Velvet Revolver and Audioslave were the products of record company executives. Both bands were cash cows waiting to happen...  Rock radio needed a kick in the pants, and what better way to give it one... Mash together 2 proven multi-platinum 90's acts that everyone loves and you officially obtained a license to fucking print money.

After VR... The DeLeo Brothers even tried out the same formula with Richard Patrick from Filter with Army Of Anyone... And flopped miserably. It's too bad it did. That wasn't a bad record at all... But, those STP guys must have a shitload of bills... (Hence the STP reunion)

They both came out of the gate strong, but ran outta gas early. Audioslave, in my opinion, held on for one record too many... And, I'm sure Slash took that into consideration more than once since Scott bounced.

Both projects had a very clear shelf life, IMO

Contraband was pretty good. You can clearly tell, just by listening to it, that Slash, Duff and Matt were writing for Scott....  Flashes of Guns appear here and there, ( Big Machine would be a Freight Train with Axl screaming on it.) but it's clear they compromised a little more than they were comfortable with to please Weiland. (Slither is nothing more than an old school STP song.)...  I love(d) both bands, so it worked well for me. Front to back... a 7/10 all day. About the same score that I gave Chinese Democracy...

The first Audioslave album was fucking awesome. Before I heard Cochise and Show Me How To Live, I was skeptical as to how that shit was gonna work. Christ.. It was great.

Anyway...

Even still, the end result  of Contraband wipes the floor with almost anything on the radio at the time.... Fall To Pieces was overplayed, and I hated it for a while... But, it's aged well. Mostly, I think, because it's the one song (Loving The Alien is close...) on the album to have "Guns Ballad" slathered all over it.... I'll bet Slash fought hard for that one... (Wasn't it one of the ideas that Axl rejected?)

And it gave the Guns guys bragging rights.... They dropped a record before Axl.

Scott had veto power over songs that sounded too much like GN'R... Which they never should have given him.... Libertad is the result of them giving an inch, and him taking a mile.The "mini-Axl" comments are evident in the music. It's just short of horrible. There are moments... But, all in all.. It's a Scott Weiland  solo record. There's little to no evidence of the other components in that band. Slash plays like some poser hack has him on a leash... Mary Mary has a cool vibe, despite Scott's whiny fucking wailing...Sorum lays down a sick beat and Slash's solos rip on Just Sixteen...She Builds Quick Machines is kinda catchy... End of positive comments.

Seriously... He should have OD'd and died after Tiny Music...

I always thought Scott was light in the pants when it came to talent. He pretty much proved that he is in his book....He IS a fraud. Period. I read his book.. In an hour and a half... And not in a "This is so good, I can't put it down" way, either.... He's a pretentious, money hungry fake. Anthony Keidis will flat out tell you his weird random lyrics are just goofy shit he sings that sounds cool. That they don't mean shit. I always expected that Scott's were the same kind of nonsensical hooey (which they undoubtedly are), but NOOOOO... He talks about his lyrics like they're all deep and fucking profound. He's an intolerable douche. I'm sure die hard Weiland fans loved the album... If he has them.

Slash was happy to rid himself of his shit. At least Axl is a genuinely talented, deep motherfucker...That' s probably why Slash talk shit  about Scott... And is almost giddy to blow the whistle on the STP firing. He is aware of his primary musical motivation....

Don't second guess yourself, baby...
You were right...

It is.   

followed by some NIN/Praxis/SexTapes type deliciousness...

Oh good LORD.

See? That's all it takes.

You know... I'm not sure how many tracks they have left from those sessions... But, you gotta figure for every album's worth of material he releases from that "Chinese Democracy Vault", regardless of quality,  the negativity surrounding everything connected to that journey will shrink exponentially. Suddenly, the perception changes.. The public will erase this notion they have that he spent 10 years writing and recording 14 songs, and the casuals may actually cut him a break or two. I'm sure it's not all great... But, I'd bet that 80% of it is pretty fucking good.

