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Re: Dj Ashba and Dizzy Reed: "We're working on a new album"
They should've put Better out first, then hit the public with TWAT - a grandiose follow-up to November Rain, with the big outro solo that proves Axl didn't need Slash. In my head, I picture a video in which Buckethead emerges from a chicken coop on top of the same fucking cliff as in the November Rain video, plays that solo and is beamed up to his home planet. Ah, if only they'd released THAT in '02.
It's hard not to agree with it.
I don't agree with the same cliff deal, but the rest sounds like a good idea.
Start with Better (although I never liked the album version as much as the raw demo version) and then TWAT. Show them that GNR still can do epic songs with fantastic guitar solos.
Maybe even throw in This I Love. It's the song most old time average GNR fans relates to as a real GNR song.
Re: Dj Ashba and Dizzy Reed: "We're working on a new album"
Brian Wilson was a mess! But, Smile was simply shelved for 37 years.
Smile is an unreleased album by The Beach Boys, and perhaps the most famous unreleased rock and roll album of all time. Recorded throughout 1966 and 1967, the project was intended by its creator Brian Wilson as the follow-up to The Beach Boys' influential album Pet Sounds, but was never completed in its original form. The project was resurrected in 2003, and a newly recorded version was released by Beach Boys composer and leader Wilson in 2004. During the 37 years from its cancellation to the release of Wilson's version, Smile acquired considerable mystique, and bootlegged tracks from the never-completed album are circulated widely among Beach Boys collectors. Many of the tracks which were originally recorded for Smile eventually found their way onto subsequent Beach Boys albums.
According to most sources, Brian Wilson began to encounter serious problems with Smile around late November 1966; some of this can be ascribed to his increasingly fragile mental state (by then, he was beginning to exhibit signs of depression and paranoia), but it is now evident that there was vehement opposition to the project from within the band.
In addition to Brian's possible mental health problems, and his many personal, family and creative pressures, there were other significant business and legal pressures surrounding the Beach Boys during the recording of Smile. These included Carl Wilson's call-up notice for the draft, plus the commencement of the group's contractual dispute with Capitol over royalty payments. In addition, there was the band's attempt to terminate their then-present contract, which was a legacy of Murry's management, and establish their own label, Brother Records.
It is a very interesting story with a lot of similarities to Axl/Gnr/Chinese.
Re: Dj Ashba and Dizzy Reed: "We're working on a new album"
Eerie...
Better should've been the first single, and TWAT should've been #2. It had hit written all over it. It's a great song in any era it's released. Even diehard old Gunners, who hate the new band, go "TWAT, that's a pretty awesome track". Hell, I mean the most universally loved song on your album, your only chance, and you just ignore it?
As for all the other mentions, like This I Love. Would've been a hit in 1991, but not now. It would've bombed.
Better & TWAT could've drove the album. If they needed a third single, then Chinese Democracy could've been released down the line, or maybe Sorry. That's it. Bob Ezrin, Desmond Child both listened to CD years ago, and went "no hits". I think those guys would know. The writing was on the wall.
As for the album's failure. Axl's fault, obviously. I'm not gonna give a big speech about it, but come on. How many fuckin' things have to go wrong with GN'R until fans realize the one common denominator in all of it.
Universal fucked up. Yeah right. Uni successfully releases and produces big musical acts in America (because that was where the fuck up was), on a daily fucking basis. Every second.
Yet they hated Guns N' Roses? They intentionally didn't want to make money. Bullshit. Sounds like the same old tired "Out Ta Get Me" Axl shtick to me. Imho, Axl wanted the red carpet rolled out like it was 1991, and Uni was like "fuck off, your a has been who doesn't have the real band in toe either. What do you want to do to promote it?" and of course Axl chose to play GTAIV.
Re: Dj Ashba and Dizzy Reed: "We're working on a new album"
Universal fucked up. Yeah right. Uni successfully releases and produces big musical acts in America (because that was where the fuck up was), on a daily fucking basis. Every second.
Yet they hated Guns N' Roses? They intentionally didn't want to make money. Bullshit. Sounds like the same old tired "Out Ta Get Me" Axl shtick to me. Imho, Axl wanted the red carpet rolled out like it was 1991, and Uni was like "fuck off, your a has been who doesn't have the real band in toe either. What do you want to do to promote it?" and of course Axl chose to play GTAIV.
I will say that there are plenty of artists who complain about their albums getting sandbagged (and they are right) all the time. It deals with what Axl was saying, about established bands having a harder time, outside the U2's and such, getting the record labels to really get behind the band, because they'd rather focus on the throw away bands that they can make a ton of money off of right away. Established acts are much harder to deal with on the business side of things.
But that doesnt mean Axl didn't have a fault in this. Because I still don't understand why he vanished off the face of the earth when the album was released. Other than it was a protest, which I can understand.
Re: Dj Ashba and Dizzy Reed: "We're working on a new album"
I still don't think things would've been much different if they led with "Better" or another song. The band and label weren't willing to play the game and promote, so most likely the same thing would've happened.
I will agree that a decent amount of radio stations and DJ's gave the album a fair shot, but MOST people had their minds made up whether they were going to like the album before they heard one note.
So I'm sticking to my story. Singles do matter, but it also matters a great deal how the business side of things are handled. If the two sides don't see eye to eye and work together, there's no chance things will end well. Now who's to blame is another question and as much as I'd love to side with Axl, it'd be tough to say he's blameless in all this.
