Rumour from Blabbermouth.net

[Booker Floyd]

1. I think it's obvious that an album called Chinese Democracy is going to be a political album

I doubt it.  The title track isnt political and none of the other songs have been political.

...  No, not at all  

Then like Ive asked already, please enlighten me with the songs politics.

[noizzynofuture]

I doubt it.  The title track isnt political and none of the other songs have been political.

Chinese Democracy is a political song, for the most part.

Really?  Maybe you can explain the politics behind it?

I can't say I understand the whole song as is the case with most of Axl's songs    but references to politcal groups (Falun Gong)who are being persecuted in China would definitely be considered political.

I also think there are references to Tianamen Square and the persecution of political prisoners who "if you beat'em enough they'll die"

Sure i'm reading into this but I'd love to know what your thoughts are Booker.  I don't think you're listening to the song objectively if you see no political references.

[loretian]

Sure i'm reading into this but I'd love to know what your thoughts are Booker.  I don't think you're listening to the song objectively if you see no political references.

I don't see Chinese Democracy as being political.  Just because there's political references doesn't make it a political song.   It seems more like he's relating the politics/social conditions of China to himself, in some way, than anything else (as far as I can tell, I'm not quite sure on the meaning of the whole song).  I just don't see you can think it's political.

Just my 2 cents, don't mean to get in the middle of your conversation.  

[younggunner]

I dont see any of those songs being singles.  Well, successful singles at least.  "The Blues" would be the closest, but theres no way it would work as a single, especially in todays musical climate.

I agree. Actually I agree with both of you. CD,Maddy and the blues are excellent songs and are a lot better than some of the songs out there. With that being said, they are not single type songs for this band to launch. They arent impact songs. They are songs that help make an album great. The single for gnr have to be classic type stuff. Full blown rockers.
So I agree those 3 are excellent and a lot better than the singles out there but being that they have to come out with a bang these arent the songs to do so.

And stop saying cd is a political song. Its not. Axl said at vegas that its not supposed to be a smart/important song.

As for this dumb rumor. When will you people learn to stop believeing this crap? Use common sense.
This shit keeps coming up becaus elook how you peopel analyze the garbage. The people that make this up must get a fukin kick out of it. I would slap the fuck out of them but thats for another day.

Rio4 is a very important day in the future of gnr. Till then im not believeing anything. Shoot them down bucket

[pilferk]

Sure i'm reading into this but I'd love to know what your thoughts are Booker.  I don't think you're listening to the song objectively if you see no political references.

I don't see Chinese Democracy as being political.  Just because there's political references doesn't make it a political song.   It seems more like he's relating the politics/social conditions of China to himself, in some way, than anything else (as far as I can tell, I'm not quite sure on the meaning of the whole song).  I just don't see you can think it's political.

Just my 2 cents, don't mean to get in the middle of your conversation.  

I agree. I think the political "stuff" is being used as an allegory.

[Will]

That rumour is dumb...I can't believe Blabbermouth is even posting that on their site. There is just no way it can be even remotely likely in the twilight zone...!

Axl himself said the song Chinese Democracy wasn't political (during his rant between Rhiad and CD in Las Vegas, 01.01.2001). Oklahoma is not political either I think...I may be mistaken but I've read somewhere Axl saying it was about his lawsuits at the time (with Everly or Seymour I believe) and how the whole situation was dumb compared to the dozens of people who had died in that bomb explosion in Oklahoma.

[holidayidol]

Uhhhmmm...sheesh, can't believe I'm coming back to this again.  For crying out loud, we have 4 songs, and THREE of them are about political movements abroad. And are even TITLED such.  Whether they are "allegorical" is irrelevant. These are political images bevied up to convey whatever point he is making.

[Eazy E]

Oklahoma is not political either I think...I may be mistaken but I've read somewhere Axl saying it was about his lawsuits at the time (with Everly or Seymour I believe) and how the whole situation was dumb compared to the dozens of people who had died in that bomb explosion in Oklahoma.

I already said that!! You motherfucking asshole!!

Everyone pay attention to me dammit.  

 

[Will]

I already said that!! You motherfucking asshole!!

Sorry man, no need to insult me! I didn't see your post about that!

[Eazy E]

Sorry man, no need to insult me! I didn't see your post about that!

  = I'm not serious.

[grog mug]

I try to read in to this post with a little bit of belief behind the rumor.  But when you guys get in fights its fucking funny were on the internet pecking letters lets be badasses!  LOL, anyway Chinese Democracy was written based off a movie Axl had seen about the gov't/democracy is caused.  One of these rumors has to turn out true, don't you think SOMETHING will be released before RIR4?

[killingvector]

Assuming this is true, the label rejected the album and then put out the GH because CD was not in releaseable form. That seems pretty shady for a record company to do; I think if they believed the album was 2 months away from being ready to press, they wouldn't have gone ahead with the GH unless they were fed up with Axl and wanted to milk every last cent out of him. Which of course is very likely. Delay CD to get some cash for the GH to help balance the budget. The rumor is plausible but if true it really demonstrates a breakdown in the relationship between Axl and his record company.

