The longer it took to put out the first post-Illusion Guns record of original music, the better that record had to be. There's just no justifying losing Slash/Duff, spending millions, and waiting years to release something that's just average-to-good. I probably sound stupid for pointing out something that obvious, but when I read this my first thought was 'wow, 2001.... they should've just put whatever out and kept writing. that's so long ago.' Knowing that it took until late 2008 for it to finally come out, it feels that way. But in 2001, it had already been a decade since UYI. Putting out an underwhelming product probably already felt like a completely unacceptable outcome. I don't think Axl believed it was really ready, or he would've put it out. Maybe he felt like he was ready to be a rock star on the international stage again (those aborted tours proved him wrong though) and anxious to have an album to use to get to that, but there's one common theme of stories about ChiDem I've come to believe: the stuff wasn't genius, even Axl knew it.

The shame is that he let the record and anticipation surrounding it fester so long that saying it 'wasn't genius' became a devastating insult.

Last call's 4 AM in Buffalo   And as faldor said, almost no chance GnR gets to play as late as they usually like. Although the reason they're at the Outer harbor is presumably to allow them to play a little later than they would in the older Harbor spot.

I don't think there's any good reason to think Axl will ever put out music again, frankly.

Faith No More could really be split into two bands, and I don't think the moment is Patton's arrival on Real Thing. I think Angel Dust is the dividing point between the pre-Patton FNM and the Patton-driven FNM, and although maybe Real Thing was their most popular release, Faith No More fans tend to gravitate to the later stuff. I certainly have Angel Dust as their best album, and actually think it's one of the best rock albums ever. I'm not anti-Jim at all, and it would've been nice to have him in the reunion, but I don't think he's essential. I can certainly see how he would've only been let in the loop in the late stages of a reunion, and if he made a bunch of demands, I can see why they decided not to risk the head-ache. It's a shame when talented musicians with a history can't get themselves onto the same stage, though. No question about that.

I'm not sure I really have any ability to comment on this, since I'm only 21, and not a parent. I'm not sure about kids being "pussies", but I do think the helicopter parent thing is a problem, and the 'stranger danger' hysteria too. I see parents waiting at the bus stop with their children almost always now, whereas that happened once a year when I was going just a decade ago. Did child abductions by strangers suddenly skyrocket in the last 10 years? I don't think so. It seems most of the scares surrounding children have been fabricated, exaggerated, or the work of family members - at least, when I was a child, everybody was worried about daycares molesting kids and Halloween candy being poisoned by strangers. Those were both bullshit. I don't think it's healthy to primarily view new things in life as scary and threatening, and parents and children alike are buying into a lot of nonsense when it comes to external dangers. Then again, children don't think quite like adults, and fear can be a powerfully helpful tool. If/when I have a family, I'll want my kids to be afraid of cars or the stove, for example. You don't want them running after a ball into the street and getting hit. So I'm hesitant to tell parents where they should set the line on that stuff, even if I think the overprotection has gone way too far.

I'm actually probably in favor of almost all the playground safety and self-esteem supporting that gets laughed at a lot. Bullying sure seems like a serious problem (although colleges and universities trying to write bullying policies is absurd - you're adults, there's no more "bullying". There's just harassment, intimidation, stalking, etc.). I'm sure teachers and principals are overstepping the line at times, but children aren't adults and you can err on the side of safety with them. Constant adult supervision isn't the answer, though, and you can't indoctrinate bullying out of kids entirely. So, yeah, I definitely agree with a bunch of you guys that we need to be thinking about teaching our kids strategies for how to deal with those situations on their own or with their friends. You gotta leave 'em alone a little bit sooner or later.