Fuck it... drop an EP every 3 months or so until all of it is out... That should shut a lot of people up and once again prove something. That he may be a lot more prolific than anyone gives him credit for

And, as far as writing with this band going forward post CD II

He doesn't need to "bury Appetite"... It can't be done.  Also, quit trying to make "The Greatest Album Of All Time"... That ain't happening either. In fact... One could make a case for the idea of those two goals being one in the same. Fuck even trying to sound like Guns N' Roses... Let it just be what it is...

I'm not one to discourage ambition... But, Jesus...

Pretty much anything with Axl singing is gonna make it instantly recognizable to anyone. And, if it's got some rad hooks, a mean riff and a memorable guitar solo... Radio will be all over it.

Just do what comes natural... Don't over think it or over produce it.. Trust your instincts. We've all heard this band kick out jams for solo spots and such... They can put tunes together... Throw in a cover or two, and it could be over in no time... And something tells me it would have a legit hit (or 2) and sound more like "a real band" than Chinese Democracy.... Everyone wins.

If the single is out in a few weeks... I see no reason why the record wouldn't be out the first week of January at the latest...  Here's another example of an artist doing shit "the old way"... Sure... they're using social media to their advantage and shit... But why let the record sit on a shelf any longer than you have to in an attempt to "build anticipation"

BGWTB was great. Some of my friends didn't give it a fair shake because they called it AIC without Layne... But, with songs like Last Of My Kind, A Looking In View and Private Hell, they couldn't call it anything else. It was dripping with old school Alice In Chains swagger  In my review of the album i called it what it was: Their Back In Black.

Now let's hope they don't nosedive into self parody, like AC/DC did...

**fingers crossed**

Take one for the team... Maybe he could even stop disappearing when people (fans, media, band mates) are counting on him or have questions that only he has the answers to or want to rehearse with a vocalist ...Maybe show up at some sound checks and hang out with fan club members and shit.... Musicians and mystique are over,.. If you're a celebrity of any kind, and you don't make yourself readily available to both the press and your fans... That no longer makes you "mysterious"... It just makes you look like a fucking asshole. That shit's all over... The days of just dropping your pants and taking a steaming dump on your fans and/or your loyal band mates are long gone...The people that you depend on to live and function in the manner in which you've become familiar with will no longer tolerate your shenanigans... and leaving the rest of the band to clean up your ridiculously unnecessary messes and  trying to answer questions only you can answer  ... Stop it... They don't know shit... You treat them like mushrooms... And I'm sick of the "soon, I think" bit..  Us diehards are all you have left hoss... A growing number of us are getting very cynical and wise to your games.

First off. When someone asks you a question about the old band, or a member of it.... Stop mincing words, and giving shitty, vague, answers to reasonable questions filled with self serving fucking rhetoric .

Stop pretending that era didn't exist, simply because fans refuse to forget about  the Appetite For Destruction days and the other four brilliant motherfuckers you used to call your brothers that made that music with you. Songs that had a profoundly positive impact on their (and your) lives. Music that he now almost completely refuses to talk about, acknowledge,  or even allow others to acknowledge it's rightful place in history, to the extent of threatening to sue folks.... Friends that go back 20+ years... for releasing their own personal archives of pictures and artifacts chronicling the bands initial rise and the events leading up to and during the making of what (I think)can unanimously be considered, by any measure to be not only just a great album... But a LEGENDARY album, known the world over by an entire generation of people, and then some... That period isn't just about you, sir.... It's a time capsule to our childhood... A simpler world filled with dealers, prostitution, pornography, cigarettes, $2 bottles of wine, corporal punishment, and heroin... We're not going to forget about it or stop talking about it. Everything you have sir, is because of Appetite, and  you most certainly owe an enormous debt of loving gratitude to everyone who played on it and/or helped make it and just as responsible as you are for your/its success, and every single human that falls under that description should be treated with as much respect... For the rest of your fucking life  .Whether the two of you still speak or not...