BTW, axl fires back two weeks later with a lawsuit. He must have breached the contract with Geffon to lose out so quickly.

[SlashFan]

This is a comment to todays Velvet Revolver news:

'from a friend who works for a well known music mag...Geffen was presented with the finishe chi-dem disc on 3/1/04 after only 2 hours the disc and a note saying FIX THIS were returned to the bands reps....It seems Geffen found too many songs about news articles that the average guns fan would not remember nor care about. guns were given a 45 day deadline to present a " useable" finished cd or face a breech of contract etc.... the story goes on to say that neither the band nor geffen were available for comment at this time the a"rticle comes out next week in a major music publication'

It's all bullshit,most of the shit people  have been posting on here is bullshit.Some of this stuff just makes me sick,I hate it!

[oneway23]

Something doesn't have to be overtly political.  The songs all have political undertones as reflections of personal situations...done

Some aspects of the latest attempt to get a rise out of the ever-willing GNR fanbase might be true, but it's basically a diamond surrounded by manure...

[Booker Floyd]

Uhhhmmm...sheesh, can't believe I'm coming back to this again.  For crying out loud, we have 4 songs, and THREE of them are about political movements abroad. And are even TITLED such.  Whether they are "allegorical" is irrelevant. These are political images bevied up to convey whatever point he is making.

So you cant explain the politics of these songs?  

Didnt think so.

[twitcher]

Uhhhmmm...sheesh, can't believe I'm coming back to this again.  For crying out loud, we have 4 songs, and THREE of them are about political movements abroad. And are even TITLED such.  Whether they are "allegorical" is irrelevant. These are political images bevied up to convey whatever point he is making.

So you cant explain the politics of these songs?  

Didnt think so.

I bet the fucker is still banned in China though  

(with the exception of the Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macau and the renegade province of Taiwan - for those pedants )

[pilferk]

Uhhhmmm...sheesh, can't believe I'm coming back to this again.  For crying out loud, we have 4 songs, and THREE of them are about political movements abroad. And are even TITLED such.  Whether they are "allegorical" is irrelevant. These are political images bevied up to convey whatever point he is making.

Fist off, we have 5 new songs (Silkworms, Rhiad, Maddy, The Blues, and CD).  

Second, I think saying 3 are political is a BIG stretch.  Rhiad, from what I remember, refers to an Islamic folk story (thought I could be wrong..I've never been sure..Edit: I'm wrong..found the reference...I'd say this one is political...or Axl's reaction to them, anyway), Madagascar is simply the name of a country, and, while CD makes passing reference to some political factions and terminology, it's pretty obvious it's an allegorical reference to things going on in Axl's life.

And Third, I think it's VERY important that the song being called "political" is actually an allegory.  It pretty much means it's NOT political, even though it might appear to be at first glance.  That's the whole point....

So, at most...you've got ONE actual political song (Rhiad), one that appears to be political, but isn't, and one that's got a country for a title....

[pilferk]

Assuming this is true, the label rejected the album and then put out the GH because CD was not in releaseable form. That seems pretty shady for a record company to do; I think if they believed the album was 2 months away from being ready to press, they wouldn't have gone ahead with the GH unless they were fed up with Axl and wanted to milk every last cent out of him. Which of course is very likely. Delay CD to get some cash for the GH to help balance the budget. The rumor is plausible but if true it really demonstrates a breakdown in the relationship between Axl and his record company.

BTW, axl fires back two weeks later with a lawsuit. He must have breached the contract with Geffon to lose out so quickly.

Not true.  The lawsuit was not dismissed..he didn't lose.  The judge obviously thinks the case has merit, else he would have thrown it out.  However, he must not see a compelling reason to issue a restraining order/injunction.  There could be a bunch of reasons for that.  But NOTHING that's happened so far in the lawsuit would indicate, on any level, that Axl/Gnr have breeched their contract.

[madagas]

Rhiad is about Axl too..."all my salvation....all my frustration...caught in the lies......I  don't give a fuck bout them cause I am crazy!" I still think Rhiad may be Oklahoma as well. Erin doesn't give a fuck about what happened in Oklahoma because Axl is crazy.....see the Rolling Stone article about what Oklahoma is about. David Wild article from dec 99/ or jan 00.

[pilferk]

Rhiad is about Axl too..."all my salvation....all my frustration...caught in the lies......I  don't give a fuck bout them cause I am crazy!" I still think Rhiad may be Oklahoma as well. Erin doesn't give a fuck about what happened in Oklahoma because Axl is crazy.....see the Rolling Stone article about what Oklahoma is about. David Wild article from dec 99/ or jan 00.

Yup, found the reference finally (thanks HTGTH for being one of the ONLY sites to correctly spell Riyadh).  I edited my original post.  That song is political, and Axl's reaction to something political, I think.