The sad bit for a journalist like Mick Wall is that he used to know and have access to GNR...and now he's reduced to writing about his dreams of axl

I agree with him that it's lame of fans to make hate sites for him. Like seriously? Some people need to grow up.

However I disagree about the album. I enjoy the rockers and the ballads...i like every track in its own way. Also...what is the point in saying if somethign had been done  ten years ago...the album wasn't ready in 1999, the "99" irs sounds like shit compared to the final one.

I think the problem was basicly that GNR wasn't dancing to the established beat.

Sad thing is the quality of the material isn't really very relevant to musical sucesss these days, it's more about the overall business stuff.

IMO chinese is a very high quality album, fantastic even, but lets imagine it wasn't, I don't think that would matter to the general public: it could suck and sell millions IF, and only IF, the rest of the business dance' was done right. Let's face it - there's lots of stinker songs from a musical perspective that have sold buckets of records in history.

The industry is like a machine, radio and TV and print media are all content hungry, the public attention span is increasingly shorter, and 90% of people will eat up what they are told without any critical evaluation. Everyone is out there flogging their own wares. The result of this is that the media will move on fast unless you feed them new stuff...bcause a ton of other people are.

CD was given loads of coverage when there was something to tell. The leaks, the DR Peper thing, that a release date was announced. But once you've written up that story...then X days later you need something new or what are they to do - write it again? Normally a tour would be announced or some interviews would be done...but when these things didn't happen...and everyone else in the world kept pumping out their daily press releases...well I guess the people in the industry just went with what they had. Remember in 06 - there was a bit of a splash when Axl warmed up playing those NYC shows...the media will run with it..when they think stuff is happening....if miore interviews and stuff had happened to coinside with the release...or a tour...generally...if the band had looked to be following the pattern of a normal commerical release...then the media would have gone with it...

Whats the media going to do? work hard to generate and research a good GNR story? or run with a spoon fed easy work package from some rap singer's pr department. It's a no brainer for them. You have to play the game or it's too hard for them.

If chinese had been pushed down our throats the way Ac/Dc marketed Black Ice...i think the kiddies would have rushed out the same way they did for that album....but it wasn't done that way...and hense it's mostly
the hardcores like us who support it.

In a way it's a shame, as I feel it's a great album and I'm sure many many people would like it as much as I do but they're unlikely to be exposed to it.

Actually I think Spaghetti was promoted more..lol...but all things considered....I think this tour is the obvious time to have heavy rotation of CD songs in the set list...obviously the public will also want some classic hits...but a tour showcasing the new material makes sence.

I'll work out my dreamset list when i get home

Good call