yea but you're an idiot. 3 of 9 unfinished, unmastered tracks compared to 17 mastered finished and released tracks out of 40, is not bad odds considering  many peoples refusal to outgrow their nostalgic wombs coupled with the negative stigma the album is faced with.

@ james

dude that is fine, move on(meant as in move on from afd) was taken out of context but i don't really care, a lot of people here are nice, but the microcosm of this site, coupled with its inactivity at times makes for a potent combination of unrealistic and out of touch views that contemporary society don't share. i am even disgusted with myself for having to type in such a serious manner ON THE INTERNET.

try and refrain from telling me what i can and cannot grasp, i 'grasp' what you're saying, you think there's no tracks of SCOM caliber in the leaks or on the album, cool i disagree, basically what it comes down to is you're disappointed with the album, you've obviously been waiting for it longer than i have, if i had waited that long i might have been disappointed too, however i haven't, and that is why i think my perspective is shared by a greater amount of the general public. basically in the sense that they haven't been waiting for 15 years, haven't listened to the leaks, and haven;t invested as much as you have in the album, and haven't built it up to unattainable levels.

i really don't think GNR ever sat down and said ok, we need to write something specifically for radio, i think they just wrote what they felt, axl had been working on November rain since he was a teenager i hardly think that he wrote it thinking "ok this is going to be a good song but i need to commercialise it for radio". fact remains, GNR were different there is no denying that, but they weren't drastically inventive, just unique, they appealed to the mainstream and obviously at the point they were before the UYI were released ANYTHING they wrote would be pounced upon by the mainstream audience.

i also think its unfair to say he was aiming for the 90's mainstream, you don't know what he was aiming for, i also don't see any distinctive undeniable copies of 90's sound, nothing generically grunge or numetal in the leaks, sure like all GNR albums it has ELEMENTS of varying influences but its distinctively unique.

whatever, i don't understand why everything is so analysed and magnified to the point where its just not enjoyable here, or on most GNR forums, you are so caught up in the chinese democracy saga that you're living it james, the website is proof of this, but remember its the internet, the album is coming out, relax, once you have it in your hands you can analyse every single note to the point where you can't possibly enjoy it.

but i digress, when i need to vent my GNR opinions i'll post elsewhere, somewhere where people aren't as wrapped in the saga and there is more than the same 10 people to talk to.

but thanks for the people who gave me guitar advice and that, that was really nice.

anyway..PEACE BABY'S

i see what you're saying brett, but put simply a vast majority of casual fans or the teenage demographic don't care what is being sung about, at least not from my experience( i am a teenager, in before omg how can u possibly know anything about GNR you weren't there!) basically if something sounds cool, they like it, or they communicate with it on a very primal level, that is that if there is prevalent anger in the song and they identify with it.

for me AFD is not the soundtrack of my life and that is where i think the difference lies, i admire the songs, and love nearly all of them. but for me, the chinese democracy leaks have had a far greater impact. sure, there is the element of respecting loving the GNR name and axl so much that i can no longer have a subjective opinion, but i can honestly say no song has had me shouting at the top of my lungs like chinese democracy, just the "even with your iron fist" is so anthemic and so awesome that i love it more than SCOM or WTTJ. and that is what i feel some of the older members of the boards(s)are overlooking, the a good percentage of GNR's demographic was kids, adolescent to people in the 20's, and they have to appeal to a new generation, and that is what the leaks do.

WTTJ was not an instant hit when first released, how can you be so deluded as to the think GNR should be catering to what is on contemporary radio "oh this doesnt sound anything like hinder, it couldnt possibly be a hit, we need a more nickelback sounding song, something that everyone will like". GNR never catered to the mainstream, and they never will, the mainstream came to them, and if the new songs appeal to the general public(not what appeals to you) then once again the mainstream will be forced to stand up and take notice. if they recreated WTTJ it wouldn't be a hit, simple.  the public will judge these tracks, if they have the same appeal, that same universally unique sound whilst still remaining within the mainstream threshold then the songs, whatever they choose as singles, will become hits.

looking for another SCOM, PC, or WTTJ is just stupid, if we took ourselves back to 1986 and WTTJ leaked, in an unfinished format you'd all be saying "wow i doubt  that will appeal to the mainstream radio listeners of today, its nothing like def leopard".

the point is WTTJ, SCOM etc. have the benefit of legacy, nothing will have that immediate effect unless given time, nothing is an instant classic so stop looking for one.

i am tired of reading "oh this album has no chance, wheres a paradise city like song? wheres the next SCOM"

no it isnt