If you play the CD backwards on your PC it installs Duke Nukem Forever

October 22, 2008 3:07 PM

Guns and Roses to finally release Chinese Democracy after all these years.
posted by Artw (130 comments total)

I thought for sure this was a Rickroll.
posted by billysumday at 3:12 PM on October 22, 2008

I know! It's like when TF2 was released!
posted by Artw at 3:13 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Now 3D Realms can use this for the soundtrack to Duke Nukem Forever.
posted by borkencode at 3:13 PM on October 22, 2008 [6 favorites]

This appears to be the first song released off the album. meh.
posted by stavrogin at 3:15 PM on October 22, 2008

...and after commenting I see the post title...
posted by borkencode at 3:16 PM on October 22, 2008

The Duke Nukem Forever List proves that despite Chinese Democracy's delays, it has it beat. I mean, take this for example;

Things that have taken less time than Duke Nukem Forever's Development:

The United States' entire program to put a man on the moon, from Kennedy's challenge to the landing.

Ouch!
posted by Effigy2000 at 3:19 PM on October 22, 2008

Chinese Democracy is one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history,

No, it isn't. Everyone has forgotten about it.

and Best Buy is thrilled to deliver this explosive

Like diarrhea?

and previously elusive release to Guns N’ Roses fans

Fans? Really?
posted by chuckdarwin at 3:20 PM on October 22, 2008 [7 favorites]

in other news, a moss-covered stone attempted to roll.
posted by shmegegge at 3:21 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Shackler's Revenge (better quality)

Really not very good.
posted by snuffleupagus at 3:23 PM on October 22, 2008

Wired will have to put something new in their vapourware list this year. Oh, there's Spore in there too.
posted by Artw at 3:24 PM on October 22, 2008

Guns and who?
posted by Sailormom at 3:25 PM on October 22, 2008

I don't believe it. And I won't until I see someone trying to offload the disc on Craigslist.

Or Freecycle.
posted by droplet at 3:26 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

> Guns n’ Roses released a statement today officially confirming the arrival of Chinese Democracy on November 23rd.

In 1997, somebody, somewhere, told Axl Rose, "You know, America's gonna vote a black man into the White House before you finish that damned album."

So he used it as a work schedule.
posted by ardgedee at 3:26 PM on October 22, 2008 [27 favorites]

Ah, brings up memories of my first taste of GNR. I got an Appetite for Destruction tape from my dad--what was he thinking?--when I was seven years old ('87 or '88). My little sister and I listened to it while jumping on the bed and spazzing out.

I say this as a lifetime fan who has, with rare exception, loved their entire body of work: that new song stinks to high heaven.
posted by resurrexit at 3:28 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Dr Pepper Sweetens Pot For 'Chinese Democracy'

March 26, 2008 , 11:30 AM ET
Many have tried, but so far nobody has been able to pry the decade-in-the-works Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy" from the hands of lone remaining original member Axl Rose.

Now, Dr Pepper thinks it's up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to "everyone in America" (excluding ex-GNR members Slash and Buckethead) if "Chinese Democracy" arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008.

Seven months later: How to get your free Dr Pepper
posted by smackfu at 3:30 PM on October 22, 2008 [11 favorites]

So the delay in releasing the album was caused by what? 10 years of Axl Rose multi-tracking his voice to get the right mix of rasp and suck to coalesce into a wispy mixture of fail?

I know YouTube isn't the best medium to judge audio quality, but the leaked songs are balls; typical modern alt-rock production, expectedly clichéd lyrics, and deplorable vocals.
posted by Dark Messiah at 3:31 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Somewhere out there, there's a GNR fan who went into a coma in 1991 and is just waking up now....
posted by The Card Cheat at 3:32 PM on October 22, 2008 [4 favorites]

Chinese Democracy is one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history

Actually, I think it is. I've been thinking about this for a couple of hours, and so far I've only come up with two albums that can touch it when it comes to worldwide and long time anticipation through history. First and foremost, we have "Smile", which probably snags the top spot. Then we have My Bloody Valentine's follow up to "Loveless", which sure is anticipated in some quarters, but not by everyone. Then... what? "Chinese Democracy" is a beast of mythical proportions. Judging by the single with the same name, it's a crap beast.
posted by soundofsuburbia at 3:33 PM on October 22, 2008

Who, besides a tiny coterie of die-hard mulleted Camaro-drivers, could possibly care anymore? Guns n' Roses were never really that good. They only worked in their time because everyone agreed hair metal was passe, but they were still hair metal enough (while discarding most of the 80s metal cliches in their image so that they appeared fresh, even though they really weren't) to appeal to the mulletroid set who didn't want to listen to "that faggot alternative crap" or "Retards Attempting Poetry HUGHALAHUAHAUAGLAGUGH" (since, of course, those were the only possible choices). Most of those people have long since died in meth lab explosions or whatever, and they're now far outside the target demographic for pop music anyway. They were widely considered old and dorky among people my age, who had been fans of them just a few years earlier, by like 1995, and I think they even still existed in their original form at that time. Besides the schadenfruede generated by the interminable recording process of this album, there's no interest outside of small group of people.
posted by DecemberBoy at 3:37 PM on October 22, 2008 [10 favorites]

I didn't really want a Replacements reunion anyhow.
posted by padraigin at 3:39 PM on October 22, 2008

God, I loved G&R back in the day... that link to that shacklers revenge is just dreadful. Shame really.
posted by twistedonion at 3:39 PM on October 22, 2008

Oh thank god. Has anyone informed Hu Jintao?
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 3:43 PM on October 22, 2008 [4 favorites]

The really unexpected news is that the band will release their next album on November 30th.
posted by tapeguy at 3:44 PM on October 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

Metafilter: Oh, won't you please take me home.
posted by Dumsnill at 3:45 PM on October 22, 2008

I'd like to point out that Dr Pepper stock is down 2.7 percent today.
posted by infinitewindow at 3:51 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Guns n' Roses were never really that good.