And besides.. It's 70% of your fucking set list

You want us to cool it a little? You want anyone with two eyes in a brain to not think you're done, and washed up, and just doing the cash grab oldies circuit?

You want to prove you have any shred of integrity left?

Stop Playing The Old Shit.

Now.

All Of It.

You now have one album of material to play live. You know how to fix that problem.

I'll bet people will at least compare this band to the old band a LOT less, won't they, now?

And, at least THEN... Your hostility towards anyone bringing old shit up would at least be slightly consistent with what is going on onstage...

Maybe then, he could once and for all prove to the world that it wasn't just an Axl power trip that caused the old band to fracture, and that the old band isn't ever coming back.. under any circumstances... Ever...Because, contrary to what many may think...

"Guns N' Roses continues to look forward towards their exciting future, rather than living in the past …And we just took the first step in proving that by removing all Pre-Chinese Democracy material from our live show.... This ain't no cover band"

He believes in these guys that are in the band currently, and what they are capable of together, creatively.... And comparisons to "The Alumni" (Am I the only one that wants to dick punch him every time he says that?) are just silly... That's the first step...

Just like, back then.. He believed in those guys, and, until the end, They came through in "The Clutch"....... But everything changes, and the constant evolution of Guns N' Roses was always in the cards and all part of the plan from day ONE. Personnel changes have always been, and will always be a part of the evolution of this band for it's own  creative survival... Because, if your not constantly changing things up and  moving forward....

He absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, HAS to produce something that's going to attract  a LOT of positive attention.

That something needs to be  new/unheard music.

Look, Ax... I know you're a deep and complicated guy...Annnd, of COURSE, you have a preferred way in which you do things... A process that centers you, and brings you peace within, and inspires your creativity... And, on one hand... I can respect that. I can't do what you can do, just like you can't even begin to fathom a day in my shoes...Dude... COME ON...You have all these amazing talents, and a STABLE of unique, gifted musicians surrounding you...  Shit, they travel all over the world with you, playing wherever, whenever to crowds who, for the most part, have to be on some level, confused... Either looking at/for you or trying to figure out when Slash got all that fucking ink and got an emo haircut.....And all you do is waste their fucking time, and your own time AND fucking money.... You make it seem like all these resources and all this time are "what it takes" to accomplish simple things like writing and recording music... But you wrote Paradise City in the back of a van, fucking around....

The Sixx:AM song is actually the kind of shit that scares me.....

That's cookie cutter modern rock radio dreck to me... But, at this point... Axlin's 100% correct.. It's a blueprint for what MUST be done immediately for the new band to have ANY cultural relevance, or to even be considered by the masses to be any more than an unpleasant  footnote in the band's history/ legacy... In the bigger picture, if they fail to make their undeniable permanent mark..they'll only ever be know by what "Popcorn" so eloquently referred to them as, not-so-long-ago...

..And none of us really wanna see that...

They're all pretty good guys, as far as I can tell... They deserve to be successful as Guns N' Roses.

I'd prefer they went the "Life Won't Wait" route, though, because that's possibly the best Ozzy Osbourne song I've heard since Zakk Wylde was shaving, washing his hair, sporting bell bottoms, and not wearing shirts onstage..

I digress...

If Ol' Uncle Axl wants to seriously put his money where his mouth is, and truly start to at least try to move THIS incarnation of Guns N' Roses out from underneath the Appetite/Illusion era shadow that lingers over it's head, and try to help lift it out of the seemingly bottomless public relations shit-hole he, at times, seems almost compulsively intent on drop kicking them into personally on a regular basis ... and he, instead, actually helped them for once, by hoisting them out and up onto solid ground onto their own two feet for a change....so they at least have a halfway fair CHANCE to reach their full potential, and, in doing so...they.. That is, Guns N' Roses 2013... may actually  flourish, creatively, artistically, and financially.....