Rob, very good point. A few days ago, I went to a bunch of chat rooms to "test the waters" and see what the reaction was to GNR and a new album. It was not good. Most people didn't care. There was also some people who liked them back then but said they had moved on to bands that actually make albums. And there was two guys who started bitching about Philly. One of them was at that "show" and said he would never listen to GNR again. That night in chat was a real eye opener. It made me realize that the release of this album is not going to cause a hysteria when its released like Illusions did.
No its not going to cause even a fraction of the hysteria UYI created, that is a given.
What amuses me is these threads where its discussed how many millions it will sell in its first week, the media blitz that will occur, queue's outside record stores, 24/7 blanket CNN coverage etc.. etc.. etc...
The fact of the matter is that CD will succeed or fail solely on it's artistic merits. If it's a good or great album you can expect respectable sales, if not it will fizzle.
The marketing strategy should be a cautious, word of mouth approach. It is laughable to even compare it to the hype and excitment surrounding UYI. At the time of UYI, GNR were the biggest thing the world had seen since Beatlemania. Today, Joe Public doesnt give a rats ass about the return of Axl Rose - yes a GNR reunion would be big news and do big business, but as Im sure Axl is aware, the success of CD will not be judged on how many millions of dollars it earns for shareholders, but rather in 10 years if those who own a copy are still listening to it and talking about it.
There has already been way too much hype heaped on it. IMO that is tantamount to setting it up to fail
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