mention Chinese Democracy. Music fans in general don’t give it enough credit let alone actual GNR fans. I’ve talked with randoms at some of the many NITL shows I’ve attended, and I’m pretty amazed by how many “lifelong” GNR fans haven’t even given Chinese a proper listen. 
 

With legacy and nostalgia acts, I totally get not being familiar with work after their salad days. But these are people spending $300+ per concert, join GNR fan groups, etc. And still are, like, “Yeah, Chinese Democracy isn’t good.”

Sure, Jan. 

 

Edited by GnR Chris
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12 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:

Is that a room in your house? Do you use it as a set for the videos or you listen to music there too? Cause that looks dope. Definitely a vibe. 
 

Always nice to see people mention Chinese Democracy. Music fans in general don’t give it enough credit let alone actual GNR fans. I’ve talked with randoms at some of the many NITL shows I’ve attended, and I’m pretty amazed by how many “lifelong” GNR fans haven’t even given Chinese a proper listen. 
 

With legacy and nostalgia acts, I totally get not being familiar with work after their salad days. But these are people spending $300+ per concert, join GNR fan groups, etc. And still are, like, “Yeah, Chinese Democracy isn’t good.”

Sure, Jan. 

 

Yep, we've had people over to spin records in that room every Friday for the past 9 years. We've had a bunch of forum members and even Bumblefoot came to hang there :)

And yeah, Chinese just plain doesn't get the love it deserves. It's a far, far better album than many claim. 

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40 minutes ago, GnR Chris said:


I remember you mentioning elsewhere in the forum about Friday night spins. Sounds so fun. I love discovering new music, and also rediscovering classics, seeing where the night takes you depending on what music people start playing. 
 

As for CD, I always go back to Chuck Klosterman’s review. He nailed so much about what Chinese Democracy represents and what it is and isn’t.

Reviewing Chinese Democracy is not like reviewing music. It's more like reviewing a unicorn. Should I primarily be blown away that it exists at all? Am I supposed to compare it to conventional horses? To a rhinoceros? Does its pre-existing mythology impact its actual value, or must it be examined inside a cultural vacuum, as if this creature is no more (or less) special than the remainder of the animal kingdom?

Here are the simple things about Chinese Democracy: Three of the songs are astonishing. Four or five others are very good. The vocals are brilliantly recorded, and the guitar playing is (generally) more interesting than the guitar playing on the Use Your Illusion albums.

“Chinese Democracy is (pretty much) the last Old Media album we'll ever contemplate in this context—it's the last album that will be marketed as a collection of autonomous-but-connected songs, the last album that will be absorbed as a static manifestation of who the band supposedly is, and the last album that will matter more as a physical object than as an Internet sound file. This is the end of that.

The final truth is this: [Axl] makes the best songs. They sound the way I want songs to sound. A few of them seem idiotic at the beginning, but I love the way they end. Axl Rose put so much time and effort into proving that he was super-talented that the rest of humanity forgot he always had been. And that will hurt him. This record may tank commercially. Some people will slaughter Chinese Democracy, and for all the reasons you expect. But he did a good thing here.

I always think about this review. I'm pretty sure I read a two line summary of it somewhere that said something like: "Worth 13 years? Questionable. Worth an hour of your time? Definitely."

 

 

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2 hours ago, GnR Chris said:

Is that a room in your house? Do you use it as a set for the videos or you listen to music there too? Cause that looks dope. Definitely a vibe. 
 

Always nice to see people mention Chinese Democracy. Music fans in general don’t give it enough credit let alone actual GNR fans. I’ve talked with randoms at some of the many NITL shows I’ve attended, and I’m pretty amazed by how many “lifelong” GNR fans haven’t even given Chinese a proper listen. 
 

With legacy and nostalgia acts, I totally get not being familiar with work after their salad days. But these are people spending $300+ per concert, join GNR fan groups, etc. And still are, like, “Yeah, Chinese Democracy isn’t good.”

Sure, Jan. 

 

Still a matter of taste. I gave it more listens then I should but half the album is just awful and it's simply not the music I like. I'm expecting different from GNR.