You are wrong. And appear to still be holding grudges from your grunge youth days.
posted by smackfu at 3:51 PM on October 22, 2008 [5 favorites]

Funny thing is, if this is marketed properly it will sell ridiculous copies
posted by sonic meat machine at 3:59 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Funny thing is, if this is marketed properly it will sell ridiculous copies

Every copy sold will be ridiculous, regardless of the marketing.
posted by camcgee at 4:02 PM on October 22, 2008 [15 favorites]

I find myself dizzy with underwhelment. I think I need to go lie down and browse the Xanadu hypertext system while my ASIMO helper robot fetches me a delicious bottle of Pepsi Blue.
posted by CheshireCat at 4:02 PM on October 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

holding grudges from your grunge youth days

Hey, I was totally grunge (almost too young to appreciate metal) but G&R were fucking amazing. Grunge was a logical progression but good is good and bad taste is just that. Anyone who thinks Guns and Roses were never really that good needs their heads looking at. But please, don't blame it on Grunge. Just poor music appreciation skills (or "your favourite band sucks" syndrome)
posted by twistedonion at 4:05 PM on October 22, 2008

Wait, is it April 1st already?
posted by lekvar at 4:06 PM on October 22, 2008

When I saw this post I was like, "Sweet! And I get a free Dr Pepper!"
What a great internet.
posted by etc. at 4:09 PM on October 22, 2008

Then we have My Bloody Valentine's follow up to "Loveless"

I really hope this never happens.
posted by twistedonion at 4:09 PM on October 22, 2008

You know what will be funny? When Chinese Democracy comes out, it will be panned universally. Except at Rolling Stone, where it will get 4 stars and be called "A sturdy return to form and well eotrh the wait" or some bullshit like that.
posted by Kronoss at 4:15 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

"Guns n' Roses were never really that good."

Oh, bullshit, you wank-addled revisionist. Appetite still holds up better than Nevermind, and they were easily the most important hard rock band of the '80s—you don't get to be that unless you are both famous and pretty damn good.
posted by klangklangston at 4:15 PM on October 22, 2008 [10 favorites]

Also, I'm glad this is coming out, because I like Dr Pepper.
posted by klangklangston at 4:15 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Guns n' Roses were never really that good.

It's not our fault, or the band's, that you got beat up a lot by someone who drove a Camaro.

Of course, the last time I was excited about the possibility of this album was probably 1999. Then that single from End of Days came out, and I stopped hanging on to my sliver of hope.
posted by Roman Graves at 4:16 PM on October 22, 2008

You are wrong. And appear to still be holding grudges from your grunge youth days.

Seconded. GNR saved loud, aggressive pop/rock music from Warrant and Mr. Big and White Lion. To someone who loved both Kill Em All era Metallica, Reign in Blood era Slayer, Stormtroopers of Death, Ramones, etc AS WELL AS U2, The Smiths, Bowie, Talking Heads, it was invigorating to turn on the radio and hear someone mainlining noise pop instead of having to turn the radio off in frustration after hearing fucking Extreme over and over.

This is gonna turn into your fave band sucks, anyway, but what the hell
posted by spicynuts at 4:17 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Who, besides a tiny coterie of die-hard mulleted Camaro-drivers, could possibly care anymore?

Wow! Bitter much? Back to Pitchfork with thee! I for one can't wait for CD to get to Demonoid Best Buy! I'm sure I'll download buy a copy on release day and seed it for share it with all my friends! The songs I've heard (I.R.S. & Madagascar) were decent. Not worth getting excited about but not too bad.
posted by MikeMc at 4:17 PM on October 22, 2008

I listened to the streaming single...I thought I detected Buckethead. Everything goes better with Buckethead.
posted by MikeMc at 4:21 PM on October 22, 2008

Dr Pepper thinks it's up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to "everyone in America" (excluding ex-GNR members Slash and Buckethead) if "Chinese Democracy" arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008.

I enjoyed Axl's response to this: He's going to share his free Dr. Pepper with Slash and Buckethead.

As for this song: Seemed like it had potential, starting off. Then, uh, not for me. Oh well.
posted by Flunkie at 4:22 PM on October 22, 2008

Appetite came out when I was 16, and I loved it and them. Then, the overt racism on G'n'R Lies and my appetite for them went away forever.

Also, if an album takes more than a decade to put out, it needs to cure cancer or some shit.
posted by SaintCynr at 4:24 PM on October 22, 2008

hear someone mainlining noise pop instead of having to turn the radio off in frustration after hearing fucking Extreme over and over.

Bastard, now I'm going to go to bed with "more than words" running through my head. Thanks a lot.
posted by twistedonion at 4:24 PM on October 22, 2008

Y'know...I searched all over the web, and I'll be damned if I can find any mention of hell freezing over...
posted by Thorzdad at 4:25 PM on October 22, 2008

shit sandwich.
posted by the_very_hungry_caterpillar at 4:27 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

meh

wake me up if/when Detox finally comes out....
posted by bbuda at 4:29 PM on October 22, 2008

Y'know...I searched all over the web, and I'll be damned if I can find any mention of hell freezing over...

Wrong search. Try "pigs+flying"
posted by MikeMc at 4:29 PM on October 22, 2008

Chinese Democracy is one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history

Yeah, but only so people can make fun of it.

And calling it a GNR album is just silly. It's like calling Roger Waters solo work "Pink Floyd".
posted by rodgerd at 4:29 PM on October 22, 2008

The last time that I cared about G&R was before my son was born; he's in college now.
posted by octothorpe at 4:32 PM on October 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

The last time that I cared about G&R was before my son was born; he's in college now.

You know, that has scared me more than any new release of a G&R album or Extreme lyrics running through my head. And I don't even have a son, never mind one in college. What's scary is I could have!
posted by twistedonion at 4:38 PM on October 22, 2008

Shit sandwich and a free Dr Pepper! Score!
posted by steef at 4:41 PM on October 22, 2008

Also, if an album takes more than a decade to put out, it needs to cure cancer or some shit.

Judging from the over-the-top comments in the Rolling Stone link, some people are convinced it will.

"CHINESE DEMOCRACY STARTS NOW!"

woot?
posted by oncogenesis at 4:47 PM on October 22, 2008

According to the internet, this CD isn't actually released yet, per-se.

I would have posted something about "wake me up when [that mythical next RZA CD] drops," but I can't for the life of me remember what it was anymore.
posted by paisley henosis at 4:48 PM on October 22, 2008

...Everything goes better with Buckethead.

