What happened to Guns N' Roses?

[darkshadow0001]

Has anyone heard any of the new songs by Guns N Roses in "Chinese Democracy"? I have, and the most I can say is --they are not the same group as we remember. Not saying the ablum is bad, but it is, different. Is Slash even with them anymore? The songs are not even "metal" like they used to be. The song I like best on the album so far are "Just Another Sunday".

 

[JonathonWally]

Has anyone heard any of the new songs by Guns N Roses in "Chinese Democracy"? I have, and the most I can say is --they are not the same group as we remember. Not saying the ablum is bad, but it is, different. Is Slash even with them anymore? The songs are not even "metal" like they used to be. The songs I like best on the album so far are "Just Another Sunday" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

There's no one left from the old band except Axl. It's an all new band but Axl kept the name.

The album sucks.

Go listen to some Velvet Revolver, that was Slash's band for a while, they're pretty good.

 

[Ethros]

So what was Mars like for the past 15 years?

 

[Canadave]

So what was Mars like for the past 15 years?

I thought they could at least pick up news broadcasts on Mars.

 

[QuasarVM]

Has anyone heard any of the new songs by Guns N Roses in "Chinese Democracy"? I have, and the most I can say is --they are not the same group as we remember. Not saying the ablum is bad, but it is, different. Is Slash even with them anymore? The songs are not even "metal" like they used to be. The songs I like best on the album so far are "Just Another Sunday" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

There's no one left from the old band except Axl. It's an all new band but Axl kept the name.

The album sucks.

Go listen to some Velvet Revolver, that was Slash's band for a while, they're pretty good.

Velvet Revolver was sweet! I saw em live...good band!

They broke up and Scott Weiland (the lead singer) went back to reform Stone Temple Pilots.

 

[Captaindemotion]

I like the new album. Is it a classic like Appetite? No. Is it worth the 15 year wait and the millions of dollars spent on it? Certainly not. Do GnR sound the same as they did circa Appetite or Lies? Nope but why would they, over 20 years later? Especially when only Axl remains from the original line up.

It's a good album, with certainly echoes of the Use You Illusions era Guns. The guitar playing, while more technically able than Slash lacks his soul and distinctive sound. Certainly, Revolver have more of the classic GnR sound. But they lack the killer songs, which were clearly (with hindsight) Axl's forte. I had doubts as to whether the current incarnation of Guns would sound like Guns. But while I miss Slash's guitar and while some of the new songs are more like Nine Inch Nails, there is no mistaking that distinctive howl.

Some of the reviews have slated this album for what it's not, rather than what it is. Some even slated it for not being innovative enough - GnR were never a particularly original band, with their Aerosmith-AC/DC-Zep-Stones rock meeting Elton balladry, so this is a particularly stupid criticism. It won't bring democracy to China, it won't singlehandedly change rock and roll, it is not the best album of all time or even of this year. But put aside your preconceptions and it's a good album, which is worth a listen. And after 15 years, I'm happy to get that.

 

[QuasarVM]

I like the new album. Is it a classic like Appetite? No. Is it worth the 15 year wait and the millions of dollars spent on it? Certainly not. Do GnR sound the same as they did circa Appetite or Lies? Nope but why would they, over 20 years later? Especially when only Axl remains from the original line up.

It's a good album, with certainly echoes of the Use You Illusions era Guns. The guitar playing, while more technically able than Slash lacks his soul and distinctive sound. Certainly, Revolver have more of the classic GnR sound. But they lack the killer songs, which were clearly (with hindsight) Axl's forte. I had doubts as to whether the current incarnation of Guns would sound like Guns. But while I miss Slash's guitar and while some of the new songs are more like Nine Inch Nails, there is no mistaking that distinctive howl.

Some of the reviews have slated this album for what it's not, rather than what it is. Some even slated it for not being innovative enough - GnR were never a particularly original band, with their Aerosmith-AC/DC-Zep-Stones rock meeting Elton balladry, so this is a particularly stupid criticism. It won't bring democracy to China, it won't singlehandedly change rock and roll, it is not the best album of all time or even of this year. But put aside your preconceptions and it's a good album, which is worth a listen. And after 15 years, I'm happy to get that.

Man, that's the worst thing about it -- It's not bringing democracy to China!

This album just gets a one star rating because of that!

 

[Barbados Slim]

I'm surprised by the OP's surprise that Chinese Democracy wouldn't live up to his expectations.

 

[Roshi]

There's no Slash...

 

[Pingfah]

Has anyone heard any of the new songs by Guns N Roses in "Chinese Democracy"? I have, and the most I can say is --they are not the same group as we remember. Not saying the ablum is bad, but it is, different. Is Slash even with them anymore? The songs are not even "metal" like they used to be. The songs I like best on the album so far are "Just Another Sunday" and "Somewhere Over The Rainbow."

There's no one left from the old band except Axl. It's an all new band but Axl kept the name.

The album sucks.

Go listen to some Velvet Revolver, that was Slash's band for a while, they're pretty good.

Velvet Revolver was sweet! I saw em live...good band!

They broke up and Scott Weiland (the lead singer) went back to reform Stone Temple Pilots.

Yeah, I've seen both bands a couple of times. Both good in their own right, although STP are just far and away the superior band though, both on record and in concert. I'm glad that Weiland went back to them.

