Rank your Chinese Democravy era songs

[Lies They Tell]

Here's my ranking of all the songs with vocals: 

1. Better

2. There Was A Time

3. Monsters

4. Prostitute

5. Chinese Democracy

6. Oh My God

7. Hard Skool

8. Atlas Shrugged

9. The General

10. This I Love

11. Absurd

12. Catcher In The Rye

13. Shackler's Revenge

14. Sorry

15. Perhaps

16. Street of Dreams

17. State of Grace

18. I.R.S

19. Going Down

20. Riad N' The Bedouins

21. Scraped

22. Madagascar

23. If The World

24. Eye On You

 

 

Edited February 18 by Lies They Tell

[adamsapple]

 

1. This I Love
2. Catcher In The Rye
3. There Was A Time
4. Street Of Dreams
5. Prostitute
6. Better
7. Hard Skool
8. Oh My God
9. If The World
10. Sorry
11. Chinese Democracy
12. Riad
13. Madagascar
14. IRS
15. Perhaps
16. Shackler's Revenge
17. Monsters
18. Scraped
19. The General
20. Absurd

 

 

 

Edited February 18 by adamsapple

[BluegrassBlues]

1. Better, I loved the lyrics and the pop feel to it. I think if it had been promoted, it would have been the one for best radio play. 

2. Chinese Democracy, the wail at the beginning made me think of 90s Axl off the bat, instantly loved it.

3. Street Of Dreams, beautiful song, one of my favorite songs that is always in a playlist, love the guitar as well. 

4. Madagascar, melodramatic but its Axl we're talking about, emotional lyrics but could have done without the layers upon layers. 

5. Sorry, I really like the music with this one, still can't tell if it's about media or past bandmembers and can't figure out if it's a sad song or a petty one, kinda makes me like it more.

6. I.R.S. Not a lot to say, mid but I like it

7. This I love, Enjoy the lyrics and the piano, 

8. Scraped. A little cringy lyrics but upbeat and angry which makes me not hate it.

9. Shackler's Revenge. Same as Scraped

10. Prostitute. I don't know what it is, I like the lyrics but can never get into it

11. There Was A Time, I just hate this one, I can't give a reason why I just can't get into it

12. If The World. Just no, I'd rather be forced to listen to a 24 hour repeat of My World and So Fine 

All in all, I thought it was a decent album and didn't get a fair shake when it came out 

From the newer, or at least new to me, releases. 

1. Perhaps, loved everything about it

2. Monsters, a banger I hope gets a release soon

3. The General, heavy material and simple lyrics that give the message across well. I like it, I know it's not popular but even if someone doesn't like the song I don't think a song about child abuse should have been called the names it was in my opinion. There are plenty of country songs about abuse I don't like, but my hat goes off to anyone who can put that kind of trauma into music, and I will not tear that down even if I don't like it.

4. Hard Skool, don't hate but I like the bell. Its fast and loud, no complaints there and the lyrics make me think of Izzy who I still miss so no complaints there. 

5. Is OMG the 5th? I don't know, I like it just wish it had a proper mixing and release

Did I miss any? I'm sure I did 

Edited February 18 by BluegrassBlues

[janrichmond]

The Blues

[imsorry]

7 hours ago, janrichmond said:

The Blues

better than none   , There was a time got a classic GNR sound/vibe as well  

[jimisbatman]

On 2/17/2024 at 4:30 PM, Dummy said:

1 absurd

2 realdoll.com

3 prl

4 silkworms

5 evader general

Love prl, definitely the 1st track on my CD fantasy album

[jimisbatman]

Awesome topic 

On 2/17/2024 at 3:30 PM, Illusion1987 said:

Rank your list, from best to worst, of the 18 Chinese Democracy era songs.

I'll start.

1. Better

2. Prostitute

3. There Was A Time

4. Street of Dreams

5. Sorry

6. Madagascar 

7. This I Love

8. Shackler's Revenge

9. Perhaps 

10. If The World

11. Catcher in the Rye

12. IRS

13. Chinese Democracy

14.  Hard Skool

15. Scraped 

16. Absurd

17. Riad and the Bedouins

18. The General

 

 

[Dummy]

6 hours ago, jimisbatman said:

Love prl, definitely the 1st track on my CD fantasy album

Love prl too. 

[evilfacelessturtle]

1. TWAT

2. Street of Dreams

3. If The World  - Criminally underrated, a unique and epic fusion of styles.

4. Sorry

5. I.R.S. - the most classic-Guns sounding track from CD, also underrated

6. Madagascar

7. Perhaps

8. Oh My God - Didn't understand this one at first, but it has an energy and rawness absent from CD

9. This I Love

10. Better

11. Prostitute

- All the songs after this have dropped off onto a secondary level -

12. Chinese Democracy

13. Scraped

14. Catcher in the Rye

15. Shackler's Revenge - WTF is up with that upbeat pre-chorus? 

16. Absurd

17. Riad

18. Hard Skool

19. The General

[Arnuld]

Fascinating how all over the map these rankings are. And how low The General is consistently ranked. Would have never believed this wouldn’t be a top level song. 

