Latest / Booked On Rock with Eric Senich / Chinese Democracy: The Album That Took 15 Years [Episode 363]

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Chinese Democracy: The Album That Took 15 Years [Episode 363] · Booked On Rock with Eric Senich

0:00
Speaker 1: Axel communicating with spirits and extraterrestrials.
0:03
Speaker 2: He's also claiming that he's spiritual now. He talks to
0:07
Speaker 2: the diseased lives, past lives, and he talks to ghosts
0:09
Speaker 2: and aliens.
0:10
Speaker 1: If you could sit across from Axel Rose today and
0:13
Speaker 1: ask him one question about this album, what would it be?
0:16
Speaker 2: That's an excellent question on your behalf. We're totally bummed
0:22
Speaker 2: rock and roll. I mean gotta leave you. You're reading
0:26
Speaker 2: little hands this. It's time to rock and roll.
0:28
Speaker 1: Roll up, we are totally booked. Welcome back to Booked
0:38
Speaker 1: on Rock, the podcast for those about to read and
0:40
Speaker 1: rock Onmeric Sinich before we get started. If you want
0:43
Speaker 1: to support the podcast and get episodes commercial free, sign
0:46
Speaker 1: up for the backstage Pass from Patreon just five dollars
0:48
Speaker 1: a month. The link in the show notes where he
0:50
Speaker 1: can go to Booked on Rock dot com. Now on
0:53
Speaker 1: to our guest, James Green Junior. He is the author
0:56
Speaker 1: of Magnum Opus, the Unbelievable fifteen year Saga of God
1:00
Speaker 1: and Roses Chinese Democracy. Welcome to the podcast, James, Well, thank.
1:04
Speaker 2: You, Eric, thank you for having me on. It's a
1:05
Speaker 2: pleasure to be here.
1:07
Speaker 1: What an interesting story. I think so many people are
1:10
Speaker 1: looking at this book saying, Oh, finally we're gonna find
1:13
Speaker 1: out what the hell happened? You know, you know throughout
1:15
Speaker 1: all those years, what made Chinese democracy worth an entire
1:18
Speaker 1: book instead of just a chapter in the Guns and
1:21
Speaker 1: Roses story?
1:22
Speaker 2: Well, because what makes it with? I think you couldn't
1:26
Speaker 2: contain it all on the chatter, I think, right, you know,
1:29
Speaker 2: I would read other books about Guns n' Roses, like
1:32
Speaker 2: you know, that were published more recently, and it just
1:37
Speaker 2: kind of seemed like there's so much that, so much
1:40
Speaker 2: that needs to be covered, that's that's missing, and so
1:43
Speaker 2: much you know, I just felt like someone's got to
1:47
Speaker 2: devote a whole book to this, and nobody beat me
1:50
Speaker 2: to it. So, I mean, it's it's you know, it's
1:54
Speaker 2: the amount of time, the amount of people involved, you know,
1:59
Speaker 2: all the the endless false starts, and then it kind
2:04
Speaker 2: of came out. But did it come out? Was it finished?
2:07
Speaker 2: And I'm sure you know, and it's there's still an
2:12
Speaker 2: interesting schism. You know. Now the guns or US has
2:17
Speaker 2: like quote unquote reunited with most of the original lineup,
2:21
Speaker 2: you know, there's still people are like, well, it's giving
2:24
Speaker 2: people pause to go back and reflect on the Chinese
2:28
Speaker 2: Marxi era, and you know kind of you know, weigh
2:31
Speaker 2: it and reevaluate things to some degree. Yeah. So, I mean, honestly,
2:37
Speaker 2: I started this in twenty eighteen, and so I was
2:41
Speaker 2: hoping to get it done much sooner, but didn't work
2:44
Speaker 2: out that way.
2:45
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, it's it is a complete thorough investigation into
2:49
Speaker 1: this story from day one right up until it comes out.
2:52
Speaker 1: You're right quote, I'm not a political writer, by which
2:56
Speaker 1: I mean politics has never been my primary beat, but
2:59
Speaker 1: writing this book taught me the Guns and Roses is
3:01
Speaker 1: handled like a political subject.
3:04
Speaker 2: How So, there there are many people who will say
3:07
Speaker 2: I cannot speak to you on the record, or you know,
3:11
Speaker 2: I use my name. It's just very like it's a
3:13
Speaker 2: sensitive you know, people like you didn't hear this from
3:16
Speaker 2: more so than anything else I've ever worked on, uh,
3:19
Speaker 2: where people are just like I. You know, I had
3:23
Speaker 2: people say like I would start an interview and someone
3:25
Speaker 2: say I can't answer these questions, Like there's no way
3:27
Speaker 2: I can answer them, And.
3:29
Speaker 1: Are we talking like NDA? Like nondisclosure agreements?
3:33
Speaker 2: Sometimes it sometimes people would say there was an NDA.
3:36
Speaker 2: Other times it was just people like I don't know
3:38
Speaker 2: how to truthfully answer these questions or you know, because
3:42
Speaker 2: obviously Guns n' Roses is one of the most popular
3:46
Speaker 2: rock groups of all time across the globe, and you know,
3:50
Speaker 2: their name commands a lot of respect and power, Axel
3:54
Speaker 2: Rose commands a lot of respect and power in certain
3:57
Speaker 2: certain halls, certain quarters of our culture, and people are
4:02
Speaker 2: still like, you know, I don't want to step on that,
4:06
Speaker 2: you know, and I just I think also just kind
4:09
Speaker 2: of the inner workings of of of the band and
4:12
Speaker 2: the people surrounding it, where it's like, well, I don't
4:14
Speaker 2: want to if this person is talking, or that that
4:16
Speaker 2: person isn't talking, or I don't want to say anything
4:18
Speaker 2: against this person, or you know, a lot of that
4:20
Speaker 2: kind of but yeah, they're you know, they're so.