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57 minutes ago, Free Bird said:

Still a matter of taste. I gave it more listens then I should but half the album is just awful and it's simply not the music I like. I'm expecting different from GNR.

Just to be clear, I was talking about casual GN'R fans in the video. I know there are a ton of GN'R fans who gave the album an honest shot and don't like it. 

That's totally fine, of course. But what usually when I talk about music to people and they say they don't like CD, they have actually rarely heard it. 

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This was a video for me, because I'm always really drawn to the unpopular albums/later work of artists.

MJ is my all time favorite, and my favorite work of his are the HIStory/Invincible era songs. Even the ones we got on the albums released after his death, although they're missing that MJ-touch to make them perfect. I much prefer the bitter and angry rockers to the "Baby Be Mine's" of this world, although I love them all. Years ago I read that there was an album called "Resurrection" that he wanted to release in 2003 to make up for "Invincible" (as he himself was disappointed in its performance), but that album was scrapped because of the accusations. Such a shame. As you said in the video, he hasn't lost a step. His voice was actually getting better with age IMO. I think some vocal coach said that he was able to reach even higher notes the older he got.

But let's get to Chinese Democracy. It is my favorite album of GNR. Why? I have no idea. It doesn't feature any of my favorite songs but I still tend to listen to it the most.

That's really the thing with my taste. It's never the early work that gets me hooked, it's always the later songs and albums. With any artist I like it's this way. Meat Loaf is one of my favorite artists (I know that you're not a fan of his music), but I rarely listen to "Bat Out Of Hell". I listen to the later albums. That guy put out amazing albums in his later years, I recommend "Hang Cool Teddy Bear" from 2010 to anyone, if you like the Loaf or not. It's a big, dumb and really fun rock and roll record that shouldn't be taken seriously but should always be mentioned when talking about "overlooked great albums". (Maybe give that a shot, @RussTCB ;))

Same goes for Foreigner's "Can't Slow Down", the Crüe's "Saints of Los Angeles" or all of Ozzy's later work. That's the stuff I'm listening to.

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3 hours ago, RussTCB said:

Just to be clear, I was talking about casual GN'R fans in the video. I know there are a ton of GN'R fans who gave the album an honest shot and don't like it. 

That's totally fine, of course. But what usually when I talk about music to people and they say they don't like CD, they have actually rarely heard it. 

Yeah I'm sure there's enough of this type of people, too, but I was referring more to the following:

7 hours ago, GnR Chris said:

But these are people spending $300+ per concert, join GNR fan groups, etc. And still are, like, “Yeah, Chinese Democracy isn’t good.”

Sure, Jan

That part sounded to me like... whoever listened to CD likes it actually, but doesn't want to admit that he likes it.

Maybe there's some of these people out there as well but I can only speak for myself when saying I tried to like it but it just didn't grow on me as a whole.

Edited by Free Bird
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1 hour ago, TheGeneral said:

This was a video for me, because I'm always really drawn to the unpopular albums/later work of artists.

MJ is my all time favorite, and my favorite work of his are the HIStory/Invincible era songs. Even the ones we got on the albums released after his death, although they're missing that MJ-touch to make them perfect. I much prefer the bitter and angry rockers to the "Baby Be Mine's" of this world, although I love them all. Years ago I read that there was an album called "Resurrection" that he wanted to release in 2003 to make up for "Invincible" (as he himself was disappointed in its performance), but that album was scrapped because of the accusations. Such a shame. As you said in the video, he hasn't lost a step. His voice was actually getting better with age IMO. I think some vocal coach said that he was able to reach even higher notes the older he got.

But let's get to Chinese Democracy. It is my favorite album of GNR. Why? I have no idea. It doesn't feature any of my favorite songs but I still tend to listen to it the most.

That's really the thing with my taste. It's never the early work that gets me hooked, it's always the later songs and albums. With any artist I like it's this way. Meat Loaf is one of my favorite artists (I know that you're not a fan of his music), but I rarely listen to "Bat Out Of Hell". I listen to the later albums. That guy put out amazing albums in his later years, I recommend "Hang Cool Teddy Bear" from 2010 to anyone, if you like the Loaf or not. It's a big, dumb and really fun rock and roll record that shouldn't be taken seriously but should always be mentioned when talking about "overlooked great albums". (Maybe give that a shot, @RussTCB ;))

Same goes for Foreigner's "Can't Slow Down", the Crüe's "Saints of Los Angeles" or all of Ozzy's later work. That's the stuff I'm listening to.

