Chinese Democracy is a legendary G’nR album. Those in the industry can just say “Chinese Democracy”, and that is shorthand for so many, many things. None of them good (especially for Geffen Records). Chinese Democracy has not been released yet; even though Axl and various versions of G’nR have been working on it since 1994. That is, work on Chinese Democracy started during Bill Clinton’s first term. According to the New York Times, Rose has blown $13 million recording Chinese Democracy (as of 2005). Seventeen different “musicians” have worked with Axl on tracks for the record, including Sebastian Bach and Shaquille O’Neil.
ABOVE: Axl Rose (center) hard at work on Chinese Democracy
Fun Chinese Democracy fact: A child born the year that work commenced on Chinese Democracy would now be starting High School.
What’s the hold-up? That story is as confusing as, well, the possible development of democracy in China. First and foremost, Axl Rose is insane. That much is clear. But Axl has blamed, alternatively, bandmembers come and gone, Geffen Records, and several fired managers for the delays. Axl has been on a Chinese Democracy tour, off and on, since 2001. He has been perpetually working these tunes out on the road. (Well, when he chooses to appear for his scheduled shows, which is about 50% of the time). The funny thing is that by many accounts, the tunes are great and sound of vintage G'nR.
Fun Chinese Democracy fact: Axl has worked longer on Chinese Democracy than it took the Beatles to form, tour the world several times over, film four movies, record and release 13 albums, and break up.
BELOW: Will Axl accept Dr. Pepper's challenge to finish Chinese Democracy this year?
VERSUS
Rose has consistently provided release dates since about 2005; all of which have come and gone. But this last week the ultimate challenge was put to Axl. Dr. Pepper has offered a free can of Dr. Pepper to every American-with the exceptions of former G’nR guitarists Slash and Buckethead (not to be confused with current G’nR guitarist Bumblefoot)-if G’nR releases Chinese Democracy in the 2008 calendar year. Axl responded in an open letter to Dr. Pepper, thanking them for their support, and he even offered to share his Dr. Pepper with Buckethead since “some of Buckethead’s performances are on [Chinese Democracy]”.
Demos of varying quality and authenticity have been leaked to radio and the internet over the years (followed by lawsuits). Some of these tracks indeed sound promising. Former Skid Row singer and reality TV star Sebastian Bach, who has contributed backing vocals to some Chinese Democracy tracks, describes the record, in its current state, as “a very cool album – it’s badass with killer screams, killer guitar riffs…the word is ‘grand’. It’s fucking epic.” Well, there you go.
All we can do is wait, hope and pray that Axl and G'n R deliver Chinese Democracy within this calendar year so we may finally savor this “fucking epic” along with our free can of Dr. P.
9 comments:
I love that Dr. Pepper is on Axl to finish the album. Funniest story in a while...
I heard a couple of tracks that were pretty horrid, and I'm not sure how their authenticity could be in question. It was Axl singing, that's for sure.
Anyway, GnR had jumped the shark well before work on C.D. had even started. I'm not holding my breath that there will be anything good on this album, if and when it comes out. I would enjoy a refreshing Dr. Pepper, though.
Very entertaining post.
I second the "entertaining" label. Good stuff, Dez. I recall reading a profile of Axl and his work on CD a few years back--I wish I could recall where. I want to say the NYTimes magazine? Anyway, point is, Axl is insane--but in a really fun way to talk about. (As opposed to the bad people whose insanity is not fun to talk about. Screw them!) If you get time Ray, regale us with some "Axl is insane" stories. They're all pretty good.
I have almost no interest in hearing CD, either. I gave up on GnR a long while ago.
Thank you, gentlemen. As the two best writers that I know personally, I value your input. (NOTE: JMW is MC of "A Special Way of Being Afraid" and Tim is MC over at "A New Career in a New Town", both blogs that I highly recommend and to which I provide links to on the right side of my main page).