[metalavenger99]

I don't know about a full rank because I have Scraped, Riad, Schacklers, and most of those fillers at the same level of appreciation in my list but my top 5 atm are:

Better

I.R.S

Street Of Dreams

Prostitute

The General

I don't know what it is about IRS that I like so much, nobody cares about that song, but it would be my absolute holy grail for a live concert, like miles and miles ahead of Locomotive or TWAT like it probably would be for most people... the lyrics are hilarious but that's what makes it special IMO too

If we count the Chinese Demos ... man oh man...

Zodiac 13 (the second version)

Silkworms with the original intro 

Me&MyElvis

Eye on You

Then the "electronica madness": P.R.L, Circus, and similar ones

[elektra_reghaired]

1. There Was a Time

2. Better

3. This I Love

4. Madagascar

5. Perhaps

6. Street of Dreams

7. Prostitute

8. Sorry

9. Hard School

10. Chinese Democracy

11. I.R.S

12. Catcher in the Rye

13. The General

14. Absurd

15. Oh My God

16. Shackler's Revenge

17. If The World

18. Scraped

19. Riad N' The Bedouins

 

[betterman]

There was a time

Better

Perhaps

Sorry

Soul monsters

Street of dreams

Chinese democracy

This I love

Prostitute

Hard skool

Catcher in the rye

Atlas Shrugged

Madagascar

the General

IRS

Shacklers revenge

Oh my God

Scraped

Rhiad and the bedouins

If the World

Absurd

[Free Bird]

1. TWAT

2. Monsters

3. Sorry

4. Better

5. The General

6. Hard Skool

7. Absurd

8. Chinese Democracy 

9. Perhaps

10. Madagascar

11. TIL

12. If The World

13. I.R.S.

14. Street Of Dreams

15. OMG

16. Catcher 

17. Prostitute

18. Sheckler’s

19. Scraped 

20. Riad

[Appetitefordiscussion]

Top 5: Madagascar, Catcher, IRS, Prostitute, TWAT 

 

Bottom 5: 

Street Of Dreams, TIL, ABSURD, Hard Skool, The General

that said, I really like most the songs from this era. Even the bad ones aren’t boring generic rock tunes IMO

[THELINESMAN]

1. IRS

2. Street of Dreams

3. Chinese Democracy

4. Oh My God

5. Better

6. Sorry

7. Perhaps

8. Madagascar 

9. Shackler’s Revenge

10. TWAT

11. This I Love

12.  Catcher 

13. Prostitute 

14. Monsters

15. The General

16. Hard Skool

17. Scraped 

18. If The World

19. Riad

20. Abturd 

 

[ZoSoRose]

Some of these change, of course. When looking at the list, it really cements that I just do really dig this music. I listen to all of these songs, even the lower ranked tunes. I am including Monsters because we surely have the final version. I would bet on that one being in the next batch of singles. 

1. Better

2. There Was a Time

3. Madagascar

4. Prostitute

5. Monsters

6. Chinese Democracy

7. Shackler's Revenge

8. Street of Dreams

9. Catcher in the Rye

10. Hard Skool

11. Perhaps

12. This I Love

13. If the World

14. I.R.S. 

15. Sorry

16. Oh My God

17. The General

18. Riad N' The Bedouins

19. Scraped 

20. Absurd

Edited February 20 by ZoSoRose

[Voodoochild]

1 - Better
2 - Street of Dreams
3 - Riad N' The Bedouins (that's right, I said it)
4 - There Was A Time
5 - Oh My God
6 - Chinese Democracy
7 - IRS
8 - Hard Skool
9 - Perhaps
10 - Catcher in the Rye
11 - The General
12 - Monsters
13 - If The World
14 - Madagascar
15 - Absurd
16 - Shackler's Revenge
17 - Scraped
18 - Prostitute
19 - Sorry

20 - This I Love

[ZoSoRose]

3 minutes ago, Voodoochild said:

1 - Better
2 - Street of Dreams
3 - Riad N' The Bedouins (that's right, I said it)
4 - There Was A Time
5 - Oh My God
6 - Chinese Democracy
7 - IRS
8 - Hard Skool
9 - Perhaps
10 - Catcher in the Rye
11 - The General
12 - Monsters
13 - If The World
14 - Madagascar
15 - Absurd
16 - Shackler's Revenge
17 - Scraped
18 - Prostitute
19 - Sorry

20 - This I Love

Riad is super underrated. If you can get past the weird lyrics, it has some awesome guitar and vocal work. 