4:26
Speaker 1: That makes it challenging for you to be able to
4:28
Speaker 1: tell the story.
4:29
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, certainly, certainly it was there definitely felt at
4:33
Speaker 2: times it felt like this is just never going to
4:35
Speaker 2: get done. Is there's no way I can complete this?
4:39
Speaker 1: Well, how many people did you speak to on the record.
4:44
Speaker 2: I haven't really counted, because there were a lot of
4:46
Speaker 2: times where I was like I would speak to someone
4:47
Speaker 2: on the record maybe for like two minutes. Uh. Sometimes
4:50
Speaker 2: I would spat someone for three hours, so you know,
4:56
Speaker 2: sometimes it was only on the phone, sometimes it was
4:58
Speaker 2: through the email. It's I can tell you. You know.
5:02
Speaker 2: The bigger names were like dave A from Parlo Jam,
5:07
Speaker 2: former Guns and Roses manager Alan Niven, former Guns and
5:11
Speaker 2: Ros's songwriter slash keyboardist Chris Pittman, you know, former Geffen
5:17
Speaker 2: Records emplaye, Jim Barber, and William Bennett. I spoke also
5:22
Speaker 2: to Robin Robin. I don't want to mispronounce her name
5:28
Speaker 2: or I feel she's a hyphenia name. She was Robin Siebert,
5:31
Speaker 2: I think, who worked and worked for in the graphics
5:34
Speaker 2: department of Geffen for years.
5:35
Speaker 1: Well, those are the people that God to give you
5:37
Speaker 1: interesting stories.
5:38
Speaker 2: Oh for sure. And I mean you know there was
5:41
Speaker 2: there were a lot of them, as I'm sure you
5:43
Speaker 2: know if you've read the book. There were quite a
5:44
Speaker 2: few anonymous sources, and there was certainly a lot of
5:47
Speaker 2: a lot of stuff that you would say on background
5:50
Speaker 2: or off the record.
5:52
Speaker 1: The last album released prior to Chinese Democracy was ninety
5:55
Speaker 1: three Spaghetti Incident. And I didn't know before reading the
5:58
Speaker 1: book that shortly after that Axel was in final negotiations
6:02
Speaker 1: to play a warrior villain in the film Highlander three.
6:05
Speaker 1: That fell apart. But what many do know is that
6:08
Speaker 1: Guns and Roses also fell apart. What was the state
6:11
Speaker 1: of gen r around that time, ninety three ninety.
6:13
Speaker 2: Four, Well, they reached like, certainly Axel Rose and Slash
6:20
Speaker 2: reached an impass where Slash wanted to do like a
6:24
Speaker 2: club tour to promote Spaghetti Incident, to get back to
6:28
Speaker 2: their roots. Axel wasn't interested in that. And you know,
6:32
Speaker 2: Axel had already you know, legally commandeered the name and
6:37
Speaker 2: the rights to everything, and was there all these conversations like, well,
6:40
Speaker 2: we aren't necessarily going to keep the band in this lineup.
6:43
Speaker 2: Maybe you guys will be employees of me, you know,
6:47
Speaker 2: maybe the next record is going to be like an
6:48
Speaker 2: all star thing where we bring in lots of different people.
6:52
Speaker 2: He's also talking like the sound should change, and of
6:56
Speaker 2: course this is something that if you read the book
6:58
Speaker 2: you see that actually kind of flip flops or he's like, well,
7:02
Speaker 2: I want to do something more like Pearl Jam and
7:04
Speaker 2: he's like, well, later a few years later, he's like, well,
7:06
Speaker 2: I was actually trying to make a traditional Guns n'
7:08
Speaker 2: Roses record, but those other guys are staying in my way,
7:13
Speaker 2: you know. And I think also just the inertia, the
7:16
Speaker 2: lack of act of you know, things in front of
7:19
Speaker 2: them to do. You know, they were the most famous
7:21
Speaker 2: band in the world. They certainly were not hurting for money.
7:24
Speaker 2: There there was no reason for them to be like,
7:26
Speaker 2: we gotta you know, really get going other than like
7:29
Speaker 2: it would have probably you know, it kept them busy
7:32
Speaker 2: or not not given them time to dwell and all
7:34
Speaker 2: this stuff. And you know, it's really fascinating. I think
7:37
Speaker 2: particularly the story about them doing the one song for
7:40
Speaker 2: an interview with a vampire, where it was just such
7:43
Speaker 2: a herculean task to get it finished. And then you know,
7:47
Speaker 2: Axel made all these last man decisions about the guitars
7:50
Speaker 2: and stuff that Slash was like this, I can't. This
7:54
Speaker 2: is so offensive to me, Like, you know, and they
7:57
Speaker 2: were just reaching their breaking you know. I'm sure they
8:00
Speaker 2: felt like we've already accomplished so much. You know. Obviously
8:07
Speaker 2: Slash wasn't super concerned about you know, walking away from
8:11
Speaker 2: it or trying other things, or.
8:13
Speaker 1: Was there a clear breaking point or slashed off mccagan
8:18
Speaker 1: and Matt Sorm. They all left gradually.
8:21
Speaker 2: It was it kind of a gradual There wasn't yeah, yeah,
8:25
Speaker 2: it wasn't like.
8:25
Speaker 1: An official announcement that it was over.