Tim, I will investigate further into the Insane Axl stories. But I think that photo that I posted says it all. I love the cigar. Nice touch.
I have to agree with jmw and tim that this was a terrific post - the comparison of the career trajectory of the Beatles to the history of "Chinese Democracy" was particularly inspired.
I like GnR, don't get me wrong, but sometimes I feel like the mythos of the band leads to them being overrated. They have 8-10 absolutely fantastic songs, but with the exception of Appetite, all of their albums were really uneven. I really wish Use your Illusion had been one album instead of tow.
Good point about the mythos and the overrating, saxo. GnR, purely in terms of reputation vs. output, might be the most overrated band of all time. And I like them!
They have one song that's legitimately a classic -- Sweet Child O' Mine -- a few more that are perfectly fine -- Welcome to the Jungle, Patience, Paradise City -- and then a whole bunch of decent-to-mediocre-to-putrid songs.
I know: I never got their fame. To me, they were always a solid, unexceptional band. I know a number of people who hold them up as saviors of Rock in the 90s. I even know people who think they're the best band of all time--well, best American band. I never saw it. I think the semi-mythic personalities of Slash and Axl contributed mightily to their reputation; the songs alone are fairly standard stuff.
Although I do love "Mr. Brownstone." Story of my life, right there.
I actually came to G'nR way late in the game. Of course I heard their tunes when they popular, but I wasn't a fan. In recent years, though, I appreciate them more and more. But you guys are all right, their reputation far exceeds the quality of their actual product. I'll go by albums vs. songs, but 'Appetite For Destruction' is their only truly great album (one of the best hard rock records of all time). Their reputation is really based on that one record. 'G'nR Lies' is minor, half is regurgitated from an EP they had already released, but the other half is a phenomenal four song acoustic set. And 'Use Your Illusion 1' and '2' suffer from the malady of most double albums; if they had trimmed the fat they could have made a killer (actually, classic) single record. Then a record of covers and that is it.
To me, it is about potential. If they had been able to keep it together for about a decade or so, they really could have been said saviors of rock in the 1990's.
Tim- you were asking about more Axl stories. Funny enough, the other day I was looking through some magazines at Borders, and I picked up Classic Rock Magazine, which had a 'Chinese Democracy' cover story. The entire article just traced one year (2001) in the life of Axl and 'CD'. I really wish I had that article when I was writing my post!
But here's one (of many detailed in the article): Evidently Axl fell sway to some Eastern psychic/mystic chick in the mid to late 1990's (the rest of the band derisively called her "Yoda"). According to the article, Axl could not work with anyone in any capacity until they had first been approved by Yoda. He would have to bring Yoda photographs of the person in question, and she would get vibes from the pictures, and then let Axl know if it was OK for him to work with them or not.
The article also discussed something that was also mentioned in a recent G'nR Rolling Stone cover story (celebrating the 20th anniversay of 'Appetite For Destruction'). As many trashy hard rock bands do, G'nR all lived together in a house that was as you would expect. A total tash bin, sex, booze, drugs, etc. But Axl had his own room in the house that was padlocked. Evidently his room was in total contrast to the rest of the house. It was kept obsessively immaculate, like one of the rooms in Kubrick's "2001". Axl let nobody in his santuary and usually hid out in there while the debauchery was occurring throughout the rest of the house.
Not that Axl was a prude or anything. A great story from the Rolling Stone cover article was about the recording of "Rocket Queen" on 'Appetite...' Recall there is female moaning in the middle of the song; that is the real deal. According to the article, Axl was f*cking a stripper in the studio and he commanded the engineer to record it for the song. All the while he was giving instructions to the stripper as to the type of moans he wanted and to the engineer as to the techinical issues of microphone placement to best capture the moans, etc. The kicker: the chick was the drummer's girlfriend at the time. The drummer was evidently not in the studio at the time of recording.
Dez--
Good stuff. Thanks. I think.
Your story confirms for me what I've long suspected: I need my own personal mystic.
ANCIANT
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