Even MMA.
posted by Pecinpah at 4:48 PM on October 22, 2008

As a child of the 80s, I can attest that Appetite for Destruction was a landmark album in rock music. It was the rare quality album amongst the lame 80s Big Hair/Glam Rock subgenre until grunge kicked that scene to the curb in the 90s. I wore out my first cassette and had to buy a second one. There was no downloading of things in those days!

By the mid-90s, though, G&R had most certainly jumped the shark. I have no interest whatsoever in this album. This must be what getting old is like--I don't even get excited about new Radiohead albums these days, and they're the best band in the world.
posted by zardoz at 4:51 PM on October 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

...Everything goes better with Buckethead.

Even MMA.

Well, there's my WTF??!!! Moment of the Day.
posted by MikeMc at 4:53 PM on October 22, 2008

Hm, who played that guitar solo in Shackler's Revenge? It isn't what I think of when I think Guns n Roses, but it is pretty - I believe the kids these days call it - sick.
posted by Wolfdog at 4:56 PM on October 22, 2008

Shackler's Revenge..ass. Free Dr. Pepper, awesome. I hope my Dr. Pepper is effective enough to stop the slow internal bleeding that song caused me when I first heard it last night.

My SO was wondering why there was no GnR on Rock Band 2. I told her "oh but there is" and played the song for her. She gave me an icy stare that made me wish I were being stabbed in the eye with a pencil. I think she wanted a good Guns 'n Roses song.
posted by wierdo at 4:57 PM on October 22, 2008

And I'm just now noticing the awesomeness that is the thread title.
posted by wierdo at 4:58 PM on October 22, 2008

I have been fooled by this so many times I will not believe it until that CD rests in my own hands.
posted by caddis at 5:09 PM on October 22, 2008

'Cause I got somethin'
I been buildin' up inside
For so fuckin' long
posted by mandal at 5:12 PM on October 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

Appetite for Destruction was the best album I'd ever heard when I was fifteen. "One in a Million" kinda took me out of GnR fandom; I more or less believed Axl when he said the song's narrator was a character and not himself, but it still skeeved me out. When -- what seemed like an incredibly long time later, which is kinda funny, considering -- they put out a double-album full of nine-minute piano ballads and shit, I realized Axl was just insane, and also now self-indulgent and boring. I'm pretty sure I never bought those. I did like their cover of "Since I Can't Have You," though.

Around 2000, several tracks that purported to be from Chinese Democracy showed up on teh Napsters, and were either real or very convincing fakes, to judge from the vocals. The only one I remember was called "Strip Club." It...sounded like something that would play in a strip club. It was...okay.

Clicking on this song feels like a lot of effort, but I'll probably get to it eventually.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 5:17 PM on October 22, 2008

During the entirety of the morning, smog filtered sunlight illuminated the street as I rode my motorcycle up to the massive iron gates of my old friend's estate. I had forgotten how long a drive it was and cursed myself for not filling up the tank when I had the chance. Were it not for the price of gas, I would have stopped long before. Indeed, if I'd received my friend's call when I was expecting it - over ten years earlier - I would have surely filled up my tank without concern.

There on the gate, his family's famous sigil. A pair of pistols, pointing in at each other, representing his grandfather's life as an outlaw, on a field of red roses, representing the House of Lancaster, from whom they claimed descent. A famous story in Hollywood was that in the 1930's, an unfortunate location scout had disputed the family's lineage and found himself on the wrong end of the grandfather's pistols.

I had once asked my friend, "if you're descended from the Lancasters, why didn't you choose that name?"

"To throw off the damn Yorkists," he replied, "soon they will lower their guard and then we'll get them."

He was always vague about where these Yorkists might be, but apparently, they were everywhere. In his darkest moments, he sometimes even accused his former bandmates as being "Yorkist scum of the foulest kine, especially Buckethead."

The speaker at the gate greeted me before I pressed the buzzer.

"Welcome... to the jungle," it said in an electronic voice that sounded not unlike a Speak and Spell as the mighty iron frame swung open, temporarily parting the two pistols.

Little speakers all along the driveway blared out "Garden of Eden" as I drove the quarter mile from the gate to the mansion. Security guards clad in light chain mail, armed with long swords and sweating in the balmy California sun nodded miserably at me as I passed. Even from a distance, I could see my old friend standing in the door, a telltale trail of cigarette smoke rising above him.

Axl was weathered, to be sure, and no amount of plastic surgery could mask his pain. You could see it in his eyes - a hunger that could not be satiated because it did not know what it wanted. Fame? Money? Love? Drugs? No matter what he shoveled into the gaping maw of his ache it was never satisfied, not even for an instant.

"Do you have it," I asked as I stepped off my hog, not wanting to stay here one moment more than I had to.

"Say nothing," he said, he hissed, and then, indicating his medieval army of rent-a-cops, "they don't know. Traitors. Traitors."

He motioned me inside and my heart filled with dread. I had sworn never to set foot into his mansion again, but I promised the A&R Department that I would return with, well, something this time. Axl had promised me I would.

The great hall had changed a great deal since last I set foot inside. The curtain, black and red, were all pulled shut. The furniture, what little there was, was in such ill repair that I couldn't imagine why he hadn't just thrown it all out. There were a series of large portraits along the wall of various current band members on the wall leading up the great staircase - interspersed with empty frames where ex-band members portraits had once been. You could still see scraps of painted canvas hanging down from the frames like skin from recent wounds.

"Axl, please..."

"Please, my friend, I beg you! Say nothing! They are listening."

"For God's sake Axl, we're alone."

"We're never alone."

In the middle of the floor was a bottle of half drunk wine, which Axl picked up. He drank deeply and broke into a long, wailing sob, not unlike his famous vocals from "Sweet Child of Mine."

"Are we friend," he asked me, "tell me, am I your friend?"

"I..."

We had been friends, this is true, but I hadn't been a part of his life for so long... I admit, there was a time when I would have gladly done anything for him. Taken a bullet, shared my wife, engage in depraved, even wicked acts. That was another lifetime ago. Looking at him now, a shrunken version of himself with a face that looked younger than it ever had when he was actually young, I was overcome with pity.

"Of course we're friends, Axl. That's why they sent me."