8:28
Speaker 2: No, there was like a you know Slash. When Slash
8:30
Speaker 2: did decide to leave the band, he was you know,
8:33
Speaker 2: he said the night before he was feeling suicidal for
8:36
Speaker 2: the first time in his life. So then the next
8:39
Speaker 2: day he's like, you know, he like facts MTV or
8:42
Speaker 2: released the statement. I don't quite recall what happened, but yeah,
8:45
Speaker 2: it was gradual, and it was like because I think
8:46
Speaker 2: that as frusters as frustrated as a lot of the
8:50
Speaker 2: members were, they felt like, well, we could probably pull
8:52
Speaker 2: it together again at some point, and you know, Axela
8:56
Speaker 2: had other ideas, and you know, it's interesting. It's because
9:02
Speaker 2: like in the case, like the case of Slash and
9:05
Speaker 2: Matt Soorm, there was all this acrimony, but to hear
9:08
Speaker 2: Duff mccag can tell, he's just like, I hung in
9:10
Speaker 2: there as long as I could, and then I had
9:11
Speaker 2: dinner with Axel and I told him I can't do
9:13
Speaker 2: this anymore, and it was he's like we shook hands,
9:16
Speaker 2: and that was yet a bit, you know, and there
9:18
Speaker 2: were certainly members of guns ROAs like Matt Soarm and
9:21
Speaker 2: Guildy Clark Axl Rose did not consider them actual members
9:24
Speaker 2: of the band, so he did not feel any obligation
9:27
Speaker 2: to you know, work things out, you know. Uh. And
9:31
Speaker 2: this that was also sort of the beginning of actual
9:33
Speaker 2: really feeling like or really starting to talk that like,
9:37
Speaker 2: you know, this slash. You know, he's he's not living
9:40
Speaker 2: up to his potential. You know, it's talking about Slash
9:43
Speaker 2: sabotaging the band. And in some ways, you know, you
9:46
Speaker 2: read these statements like where he's talking about and he's
9:50
Speaker 2: obviously getting so overwhelmed and so he feels it's so
9:54
Speaker 2: personally hurtful to him, you know. But no, there was
9:59
Speaker 2: there was no great sea of like we're all the
10:01
Speaker 2: bands breaking up immediately, you know. It was like a
10:04
Speaker 2: gradual appeel away.
10:08
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10:11
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10:41
Speaker 1: at Booked on Rock. Thanks again for listening. Now back
10:44
Speaker 1: to the show. The mystery of Axel grew more and
10:49
Speaker 1: more as the years went on. At a certain point,
10:52
Speaker 1: actually the mystery became more compelling than the music itself,
10:56
Speaker 1: you know, as what the music would sound like. The
10:58
Speaker 1: strange stories go as far back as ninety five. Read
11:00
Speaker 1: there's one about actual communicating with spirits and extraterrestrials. Talk
11:04
Speaker 1: about that, and also his psychotherapist, Susie London.
11:08
Speaker 2: Yeah, well around I think it was around on the
11:11
Speaker 2: usual allusion tour. He he brought in his his psychic
11:17
Speaker 2: Sharon Maynard, was was occasionally joining him on the road,
11:20
Speaker 2: and he had had the first place that this was
11:23
Speaker 2: this was made public was in in Aaron Everly's complaint
11:28
Speaker 2: against them about all the abuse claims. And you know,
11:32
Speaker 2: towards the end of all this horrific stuff that she's
11:34
Speaker 2: detailing in these legal papers, she's like he's also claiming
11:37
Speaker 2: that he's spiritual. Now he talks to the diseased lives, lives,
11:41
Speaker 2: past lives, and he talks to ghosts and aliens and yeah,
11:45
Speaker 2: he he fell into the New age trap and yeah,
11:52
Speaker 2: his in his so, yeah, Sharon Maynard was a psychic
11:55
Speaker 2: and then his therapist, Susy London brought like took him
11:58
Speaker 2: through a regression therapy he which at that point in
12:01
Speaker 2: time was just starting to become kind of controversial, uh
12:06
Speaker 2: you know, and but he was like, oh no, it's
12:09
Speaker 2: for real, Like she took me back to like I
12:13
Speaker 2: recovered memories from before my conception, I.
12:19
Speaker 1: Was in the Civil War.
12:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I Yeah. So, you know,
12:26
Speaker 2: and I don't know, I would be very interested to
12:29
Speaker 2: learn if he's still adheres to these beliefs, if he's
12:33
Speaker 2: still you know, has the same you know, if you
12:37
Speaker 2: still talk like interacts or talks with her, I don't
12:40
Speaker 2: know what you would say, consults, psychics and then stuff
12:44
Speaker 2: like this. You know, your guess is as good as mine.
12:46
Speaker 2: But certainly for a long time that was like and
12:49
Speaker 2: even even you know, approaching the year two thousand, it
12:52
Speaker 2: was still like he couldn't cross the street without consulting
12:56
Speaker 2: Sharon meanor to see what the energies are.
13:00
Speaker 1: Well, I was gonna saying across the street without people
13:02
Speaker 1: mobbing him. He was so famous, so having some compassion
13:06
Speaker 1: for him, you know, he did the level of fame.
13:08
Speaker 1: I mean, it probably was he was at that point
13:10
Speaker 1: where he was trying to figure out, you know, what
13:13
Speaker 1: the hell is going on with my life and where
13:15
Speaker 1: do I want to go next? Because they reached the
13:17
Speaker 1: height of fame. You know, you can't get any higher
13:18
Speaker 1: than that, really, and that that kind of fame they say,
13:22
Speaker 1: we can really mess with you. The guns and roses
13:24
Speaker 1: Nirvana wore was played up in the media, but Axel
13:27
Speaker 1: was a fan of Nirvana. What were the other bands
13:30
Speaker 1: that you said, Pearl Jim, What were the other bands
13:32
Speaker 1: that influenced Axel nine?