[Voodoochild]

Just now, ZoSoRose said:

Riad is super underrated. If you can get past the weird lyrics, it has some awesome guitar and vocal work. 

Indeed. It didn't help either that the album version came with that long intro (and IMO unnecessary) and with very subpar mix that took off all of the nice heavy and textured sound of the demo.

[evilfacelessturtle]

5 hours ago, Voodoochild said:

Indeed. It didn't help either that the album version came with that long intro (and IMO unnecessary) and with very subpar mix that took off all of the nice heavy and textured sound of the demo.

Watching HOB 2001, it was probably cool to hear live. That's a song that really needs the punch of volume to appreciate.

[SoulMonster]

Impossible exercise but here's an attempt:

01. There Was A Time
02. Better
03. Madagascar
04. Shackler's Revenge
05. Chinese Democracy (but it has to be the version with more bass from the Locker)
06. Monsters
07. The General
08. Catcher In The Rye
09. Hard Skool
10. Perhaps
11. Sorry
12. I.R.S.
13. Oh My God
14. Prostitute
15. Street of Dreams
16. Absurd
17. Scraped
18. Riad N' The Bedouins
19. This I Love
20. If The World

[D..]

1. Soul Monster

2. There Was A Time

3. The General

4. Street Of Dreams

5. Madagascar

6. Hard School (the original demo, the "final" mix with Slash is a failure)

7. Catcher In The Rye

8. I.R.S.

9. Prostitute

10. Better

11. Chinese Democracy

12. This I Love

13. Sorry

 

I feel this should've been the tracklist for the 2008 album. I really love those 13 songs, the order could change a bit depending of my mood.

I can't really rate the other songs, I almost never listen to Perhaps, Riad, Scraped, Shackler, If The World, Absurd or OMG.

[Amir]

1. TWAT: Perfection. The nuGNR masterpiece.

2. Madagascar: Axl's voice on this is what made me a GNR/Axl fan, so impressed by his versatility. Was surprised people hated his vocals on the album version.

3. Sorry: This along with Maddy were the first two ChiDem songs I really got into. Love the lyrics as well ("it's harder to live with the truth about you than to live with the lies about me").

4. Prostitute: Epic drumming from Brain and those Bucket solos in the outro are great, love the lyrics, too (when I can make them out).

5. TIL: I know hardcore GNR fans hate it but I'm certain this could've been a crossover hit if it had been released as a single à la November Rain.

6. Chinese Democracy: I love the extended intro and Bucket solo on the album version, but the punchy bass and numetal sound of the 2000 mix is cool, too.

7. Better

8. IRS: Love this, happy I got to hear it twice in London 2010, some great guitar work and Axl's screams are epic.

9. Eye On You: some guitars in the outro could bump this up a spot or two, love the groove.

10. ABSURD: Would never expect that THIS would be the song that Slash improved the most, but he 100% did in my eyes.

11. Perhaps (2000 Village mix)

12. Shackler's: I love that "no one is a-stopping you" refrain

13. Catcher: Evader made a mix for me where the intro is less busy, makes it a lot easier to listen to, and I love Bumble's solo.

14. Oh My God: The disco beat is funky, Navarro solo is out there, a fun rocker, pissed off though that the copy I paid for off iTunes has been removed. Wasn't a fan of the changes to the later leak.

15. Atlas (New Brain drums): Man, that intro is epic.

16. Hard Skool (with Freese drums + Slash guitar - school bell)

17. Scraped: I dig this, wish I got to hear it live, Axl really goes for it, really captures his bipolar nature.

18. ITW: Used to listen to this a lot more,  I dig the funky '70s "Black Bond" vibe.

19. State of Grace: Axl at his most NIN'y, obviously dig the screaming, wish he would enunciate a bit more, hopefully this was a scratch take

20. Riad: 2000 Village mix is fun with the bass and no extended intro, the one song where I unreservedly prefer the 2000 mix to the album version.

21. The General: Indivdual elements are cool, it just doesn't come together as a whole. I'm sure if I'd have heard 15 second leaks à la Hard Skool I'd have been dying to hear it only to be disappointed with the full song.

22. SOD: I actually prefer the album version as it has the added outro vocals, but no version of this song really does anything for me.

23. Monsters: the chorus does not work for me at all, I do like the infamous screaming bridge, though. Really want to hear the Finck/Bucket version of this.

Edited February 21 by Amir
Forgot "OMG"

[Illusion1987]

It is very interesting how many people have some songs listed in their top 3 as "great" whereas others have those same songs listed in their bottom 3 as "unlistenable".

The CD GNR era has to be among one of the most polarizing.