See how you reviewed this John? This album is very quickly turning into Soundgarden's Chinese Democracy, as has been mentioned before.

Certain songs people rave about, others hate or can't get into, other songs people hate, others love, and it seems everyone has a different favorite song on the album.

I re-listened to King Animal today, in full boasting stereo fucking CRANKED in the house (nobody was home for a change), after listened to my newly purchased copy of Telephantasm. It was Soundgarden day. Or is it Black Saturday? Hehe, either way it was alot of fun. Felt like old times.

It's amazing for how quickly I trashed "Been Away Too Long" when it first dropped, how much the song has grown on me since purchasing the album and listening to it over and over again. I am REALLY starting to like it, and the lyrics resonate with me more and more.

Another one -- By Crooked Steps. I really didn't get this one at all, and it took a few listens, and this afternoon it finally just hit me. Whoa, this is fucking amazing. Like some sort of blockage.

This album is a grower, and it gets better and better. It's a glorious return for Soundgarden, and it's been so good it's caused me to want to go out and re-buy their old albums (all i've got is old cassettes).

I agree with John on Halfway There, total Cornell indulgence. Thank God Kim is on it, or otherwise it'd be a total loss.

I'm sorry, but I prefer my Chris Cornell, long haired, screaming his fucking lungs out, with the shades drawn and ready to climb the walls.

Short-haired Chris Cornell aspiring to be a pop star is a fucking pussy that Louder Than Love-era Cornell would be ashamed of. I don't know what Vedder's fucking deal was either. So anti-establishment but dying to be a pop star.

Heel Cornell is a fucking metal GOD, babyface Cornell is a jobber, so he can FUCK OFF with Halfway There. Thank you Kim.

Free use is horseshit. But so is Metallica's excuse. They're full of goddamn shit and have been since 1999. I remember that period very well, because I was apart of that generation that first discovered internet downloading.

It's ALWAYS about protecting profit. Everything in life comes down to it.

Metallica lost their argument is the ultimate end game. To stay in the game with everyone else, and not look like total dickheads.

If you would've told 15-year old me in 1999 that Metallica would eventually, willingly, do this... i'd of called you crazy. We at the time were arguing this was the way of the future, and that they needed to get on board or they'd be left behind. Instead they did what you expect from the business -- Sued. It turned them instant heel in the business. Nobody wanted to back them, because they felt it was financial suicide, and fans hated their guts, especially Lars. I do think it's ironic in hind sight, no new Metallica output happened during that period, and the band internally was falling to pieces.

Ultimately those of us, like myself, that saw all of this as a business model, and a smart one at that, knew Metallica had to get their fucking head and ass wired together on this. They didn't, until now, or at least in the past few years.

In the end... we've been vindicated.

That's pretty much it. Axl's not going to even work that way. He wasn't even working that way with the old band back in like 1990. It pissed Slash off pretty bad, because with AFD they all did it together, but by UYI, Axl wanted all of them to record as a band, then he'd come in and go "yes or no" and make changes. That was in 1990. If it hasn't changed since then, I doubt it will.

The band themselves are just going to have to make an album, or at least work one up and see what happens. Then go, "we've got something here" and take it to Axl. I don't know if Axl's waiting on that or not, but more than likely if Axl has any Axl piano songs (like DJ has alluded to), they have been recorded in demo format for years and are sitting at Axl's house waiting to be finished.

Axl should be blamed for the vault sitting and collecting dust, but the band should be blamed for the lack of their new material. I personally doubt Ron is much of a writer, and i'm not sure Richard is either. No GN'R drummer has ever been a writer. This is gonna come down to getting DJ, Tommy, Dizzy & Chris into the same room, and maybe Richard and seeing what happens. Then call Ron and say, "solo here", "riffage there", call Frank for the fills, and then see if Axl wants to tweak and what he wants to add.

The biggest thing that will slow this down is how much Axl is LYRICALLY writing. The rest is easy.

Alot of great posts by Furbush. I'm gonna be passing out Karmas.

And as for what John said about "forget radio", that's not the answer.

Yes and no. They still need radio. Look at Soundgarden. They went out and did a song for the casuals "Live To Rise", released it as a single, attached it to The Avengers soundtrack, and shipped it out the door for the masses who wanted more Black Hole Sun and Room A Thousand Years Wide-type songs. Then they turned around and seperated their actual King Animal album from the whole thing.

Brilliant move on their part. The casuals got their hit single to put the band out there, but the diehards got their "true sound" album.

Axl should be taking notes. Especially considering they just got back together after a 15-year break.

Axl could easily record a GN'R-ized "Are You With Me" track, or maybe even something really Whitesnake-cheesy with his vocals, ship it out the door and attach it to the next Michael Bay-flick, and it move like hot cakes on iTunes and stay #1 on rock radio for months, as long it's promoted.

Then turn around and drop Chinese II in stores and it be a fucking NIN/Praxis/Sex Tapes-album with his vocals on it, and it still move.

Look to Cornell, for I didn't believe in him, but he shall lead us.--Axlin

He's right. It doesn't help that everybody are a bunch of pussies. "It's the pussification of America" - Bubba The Love Sponge, lol.

You can't do anything anymore without offending someone. I remember Nick DiPaolo telling a story about how he played this college in upstate New York where a rash of suicides had happened, and he told a joke on the stage to the students about "I had some trouble finding a place to park. I didn't want my car to get hit by a chemistry major", or something like that. People got offended.

But then you have what Dane Cook did earlier this year with the Aurora shooting. Not only was his joke offensive, but it wasn't actually funny, which is really what buries you.

There are NO Rodney Dangerfield's out there, and I doubt there ever will be again.