I've got a lot of other MJ videos on the channel, including an interview with Taj Jackson :)

 

But yeah, Chinese is my favorite GN'R album. People seen to get all bent out of shape when I say that but I couldn't care less. 

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Personally, Chinese Democracy is a good album of you remove the name "Guns N' Roses". The name has a lot to live up to and CD doesn't make the cut for a lot of people. However as a standalone album listening to it and not associating it to guns, it's a pretty good album with some good songs. Street of Dreams, Maddy, prostitute, Better to name a few

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Bloody hell Russ. Talk about my brother from another mother. No shitting you, literally every one of these albums I adore. I would go so far as to say, at least 4 out of your 5 picks would be identical to mine. Rave, Chinese, Invincible, ADKOT... I love the bones off these albums. 

Why are the only other people with such exquisite taste half way across the world??

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2 hours ago, Towelie said:

Bloody hell Russ. Talk about my brother from another mother. No shitting you, literally every one of these albums I adore. I would go so far as to say, at least 4 out of your 5 picks would be identical to mine. Rave, Chinese, Invincible, ADKOT... I love the bones off these albums. 

Why are the only other people with such exquisite taste half way across the world??

Those of us with such amazing musical taste have to be spread out so there's not too much power in one corner of the world 😂 

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18 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

Great list! Mine would be:

1.Chinese Democracy

2.One Hot Minute

3.Diver Down

4.Carnival of Souls

5.A Thousand Suns

Honorable Mention: Living Things

Linkin Park is my guilty pleasure I guess…

My immediate attention went to Carnival Of Souls. What a fucking GREAT record that is. 

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24 minutes ago, rocknroll41 said:

Great list! Mine would be:

1.Chinese Democracy

2.One Hot Minute

3.Diver Down

4.Carnival of Souls

5.A Thousand Suns

Honorable Mention: Living Things

Linkin Park is my guilty pleasure I guess…

My goodness, I was just thinking about A Thousand Suns earlier today. That is one masterpiece, it speaks to me in ways no other album has. I don't really even like LP.

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For me it would be this. 

1. Music From "The Elder" - KISS (1981) 

2. Night In The Ruts - Aerosmith (1979)

3. Chinese Democracy - Guns N' Roses (2008)

4. Hot Space - Queen (1982)

5. A Momentary Lapse Of Reason - Pink Floyd (1987)

DISCLAIMER - I don't really know what's 'unpopular' or not, so I just checked this list, which is probably BS, but I don't know - https://ultimateclassicrock.com/disappointing-albums-classic-rock-artists/

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Great list @RussTCB, Invincible is a great record for sure!

Mine would be, in no particular order:

  • Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
  • Kiss - Music from "The Elder" (saw the discussion about Carnival of Souls earlier, that's another great record!)
  • Oasis - Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
  • Metallica - Death Magnetic
  • Skid Row - Subhuman Race

Edit: Decided to add a sixth one after I posted so here it is:

  • U2 - Songs of Innocence (I was maybe the only one who enjoyed getting this in my phone upon release :lol:)
Edited by Swedish
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1 hour ago, Swedish said:

Great list @RussTCB, Invincible is a great record for sure!

Mine would be, in no particular order:

  • Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
  • Kiss - Music from "The Elder" (saw the discussion about Carnival of Souls earlier, that's another great record!)
  • Oasis - Standing On The Shoulder Of Giants
  • Metallica - Death Magnetic
  • Skid Row - Subhuman Race

Edit: Decided to add a sixth one after I posted so here it is:

  • U2 - Songs of Innocence (I was maybe the only one who enjoyed getting this in my phone upon release :lol:)

Totally agree on Subhuman Race. I've convinced a lot of people to give it a second chance and they always end up really liking it nowadays. 

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