What is your rating for Chinese Democracy out of 10? Any favorite songs? Let us know! Support us on Patreon or Ko-Fi: www.patreon.com/contrarians ko-fi.com/thecontrarians

@sammydavis9482

Жыл бұрын

The entire album is garbage👎 Inaccurate reviews

@bryanmcfadden4071

Жыл бұрын

I love this album for what it is, I bought it new for $3 and happy with the whole album , I give it a solid 8 because it doesn't sound like the rest of the catalog. This album is like a journey created without slash's influence and the production is phenomenal

@charleykiser305

Жыл бұрын

0/10 that album sucked

Thanks for watching folks! This was a terrific chance to revisit the album sans hype and I'm so glad to have done so. I want to thank Grant for being a BRILLIANT host and get yourselves over to Grant's Rock Warehaus ASAP if you haven't done so. Grant knows when to be the host, where to take the lead, when to ask the telling questions etc. I think from laws of averages there will be some commenters who are not remotely as up on it as the reviews here so I'm looking forward to hearing the feedback!

@arturodouglas2484

Жыл бұрын

Loved your review Davy

9/10. It is my favorite album from GnR. The opening song was a great live concert opener for them and they are still currently playing it live. I am a huge Buckethead fan so he was a big draw for me to have him playing on it. He was the reason I bought the CD.

@franciskocher200

Жыл бұрын

Mine too...8/10

@thomasanderson2757

Жыл бұрын

Me favourite GNR album too and my all time favourite albums 5/5

Album is a 9 at least. Absolute masterpiece by Axl.

Favorite. So many layers, never gets old for me

As a teenager in the 80s I loved GnR but seeing this album took so long to be released I'd almost forgotten about it and didn't get it until about 2 years ago and although I really view it more as an Axl Rose solo album I accept it's a Guns 'n' Roses album especially now that Slash and Duff have taken on some of the songs in the live venue. I love this album

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

I love this! thanks for sharing! - Grant

9.5 out of 10. Always loved this Record. Catcher in the Rye, Better... All of it. Always listen to the whole CD.

@franciskocher200

Жыл бұрын

😃👍

Starts with a big punch in your face with Chinese Democracy. Great opener. I really do appreciate Axl's melodic, Elton John influences. Songs like Street of Dreams, Prostitute, and the mega epic Madagascar. Pure bliss. If Appetite is a 10, then CD is a solid 8.5

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Peter, thanks so much for the review. Great points - Grant

I've always felt this album would've been better received if it came out a couple of years after "The Spaghetti Incident?" instead of 2008. Guns N' Roses could've been the biggest and greatest rock band of the 90s but they blew it. 15 years in between albums is brutal. That's way too long to work on a record.

9.5/10 this album is an experience… fan since 1990

Really interesting review of this album,I listened to it again after this discussion,I had not played it for years.Better and Sorry are my two favourite songs off it.

Incredible album

if it weren't for the internet people releasing bootlegs on Napster, Axl would probably still be working on it... but overall I like the album a lot. 'Sorry' is one of my top 20 GNR songs.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

lol ive read that there's been plans for years to do a Chinese democracy 2 with all the left over material, so in other words they might still be working on it

@billymuellerTikTok

Жыл бұрын

@@thecontrarians2438 Axl needs Izzy back

Great show Contrarians, with a great host Grant. Thanks fellas 😃

Outstanding show, great job

The strays "November Rain" is catching throughout the video are absolutely crazy

I dig it. I don’t really compare it to the first three albums or the EP. Totally different band and a different time. That said I would it 7/10. I do wish Duff and Slash were involved but alas.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

I can't argue with that. Thanks for the comment - Grant

I love this album. Sorry and There Was A Time are two of my favourite G'n' R songs

It's my favorite Guns n' Roses album...8/10

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Thanks for the comment!

Hilariously, there's now further distance in time between the yet to be released follow up to "Chinese Democracy" than there was between that album and the previous one, "The Spaghetti Incident" in 1993!

Masterpiece imo…guitar work on it is literally FLAWLESS, and the songwriting and Axl’s voice is SO good

the funny thing is TOOL and Exhorder took a LOT more time between albums... and then ABBA was like "hey, remember us?"

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

tru dat

Bought it when it (finally) came out, like it and I haven't listened to it in years. I'll probably go back to it after that show. By the way, contrary to many people I'm a big Use your Illusion fan-especially Illusion II. What I remember the most about Chinese Democracy is how annoying the intros to the songs are and I thought it took away from the songs themselves and the overall flow of the album. Cheers.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Go back to it, you may listen to it differently - Grant

I just can’t get into Chinese Democracy. It sounds very “industrial rock” to me in some places. I don’t care for Axl‘s voice either. It just sounds very strained to me on this album. I know UYI 1&2 get a lot of hate, but I feel like they were experimental albums that at least sounded like GNR (with the exception of a few awful tracks like MY WORLD). They sounded like an evolution of AFD. Chinese Democracy doesn’t sound like GNR to me and I find the songs unmemorable. Just my take - great video!

I believe the reception for the album has gotten better because of the reunion. There was an air around the band, Axl, and this album that this is what broke up the band, this is the result of the break up (which fans werent happy about), this is what Axl wanted - this album was the lightning rod and representation of the 'fall of Guns N Roses' So once the guy came back the disdain for this album washed away and it felt like... it's ok to like this album now That said, the album did truly age better with time. It was a very long lead up with a lot of hype other things going on. I believe Chinese Democracy was pretty misunderstood at its release. Easily 8.5/10 or 9/10 on most days.

