Hey, guys. I know it’s been quite a while. As you may have
guessed, I have decided to quietly retire from Young Ears, Fresh Perspective. Ever since I started my new job a
few months ago and moved during the past month, things have been a lot busier for
me. I don’t have the time and energy to devote to writing a regularly posted
blog any more.
That’s not to say that I won’t still make a post once in a
while, but I won’t be posting regularly any more, as this blog has done its job
for me in helping me get a job. It’s time for me to grow as a person, spread my
wings, and move on to the next big part of my life.
That said, before I go, I’m going to do one last big post
for you.
As it once began, so too shall it end.
For those of you who have been following Young Ears, Fresh Perspective from the
beginning, you know that the very first post I EVER made was a review of the
infamous Guns N’ Roses LP Chinese Democracy.
When I wrote that review, I was definitely still in the
midst of my GN’R fanboy phase of my life (and also didn’t know how to write a
professional review yet). I was a hormone driven angsty youngster with a lot of
problems and was fueled to keep going by the equally heavy emotion driven music
of Guns N’ Roses. I loved anything with the band’s name on it and in my eyes, Axl Rose could do no wrong, even with
him being the only original member left in the band at the time. I was willing to defend them to the death, which showed in my not very impartial review.
10 years ago (as of November 23), the long-awaited Chinese Democracy album came out. I spent my teenage years on fan
forums for the band, swapping leaked demos of the songs that were available,
and commiserating with everyone else thinking that the album would never come
out. Then one day, it was given an official release date that was actually
followed through on. I was floored.
I remember being 18 years old and getting my copy that I had
pre-ordered in the mail a day before the official release and I was thrilled. I
loved the final versions of the songs, plus the songs I had not yet heard. I
was over the moon and enamored with each and every last track. It became a significant part of the
soundtrack to my late teenage/early 20’s years.
Now that being said, it is now officially one decade
since the release. How do I feel about Chinese
Democracy now? Does it still hold up in my eyes (or rather, ears)?
While I may not be the overly zealous GN’R fanboy and
hormone driven punk that I was back then, as I have matured (a little), let my tastes grow and expand, and have given the music some time to simmer, I don’t think I feel the same way about
the songs as I did back then (though I will still never understand the
incredible hate and backlash toward it).
What I mean by that though is that I do not feel like the
quality of the LP is any less than what I had initially perceived it as, but I
am now able to be a bit more objective about it.
As a musician and composer myself, hearing all of these
songs and the way they were so meticulously designed and constructed astonishes
me even more as I have become more experienced. There are layers upon layers
upon layers that all culminate into something grand, bombastic, and yet still
maintaining that signature raw, uncensored, and unchained rage and melancholy that
only Axl Rose can deliver.
Honestly, I have found plenty of minute details that I
didn’t know about back then as I have given the album subsequent listens. Even
when I gave it a full listen-through today for reference I heard details I had
never picked up on (particularly in tracks like “Better” or “Chinese
Democracy”). This is a LP that you should listen to on a good sound system both
with regular speakers and also a good set of headphones. There are so many ways
to experience the album and so many things you might miss out on if you don’t
listen close enough. I can honestly understand at this point why the album took
so long to finish.
You could argue that overall Chinese Democracy is bloated, over produced, and took way too long
to finish. I can understand that point of view, though I don’t personally agree
with it (aside from maybe taking too much time to finish, as 15 years is quite
a long time to work on an album).
What makes me disagree with that is despite the fact the
whole thing seems composed as though it were a heavy rock symphony of sorts,
there is no less honesty in it than any of the previous Guns N’ Roses records.
I don’t think you could make something like this if you didn’t honestly care
about what you were doing and just wanted to make money.
Plus, I’ve heard what Axl sounds like when he doesn’t give a
shit during a performance. This certainly isn’t that. I can tell he cared about
his lyrics and delivery to where he gave it his all. Plus, he wanted to make
something that was more than just another mindless rock record where you put it on, bang
your head for a few minutes to meaningless dribble lyrics and basic riffs, and
then you’re done.
That being said, if I were being shown some of these songs
for the first time today and didn’t know that it was Guns N’ Roses, I might not
be the biggest fan. A lot of the electronic drums/hip-hop-ish moments
throughout the album (like in tunes such as “If the World”, “There Was a Time”,
“Madagascar”, “Prostitute”, etc.) don’t exactly resonate with me now the same
way as they did back then. I still like them though partially out of nostalgia,
but also because of the musical context they are weaved into.
Honestly, because it was someone like Axl showing me that
kind of stuff in a cool way that I could digest, it opened my mind to a
different avenue of music that I never would have thought to check out before.
I can honestly appreciate that as a music fan.
I don’t connect with the songs on an emotional level as much
any more either. Particularly because I’m not balls to the wall with however I’m
feeling at a given moment any more. Plus, I’m not in a bad place where I feel
angry or heartbroken (I had “This I Love” on repeat during a lot of my sad
heartbreak related moments of my young adult life). That being said, I can
still say that this is good music for someone who is in such a place. It got me
through some hard times and might be able to do the same for them.
Tracks like “Catcher in the Rye”, “Street of Dreams”, “Sorry”,
and “Better” have certainly grown on me as I’ve gotten older, though. They have
tasty ear pleasing melody while still having that gigantic beefy crunch where
necessary. Hell, you can hear plenty of that old school blues rock influence in
some of those tunes despite the rest of the record being mostly industrial metal, nu-metal, hip-hop, etc. inspired.
I can still appreciate a lot of the other tracks for the
loud, punchy, rage driven nature of them. They definitely aren’t quite my usual
cup of tea, but again, it was the context in which I was introduced to that
kind of music that made me like it as much as I do. If I want something
percussive, noisy, and howling, then you bet I’ll crank the shit out of songs
like “I.R.S.”, “Scraped”, or “Shackler’s Revenge”.
I think that Chinese
Democracy is one of those albums where it’s not necessarily love it or hate
it (though I have certainly seen a lot of that), but has the ability to grow on
you if you let it. As I said, there are always new things to discover within it
and appreciate. The internet seems to think so, as in more recent years I’ve
seen tons of YouTube comments where people sound like they are finally warming
up to it. As a former GN’R zealot, that certainly warms my heart a bit.
Do I feel Chinese
Democracy is God’s gift to music still? Not really. Do I still think it is
one hell of an excellent album that does not get anywhere near as much praise
as it should? You bet the fuck I do. If you can separate yourself from the
notion of what GN’R was before that album and can just keep an open mind, I
think you will be pleasantly surprised by what you hear on this record. It’s
not for everyone, but for those willing to give it a fair shot and not expect
it to sound anything like classic GN’R, you may yet still find some tracks you
like.
