I admit it. I like having this Internet thing sitting here, ready to give me whatever I want. It has been an amazing tool for allowing me to discover and access new music. But in some ways I miss how things used to be.
Case in point, the release of Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy this month. I should be extremely excited about it. Excited like I was in 1991 waiting for the release of Use Your Illusion I and II. But I’m not. I’m not excited because I know practically everything about Chinese Democracy and have heard most of it before buying it.
Yeah I know, seems like a dumb thing to say. People download entire albums before their release date all the time now. I’ve done it myself. But this time it’s supposed to be different.
I want to count down the months, weeks, days and hours until the release date. I want to rush to the record store on the day the album comes out. I want to have no idea what the artwork will look like until I pick it up. I want to hear it for the first time not knowing what to expect. I don’t need these things for every new album I’m looking forward to. It would just be nice to experience them again occasionally.
But it’s different now and I wouldn’t change things even if I could. The same tool that ruined the experience of buying a new album, also gave me a chance to hear what I may never have had the chance to buy. For all I knew Chinese Democracy never was going to come out. Leave it to Axl Rose to actually do what everyone thought he never would.
So on November 23rd I will know what the artwork for the new Guns N’ Roses album will look like and I will have heard nine of it’s fourteen songs. But I’ll still be there to buy Chinese Democracy the day it comes out. It won’t be the same. But as much as everything has changed, some things about me never will.
For those who care or might even have this on a shitty VHS tape from when it aired on MuchMusic or MTV back in 1988, here’s Guns N’ Roses live at the Ritz in New York:
- It’s So Easy
- Mr. Brownstone
- Out Ta Get Me
- Sweet Child O’ Mine
- My Michelle
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- Welcome to the Jungle
- Nightrain
- Paradise City
- Mama Kin
- Rocket Queen
Download Guns N’ Roses – Live at the Ritz, New York 1988 (zip-91mb)
The wait was worth it, now if he’d just get off his butt and do some promotion.. it would really make everyone excited about this.
I understand completely what you’re saying about the anticipation. I was a junior in h.s. when use your illusion 1 and 2 came out. The only songs my and my best friend had heard were You Could Be Mine and Civil War. We were so hyped about the two TAPE (yes, tape) release that my friend, who was graduated, went to Tower Records and waited in line before they opened to buy her copies and mine. She dropped them off to me at school that morning during a break and me and my friends opened them up just to look at the covers, pics, notes, song lists, etc. Needless to say, you just don’t get that experience anymore.
Axl and the Velvet Revolver crew need to bury the hatchet and get that damn band back together! I never got the chance to see them in concert and I regret it all the time. I would pay HUNDREDS of dollars and fly anywhere in the world to see Guns live.
Keep up the site. Thanks.
That’s almost the same experience I had when UYI came out. A friend bought it for me while I was in class and dropped it off. I couldn’t wait to get home and listen to those tapes.
I had a chance to see GN’R open for Iron Maiden waaayy back in the day. But being 13 at the time, my parents wouldn’t let me go. I did eventually see the current version of GN’R a couple of years ago. It obviously wasn’t the same as seeing the origional lineup, but it was still a great show. I’m actually going to see them again in Feb.
Thanls for taking time to comment.