Good thread Idea.

I like the album art - although I would have maybe had the bike pic and just chinese democracy written on the side...as the "Guns N Roses" was already written on there in the spraypaint....

The missing words are annoying too as the cool thing about a booklet is the lyrics. Otherwise its great.

yeah the guitar itself is cool tho....here is some random you tube dude playing the solo...it's a great solo the way it builds.

I think the reason a lot of people are negative is that overall what a lot of people wanted was for GNR to resume some level of traditional band behaviour.

This may have been a foolish wish on the part of fans, but that's what it comes down to.

Despite our the online critisism, the bottom line is that anyone who still follows this band or cares at all enough to pay any attention to GNR has tollerated a bunch of behaviours that are abnormal in the music industry. For example:

Since inception the band was surrounded by riots, cancelled showes, and chaos in the media. The music made up for it. A wait for UYI. No problem. We lost steven and Izzy. We lived with it. The band only released covers as a follow up to UYI. That's ok. Move on. 4/5 of the original band is gone. Ouch. Ok.

We're told a new line up with go on and continue. we're told its still going to be GNR. We wait 6 years or so. No news. Ok...still hopefull. The music used to justify it. New line up is announced and contains some awesome talents. Good maybe something will happen now? A tour begins. Somethign looks normal. No...shows are cancelled. New line up features people who have a radically different image to the old...Robin looks like an Alien...Axl sings in a completely different style to the way he used to...that's ok...music will be good...

Then...Tour ends suddenly... Not good...but we know they're capiable of great music. We wait. We keep faith. The 'new' lineup begins to slowly erode like the old line up did. It's ok...the band has survived this before...soon the time will come..the music can justify. The band starts telling us not to wait. No news for years. Yet no anouncement that it's over either. Various disapointments ensue from the limited commuication....Tommy hears the 'final mixes' in 2004 and nothing happens. There's a ton of things like that. An aura of secrecy and mystry is developed....this further enhances an expectation from fans.

It gets to 2006. We hear some songs - they show promice. Suddenly things start looking normal. We get a new offical line up. A tour happens. Axl gives an interview. The year ends...he gives us a potential date. Hope!

Then...silence....the date passes....ok it was never a guarenteed date...but a 2 line note saying why there is a delay would have ment a ton...but no...we're told not to wait and hated on for giving a shit...as if it's not us who will buy the next record.

No offical word comes from the band - the websites are years out of date - all the while the band works behing the scenes to stifle the flow of information and discussion amongst fans. They turn the major fan website into a cult enviroment where censorship thrives and yet news is kept to an absolute minimum. Despite all this, their actions still suggest that GNR isn't over...one day a band of some discription will adopt the name...tour, release music, be a band. They are implying this or why shut down discussion, why ban leaks. Think about it. if there is nothing to come? Why act that way?

So we wait. Time passes. We know axl is sensitive. We remember he sings amazinly. We know the talent is there. We believe. The implication is backed up in the open letter which says the release will be handeled properly and not in a "just appear in your store on a tuesday way". We wait more. Major band members appear to have resigned...still no word from the band...we accept it for the way things are...we're still hopeful that what was once can be again...a GNR with awesome music and that's active.

Finally it gets to 2008. Things start falling into place. The album is announced. Things start to look like they've finally happend for us - after 17 years. The album is released. This is where fan experiences diverge - some of us loved the music, some didn't - and that's all opinion and I won't derail the thread further by discussing that here. But, love it or hate it, when we got the album the rest of the traditional package we waited for didn't materalise, there was no interviews, no bonus type stuff, next to no promotion, no tours, silence from 90% of the band, no idea as to who remains in the band and who doesn't, not much chance for the outside world to get to know and love these songs like some of us do....in short....nothing to suggest there was a real exisiting entity that can be defined and called GNR.

That's why fans get pissed. We want to be fans of GNR, yet in any given year, the silence makes it almost impossible to even say who is in GNR to someone who asks about our fandom let alone do traditional fan stuff. And now people wonder why there is angst?

The worst thing is...it's self fullfilling as the more upset we get, the more distanced the band will become and the less likelyhood there is of any of our dreams ever comming to fruition.

So why are people mad....our own fault or managments or axls or whoevers...but for 17 years we've been told (directly or implication or whaever)  a dream - that GNR can survive the changes from the UYI era and move on....and now at the greatest moment where it's actually coming to the moment...it seems as if nothing has changed, the silence will continue, the band is unknown, and now we don't even have the prospect of new music to dream about and look forward to. (Unless we're told otherwise). That's why

For my part...I loved the record. I think it's different but pretty much as good as the old GNR in different ways. musically I don't feel let down at all. But...I still dream of a time when being a fan is easier...and I know it will never happen as Axl is who he is....and his talent justfies all of the shit to me. I'll do another 17 yeats for another good album. But I understand that for a lot of people...they're near the end of their willpower and they may not share my faith or adoration of the output we do get. And those people are angry. And I can understand what they mean even if the music makes me happy.

Bucket plays differently to slash, as a musican I don't see either style as better inherently. There's a lot of different elements to what is best for a song and I love both players for different reasons.

But yeah, I think we're agreed that...the band has previously replaced both Bucket and Slash - two of our generations most notorious guitar talents - so I feel the loss of Robin shouldn't be insurmountable for the survival of the band.