He fell into my arms, his body wracked with the most painful, anguished cries I'd ever heard. Three times he tried to start a sentence through his wails and three times he gave into despair before he could form the words. When he regained his composure, he waved me off and went to the portrait of Tommy Stinson. Behind it was a priest hole. Axl climbed in and closed the portrait behind him.

Silence.

Not quite silence. Somewhere, from behind the Stinson portrait I surmised, I heard scratching, like a dog pawing to get in the house, but wetter. I was filled with so much dread that I found myself backing towards the exit, though I tried to will my feet to stand their ground.

And it was then I realized what was bothering me - where was the rest of the band? Hadn't Axl sequestered them all here until the album was in the stores? Shouldn't the Dizzy and Bumblefoot and Frank Ferrer have come to greet me, too?

Axl emerged from behind a painting of Robin Finck.

"Here it is," he said, handing me a cardboard box of master tapes.

He looked at me expectantly.

"Well?"

"Well what, Axl?"

"How do you like it? Tell me, honestly."

"The tapes?"

"Yes, how do they sound."

"I haven't listened to them yet, Axl."

"Yes, yes, but how do they sound. Listen. Listen to them."

His eyes were wide, even for somebody with a facelift. Nervously, I help one of the tapes up to my ear. I heard nothing.

"Wow, that sounds great, Axl."

"Listen more closely."

"Axl, where is the rest of the band."

"LISTEN TO MY TAPE!"

I listened, but heard nothing. No, not nothing. I heard the scratching sound, but it was more desperate. More horrible.

"Axl, the band! Where is the band!"

I heard a crash. Axl seemed to fold in on himself.

"Where do we go? Where do we go now? Where do we go?" he started repeating to himself over and over again.

Steps, somewhere, faint at first, but coming closer. My heart started to race. I was tremblind - no, the whole house was trembling, the very earth itself was trembling.

"Holy shit, Axl, its an Earthquake."

"No," he cried grabbing the bottle of wine and moving towards a ruined laz-e-boy chair, "no, it is judgement. It is judgement. I buried them. I locked them all in the crypt!"

And then the doors on the opposite wall burst open and they were all there. Slash, Buckethead, Tommy, everyone who had ever been a member of the band, even Izzy and Duff, their fingers bloody, a petrifying look on their faces - not of vengeance but of divine fury."

"Stay," Axl said to me, "we've got fun and games."

But I was already out the door, the box of master tapes in tow. I tried to drown out the sound of screaming by gunning my motor to no avail. As I drove away, the ground started shaking with increased fury and I saw the mansion collapsing in on itself in my rear view mirror.

I rode until I ran out of gas, then walked the rest of the way back to Geffen.

I put the box on my boss' desk.

"This," he said, "had better be good."
posted by Joey Michaels at 5:25 PM on October 22, 2008 [46 favorites]

but it is pretty - I believe the kids these days call it - sick.

It's hard to say seeing as Rose has re-recorded and re-mixed the tracks so many times. I can hear Bits O' Bucket but you could be hearing Buckethead and god knows how many session players all in the same song.
posted by MikeMc at 5:25 PM on October 22, 2008

To someone who loved both Kill Em All era Metallica, Reign in Blood era Slayer, Stormtroopers of Death, Ramones, etc AS WELL AS U2, The Smiths, Bowie, Talking Heads, it was invigorating to turn on the radio and hear someone mainlining noise pop instead of having to turn the radio off in frustration after hearing fucking Extreme over and over.

. . . and then came "November Rain".

Check mate.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 5:29 PM on October 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

. . . and then came "November Rain".

Check mate.

Oh...
Snap!
posted by MikeMc at 5:41 PM on October 22, 2008

You know what will be funny? When Chinese Democracy comes out, it will be panned universally. Except at Rolling Stone, where it will get 4 stars and be called "A sturdy return to form and well eotrh the wait" or some bullshit like that.

Or Pitchfork will give it a 9.5 just to be assholes.
posted by jokeefe at 5:47 PM on October 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

Yawn...
posted by govtdrone at 5:49 PM on October 22, 2008

I can't favorite Joey Michaels' comment hard enough.
I dunno--the new song sounds pretty good to me. Doubt I'll go out of my way to pick up the new album though. (But I will cash in on the free Dr. Pepper!)
posted by The Ardship of Cambry at 5:50 PM on October 22, 2008

Without Slash, it's the Axl Rose Experience. I was in my senior year of college when Appetite came out, and my friends and I went absolutely apeshit over it. That was a long time ago. I still love "Mr. Brownstone" and I even have a soft spot for "November Rain." But only because of Slash's solo.
posted by computech_apolloniajames at 5:54 PM on October 22, 2008

Guns and whoozitz, now?
posted by not_on_display at 6:10 PM on October 22, 2008

My first concert at the age of 14 was Guns and Roses. I am not ashamed to admit that at all. I was rockin Appetite while doing the dishes just the other day. I used to have all the tapes, but, personally, I dont really care about this album too much, but for everyones sake, it would be very cool if it actually rocked after all this time. Hopefully it will kick the new Metallica bullshit off the airwaves, to boot.
posted by captainsohler at 6:12 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Um. What?

My mom was an actual to factual roadie for Guns n' Roses and X. I think, um, hope, she'll be happy about this.

She also once drove Devo around L.A for 3 hours looking for a gig. She doesn't like thier music but still gets Christmas cards from Marks Mothersbaugh.
posted by The Whelk at 6:26 PM on October 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

And it was really weird to be rocking out to "Johnny Hit and Run Pauline" at 13 and having her pop her head in and say "is that John? He was always so nice! I've got some live tapes under the bed!"
posted by The Whelk at 6:31 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

I was a big G&R fan back in the day, but the leaked stuff I've heard sounds pretty weak. News flash to Axl: the band was more than just you. Slash, Duff, Izzy and the rest were part of what made those record great. With them you were a psycho who made great records, without them, you're just another yo-yo who thinks he's a rock star.
posted by jonmc at 6:32 PM on October 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

Slash especially. I see interviews with him now and he's this articulate charming guy who bears no resemblance to the sodden wreck of those days. Give him a call, Axl.
posted by jonmc at 6:34 PM on October 22, 2008

Near the end of 2004, Paul asked Tommy, Chris, and Slim to play some old songs together at a benefit for Karl Mueller of Soul Asylum (he had been diagnosed with cancer earlier in the year).