I like it much better than when it first came out. My favorites on it are Street Of Dreams, Better, Madagascar and Shackler's Revenge. Overall I'd give it 7/10.

Always felt "Chinese" was Axl's "Fantasia". The Guns (not solo) record he REALLY wanted to make because he got to the level he could- just like "Fantasia" was the Disney (not solo) movie Walt REALLY wanted to make because he got to the level he could. Anyway, "Chinese" is my 3rd favorite Guns album after the two " Illusions" records, and a very solid 8/8.5 out of 10 for me. "Sorry" is my favorite track- and one of my Top 5-10 Guns songs.

It had 3 hit singles Chinese Democracy, better and street of dreams

Hated when it came out, it’s the one I listen the most now out of gnr discography

I definitely don't hate this album. It fails as a Guns N Roses album, but I still think there's some good music going on with "Chinese Democracy." It was well worth the $2.99 I spent when I picked it up from Best Buy.

It’s an emotionally mature record which should’ve been expected after UYI 1/2. It’s the best Guns album and it is a guns album. The thing people saying it’s an Axl solo album. Guns n roses is 10 times more Axl than it ever was Slash. When you hear Axl you know Axl. When you hear slash it could be many other guitarists playing recycled blues riffs.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Doc for the comment! I love your passion for this album!

I remember my first play i was a little underwhelmed then on the 5th or 6th play i was totally hooked.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Well, thats a good point! Some of the great albums take awhile to absorb...thanks for the comment! - Grant

On first listen I’d have given it a 7, but it slowly moved into 8.5-ish rating for me. Track 9 (Riad N’ The Bedouins) is the only song I don’t like.

“There Was A Time” 😂 Love how Axl couldn’t shorten and spell with the original word. Don’t think it would’ve flown back then, but we all get what he wanted to spell.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

hahaha - Grant

It's a Guns N' Roses album in name only - and as such, musically it fails. But... it's a simply brilliant Axl Rose solo album.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

I can't argue with that. Thanks for the comment!

I certainly don’t think this albums deserves the hate it does , not my favorite but there’s some quality songs on here and you can certainly tell buckethead has his fingerprints on the guitar work 🔥

I try to listen to it and every time i stop it and put on an earlier album or a slash album. An inferior album to appetite and illusions. However if it had the spaghetti guns band it would have been definately better. Have to listen to the whole album at once which I have never done.

IMO, its the easiest GnR album to listen to as an adult.

The 2-ish minutes of guitar soloing in “There Was A Time” is one of my favourite bits of singable, memorable guitar wankery on any album from the last 15 years. Can’t wait to check out this discussion guys.

10/10 album. Time is - also - on it's side. Songs Better, Street of Dreams, There Was a Time, Sorry, Madagascar, This I Love and Prostitute are ALL among GnRs best songs in the name. Yes, all seven. Melodies, lyrics, performances. Also, the guitarwork here with and by Buckethead and Robin Finck is otherworldly soulful and unique, both smooth and edgy. Listen to this album with an open mind.

Chinese Democracy is a glorified Axl Rose solo album, its only a GNR album by name. Not a terrible album, it has few really good tracks, but a big disappointment given how long it took to come out and the hype. 5/10, its an average hard rock album with a couple standout tracks.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Metalma for the comment! Some people love it and some people just think it's okay. Opinions are over the map - Grant

I hold Chinese Democracy as one of the main reasons why record labels abandoned rock for hip hop. If you are a label head, what's the more cost-efficient, least stress-inducing strategy: some dude putting tracks together at home on his PC with loops, getting it out into the world through the then-primitive social networks, blowing up and selling it into the community long before the label has to drop a dime on construction and promotion... ...Or being held hostage to a contract, waiting for Keith and Mick to stop fighting and make the darn record, waiting for Steve and Joe to stop fighting and make the darn record, waiting for Axl to stop fighting with everyone and finish the darn record. In the end, it isn't the worst nor the best. It is a 5. It is excessive, it needed an editor and an A&R guy with a steel codpiece to stop the carnival. That said, it is not a colossal embarrassment. It probably should have come out as an Axl Rose solo because, no, you lose the benefit of the brand name, but you manage expectations better. The harshest critics of the record were shooting for Use Your Illusion III. That was never happening. I think they would have been more charitable without the weight of that brand sitting on its shoulders.

I've never understood the amount of negative reviews towards this album, nothing wrong with it whatsoever.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Opinions are over the place on this record. Thanks for the comment! - Grant

'prostitute' is one of their best songs ever made imo, Axl's voice never was that good on this track too

I like it, but it's also the worst of their short catalog.

5, its too long. it'd be a solid 8 with just 2, 3 or maybe 4 songs trimmed off.

This useless record can be used as a nice coaster for a beer. 0/10

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Dang Inmyhouse...haha. At least you are honest! - Grant

@franciskocher200

Жыл бұрын

Sorry but you never listened that album.Very good songs on it.

I can´t believe the high ratings this album get´s of some people. I think it´s a pretty mediocre album.

@thecontrarians2438

Жыл бұрын

Opinions are over the map on this record - Grant

@pattonPwr

10 ай бұрын

Your comments shows you did not spend much time listening and analyzing each track

IF THE WORLD should’ve been a Bond theme…and those “critics” aren’t musicians and their stupid score means SHITE