Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy

Before I discuss Guns N' Roses sixth studio release, Chinese Democracy, I want to make this clear: no matter what I, or any other critic say, you must listen to this album. Even if your closest friend, the one who never steers you wrong, says "Chinese Democracy is the worst album ever," still listen to it for yourself. Like any effective piece of art, Chinese Democracy will elicit a strong response; as polarizing as it will be.

Fourteen studios and 17 musicians, including avant-garde guitarist Buckethead and Nine Inch Nails' Robin Finck, are credited to Chinese Democracy's creation. But all of them are filtered through one complex, and self-defeating, mind: frontman Axl Rose. The filtration results in 14 meticulously crafted, autonomous tracks that never quite justify a decade of anticipation and false promises, but make those fallacies somewhat forgivable.

Chinese Democracy is overproduction-defined, complete with epic choirs, trumpet sections, wonky jazz riffs, hip-hop beats, Cool Hand Luke dialogue, and even a Martin Luther King Jr. sample (seriously). Sound like a lot? It is. Axl and Co. cover nearly every music genre imaginable, resulting in either pure ecstasy ("There Was a Time", "Catcher in the Rye") or suffocation via blatant abundance ("Madagascar", "If The World"). Through it all, Axl Rose's howls still reverberate with scratchy harmony and a not-so-subtle "fuck you" attitude. Whether he sneers on "Better" or plays the sentimental bad boy on "Street of Dreams," Rose answers critics who doubted his unique vocals could overcome Father Time/years of drug and alcohol abuse.

Chinese Democracy is a myth that became reality. Its entire persona, right down to the last overblown, distorted solo and piano arrangement, is a ghost of music's past; a frozen relic thawed out in a new, unfamiliar culture. Times have changed, but Axl Rose has not. And even in the face of change, he stands defiantly. Call it admirable or self-absorbed if you must. To Rose, all that matters is you listened.

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