13:34
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, nine inch Nails for sure. He was one
13:36
Speaker 2: of the first super He was probably the most famous
13:39
Speaker 2: person who was saying I love nine inch Nails when
13:43
Speaker 2: they only had pretty hate Machine out. He was like,
13:45
Speaker 2: you know this band is Yeah. He always had a
13:47
Speaker 2: very enthusiastic, you know, love of music, and he was
13:54
Speaker 2: always on the lookout for and stuff like that, and yeah,
13:57
Speaker 2: nine inch Nails and DJ Shadow. He was apparently really
14:02
Speaker 2: into the introducing album, and you know, he's like he said,
14:05
Speaker 2: he loved everything that was going on in Seattle. You know,
14:08
Speaker 2: obviously a huge Sound Garden fan, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and yeah,
14:15
Speaker 2: he also he was into White Zombie. He said he
14:17
Speaker 2: really enjoyed White Zombie were kind of, you know, kind
14:20
Speaker 2: of having their success at the same time. But there
14:23
Speaker 2: was I the failing here, I guess is that actual
14:30
Speaker 2: didn't take into account the you know, the how would
14:35
Speaker 2: you say, like you know that that all those bands
14:38
Speaker 2: are artists were looking at at music and rock and
14:41
Speaker 2: everything from a different perspective and didn't embrace the same
14:45
Speaker 2: kind of hedonism or cynicism necessarily that he did. Obviously
14:50
Speaker 2: the grunge, there was a lot of cynicism and gruns,
14:52
Speaker 2: but it was not the same kind of like you know,
14:55
Speaker 2: there was and there was, it was more socially conscious,
15:00
Speaker 2: you know, and just I think you could just tell
15:03
Speaker 2: looks like, you know, if you look at if you
15:05
Speaker 2: listen to Kirk Cobain talk for two seconds, you're like, yeah,
15:07
Speaker 2: this guy would never get along with yeah, So you know,
15:13
Speaker 2: and that.
15:15
Speaker 1: Led to what he wanted. Nirvana to tour with Guns
15:18
Speaker 1: of Roses. Yeah, and then they said no.
15:22
Speaker 2: Yeah, they had they had turned him down. They wanted
15:24
Speaker 2: he wanted to Iran to perform in his thirtieth birthday party,
15:27
Speaker 2: and they said no. And I guess there was a
15:30
Speaker 2: lot of I didn't put too much of this in
15:32
Speaker 2: the book, but like a go between was Kirk Hammett
15:36
Speaker 2: from Metallica, who was friends with both Axel and Kirk.
15:40
Speaker 2: And at one point Axel's like, what's the deal. Why
15:43
Speaker 2: isn't your friend like us or want to go on
15:45
Speaker 2: tour with us. He's like, I don't know how to
15:46
Speaker 2: explain to you, man. You just need, like you guys
15:49
Speaker 2: need to sit down and like have this out. But
15:52
Speaker 2: Axel Rose and Kirk Coban didn't have the patience to
15:55
Speaker 2: do that with each other. You know. Obviously both in
15:59
Speaker 2: like at the height of their fames and god knows
16:02
Speaker 2: what kind of crazy things going on. But yeah, I
16:04
Speaker 2: think you know, they made Guns to Roses, made an
16:08
Speaker 2: effort to be like, you know, we want to include
16:11
Speaker 2: you and help you. And I do get into this
16:14
Speaker 2: a little bit into the in the book is that
16:18
Speaker 2: you know, Nirvana for all their you know, for all
16:21
Speaker 2: the celebrating people do about the way they approached things differently.
16:25
Speaker 2: You know, they were a lot of people in the
16:27
Speaker 2: Seattle scene were like, you know, they are kind of
16:29
Speaker 2: like they act like rockstar. Sometimes they are kind of
16:32
Speaker 2: like maybe act like they're shitting on a stake. So,
16:36
Speaker 2: you know, I'm sure, and Neirvana is a great band,
16:39
Speaker 2: and I'm sure they had a chip on their shoulder
16:41
Speaker 2: to some agree is you know, but I think they
16:45
Speaker 2: were just actually took everything personally. I think he just
16:50
Speaker 2: took every slight in his life personally, so he couldn't
16:53
Speaker 2: just let it go and be like, oh, well, you know.
16:56
Speaker 1: Well, you have a picture of him wearing the Nirvana
16:58
Speaker 1: had in the book. I'm looking at it here, but
16:59
Speaker 1: I know where he got into it with Vince Neil
17:01
Speaker 1: of Motley Cruz. That was a big That was the
17:03
Speaker 1: big war at that sale around the same time. But
17:07
Speaker 1: getting to Chinese Democracy now, the album sounds cohesive. I
17:11
Speaker 1: was listening to it today just getting ready for the interview,
17:13
Speaker 1: and I've listened.
17:14
Speaker 2: To it before and.
17:16
Speaker 1: It sounds cohesive. But it's actually a layered time capsule
17:20
Speaker 1: and there's parts recorded by different musicians at different times.
17:24
Speaker 1: The most notable I suppose is as far as media
17:27
Speaker 1: coverage was Buckethead, and he made a lot of the
17:30
Speaker 1: headlines and he kind of kind of you got a
17:33
Speaker 1: name off of this experience. When and how did he
17:35
Speaker 1: become part of the project.
17:37
Speaker 2: It was in about nineteen ninety nine of the year
17:39
Speaker 2: two thousand. He had released Buckethead, had already released a
17:43
Speaker 2: few solo albums, and he had done a lot of
17:46
Speaker 2: guest work, notable guest work with various musicians, and he
17:52
Speaker 2: put out this album called Monsters and Robots, And if
17:55
Speaker 2: you listen to it, you definitely can like like that's
17:58
Speaker 2: the album actual herd where it's like we to get
18:00
Speaker 2: this guy. And I think if you listen to you
18:01
Speaker 2: can be like, oh yeah, because it's this perfect. It's
18:05
Speaker 2: like this perfect blend of like the guitar pyrotechnics with
18:09
Speaker 2: like the like the emerging electronica DJ stuff, and there's
18:13
Speaker 2: also all these all this like you know Asian like
18:17
Speaker 2: you know, kung fu like Japanese toy manga type of
18:21
Speaker 2: window dressing stuff, which you know, bucket had an honest
18:25
Speaker 2: love for, and it's just like I think, you know,
18:27
Speaker 2: when I heard it, I was like, oh yeah, this
18:30
Speaker 2: I can see exactly what this makes total sense why
18:33
Speaker 2: someone would want to be like, yeah, let's bring this
18:35
Speaker 2: into and it was just you know, it's like Buckethead
18:39
Speaker 2: was like, I guess I think that it sounds like
18:44
Speaker 2: the money appeals to him, and he thought it would
18:46
Speaker 2: be a simple like Okay, we'll go in there, we'll
18:49
Speaker 2: knock this out and we'll do some tours or whatever.
