the evolution of the song "chinese democracy" is very interesting to me. what started as axl's tribute to "smells like teen spirit" eventually morphed into new gnr's take on "welcome to the jungle."

in the beginning, the song was simply a mimicry of the loud/quiet structure that kurt made famous. once the album came out, it was tinkered with to the point of having a delayed guitar intro that built up into a huge scream... where have we heard that before? i'm not sure if this transformation was conscious, but i knew it was the song's fate when the band started opening up with the song.

while i do think it jams, i don't think the final version captures the same magic the 01/early 02 versions had. it could have been a strong album cut -- to me, it functions more as new gnr's "it's so easy" than jungle. i think it would have had a much better fate as a mid-album rocker on the 2000 intentions album, but whatever.

the re-recording of appetite by the new band is one of the most fascinating things to be about the mental journey axl embarked on to release chinese democracy. i wonder to what extent it went? did each subsequent addition to the band have to go in and re-record parts? was bucket involved with this, or was it a one and done by the freese/finck/stinson version of the band?

i'd actually really like to hear those versions of jungle, nightrain, paradise city and rocket queen. not sure how good it would sound, but it'd definitely be an interesting listen.

axl really did have a strangely strong affinity towards dj

from the outside looking in, it seemed like his delusions towards erasing the old band and replacing them with the new guys had reached critical mass

the n64 is one of the top 3 systems in history. the greatest multiplayer console to ever exist. goldeneye, perfect dark, mario party, mario kart, diddy kong racing, wwf no mercy, wcw/nwo revenge, star fox -- the list goes on.

the only thing i can fault the n64 for is the complete lack of rpgs. & quest 64 doesn't count.

the gamecube was a better system, overall. i'd actually put the gamecube as the greatest console of all time, but i'm a biased nintendo fanboy who didn't own a non-nintendo system until the ps3, so what do i know?

i'd put the ps3 up there as well. better than the n64, but not as good as the gamecube.

the band really should have released something during that period. axl and slash's vengeance towards each other should have been channeled into the rawest, most aggressive guns album of all time. instead, axl sat around with his thumb up his ass fucking around w/ pro tools, while slash was being a diva about who his rhythm guitar player was going to be.

how hasn't any of the stuff they worked on made its way into circulation? there's demos and leaks from every era of gnr, except this one.