Tommy said he "was too busy with Guns".

Say what you will about reunions, but I still hate Axl.
posted by Biff!Bang!Pow! at 6:37 PM on October 22, 2008

Biff!Bang!Pow!: really? I liked G&R, but I like the 'Mats more, so that sucks.
posted by jonmc at 6:41 PM on October 22, 2008

One of my top concert going memories was seeing a side project of Tim Casher's at Spaceland, in LA, somewhere around 2000-2002. As ALWAYS happens at concerts, when the performer asks for requests, somebody - surely possessed by the weight of all the funny guy concert goers that came before him - somebody must yell "STAIRWAY!"

Tim Casher, being cool, ignored the yeller. Or made fun of him. It doesn't matter. What does matter is that Casher broke into the sweetest cover of "Sweet Chile O' Mine" that has ever been played, doing both Axl's vocals AND Slash's solo.

This only merits mentioning because the crowds reaction exactly mimicked this thread. Many in the crowd were clawing at themselves in delight. Many reacted with disgust. The rest were unbelievably perplexed. Do I rock out? Do I continue to feign scenester indifference? Do I leave? I'M SO CONFUSED.

My point? Without G'n'R, I don't have this memory. Bless Axl and his awful plastic surgery. Amen.
posted by NoRelationToLea at 6:57 PM on October 22, 2008

I'll believe it when - oh, who cares? It hasn't been GNR since it was only Axl Rose left anyway.
posted by crossoverman at 6:58 PM on October 22, 2008

What does matter is that Casher broke into the sweetest cover of "Sweet Chile O' Mine" that has ever been played, doing both Axl's vocals AND Slash's solo.

Was it an ironic cover?
posted by MikeMc at 7:06 PM on October 22, 2008

There Was a Time and IRS were vastly better. Great lyrical narratives, soulfully sung, not overproduced: brash and harsh and hard but still pop. It was like listening to Nirvana's "You Know You're Right" - so much more powerful than whatever else was on the radio at the time. I don't even like GnR that much, but I'll take them over Disturbed and Linkin Park in a half heartbeat. The new singles seemed like a watershed moment, where they embraced the next level - like U2's Achtung Baby.

Axle could have dropped them onto the top of the charts when they were leaked, and push the album to Ludicrously Huge, even if the rest of it sucked. Hearing the title track, it seems the rest of it sucks. He screwed with the formula too much, and killed interest in the album when he squashed the renegade singles. Now, three of my favorite songs are illegal.*

*Apotheosis' O Fortuna hasn't aged all that well, but it's still good for a kick of nostalgia when techno was techno, and electronica was what they played on "Hearts of Space." Also illegal, thanks to Orf's rather humorless estate.
posted by Slap*Happy at 7:11 PM on October 22, 2008

And I care why?
posted by cjorgensen at 7:40 PM on October 22, 2008

It's obvious that G&R has been irrelevant for quite some time. Although it makes the decline that much more unfortunate (but inevitable) , it's worth remembering that for a while they carried the torch for rock and roll (yes that's as cheesy as it sounds).

. . . for a brief time they were one of the last bands that could play huge stadiums without backing tracks, midi or lipsyncing. Just a bunch of fucked up guys plugged into amps playing to tens of thousands of people.

Something to be said for that.

I think it was Elvis Costello who was once asked if he liked Guns and Roses and he said something like "They're a cartoon and I like them for all the same reasons I like cartoons".

Who wouldn't want to see a cartoon in person? This video shows why people slammed Slash for being an uneven guitar player and Axl for being way too full of himself, but there's a purity in being ridiculous and over the top that remains appealing to me 20 years later . . .

Paradise City 1988
posted by jeremias at 7:52 PM on October 22, 2008

Yeah... Shackler's Revenge is just unfortunate, and if that's the best foot forward for the album. Well, there's going to be a lot of disappointed people, but even MORE people willing to mock the hell out of Chinese Democracy.
posted by Talanvor at 7:52 PM on October 22, 2008

I still get my free Dr pepper
posted by SatansCabanaboy at 7:54 PM on October 22, 2008

Slash From Guns n Roses (mp3)
posted by euphorb at 7:58 PM on October 22, 2008

I still get my free Dr pepper

ITt's probably a tie-in. Every American gets a free Dr. Pepper with coupon inserted into the Chinese Democracy CD jewel case - not valid in MN,WY and RI.
posted by MikeMc at 8:02 PM on October 22, 2008

Oh the links are great (GREAT!) and the feedback from the fans who...well, where alive during, are great!

But in the deepest black pit of my five black hearts, I wanted a derail to talk about my Mom's odd rock history. Cause, yah, gal was around. Cause gal's got stories, and she's currently in the Pine Barrens doing dancing and not talking to me and..and.. and..drumming and I feel alone.
posted by The Whelk at 8:14 PM on October 22, 2008

Well, instead of just sounding like Katherine Hepburn on the downside of a speed binge, he kinda looks like her now, too, so there's that.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 8:24 PM on October 22, 2008 [3 favorites]

They were a pretty good hard rock band back in the day, but I always thought Axl was sort of silly, and his egotronic personality became sort of a problem after a while. I liked some of their riffs, they were pretty tight, and the songwriting was a lot better than most of their contemporaries, but I never found their tendency to be petulant, refuse to play gigs and incite riots to be very rebellious nor endearing. I always felt like they were the guys I liked to party with for a few hours, but they get on the nerves pretty quick. And I also agree that, without Slash, it's sort of pointless. But I found the charges of racism and homophobia to be overblown, although the lyrics in question lack the sophistication required to get the point across a bit better.

Album releases these days almost seem anachronistic. Perhaps this is the perfect milestone to the end of the music industry as we know it. That, and Metallica's latest. Feels like fail.
posted by krinklyfig at 8:28 PM on October 22, 2008

joey,

save that shit for your blog, bro.
posted by tremspeed at 8:30 PM on October 22, 2008

Who wouldn't want to see a cartoon in person?

