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Music: Klosterman reviews Chinese Democracy (Onion AVClub)

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      CommentAuthorMegaGoosey
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2008
     (4245.21)
    Honestly I can't believe anyone cares about this album at all.
    • CommentAuthorntndo
    • CommentTimeNov 29th 2008
     (4245.22)
    I actually want to give Axl thirteen dollars for this.


    You mean two dollars right?

    *can of worms*
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      CommentAuthorS-854
    • CommentTimeNov 30th 2008
     (4245.23)
    That's an interesting point. A lot of the big CD successes (and marketing blitzes) I'm seeing lately are for bands that hit it huge well before the advent of Napster. Metallica, AC/DC, Guns n' Roses, and so on all had huge releases this year, and (so the record store people tell me) strong sales; meanwhile, newer bands aren't selling as well. Something tells me the ironic-facial-hair, t-shirt-and-suit-jacket kids won't pick up Chinese Democracy like the thirtyish parents who saw GNR back in the day will.

    Makes me wonder: Is this CDs for older bands / MP3s for newer bands thing a function of us just getting music for a band the way we always did, whether digital or physical item? Does it come from people who've been fans of the band for ages, but haven't modernized into using Amazon or iTunes? Is it a result of (buzzwords ahoy) the Internet's democratization of music publishing?
  4.  (4245.24)
    Why all the Chuck hate? I honestly don't think I'd heard of him before this thread but plenty of people hate him, so I figure I missed something.

    Is it anything in particular he did, or just general douchebaggery?

    RE: GnR
    Never got into them, ever. Have never heard anything in any era GnR that appeals to me. I'm not even interested enough to listen to the album on Myspace.
  5.  (4245.25)
    @S-854: I think demographics are part of it, but so are record contracts. Sure some older bands are sticking with CDs, but when their contracts come up they’ll be jumping ship. NIN and Radiohead have gone digital and made CDs into collector’s items. Madonna and U2 jumped to Livenation, Metallica has already started talking about going all digital now that their contract is up, etc. etc.. If Axl hadn’t been working under the old GNR contract I doubt this album would have been released under the same name, or as a Best Buy exclusive CD.

    So we’ll see a few more years of these high-profile loss-leader album promotions just before Amazon, Myspace and Livenation walk off with the musicians and Bill Gates buys the back-catalogs of the big five record labels for pennies on the dollar.
    • CommentAuthorpoor_boy
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2008
     (4245.26)
    @ntndo

    Eh, the new album is kind of shit. I look at it this way: I paid $13 for the last issue of "I Used to Not Suck Man".

    Use Your Illusion I and II was/were light years ahead of this.
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      CommentAuthorCameron C.
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2008
     (4245.27)
    eh, I pretty much friggin love it. Maybe because I haven't listened to the Use Your Illusions or Appetite even. Maybe I'd love it regardless. I think it's pretty awesome.
    • CommentAuthorOddcult
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2008
     (4245.28)
    thirtyish parents who saw GNR back in the day will.


    Oh fuck, that's me, that is.

    Still not spending any money on this. I'd probably spring for tickets for a proper classic line-up band reunion tour though.

    And then I'd be just like those faded old farts in faded Motorhead t-shirts who just can't let go...

    Oh God, I want to see Led Zeppelin sooo badly... sob... How does that denial, refusal, rejection, depresssion, acceptance thing go again? I think I'm nearing the end of it, regarding my love of dodgy music.
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      CommentAuthorrickiep00h
    • CommentTimeDec 1st 2008
     (4245.29)
    Why all the Chuck hate? I honestly don't think I'd heard of him before this thread but plenty of people hate him, so I figure I missed something.

    Is it anything in particular he did, or just general douchebaggery?


    It's mostly that he's a self-absorbed fuckhead that comes from A Part of the Country That Can't Possibly Produce a Good Writer and uses that to an incredibly annoying extent. Also he single-handedly kept Metallica out of Fargo for nearly a decade for publishing a (relatively accurate but still overblown) review of an album in the local paper. So it's half general douchebaggery and half personal vendetta for me.

    Plus I hate his stupid glasses.
  10.  (4245.30)
    And then I'd be just like those faded old farts in faded Motorhead t-shirts who just can't let go...

    Motorhead still put on a far better show than most young bands. They play better, they have more energy, and they work the crowd better than bands that will do a few tours and disappear. Aerosmith is the same—no matter how bad the albums get, the live shows are killer.
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      CommentAuthorS-854
    • CommentTimeDec 2nd 2008
     (4245.31)
    @James Puckett: Good point; I hadn't thought about contracts! Have to admit, your last line has me thinking about Manfred Macx in Accelerando, selling off all the music from the 20th century as a divorce settlement for his wife.

    RE Chuck Klosterman-- I've seen his books in the local McNally Robinson, but hadn't read anything of his before that Chinese Democracy review. It seemed preciously overwrought and twee, to me, but maybe I'm out of touch with music reviews.

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