18:52
Speaker 1: Yeah right, that's uh no.
18:57
Speaker 2: No for sure. So and and Buckethead, you know, like
19:05
Speaker 2: Axel did not you know, have a It was not
19:10
Speaker 2: something he would say, can you know he's not he's
19:15
Speaker 2: he's difficulty you know, talking with other humans in bucketeas cases,
19:18
Speaker 2: because he's very shy. You know. Axel is obviously for
19:22
Speaker 2: years perceived as a live wire, like you know, irrational,
19:27
Speaker 2: you know, but they're both sort of have an allergy
19:30
Speaker 2: to just simple like let's do this. So but you know,
19:38
Speaker 2: it's it's asking people. You know. I did interview Buckethead's
19:42
Speaker 2: former manager and some of his friends, and they're like,
19:45
Speaker 2: never would have guessed in a million years that he
19:47
Speaker 2: would do something with guns and roses, but you know,
19:51
Speaker 2: and it's not surprising that they all went south quickly.
19:55
Speaker 1: But I think it benefited him because it got some
19:58
Speaker 1: notoriety he had, he had this identifiable look.
20:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean yeah, I mean it sounds though like.
20:09
Speaker 1: This is a talented guitarist too.
20:11
Speaker 2: Oh, it's super talented. It sounds though that like he
20:14
Speaker 2: was he is not even the Guns even if Guns
20:17
Speaker 2: and Roses fans are seeking him out in earnest and
20:20
Speaker 2: only to show their appreciation it, he's kind of freaked out.
20:24
Speaker 2: He prefers really, you know what. It sounds like he
20:27
Speaker 2: did not anticipate how this would have, how much this
20:31
Speaker 2: would affect his life. Uh So even even today, you know,
20:35
Speaker 2: I mean, obviously there are people who are still very
20:38
Speaker 2: obsessed with that. I wrote a whole book about Chinese
20:40
Speaker 2: and Maxy.
20:40
Speaker 1: I would love to you know, he doesn't want to
20:43
Speaker 1: talk about.
20:44
Speaker 2: It, and if you can figure out how to concept
20:48
Speaker 2: him even even you know, even his friends that I
20:52
Speaker 2: spoke with, we're not entirely sure where he is now.
20:55
Speaker 2: You know, he's done small tours in the past few years,
20:59
Speaker 2: but they're like you just it's it's tough to It's
21:03
Speaker 2: still you tougher than ever you get a hold of him.
21:05
Speaker 2: You know, you could, you could go a decade out
21:08
Speaker 2: hearing from him and he'll pop up on your lawn,
21:10
Speaker 2: you know.
21:11
Speaker 1: Yeah. Well, another guy that was part of the project
21:13
Speaker 1: who's really well known as Brian May, and he is
21:18
Speaker 1: not on the official release, but he's on a leaked
21:20
Speaker 1: version of Catcher in the Rye. Why didn't his work
21:23
Speaker 1: make the final album? Was it a creative mismatch or
21:26
Speaker 1: just another endless revisions?
21:30
Speaker 2: If you ask Brian May, he has a different story
21:34
Speaker 2: from from you know, Axel tells the story that it
21:40
Speaker 2: got asked or they took it off because they had
21:44
Speaker 2: done some editing to his guitar solo and when they
21:46
Speaker 2: him and Sean Beeban, I think, and they played it
21:51
Speaker 2: back for Brian May and he wasn't satisfied with it,
21:53
Speaker 2: so they're like, forget it, Brian. And Brian May has
21:56
Speaker 2: contested that in a very polite way, like he was like,
22:00
Speaker 2: so I don't remember that happening. He's like, but it's
22:04
Speaker 2: Axles album. If he wants to take it off, it's
22:06
Speaker 2: no big deal. It was fun doing it, you know,
22:09
Speaker 2: typical class act Brian May being like, you know, yeah,
22:13
Speaker 2: it's like, oh well, but it's his album and his vision, you.
22:17
Speaker 1: Know, So what about producers. Roughly a dozen producers considered
22:22
Speaker 1: to be involved with this either considered or were involved
22:27
Speaker 1: with the album, and who with the notable name is
22:29
Speaker 1: Roy Thomas Baker was one of them, right.
22:31
Speaker 2: Yeah, Roy Thomas Baker was in there for a while,
22:33
Speaker 2: and unfortunately I did not get to speak with him.
22:36
Speaker 2: He passed away, like while I was working on the books.
22:39
Speaker 1: Yeah, just recently sick.
22:41
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, he was in there and you know, clash
22:45
Speaker 2: or everything, you know, very dominating personality. And Sean Bevin
22:50
Speaker 2: was in there for a long time. Tim Palmer, the
22:54
Speaker 2: YouTube producer, was there for like a day and a half.
22:59
Speaker 2: And everybody kind of tell us the same story. They're like,
23:02
Speaker 2: I thought we were done with the record, and then
23:04
Speaker 2: suddenly they're like, no, we're going to hire somebody else,
23:06
Speaker 2: and we're kind of backtracking and doing a bunch of
23:08
Speaker 2: stuff over again.
23:10
Speaker 1: So really it's like they were auditioning. They didn't realize it.
23:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, But also, you know, you have to take into
23:17
Speaker 2: consideration that, you know, in nineteen ninety eight, you know,
23:22
Speaker 2: they had that merger. We're Geffen was merged into Interscope,
23:27
Speaker 2: and suddenly it's it's Jimmy Iadin's responsibility. Who was famous
23:30
Speaker 2: for like, no record is done until I say it's done.
23:33
Speaker 2: If I don't hear what I want to hear, this
23:35
Speaker 2: record is not being released, you know. And I'm and
23:39
Speaker 2: that was the case for many many albums that he
23:42
Speaker 2: that were under his stewardship. So you know, when you
23:45
Speaker 2: have someone as exacting as Axl Rose, and on top
23:48
Speaker 2: of him as someone that's exacting as Jimmy I Ivin
23:51
Speaker 2: and there's just general like no cohesive plan where they're
23:55
Speaker 2: just like we're recording every single thing in the studio
23:58
Speaker 2: all the time. It's kind of you know, there's no focus.
24:03
Speaker 2: And the Axel Rose is still like he doesn't have
24:05
Speaker 2: any lyrics. He's just like singing syllables. And they have
24:10
Speaker 2: like racks and racks of tapes with just stray ideas
24:14
Speaker 2: on them.
24:16
Speaker 1: Find the Booked on Rock website at booked on Rock
24:19
Speaker 1: dot com. There you can find all the back episodes
24:22
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24:25
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24:27
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Speaker 1: out the Booked on Rock blog. Find your local independent bookstore.
24:38
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24:41
Speaker 1: before you go, check out the booked on Rock online store.
24:44
Speaker 1: Pick up some booked on Rock merch. It's all at
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Speaker 1: booked on rock dot com. James Green Junior, the author
24:51
Speaker 1: of magnum Opus, The Unbelievable fifteen years Saga of Guns
24:54
Speaker 1: n' Roses Chinese Democracy. In the book, you write quote
24:57
Speaker 1: for most fans, the idea that Guns and Roses would
24:59
Speaker 1: continue without Slash was at the very least wrongheaded. Surely
25:03
Speaker 1: there were Zulidus who considered it blasphemous. To that end,
25:07
Speaker 1: Goldstein tried to convince Axel Rose to change the name
25:09
Speaker 1: of the group following Slash's exit. Axel had no intention
25:14
Speaker 1: of doing that. Was holding on to the Guns of
25:16
Speaker 1: Roses name. More about artistic continuity or legal power.
25:21
Speaker 2: Well, probably more about legal power, probably more about ensuring
25:24
Speaker 2: that this very valuable branding that dissolve or slipped out
25:29
Speaker 2: of his hands.
25:31
Speaker 1: So there's an a value there, Yeah, yeah.
25:35
Speaker 2: For sure. So and he yeah that that and that
25:40
Speaker 2: happens all the time. You know, I was just reading,
25:44
Speaker 2: just reading Evan Dandas memoir and he was he you know,
25:48
Speaker 2: he describes how you know the Lemonhead started. They were
25:51
Speaker 2: kind of this scrappy fun thing and then they inexplicably
25:54
Speaker 2: got all this major label attention, and he's like, I
25:57
Speaker 2: had to make a decision that I had to become
26:00
Speaker 2: the leader of the Lemonheads, and I would be the
26:02
Speaker 2: soul Lemonhead and everybody else it could be whoever I
26:05
Speaker 2: say it was. So it's like, oh, so he's just
26:07
Speaker 2: like asserted his power, and you know, it worked worked
26:11
Speaker 2: out for him, and it worked out for the branding
26:13
Speaker 2: of the Lemonheads. You know, there have been like forty
26:17
Speaker 2: five different people in that band. I can't name any
26:19
Speaker 2: of them, but you know, that's that's the way it
26:23
Speaker 2: goes sometimes.
26:24
Speaker 1: Like you know, Doug Goldstein, by the way, was the
26:26
Speaker 1: manager for gen R. There are some that would say
26:29
Speaker 1: if he called it Axel Rose or just a different
26:32
Speaker 1: name altogether, that the music might have benefited from that.
26:35
Speaker 1: People would have had more of an open mind. Because
26:38
Speaker 1: when you see the name guns and roses, do you
26:42
Speaker 1: have you know, I hate to use that word. It
26:44
Speaker 1: gets thrown around out the branding. You know, of got
26:46
Speaker 1: the Roses, So people had this expected sound in the ad,
26:49
Speaker 1: and then when you play it because I like the album.
26:52
Speaker 1: It's just as a standalone album, it's it's a good album.
26:57
Speaker 1: But when you're ready for Guns and Roses and you're
26:59
Speaker 1: thinking it's going to like something that you had before
27:02
Speaker 1: straight ahead rock and roll, it's not.
27:05
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah. It's a lot like when the Misfits made
27:08
Speaker 2: those albums without Glenn Danzig, and it was sort of like, well,
27:11
Speaker 2: I guess if you don't use the Misfits name, they're
27:13
Speaker 2: just going to disappear and sing like a rock and
27:16
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, there's some cool stuff on
27:20
Speaker 2: those albums and it doesn't hold a candle to the
27:24
Speaker 2: original Misfits, but it's like, well, what you know, but
27:28
Speaker 2: what are you going to do? Like, like I said,
27:29
Speaker 2: it's just going to vanish off the face of the
27:31
Speaker 2: earth unless you call the Misfits, Unless you use that,
27:34
Speaker 2: I use that, you know. But of course it was like,
27:39
Speaker 2: you know, I remember when they when those albums came out,
27:42
Speaker 2: or when you know that, when they were doing all that,
27:45
Speaker 2: it was like, this is sort of completely insane. And
27:50
Speaker 2: you know, I think I think any fan of any
27:53
Speaker 2: any musical group you know that that has had any
27:56
Speaker 2: kind of situation like that, it's like, you know, I'm
27:59
Speaker 2: sure there are still any fans who are like, I
28:01
Speaker 2: can't believe they ever did anything without Steve Perry.