Depends. There's Warner Bros., but there's also Hannah Barbera ...
posted by krinklyfig at 8:33 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Whoah, jeremias. I just watched Paradise City and Welcome to the Jungle and it seems to me to be an actual demonstration of five anthropomorphic hardons thrusting away on stage. If that makes sense.

Oh, and I mean that in a good, what I got you got to get it put it in you, strutting young man kind of way. For which these days I feel more sentimental affection than anything else.
posted by jokeefe at 8:33 PM on October 22, 2008

it was invigorating to turn on the radio and hear someone mainlining noise pop

did you seriously just say that about G n R?

Chinese Democracy is one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history,

everyone talking about/mocking how it will never come out doesn't mean they want it.

previously elusive release to Guns N’ Roses fans

how can something unavailable be termed 'elusive'? furthermore, 'early mixes' have been P2Ped for what, like 5 years now? it had the same 'sell by 1997' pseudo-industrial sound to it then, too.
posted by tremspeed at 8:39 PM on October 22, 2008

The thought of my beloved Tommy Stinson playing in GnR makes me wistful for the days of Bash & Pop.
posted by bardic at 8:51 PM on October 22, 2008

There was definitely some good rock to be had, almost twenty years ago. Then November Rain came out. I have friends who truly love that song, and I find it colors my opinions of their taste in more than just music. It's everything, everything, wrong with rock music. Why does a band like GnR need a choir? A full orchestra? A grand piano? They're supposed to be a rock band. You know, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, guitar solo, chorus, done. All of the bullshit bloat, the obnoxious video, I can't see how a fan of, say, Welcome to the Jungle could actually like that crap.

And no, I was never beaten up by anyone driving a Camaro. Not even a bitchin' one.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:51 PM on October 22, 2008

GnR had their day, but unless Axl offs himself on a drug induced bender, then C.D. will be little more than a fart in the wind.
posted by arse_hat at 9:07 PM on October 22, 2008

This goes to support my theory is that the only band that consistently puts out awesome albums with many years between them is Tool.
posted by Mr_Zero at 9:16 PM on October 22, 2008

There was definitely some good rock to be had, almost twenty years ago. Then November Rain came out.

That solo was awful long, but it had a good refrain.
posted by Divine_Wino at 10:23 PM on October 22, 2008 [1 favorite]

Yeah, snark all you want, but I think this is going to be the most significant musical event since the premiere of R. Kelly's Trapped In The Closet, and for a lot of the same reasons.

The ridiculous amount of post-production that has gone into this album may be the only thing that has really doomed it. When I listened to that Youtubed track, I thought "man, if this had come out when Korn was huge, (i.e. probably around the time when basic track recording on Chinese Democracy was mostly done, sometime in the early '00s) it would probably have gotten a generally decent reception."

Instead, we have the picture of someone over-post-producing something for years on end and disappearing up their own behind, a sadly common sight (see: all the bands previously mentioned in this thread). By the time all the navel-gazing is over, the moment in which the album could have mattered is past.

I'm definitely gonna download it anyway, partly because Axl is a formidable rock craftsman and there will probably be several well-constructed (if ultimately sucky) songs, but mostly because, c'mon, it's Chinese Democracy, it's one of the Four Horseman of the Apocolypse.

mmm dr pepper
posted by arcanecrowbar at 11:35 PM on October 22, 2008

Chinese Democracy is one of the most highly anticipated albums in music history

Indeed, with only 62 shopping days left until Christmas, people all over the world now know what to get for their creepy unmarried brothers and uncles who are still living at Gram-gram's this year.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 11:45 PM on October 22, 2008 [2 favorites]

(Note: for the following comment, I will be reacting to December Boy as if he were nothing other than his comments in this thread, and a few in other threads, as oppsoed to a fully-developed human being. Please read accordingly)

Goddamit, DecemberBoy... Why you even gotta do a thing?

I'm proud to have been the dude who announced the Dr. Pepper deal here six months or so ago, and you had to go shitting in that thread as well with your poorly informed diatribes about not only what is worth listening to, but who listens to what? Camaros? Hair Metal? Meth Lab Explosions? Most importantly, the idea that people had, or even thought they had "only two choices" in what they were listening to?

Fuck you, abstraction of DecemberBoy for the purposes of this comment. Fuck you right in the ear.

What the fuck do you know about Guns N' Roses fans aside from the too-simple categorization you've decided upon by looking back on musical trends from before you were paying attention to music? In my precious post, you compared GNR to Led Zeppelin as "boring old ridiculous crap for boring old people." So, based on my experience with not only people my own age but those significantly younger than me, my answer would be that you know fuck-all about people's musical tastes. Led Zeppelin continues to thrill people because they've never been boring, except to those who would shut their minds and ears to anything which came before they were thirteen years old.

Shit.

I myself remember what it was like to be 13. Oh, what a glorious time (for music and nothing else at all.) Even though everything else sucked in life, I was at the age when suddenly everything in Rock came together and met the intellectual and emotional resonances I was feeling at that time. I was born in 1980. This meant that when I was 13 I loved Pearl Jam, the Gin Blossoms, Green Day, The Offspring, and Smashing Pumpkins (oh lord how I loved Smashing Pumpkins.) I also loved Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, and Dave Matthews Band (three groups who were not yet in the national spotlight, but whom my brothers indoctrinated me with.) I (unfortunately) loved Candlebox, The Nixons, and Stone Temple Pilots, though I regret nothing now.

A few years later, I loved Tori Amos and Sarah McLachlan, while finding time for Crystal Method and the Lo-Fidelity Allstars. My tastes changed, matured, if you know about the concept, with age. They continue to do so, and long ago I gave up, as most people do once they find an actual identity for themselves, the idea that people should be labled and grouped because they listen to this or that. Asshole.

But now your comment has me wondering whether I can continue down such a pluralistic path. Throughout all of my musical history, I've always adored not only Appetite for Destruction, but both volumes of Use Your Illusion as well. Hell, I even like The Spaghetti Incident. Do I need to trade in my acura for a camaro? DO I need to open a meth lab? Do I need to grow a mullet? You fuck.

