The Roundtable
Chinese Democracy is out soon. How excited are you for it?
Wes Soltis – I think the most amazing thing about this all is that Axl has kept the name Chinese Democracy for such a long time. He went back and forth on just about everything he could on this album, but never lost sight of the name.
GNR, surprisingly to everyone, is in my top five bands of all time. Their (former) career played out like a movie, with each member being a stereotypical member in a group that is the biggest in the world. “Paradise City” flooded my childhood, and Axl’s t-shirt of “Nobody knows I’m a lesbian” from the concert in Paris (which I had on VHS) still makes me laugh. I would say I’m flooded with cautious optimism for Chinese Democracy – the couple of tracks I’ve heard aren’t very good – but they were better than I was expecting (albeit a little too Trent Reznorish for me). And even if this album goes down as one of the biggest blunders in music history – it still won’t take away from the fact that GNR was the biggest band on the planet for a few years.
Who am I kidding? I’m going to love it.
Mark Steffen - My excitement for Chinese Democracy is like being a 12 year-old who just got handed GoldenEye again. Seriously. It's just you and some of your best friends, having a big sleepover, joystick'd controllers in-hand, shoving enough Doritos down your throats to kill a rhinoceros. All night long you pound through the same old levels, eventually turning auto-aim off, figuring out how to grab the golden gun, and demanding that no one can be Oddjob 'cause he's short and it's cheating. All night long, sounds of rapid-firing RCP-90s howl while you master your adeptness with a shotgun/sniper rifle combo. Sooner or later, mom yells down that it's time for bed and you all realize it's 3 a.m. The wail of gunfire and impossibility that such a game exists and that, you, of all people, own the game system to play it causes a howl of Axl Rose and downright cacophony of electricity to pour into your dreams. Yeah. I'm that pumped.
But it will most likely just suck.
Amy Dittmeier - I’m not going to lie, I own every Guns N’ Roses album they ever put out. I think they’re an entertaining band with some great songs, with the exception of “Sweet Child of Mine,” - because frankly that song annoys the piss out of me. But it’s been well over the average amount of time for them to put out a decent album. They’re not epic like the Rolling Stones or Led Zeppelin or any band like that. If any of those bands put out something, it’s guaranteed to go platinum. Guns N’ Roses is past the mark. They don’t have the staying power or the quaint quarrels like Oasis does. If Chinese Democracy came out five years ago, this would be a different story. But I’ve heard the demo versions and to tell you the truth, they’re not phenomenal. Definitely nothing that 10+ years between albums would get me all riled up about. Sorry boys.
Cory Roop - I'm not excited at all for this album. The band just isn't the same without Slash on lead guitar. Not to mention the ridiculous face-lift that makes Axl look like he's constantly in one of those G-force test seats that NASA and the Air Force use. I'm firm in the belief that Guns N' Roses' best music is long behind them, and that Chinese Democracy will be a huge disappointment. Yes, it's pretty awesome that Sebastian Bach provided backing vocals on a few tracks...but come on, so did Shaq. Everyone knows that anything Shaq touches, with the exception of a basketball, is a massive failure. I'll be staying far away from Chinese Democracy, unless it turns out to be a huge success...in which case I'll completely change my stance and claim that I was optimistic all along.
Joe Roth - Remember back in 1992 when GNR was the shit? Axl was bad, Slash was drunk, Duff had horrific junkie acne, Izzy was missing, Matt Sorum was new and Dizzy was well, Dizzy. They were a band to obsess over, look up to, and wish you were friends with, but also feared. I had t-shirts, a really bitchin' metallic GNR baseball cap and a pair of those tight white shorts Axl would wear on stage. Yeah, at the age of 12 I was a big fan with a big bulge just like Axl's, and I wanted to show it!
After all these years I still have a special place in heart for the rock n' roll pomposity that was GNR. My sister and I even managed to see the new incarnation a few years back. The reckless danger had been replaced with mechanized nostalgia, but we still had a fine time fist pumping with the other metal lunkheads. Sixteen years in the making, the boy who cried wolf (Axl) is ready to show the world what a 14 million dollar album sounds like.
My expectations are pretty low. Any pop song that is labored over for more than a day should probably never become a song. As much as you would like to Axl, you will never be Elton John, Jeff Lynne, or Freddie Mercury. You are Axl Rose. So I say start fresh and throw Chinese Democracy in the crapper. Sit down somewhere in your palatial Southern California estate, write and record ten songs on a weekend and release it the following Tuesday. It's the only way you're gonna bring your true fans to their cha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na knees.
Posted by Wes Soltis on Oct 27, 2008 @ 7:00 am
