You are not logged in. Please register or login.
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
weirdly enough, the more time goes on the less i love CD & tend to side w/those dissenters who say that it is too layered/over produced.
for the first few yrs i utterly loved it.
maybe it's just that now i'm more than ready for new stuff..
there is greatness in CD, but there are a lot of dodgy decisions too..
but yea i've also had a few of those convo's russ detailed above. usually when i meet someone new & GnR comes up & they laugh at me & CD just due to the bad press & relatively small sales.
but i don't give a shit what joe public things. he's a moron.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
Agreed. That's why I think a re-release that Doc McGhee or someone in the last management for the GNR organization was planning behind the scenes. Then he decided to pull the reunion card and ruin everything. Even though some of the those documents were a giant troll that almost screwed the band over. Axl doesn't need Slash and vice versa. They are doing just fine with their respective gigs. Well with Beta in charge hopefully she can get Axl to re-release the album with bonus material or at least a LIVE album to get people pumped and then end the CD1 era. Then the band can promote the new songs later in the coming months while touring with a good set list. (The U.S. set list was quite impressive). The public has been saying that Chinese was finished before 2003; but producers and Geffen kept fucking up the situation. They wouldn't give it a shot. The best way to go is make a album with the new lineup and use new material. Then a few years down the road release a album full of session work and demos from Bucket, Josh Freese, Finck, etc. That could help pay off a ton of album and tour debt for GNR.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
Yeah, when I bought a bunch of copies from Best Buy for $1.99, one of the employees had some not so nice things to say about CD. I don't think he had ever heard any of the music, he just knew it was not the financial success that Best Buy had envisioned. I guess I can't fault them for feeling that way. It was mishandled from day one, starting in 1999 pretty much.
That's basically what is boils down too. Geffen and other labels were discouraging Axl and trying to put him in a position that he would look like the Howard Hughes of Rock N' Roll basically. They didn't like the sound of the album and managers just tried to have everyone re-record every single song. If these issues didn't come into play around 1998, then Chinese probably would of been done by 2001. Tommy said the main problem for delays were in fact pricks like Jimmy Iovine and producers that weren't into the idea. Caram Constanzo was only co-producer still available when Chinese came out. Personally if I were in the GNR management I would of made Chinese a public and not a store exclusive. That was a bad decision on Azoff's part. When stores like Hot Topic, FYE, and even small music distribution companies would of gladly taken it in. When i read iTunes' review of the album, I was about to tell them to piss off. They are supposed to sell it not comment on it. Only people that are buying it should do that. What helped sell Chinese was fan forums, GNR's Myspace, Twitter, and Facebook pages, 2009/2010 tour, band members, and word of mouth. Personally I appreciate DJ and Ron stepping up to interact with the fans and doing interviews because it is helping. Even Axl helped alot with the recent interviews and fan appreciation comments. "A little goes a long way." Despite DJ not playing on CD, he's doing a hell out of lot better job promoting the album touring and putting it on his website then the internet or TV have been doing. It will be amazing to see the songs this Axl & the band writes if they decide to an album from scratch or a combination of different types of material.
Lastly, I do hope a new website and more feedback will change things and take huge steps in getting GNR back in the ring! This band kicks ass and works hard for the fans and I have nothing but the utmost respect for that. 2011 U.S. and Latin America was a huge step and success. I thought Rio IV wasn't a disaster. It just wasn't their best gig.
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
Rio IV was The End of the World!!
in fairness they showed some fine bounce-backability to rebound from that disaster!
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
Personally if I were in the GNR management I would of made Chinese a public and not a store exclusive. That was a bad decision on Azoff's part. When stores like Hot Topic, FYE, and even small music distribution companies would of gladly taken it in.
Whilst Azoff might have tried to screw Axl by making CD a relative commercial failure in order to force his hand into a reunion, I don't think the Best Buy deal in isolation was necessarily a bad one - well for Axl at least, though it was a terrible deal for Best Buy.
Basically the Best Buy deal meant all the debts to Universal for the album were wiped, Axl got paid $1M and Azoff got paid $2M. I don't know exactly what the Uni outstanding amount was but I believe it was in the vicinity of approx $10M.
Azoff helped Axl massively by securing that deal and clearing that debt, even getting some dollars for Ax from the whole thing. I doubt any other manager could have secured such a deal.
Now if instead they hadn't made it an exclusive to BB for 2 years, I don't believe they would ever have shipped enough units to clear a debt of around $10M plus. BB paid the bill irrespective of whether the CD's sold, they were then left holding the baby in a massive way with a mountain of stock they couldn't move, hence the $1.99 price at the end.
- Me_Wise_Magic
- Rep: 70
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
Yeah when it comes down to it, the music business has it's ups and downs. Money is the factor and it effects every decision an artist makes. That's why I believe Chinese Democracy should get the Beach Boys Smile Sessions treatment and get a package with a ton of session work, bonus material, and a wide release at many stores. Best Buy i think doesn't work well with music exclusives unless it's an artist that's in the mainstream. Alice Cooper's album I believe is a BB exclusive or something and it has done well; but with legendary status it should be selling fast. BB just doesn't handle these kind of releases especially rock albums well. They are much better with video games.
Re: gunsnroses.com (Merch store now open, SALE!)
Appears that the website is up and running. You can buy membershis for $29.99 or $49.99.
I had to laugh at them wanting to charge me $53.85 to post a t-shirt, laminate and bandanna to Australia. That's about 3-4 times the real cost.
