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Episode 75 covers Guns N’ Roses’ final studio album, 2008’s Chinese Democracy. Ill fated solo venture or genuine addition to the catalog? Let’s debate the kilt. Now streaming live, join us Sunday Nights 7PM Central Time at twitch.tv/lightthesky
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Quick Reviews
Mark Thoroughly enjoyed this album as something to listen to…maybe the most enjoyable listen since Queen’s Sheer Heart Attack.
Chris Would have helped if it were a solo project, but my biggest issue is that it seems like a hodgepodge of ideas too late for fans of the 90s and irrelevant for the fans of the rock scene at the time.
Alex Not a worthy addition to the Guns catalog, but would be pretty good as an Axl solo record. The autotuned Axl got really old.
Kevin I wanted to pull for this record. On first listen, it didn’t catch me. Subsequent listens I think will boost my opinion of it.
Love It or Flush It
| M | C | A | K | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Chinese Democracy" | 4:43 | L | L | B | L | |
| 2 | "Shackler's Revenge" | 3:37 | L | F | L | L | |
| 3 | "Better" | 4:58 | L | F | L | B | |
| 4 | "Street of Dreams" | 4:46 | L | L | L | L | |
| 5 | "If the World" | 4:54 | L | L | F | L | |
| 6 | "There Was a Time" | 6:41 | F | F | L | T | |
| 7 | "Catcher in the Rye" | 5:53 | L | T | L | F | |
| 8 | "Scraped" | 3:30 | T | F | T | F | |
| 9 | "Riad N' the Bedouins" | 4:10 | L | L | L | L | |
| 10 | "Sorry" | 6:14 | L | B | F | L | |
| 11 | "I.R.S." | 4:28 | L | L | L | L | |
| 12 | "Madagascar" | 5:38 | L | L | F | L | |
| 13 | "This I Love" | 5:34 | L | L | L | B | |
| 14 | "Prostitute" | 6:15 | B | L | L | L |
Love It or Flush It Legend
L = Love. As many as you like.
F = Flush. Must flush at least one track per album.
B = Buy. Purchased for the ultimate LTS “Best Of” playlist for each of us. One per album.
T = Terminate. Should have never even existed. One per album.
The Rules
Each of us must Love, Flush, Buy, and Terminate AT LEAST ONE track on an album, no matter how great or terrible the album is. Whoever wins the “7 for the Buy” section gets an extra Buy or Terminate to use on the album. Because Chris hosts this section and thus cannot win, he gets an extra Buy or Terminate every 4 albums.
Album Information
Chinese Democracy is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Guns N’ Roses, released on November 23, 2008, by Black Frog and Geffen Records. It was the first Guns N’ Roses studio album since the 1993 covers album “The Spaghetti Incident?”, and their first album of original studio material since Use Your Illusion I and II (1991). It was the first Guns N’ Roses album without their longtime producer Mike Clink; instead, it was produced by singer Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo. It underwent a protracted recording process, delayed by personnel and legal problems and Rose’s perfectionism.
In the mid-1990s, amid creative and personal differences, guitarists Slash and Gilby Clarke, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum left Guns N’ Roses, leaving only Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. In 1997, Rose and Reed began work with guitarists Robin Finck and Paul Tobias, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Josh Freese and keyboardist Chris Pitman. The lineup shifted several times, incorporating guitarists Buckethead, Richard Fortus and Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and drummers Brain and Frank Ferrer. Guitarists Brian May and Dave Navarro, vocalist Sebastian Bach, composers Marco Beltrami and Paul Buckmaster, and producers including Mike Clink, Youth, Sean Beavan, Eric Caudieux and Roy Thomas Baker worked on the album across 15 studios. The band recorded dozens of songs, and suggested they could release them across multiple albums.
Chinese Democracy languished in development hell for eight years. Geffen originally planned to release it in 1999, but it was delayed and completely rerecorded in 2000. With costs reportedly exceeding $13 million, it became the most expensive rock album ever produced, and Geffen pulled their funding in 2005. After missing a release date of March 2007, it was finally released in November 2008, dogged by leaks and legal disputes.
Preceded by the title track as a lead single, Chinese Democracy debuted at number three on the Billboard 200, and was certified platinum. However, it did not meet sales expectations in the United States. It received generally favorable reviews, achieved international chart success, and has sold over one million copies in Europe.
