“Of all the marketing/distribution ideas [for Chinese Democracy I received in response to my missive, I’ll only reveal one, that upon the album’s release, Axl Rose should commit suicide.” More »
The New York Daily News’ gossip column would like to remind you that Kurt Cobain, now 14 years passed, didn’t like Axl Rose. While this information isn’t really all that new, the lede to the piece sets new standards of… something: “Fans of Kurt Cobain continue to mourn the Nirvana rocker. More »
Is Chinese Democracy going to be a Best Buy exclusive? And is Interscope/Geffen/A&M really banking on that long-delayed album and Dr. Dre’s Detox and a new collection from Eminem saving its fourth-quarter bottom line this year? The end of the world may be coming even sooner than 2012, methinks. More »
ARTIST: Guns N’ Roses
TITLE: “Shackler’s Revenge”
WEB DEBUT: Aug. 14, 2008
One omission from the possibly half-faked Rock Band 2 track list that we published last week: Guns N’ Roses’ “Shackler’s Revenge,” which appeared on another leaked track list and which has the same title as a “lost” film that had some sort of contribution by former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Buckethead. The New York Times is reporting that “Shackler’s” will indeed be on the game come September, and that; more details on the track, via message-board postings pulled together by a GN’R fan blog, after the jump.
The attention the media gives to Guns N’ Roses and My Bloody Valentine may give young bands the idea that it’d actually be good for their legacy to record regularly for six years, then hold off for at least another 15 so that fan excitement can build and their myth can blossom. (Hey, if Sting and Joe Strummer had waited that long to record follow-ups to Synchronicity and Combat Rock, maybe people would have cared more about Brand New Day and Rock Art And The X-Ray Style!) So I looked at what would have happened to some of rock’s most legendary figures if they, too, had waited 15 years to release new albums once their first six years of putting out records were done–and found that extended absences rarely make later projects look much better.
“Hey, Axl! Wake up, man! Been 14 years, 15 years you’ve been sleeping… get your hair braided, man. Let’s do this!” More »
Last week’s leak of nine songs purporting to be from Guns N’ Roses’ eternally delayed Chinese Democracy had a whole mess of repercussions, but perhaps none of them were as unnerving for the proprietor of leak source Antiquiet.com as the visitors his office had yesterday–who happened to be from the FBI. (They even looked like Mulder and Scully! Talk about verisimilitude!) “It was kind of an ambush,” Antiquiet proprietor and ex-Universal Music Group employee Skwerl told Rolling Stone. “When I came back from lunch they were waiting in the lobby for me.” The three chatted for 15 minutes, then made plans to regroup back at Skwel’s place at 7 the next morning.
Is Sebastian Bach the only person who can say he’s bros with Axl, or is he just the only one who goes to the press to describe how tight the two of them are? Rolling Stone called up the reclusive rock star’s former competitor and current compatriot in hopes of getting some juicy quotes about the recently leaked Chinese Democracy tracks. As Bach’s Angel Down, despite some guests shrieks from Axl, has failed to make the youth go wild, Bach didn’t hesitate to share some admittedly hilarious anecdotes, as well as cast doubt on any hopes that Axl would allow his life to be spotlight alongside those of Scott Baio and Flavor Flav on Celebreality. (“Sebastian, you don’t understand. I will pay VH1 $2 million to leave me the fuck alone!”)
In what may be the biggest sign of blogging hubris I’ve seen in a long time, the guys who run Antiquiet are claiming to have nine tracks from Guns N’ Roses’ eternally delayed Chinese Democracy, and they’re so sure of the songs’ legitimacy that they’ve decided to stream the whole shebang. (10 p.m. ET update: The songs are all gone, and most of the post–except the part where they say “if you ask me, Guns N’ Roses are fucking back, and they’ll be just fine”–has been struck out.) Six of the tracks are newer versions of songs that first surfaced back in 2007 (including “Better,” “Madagascar,” and the title track); they’re accompanied by three untitled tracks (including one that is, according to a friend, actually called “Rihad and the Bedouins”) that definitely have Axl on vocals, and also sound of a piece with the album’s other alleged material. While I puzzle over just how close to being really finished these tracks are, I implore you to check them out (while you still can, anyway), if only so you can come back and take part in our exciting “Is this really it for real this time, or is the Internet just being strung along again?” poll!