Is it okay that my CD changer includes Zeppelin, Cake, Radiohead, Jane's Addiction, and Weezer at the same time? Is it cool with you, Your Highness, if I mostly listen to channel 52 on my XM, which plays a lot of new Stars and New Pornographers, but occassionally switch it to 53, which plays non-stop AC/DC? May different mods call for different tunes, or would that offend your lordship of whiny dictatorial nonsense about what's cool and what's not?

Fuck you, ficticious account of DecemberBoy. And fuck the horse you rode in on.

(and now ends the rant on this strawman I've created for DecemberBoy, who I'm sure usually has great taste, is fun to hang out with, and won't take personal offense to such a silly and meaningless pseudo-callout such as this.)
posted by Navelgazer at 12:08 AM on October 23, 2008 [13 favorites]

Okay. I saw there was a hundred-something posts, and I thought, "Wow. What's going on in here." But as it turns out, they were the fastest hundred-plus posts I have read on Mefi ever. This is not regular Mefi then. It's much more like a copy of some (cancelled) fan rock mag. Whateva.

There is a thing that is starving to death called The Music Industry. Believe it or not, up until recently, it was powerful. Now all it has is broken dreams to cash out. THAT'S what Chinese Democracy is about. That's what the Van Halen Tour is about. That's what the Led Zepplin show are about. Those are all about feeding that once-formidable beast some form of sustenance when its food supply has dried up. It's like the dinosaur section in that old cartoon Fantasia. It's not pretty. It's why there is Velvet Revolver.

I'm not in the this-all-sucks-and-it-grieves-me camp. It's just not open to conjecture. All these type albums do. That they may not is not the point. They do, and that's fine. What the point here is is that they produce a modicum of interest and SELL! This may be weird but it's true.

That being the case, any discussion on specific examples of this—ie relevance of Chinese Democracy—are exercises in rhetoric. Every likelihood is that Chinese Democracy is without merit in terms of music, song, sound, and culture...but completely valid in terms of marketing!

Failing to see that is to miss the point.

It's the death knell of the music industry, that's all. "Free" cans of Dr. Pepper Blue, my friends?

Ho ho! Jokes on who?
posted by humannaire at 1:10 AM on October 23, 2008

Why can I only favourite NavelGazer once?
posted by rodgerd at 2:07 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

The Youtubed track -- it's lifted from RockBand, yes? The production on that will be nothing like the production on the real album.
posted by not_on_display at 5:05 AM on October 23, 2008

I can't believe someone thinks they actually put me in my place by using a chess refererence in a rock n roll thread. This is illustrative of everything that is wrong with 'alt/indie' rock right now and what was wrong with rock in 1986/87. A bunch of candy ass chess playin degree having wankers who would rather sip a latte while reading Foucault that wake up in a puddle of their own piss with a new case of syphillis and nothing but an empty pack of camels to their name. Appetite for destruction was the latter. Everything that followed was the former. Let's remember that in 1987 your choices on the radio were: hotel california twice an hour, paula abdul every ten minutes, or Europe on MTV (the band, not the region). Then someone put out an album with a picture of a chick ravaged by a robot on the cover. Compare an contrast. I would like another App For Dest now please instead of another ironically hirsute hipster band. This stupid new GnR album ain't it but it doesn't tarnish the memory of how good it felt to be 18 with the windows rolled down speeding arou d with Rocket Queen blasting into the summer dusk
posted by spicynuts at 6:47 AM on October 23, 2008

I drive a Camaro. I don't have a mullet. I'm gonna buy the album. Fuck you.
posted by C17H19NO3 at 6:54 AM on October 23, 2008

I can't believe people are using the G&R/indie dichotomy. Not all of us who found Appetite for Destruction to be marginally better hair metal but still not mindblowing were sitting around listening to 10,000 Maniacs or Information Society. Not all of us who thought the band went from promising to pompous in a matter of moments were slapped around by Camaro-driving grits. Some of us weren't listening to the radio at all. Some of us were listening to bands that showed hundreds of times more innovation than G&R's screechy, one-tone, derivative dreck. I'm very happy that you were able to have something to listen to on the radio while you washed dishes at the local Friendly's, but do keep in mind that not everyone who thought and thinks G&R weren't anything special belonged to some precious, V-neck sweater crowd.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 6:59 AM on October 23, 2008

Hey Navelgazer! You forgot to tell tremspeed to eat a bleepitybleep!

Nothin' I like less in a music discussion then "OMG I'm too fuckin cool for this music". Get over yourselves!
posted by cavalier at 7:45 AM on October 23, 2008

spicynuts: "...A bunch of candy ass chess playin degree having wankers who would rather sip a latte while reading Foucault than wake up in a puddle of their own piss with a new case of syphillis and nothing but an empty pack of camels to their name..."

You can have it all! Drunken chess while pissfucking a syphilitic hobag, an audiobook of foucault in the background, and take'er out for Starbucks afterward. My idea of a grand evening, if I do say so myself.

"This stupid new GnR album ain't it but it doesn't tarnish the memory of how good it felt to be 18 with the windows rolled down speeding around with Rocket Queen blasting into the summer dusk"

Appetite was awesome for 5 days, and then all my friends got sick of it, even more so when it picked up serious steam (it had been out for a little while before anyone noticed). It was a fun 5 days, yes (I had a Camaro, too, in '88), but I don't ever have to hear one note of it again, I've heard it so many times already. It was just as pop as Paula Abdul.

Whereas I've listened to Reign in Blood and other musics many more times over, and over the years, and there's something new every time. I never, ever, have to hear the intro to Sweet Child of Mine in order to remember that.

Have to admit, though, that doing Axl Rose impressions is fun, even today.
posted by not_on_display at 8:01 AM on October 23, 2008

No offense to the GnR apologists here, but this isn't the GnR you remember and love. This is an Axl Rose solo album (one that's taken 13 years to complete). It's like getting defensive and nostalgic about Slash's Snakepit or some "supergroup" like Velvet Revolver. The only difference here is that he's held on to the original name.
posted by camcgee at 8:27 AM on October 23, 2008

In other news, Harlan Ellison releases The Last Dangerous Visions--for free, on the web.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:30 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

No offense to the GnR apologists here, but this isn't the GnR you remember and love.

