One Week to Chinese Democracy

W. Axl Rose has spent fourteen years on the “madness” side of the line between genius and madness. After countless delays, lineup changes, legal challenges and astrological misfortunes, the Guns N’ Roses brand is back with “Chinese Democracy.” (Release Date 11/23). Here’s the link to the website for GN’R, and here’s the SPIN review of the single . The iTunes download of the eponymous single apparently is number one in the world.

Whether this record ends up being a footnote in the history of the amazing cultural phenomenon that was Guns N’ Roses, or some kind of commercially creative return for Rose, it serves as a welcome reminder of the ethos that pervaded music right before grunge. The moment when Bon Jovi could be the opener for Ratt, and a dried-out made-over Aerosmith pulled off an unlikely but creatively healthy comeback.

That ethos owed a lot to 1970s rock and roll: huge, thrashing bombastic stadium anthems featuring multiple guitar tracks and crashing 2-4 beats from drum kits that resembled UFOs. No costume was too outlandish, no note too high, no guitar solo too long.

Watching Rose in his early years was like watching a kid move from the wading pool to the big kids’ pool for the first time. He paid homage directly and indirectly to his influences, as diverse as Thin Lizzy and Bowie, Blue Oyster Cult and McCartney & Wings.

I’ll admit it, I loved the grinding endless overbearing guitar and lyrical work on Use Your Illusion II. Songs like “Estranged,” “Breakdown” and “Shotgun Blues” stretched out into infinity in part because Axl had more to say, which was rare among the big hair guys that dominated the radio at the time.

Axl embodied it all. He had to be Elton/Bowie/Morrison/Vegas Elvis all rolled up into one for his audience, and he knew it. Who else was gonna do it? The head kerchief, oversize sunglasses, the catcher’s breastplate, the kilt . . . it was all there in one glorious cultural sendup . . . anything was possible, and the man in the middle of it all was having the time of his life. Did I mention he is completely out of his mind?

And you know what? The 14-year hiatus has a certain authenticity to it. It means there was no GN’R grunge record, no boy band pop phase, no electronica, no “Rave Axl.” Just good old fashioned straight up Rock and Roll, now back in fashion.
Whatever the reception to this record, it could not have come out at a better time.

Chinese Democracy reminds us who we have been. It makes us focus on the fact that one of the things that makes us unique as Americans is the sheer SIZE and SCOPE of the challenges we take on and the results we produce. It is an artifact of the “audacity” Obama wrote about.

Guns N’ Roses is as American as Monday Night Football and the Dodge Charger.
Welcome back Axl. Here, you’re gonna need a flag pin.