ANyway, I quite like the new GnR album, unsurprisingly it has absolutely tanked though, only 250,000 copies in the first week. That's less than Velvet Revolvers first album believe it or not. Even worse its only gonna sell 60,000 in it's second week and drop to no.17. At this rate it will struggle to go gold, let alone platinum. One can only imagine that Axl Rose simply doesn't give a shit about record sales because he hasn't done a damn thing to promote it.

 

[QuasarVM]

There's no one left from the old band except Axl. It's an all new band but Axl kept the name.

The album sucks.

Go listen to some Velvet Revolver, that was Slash's band for a while, they're pretty good.

Velvet Revolver was sweet! I saw em live...good band!

They broke up and Scott Weiland (the lead singer) went back to reform Stone Temple Pilots.

Yeah, I've seen both bands a couple of times. Both good in their own right, although STP are just far and away the superior band though, both on record and in concert. I'm glad that Weiland went back to them.

ANyway, I quite like the new GnR album, unsurprisingly it has absolutely tanked though, only 250,000 copies in the first week. That's less than Velvet Revolvers first album believe it or not. Even worse its only gonna sell 60,000 in it's second week and drop to no.17. At this rate it will struggle to go gold, let alone platinum. One can only imagine that Axl Rose simply doesn't give a shit about record sales because he hasn't done a damn thing to promote it.

Yeah, I definitely got into VR because of Weiland...and because I'm a huge STP fan...no doubt about it. Having Slash in there was a big plus though.

Like you, I am glad STP reformed and I'm hoping they'll record a new album! I saw them on the last tour and you're right...they kicked total ass! One of the best shows I've seen.

 

[Brikar99]

I saw Velvet Revolver twice, the first time was good but the second time (with Alice in Chains) was awesome. It's too bad that won't happen again.

 

[QuasarVM]

I saw Velvet Revolver twice, the first time was good but the second time (with Alice in Chains) was awesome. It's too bad that won't happen again.

That's the tour I saw them on! Excellent show! I thought both bands were great -- even Alice In Chains with the new lead singer...

 

[T'Baio]

At this rate it will struggle to go gold, let alone platinum. One can only imagine that Axl Rose simply doesn't give a shit about record sales because he hasn't done a damn thing to promote it.

I don't think a lot of bands of Axl's stature really care about record sales nowadays, knowing how much is downloaded. When the album was streamed on myspace, it got over 8 million hits. How many of those people do you think were using something like Audio Hijack to save it?

The real money is in the concert tour, and Gn'R never have a problem selling out wherever they go.

As for the album, I think it's brilliant. Even the songs I didn't like initially have really grown on me and I think the album is fantastic, with maybe the exception of "Sorry," but that's still got a killer riff in the chorus. And I don't understand the constant comparisons to Nine Ince Nails!?! Will someone please point out what songs they think sound like which NIN songs? I'm a huge NIN fan, have all their albums...and I just don't hear it. At all. Is everything heavy just automatically compared to NIN nowadays?

 

[DeafPoet]

I haven't heard "Chinese Democracy" yet and I'm certainly in no hurry to do so the way I was for Metallica's "Death Magnetic" or AC/DC's "Black Ice" earlier this year. Axl, to me, has always been GnR's least redeeming feature and I'm almost afraid to listen to it for fear he's reduced the "band" to a shadow of its former self.

To me, GnR will always be Slash. YMMV.

 

[CaptJimboJones]

I have to say, I thought the album sounded horribly dated. It comes off as a 1996-era Nine Inch Nails ripoff band.

Without Slash or Izzy Stradlin, Rose really has no business calling himself GnR, although I realize he owns the rights to the name. The new CD is basically just an Axl Rose solo album, which explains why it sounds pretty much nothing like Guns n Roses.

 

[T'Baio]

I have to say, I thought the album sounded horribly dated. It comes off as a 1996-era Nine Inch Nails ripoff band.

Again, please, someone explain to me how anything on this album sounds like NIN. You know...'cause it doesn't. The majority of it sounds to me like Use Your Illusion era Guns N' Roses.

The new CD is basically just an Axl Rose solo album...

That's kind of woefully ignorant, seeing as credit is given where credit is due and all the band members are thoroughly noted as well as writing credits. He wrote a mere one song on his own. Some songs, the whole band gets credit. How is that an Axl Rose solo album?

 

[Pingfah]

At this rate it will struggle to go gold, let alone platinum. One can only imagine that Axl Rose simply doesn't give a shit about record sales because he hasn't done a damn thing to promote it.

I don't think a lot of bands of Axl's stature really care about record sales nowadays, knowing how much is downloaded. When the album was streamed on myspace, it got over 8 million hits. How many of those people do you think were using something like Audio Hijack to save it?

The real money is in the concert tour, and Gn'R never have a problem selling out wherever they go.

Yes, I don't doubt that for a second. A major concert tour would probably spark some reasonable sales of the album as well, however, the only peep we seem to have heard out of Axl for months was to admonish Dr Pepper.

However i'm fairly confident that just a few weeks of intensive promotional touring of the radio stations and TV interview circuit by Axl would likely have doubled the album sales, half a million first week sales should not be a stretch at all for a band as big as GnR and the album has been reviewed fairly well considering it took 15 years to make it.

I guess he must just hate doing it.

 

[BenRoethig]

What happened? Egos and drugs.