28:05
Speaker 1: Right. So, but well, and we see these bands name Value,
28:09
Speaker 1: and you got bands like Foreigner who now have no
28:13
Speaker 1: original member out there, but the people recognize the name.
28:17
Speaker 2: It's the name Value. Yeah, like I mentioned in the book,
28:20
Speaker 2: like that was. You know, they started in the late eighties,
28:23
Speaker 2: early nineties, they started doing all those doop revivals and
28:26
Speaker 2: it would be like Frankie Liman's Original Teenagers. None of
28:30
Speaker 2: the original Teenagers are actually man. Frankly Lymon died twenty
28:33
Speaker 2: years ago as well, so here he was in this.
28:37
Speaker 1: Yeah. So that's that's the reality. Beyond the change in
28:42
Speaker 1: direction that Axel wanted to go into, there are other factors.
28:45
Speaker 1: If it wasn't a single cause, it was a stack
28:48
Speaker 1: of interacting problems that kept resetting it. Were the songs
28:51
Speaker 1: evolving or just being endlessly polished and redone. I mean,
28:59
Speaker 1: you know, because we're going back to when were the
29:01
Speaker 1: first songs written and or recorded for this album as
29:06
Speaker 1: far back as ninety four ninety five.
29:08
Speaker 2: Well, that's a good question, and that really I mean,
29:11
Speaker 2: you know, I think they had sketches that they just
29:15
Speaker 2: kind of like assembled over the years, and it's really
29:17
Speaker 2: hard to pinpoint when one like you can say only
29:21
Speaker 2: because because Chris Pittman has remarked upon this a few
29:24
Speaker 2: times where he's like, you know, Mada Gascar was specifically
29:27
Speaker 2: written like in Axles pool House, like that's on such
29:31
Speaker 2: and such date. But I think there are other songs
29:34
Speaker 2: where you see like what's you know there were like
29:38
Speaker 2: that song Silkworms became something else, you know, they were
29:41
Speaker 2: they were they would play live like in the early
29:43
Speaker 2: two thousands, and they would play versions of songs that
29:46
Speaker 2: were named something else on the album, you know, and
29:49
Speaker 2: you can see how like, oh they took this and
29:50
Speaker 2: they did that. I don't it's it's and even the
29:53
Speaker 2: stuff they're putting out now, like they released they've released
29:56
Speaker 2: some singles since and Chinese Democracy like hards School, and
30:01
Speaker 2: I think they're like, oh, yeah, this song was originally
30:04
Speaker 2: written in nineteen ninety five, Well, like, well what part
30:07
Speaker 2: of it though, because you know then you find like, oh,
30:10
Speaker 2: maybe they did a demo of it in like two
30:11
Speaker 2: thousand and one, and you know they had this long
30:15
Speaker 2: you know. I think it's tough. It's One of the
30:17
Speaker 2: tougher things about writing this book was like, you know,
30:20
Speaker 2: there are there really are no stories like we went
30:23
Speaker 2: in there and we banged out, you know, all these songs,
30:27
Speaker 2: or we had everything together, we had these songs. It
30:29
Speaker 2: was just more like we were recording fragments and pieces
30:33
Speaker 2: and riffs and someone else was you know, putting it
30:37
Speaker 2: all together, trying to figure it out. You know, there
30:40
Speaker 2: really there was no real The only stories you hear
30:43
Speaker 2: about the musicians like playing or is like we were
30:45
Speaker 2: rehearsing the stuff from Appetite for Destruction, or like you know,
30:48
Speaker 2: anytime they talk about like you know, like Dave from
30:51
Speaker 2: Pearl Jam was like, oh I got in there and
30:53
Speaker 2: I played with Duff and we were playing all the
30:56
Speaker 2: songs from Appetite and it was feeling good. But you know,
30:59
Speaker 2: there was there's nothing like no one is ever was
31:02
Speaker 2: ever like talking like that about the new songs because
31:05
Speaker 2: I think they were constructed and recorded in such a
31:08
Speaker 2: different way.
31:09
Speaker 1: The file sharing era is where Chinese democracy. That story
31:13
Speaker 1: really takes an interesting turn. How did the leaks of
31:16
Speaker 1: the songs affect the album? Did they force Axel to
31:20
Speaker 1: chase a perfect version or did he react offensively to that.
31:25
Speaker 2: Well, you know that I think that's you know, there
31:28
Speaker 2: were a handful of leaks before that big one from
31:31
Speaker 2: Anti Quiet, where like most of the album was leaked
31:34
Speaker 2: into that early in two thousand and eight, and I mean,
31:38
Speaker 2: I think they did everything they could to combat you know,
31:43
Speaker 2: the stuff that was getting leaked. I don't know that
31:46
Speaker 2: it really it didn't seem to affect even when they
31:48
Speaker 2: had that huge leak of the Anti Quiet from Anti
31:52
Speaker 2: Quiet doesn't seem like an affected you know, what they
31:56
Speaker 2: ended up doing with the song said all very much,
31:57
Speaker 2: because I mean many people have said and I feel
32:02
Speaker 2: like I mentioned this in the book, a lot of
32:03
Speaker 2: people are like this album, like, you know, the album
32:05
Speaker 2: that came out was done like ten years earlier. It
32:08
Speaker 2: was just like sitting around polishing it and you know,
32:12
Speaker 2: you know, remixing it a billion times, remastering it. I
32:17
Speaker 2: don't think I you know, I don't think that there
32:20
Speaker 2: was any you know, Supposedly there's a theory that the
32:24
Speaker 2: Anti Quiet League forced them to release Chinese Smoxi finally
32:28
Speaker 2: because they had to prove that there was this album
32:30
Speaker 2: had a plan to come out because otherwise who cares?
