What do we think happened in 2003 and 2004?

[welshrose]

Hey I dont post very often but I am on here everyday reading the boards. Also if this is a dead horse, I'm sorry.

Anywho,? In August of 2002 we had that great interview with Axl discussing how it was time to wrap up the album, it feels good, we have the track listing..yadda yadda. We all know what happened next, the great Euro/Asian tour..the shaky VMA performance and a poorly promoted North American tour.

My question is some serious changes must have happened during 2003 and 2004. Does anyone have any theories or insight on why we essentially had two dead years in the GNR camp?

If Axl was talking about having 18songs and 10bonus cuts in 2002, what made him change his mind to drastically that 2.5years later we havent seen them?

Thanks A Bunch,
Welshrose

[Jessica]

My question is some serious changes must have happened during 2003 and 2004. Does anyone have any theories or insight on why we essentially had two dead years in the GNR camp?

Axl leaving Universal to have more artistic freedom, so needing hush hush on legal and financial proceedings to make sure everything happened and happened right ?

Just a theory.....

[jarmo]

One thing that happened was that Buckethead left.





/jarmo

[Almost Famous]

Puppies were made. A very large litter from what I gather...

[WARose]

maybe some surgery...

[AxemanOnFire]

Axl could have been growing an afro throughout '03-'04, and won't be releasing Chinese Democracy until it's at least up to Commodores standards.



 

[Mr. Nik™]

Axl leaving Universal to have more artistic freedom, so needing hush hush on legal and financial proceedings to make sure everything happened and happened right ?

Just a theory.....

Axl not leaved Universal 

[Jessica]

Axl leaving Universal to have more artistic freedom, so needing hush hush on legal and financial proceedings to make sure everything happened and happened right ?

Just a theory.....

Axl not leaved Universal?

Well, maybe not, but something happened somewhere < sanctuary

[jameslofton29]

Sometimes I wonder if Axl can't stand the thought of being judged on the new material. If it was finished 2 years ago, there is absolutely NO reason why this album should not already be out. In fact, we should be sick of the music by now,but instead,we have nothing. And in a recent Tommy interview, Tommy said he recently heard some material from CD that he hadn't heard in years.YEARS!! Talk about someone being out of the loop. The whole GNR enigma is very strange. Sometimes I wonder if God is going to have to intervene to force the release of this album.

[welshrose]

Thanks for responding guys.

Buckethead leaving was obviously big, but remember Gilby was picked up in a matter of weeks and learned the entire GNR catalogue with a month.

I still do not believe we will get any explanation to what the hell just happened. It just doesnt seem right, I think 2002 was the time for GNR to come back. The reviews on tour were getting better, the band was becoming a tight unit, Axls voice was getting stronger and they had a lot of big shows still to come..philly, DC, Miami, Los Angeles would have all been full arenas. I am just scared that the media isnt going to give GNR a chance again, the tour sold last time as "here is Axl Rose after 10years lets see what he is up to"..but since he proved that shit always goes wrong and fans are getting screwed over I just dont see people giving him another shot.

If this record comes out in 2005, my advice is start over completely as a new band. Pretend GNR 1987-1993 never existed. Play sold out 2-5k seat places, release the album and try to tour largely on new material.

[*Izzy*]

If this record comes out in 2005, my advice is start over completely as a new band. Pretend GNR 1987-1993 never existed. Play sold out 2-5k seat places, release the album and try to tour largely on new material.

Why bother everyone still remembers the old band, anyway Axl would seem like an asshole if he just threw away his past and never mentioned the people who made him who he is today

  Izzy?

[yagami1gnr]

If this record comes out in 2005, my advice is start over completely as a new band. Pretend GNR 1987-1993 never existed. Play sold out 2-5k seat places, release the album and try to tour largely on new material.

Why bother everyone still remembers the old band, anyway Axl would seem like an asshole if he just threw away his past and never mentioned the people who made him who he is today

  Izzy?

Wow. I think that Axl made himself. The same goes for Slash, Izzy, Duff and Steven. Besides I think people already thnk Axl is an asshole so what's new. 

[a fan]

Well, if everyone leaves GN'R, that has to say something about the guy running the show.  You don't leave something that pays that much money just for the sake of "moving on".

[F*ck Fear]

I honestly love having this album and another North American Tour,but I just don't see it happening

[welshrose]

I meant in theory pretend that 87-93 didnt exist. Of course the name Axl Rose and GNR will draw a crowd, but this is a new line up completely..like GNR Mach 2. Plus GNR in a sweaty urban theatre is way cooler than seeing them in some bottomless hockey arena with Pepsi and Verizon ads everywhere.

[ppbebe]

not to cling to the old days...the past glory....That's hell ballsy and I'm all for your advise, welshrose.

[noonespecial]

Agreed...

[Axl4Prez2004]

Arenas with 2 to 5 thousand fans???  Hell no.  You can call it ego or anything you want, there's no way Axl would play in a venue that small.  Yes, I know, bashers will respond with the small attendance #'s from the beginning of the 2002 tour, but that tour had virtually no marketing.  If Axl ever tours again, which right now I have to admit I'm starting to doubt, it will be behind a huge album, videos, radio, tv, and print interviews, and commercials. 

Personally,  I'm starting to doubt Axl ever wants to tour again.  I think his artistic side is content to create, and being out of the public spotlight has allowed him to immerse himself in his art.  I hope I'm wrong and we see something huge soon!

 

[ShotgunBlues1978]

In August 2002 at the VMA's Axl's response to whether or not Chinese Democracy would be out soon was "I wouldn't say soon, but it will come out". 

The 2002 North American tour was one of the most poorly conceived tours by a major band I've ever witnessed.  There was no album that they were touring for and it wasn't a reunion tour.  It was a tour titled after an album that wasn't out and wasn't going to be coming out any time soon, and the promotion for it was awful.  The tour got off to a horrible start when the first show was cancelled and incited a riot and then got axed when a second scheduled date was cancelled, starting another riot.  That tour was an undeniable disaster that entrenched the band in a legal mess and it did little to inspire mainstream interest in the new group.

In 2003 I'm sure that the group spent a large amount of time working on the album.  In 2004, Buckethead left the band creating another serious problem, at least when it comes to touring again.  According to Tommy and Dizzy, the music was basically done by the time Bucket left the group.  But the problem is that he's nearly irreplaceable in the sense that you can't just go find another guitarist to come in and play his parts because the degree of difficulty in much of what he plays is so high. 

For about six months to a year, the music has been done and Axl has been putting the "finishing touches" on the album, whatever that means.  Vocals, mixing, postproduction, it's hard to tell.   But given that the material is there, it seems likely the album should come out this year

[jameslofton29]

Axl has been putting the "finishing touches" on this album for about 5 years. So just because he's supposedly in the finishing stage does NOT mean the album will be released this year. In fact, I believe there are more reasons on why it will NOT come out this year then there are reasons on why it will come out this year.