The music world was filled with a sense of hope and a feeling that anything is possible this Sunday.
“Chinese Democracy,” the much anticipated sixth studio album by Guns N’ Roses, was released to much praise and much hate.
The album, more than a decade in the making, has received mixed reviews. Rolling Stone praised the album, giving it four out of five stars. Dot music, Uncut and Observer Music Monthly have berated the album, claiming it seems Axl Rose’s head was all over the place while recording the album.
Rose’s MySpace page has had more than 3 million views a day since releasing singles from the new album, according to New Musical Express.
Last time I checked, the song “Chinese Democracy” had 1,105,260 plays the day before the album’s official release. Those are pretty impressive numbers for a band that has only one original member — Rose — from their last studio album in 1991.
Personally, I’m not a fan of Guns N’ Roses, whether it be the new band or the one that blazed up the charts after 1987’s “Appetite for Destruction.”
They just never did it for me. Sure, I loved Slash’s guitar solos and the intense passion drummer Steven Adler seemed to have. Guns N’ Roses could almost be considered a guilty listening pleasure for me.
But for fans, “Chinese Democracy” is the epitome of a great rock band’s success. Being able to succeed after 13 years of silence is a major accomplishment, and Rose deserves a lot of credit.
Guns N’ Roses is just one of the many bands taking steps to reunite or put out new material after many years of absence.
In just the last year or two, I can think of a handful of bands that decided to get back together. Some did it for the money or to get their names back in the news. Others did it for the simple reason that they love music and wanted to share that with the world.
Led Zeppelin reunited last December to play the biggest and most anticipated concert of the year. Three original members plus the son of the late John Bonham braved the stage to play an awesome concert that proved these old timers could still kick ass.
In my own concert experience, I’ve seen a few big name bands reunite recently.
The newly reunited Rage Against the Machine headlined last year’s Voodoo Music Experience. The band took the stage and made it seem like there was no breakup. I remember jumping up and down for an hour and a half straight. I was highly impressed.
At this year’s Voodoo, the newly reunited Stone Temple Pilots headlined and played a great show. I doubted whether Scott Wieland and the gang could be a band again, but I am happy to say I was proved wrong. Wieland was in Velvet Revolver with former Guns N’ Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan and Matt Sorum.
For these bands, getting back together to record and play shows seems to have been a great idea. They were all met with great fan appreciation, and we can expect any new material to sell like crazy.
But with every pro there is a con, and in the new trend of artists reuniting, there are a few that should have left their shoes hung up.
New Kids on the Block decided to give the boy band thing another shot. Releasing their first album in more than 15 years, “The Block” debuted at No. 1 on the U.S. Pop Album chart on Sept. 8.
With other boy bands such as Backstreet Boys and *NSYNC disappearing years ago, it kind of makes me wonder why NKOTB would even try to bring life back to this seemingly uninteresting music drama.
It’s not like any of the members were hurting for money. And wasn’t Jordan Knight just on the Surreal Life? It seems to me like they just needed to know that teenage girls still loved them, even though none of the members are under the age of 35.
Bands reuniting seems like the biggest trend in the music industry right now besides the auto tune, and I don’t think anything is going to change soon. We’re just going to have to appreciate the artists who are reuniting and making new music for the love of it and ignore the bands doing it for the wrong reasons.
So in the wake of “Chinese Democracy,” there will be many different opinions on why Axl Rose, the only remaining original member of Guns N’ Roses, decided that new material needed to be released after 15 years.
Was it for money, fame or to spite the other members of the group? We may never know.
All I know is that I’ll take a new Guns N’ Roses album any day of the week before being forced to listen to the new NKOTB album.
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Contact Joshua Chenier at jchenier@lsureveille.com
My Opinion: 'Chinese Democracy' shows new music trend
Published: Sunday, November 23, 2008
Updated: Sunday, November 23, 2008
You admit that you haven't heard the knew album.
And yet you feel perfectly comfortable criticizing it.
You know, that is incredible closed minded of you.It's always been easy to hate the guys... way to follow the easy road for a nice headline comment.To quote the great love of my life;
And To The Non Believers, I say PEACE!