The issue is with the people (or person?) saying "GnR were never good".
posted by smackfu at 8:31 AM on October 23, 2008

Metafilter: Fuck you, abstraction of [user] for the purposes of this comment. Fuck you right in the ear.
posted by chimaera at 8:33 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

In other news, Harlan Ellison releases The Last Dangerous Visions--for free, on the web.

I was sure this link was going to be a rickroll.
posted by camcgee at 8:38 AM on October 23, 2008

I... uh... ended up with a copy of Chinese Democracy the other day, and I was not terribly impressed. I wanted to like it, I really did, but whatever magic they had previously, didn't seem as manifest this time round.

I'm sure that it will find a market, but the music that they are now making, and what I want to listen to have clearly walked down different paths over the last decade.
posted by quin at 8:51 AM on October 23, 2008

Is it really leaked, or is it just "here's a compendium of the leaked songs over the years"?
posted by smackfu at 8:54 AM on October 23, 2008

Appetite was awesome for 5 days, and then all my friends got sick of it, even more so when it picked up serious steam (it had been out for a little while before anyone noticed). It was a fun 5 days, yes (I had a Camaro, too, in '88), but I don't ever have to hear one note of it again, I've heard it so many times already. It was just as pop as Paula Abdul.

Whereas I've listened to Reign in Blood and other musics many more times over, and over the years, and there's something new every time.

Wait, you think Slayer is good? ;)
(your favorite band sucks, so does everybody else's. These threads always bring out the best in everybody)
posted by caddis at 9:00 AM on October 23, 2008

"Slash especially. I see interviews with him now and he's this articulate charming guy who bears no resemblance to the sodden wreck of those days. Give him a call, Axl."

Y'know, I met him at an interview here in the office, and he was just amazingly gracious and relaxed and cool. And then he asked if I wanted my picture taken with him, and when I said yes, he just hit this casual pose that made it seem like he and I were really hanging out and he was just my cool buddy Slash. I realize that it's a fiction, but as someone who's met a lot of musicians, it was one of the most compelling fictions I've ever come across. He's the antithesis of what I imagine Axl to be like (which is also likely fiction, but also compelling).
posted by klangklangston at 10:31 AM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

"Whereas I've listened to Reign in Blood and other musics many more times over, and over the years, and there's something new every time."

Really? While I can understand that album as a revelation of style, the production on it just bugs the hell out of me. Maybe that's because I've only ever owned it on tape and mp3.
posted by klangklangston at 10:33 AM on October 23, 2008

klangklangston: ... the production on it just bugs the hell out of me. Maybe that's because I've only ever owned it on tape and mp3.

It's no ...And Justice for All, though, which actually hurts my ears in spite of me kinda liking the songs. Get Reign in Blood from the library, and play it in a Camaro with the subwoofers kickin'. And then smoke a lot of whatever you have lying around, hit play, and put the car into gear. Slayer will do all the rest of the driving.

caddis: Wait, you think Slayer is good? ;)
(your favorite band sucks, so does everybody else's. These threads always bring out the best in everybody)

Everyone who has a favorite band sucks! And Slayer Cannibal Corpse will eat all of the washed-up jetsam (Axl) littering this thread.
posted by not_on_display at 10:57 AM on October 23, 2008

I liked Izzy Stradlin & The Juju Hounds.

That's it.
posted by Dr-Baa at 10:59 AM on October 23, 2008

If you need "medicinal enhancers" to enjoy music, you're doing it wrong. At least, that's how it seems to me. Because those great musical memories will also be associated with the drugs. Why can't music be great without being in another state of mind?

My sister told me she understood why I liked electronic music after going to a rave on something. She thought I did drugs while listening to my music - I don't and I still love it. I've been asked if I have E or acid while dancing at various fests. Really, is everyone that uptight, or is it just like getting a better soundsystem for your music?

To stay on topic: I liked GnR in the day, but was way more into Smashing Pumpkins. And the leaks of the new album I heard a few months ago weren't like the old days. Maybe there'll be a Naked Chinese Democracy, like the Beatles' Let It Be ... Naked, some years down the line when someone with access to earlier tapes tries to undo the over-production of the final album. That, or fan-made remixes could bring something new. Ya never know.
posted by filthy light thief at 11:44 AM on October 23, 2008

My husband first saw G&R when they opened for Crue way back in the stone age. Everyone was asking what was up with Axel's dance. So the entire stadium booed them and threw bottles at them.

Ah yes, the good ol days.
posted by dasheekeejones at 12:12 PM on October 23, 2008

filthy light thief writes "Why can't music be great without being in another state of mind?"

Great music can be appreciated in many states of mind.
posted by krinklyfig at 1:32 PM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Reign in Blood is a great album. Utilitarian, too.

A while back some friends of mine started a band. They spent a whole year crafting songs and rehearsing a seven-song set. They put a great deal of effort into the perfection of their compositions - so much so, that they thought of booking as secondary. Because of this, their first gig was in the basement level of a local bar - people could come into the bar to drink, the sound of the band very clearly audible upstairs, and the patrons only had to pay if they went downstairs to see the band. Naturally everyone was upstairs drinking, enjoying the free music, while my friends played in an empty concrete room. Disappointed with this result, I went to the jukebox to look for something that might compel this mixed crowd to move downstairs. Lo and behold, Slayer's Reign in Blood was there. I fed ten dollars into the machine and set it to play every song on the album several times. Within the first few bars of "Angel of Death", a few people were leaving the bar, and most were paying money to get away from Slayer and get downstairs.

So apart from being just timeless kick ass, Reign in Blood can have many other functions. Some people genuinely like this band, and aren't trying to be ironic, like those Dragonforce fans.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 1:48 PM on October 23, 2008 [1 favorite]

Brian Wilson thinks they didn't wait long enough.
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 5:31 PM on October 23, 2008

When I have this Buckethead solo down, I will play it on my PRS and post it to MeFi Music.
posted by ikkyu2 at 11:33 PM on October 23, 2008

"Slash especially. I see interviews with him now and he's this articulate charming guy who bears no resemblance to the sodden wreck of those days. Give him a call, Axl."

I just finished his autobiography (Slash's, not Axl) a few weeks ago. Very interesting stuff, and, yes, he had his problems, but overall he is a very interesting person. I definitely recommend the book.
posted by inigo2 at 12:42 PM on October 28, 2008