32:33
Speaker 2: Who cares if you weak music from an album that's
32:35
Speaker 2: never going to be released. They're never you know, but
32:38
Speaker 2: if it's affecting some kind of commercial I mean that's
32:42
Speaker 2: a good question. How I think, Yeah, I wonder how,
32:46
Speaker 2: you know, in general, the file sharing era affected the
32:50
Speaker 2: general approach to recording and releasing albums and working on albums.
32:55
Speaker 2: You know, certainly seems like Chinese Demoxy and Gun and
32:58
Speaker 2: the Roses exists in such a unique space, and it's
33:01
Speaker 2: such an anomaly compared to everything else. It's it's even
33:05
Speaker 2: tougher to tell.
33:06
Speaker 1: Do you think actual fear releasing it more than recording it?
33:09
Speaker 1: Did the myth of the album become too big for him?
33:12
Speaker 2: Possibly? I mean, I feel like it just seems like
33:14
Speaker 2: he was he was crippled by so many things, like
33:18
Speaker 2: you know, he felt betrayed by Slash he had, you know,
33:23
Speaker 2: he things ended terribly with Aaron Everly and Stefan he Seymour.
33:30
Speaker 2: You know, he's you know, and every obviously people are like,
33:37
Speaker 2: you know, giving cutting him lots of slack and giving
33:39
Speaker 2: him tons of money and tons of extensions. But you know,
33:44
Speaker 2: the slightest like hey, can you get this done? He
33:46
Speaker 2: would just like flip out and retreat.
33:49
Speaker 1: You know, was he a perfectionist or is it something
33:51
Speaker 1: different than that? I mean, because you know, artists are
33:54
Speaker 1: perfectionists in general, but they finish albums, you know, a
33:58
Speaker 1: lot sooner than fifty Yeah, well.
34:01
Speaker 2: I think, you know, it may have it sounded like
34:04
Speaker 2: he I feel like he maybe didn't even know what
34:09
Speaker 2: he wanted. It's like, you know, you hear like he
34:13
Speaker 2: wanted to he wanted to reinvent the sound of guns
34:16
Speaker 2: or as is. He also wanted to make a traditional
34:18
Speaker 2: rock appum. He wanted to make the most in tune
34:19
Speaker 2: album of all time. You know, he wanted to, you know,
34:23
Speaker 2: and as many reviewers pointed out, like a lot of
34:26
Speaker 2: the lyrics on the album seem like he's just singing
34:29
Speaker 2: about making the album and all the problems he had.
34:33
Speaker 2: You know, I guess until Axel writes his memoir, will
34:37
Speaker 2: never know, we'll never know.
34:38
Speaker 1: Chinese Democracy finally came out in November two thousand and eight,
34:42
Speaker 1: sold two hundred and sixty one thousand copies its first
34:44
Speaker 1: week of release, falling well short of estimates that forecasted
34:48
Speaker 1: a number anywhere between three hundred thousand and eight hundred
34:50
Speaker 1: thousand units. You write a book quote, Chinese democracy did
34:53
Speaker 1: not gain a foothold in the culture. It failed to
34:56
Speaker 1: reignite society's love affair with guns and roses in the
34:59
Speaker 1: new MILLENNIU, proving no match against the rise of Taylor Swift,
35:03
Speaker 1: the fluctuations of Kanye West, or the sustained grip of Beyonce.
35:08
Speaker 1: You add that there are many factors. What are the
35:10
Speaker 1: biggest factors do you think that led to the failure
35:13
Speaker 1: of the album?
35:14
Speaker 2: I think the biggest issue is it's it's only good.
35:18
Speaker 2: It's not great. It's not like I mean it, and
35:23
Speaker 2: it's too long. It's like, you know, it's just not
35:28
Speaker 2: you know. You could you could say, like maybe the
35:30
Speaker 2: singles they released for a week. Certainly Axel did not
35:33
Speaker 2: do any promotion for the album. They didn't do any
35:36
Speaker 2: major media appearances as a band. You know. But if
35:45
Speaker 2: a work of art is is really connects with people
35:47
Speaker 2: and it's great and it's electric, you don't need to
35:50
Speaker 2: promote it, like you know, but just word of mouth
35:52
Speaker 2: will get it through, you know, And I like, you know,
35:56
Speaker 2: I understand that. Yeah, I think I think about this
36:01
Speaker 2: all the time. Yeah, I feel the same way about
36:03
Speaker 2: Space Jam, which I knows this kind of maybe kind
36:05
Speaker 2: of silly, but it's like and I know space Jam
36:09
Speaker 2: like has has cultural value in sort of an ironic
36:13
Speaker 2: way to a lot of people. But it's it's only good.
36:17
Speaker 2: It's not you know, it's like the idea of like, yeah,
36:19
Speaker 2: the Looney Tunes playing basketball and like with Michael Jordan
36:22
Speaker 2: and all these fun cam It's like, it's just it's
36:24
Speaker 2: not amazing. You know, it doesn't have doesn't it's not
36:28
Speaker 2: Roger Rabbit. You know, it doesn't capture the same the
36:32
Speaker 2: same excitement or feel. And I think that that's what
36:35
Speaker 2: boils down to when I listen to Chinese Democracy, there's
36:38
Speaker 2: this a huge amount of time where I'm like, this
36:41
Speaker 2: is too slow. I'm like zoning out.
36:44
Speaker 1: Yeah, the first half I'm in, and then as you
36:46
Speaker 1: get to the second half you start to In the book,
36:50
Speaker 1: you ask a powerful question in the intro. Did Axel
36:53
Speaker 1: actually complete Chinese Democracy? Or was it ripped out of
36:57
Speaker 1: his hands? After all of your research? Where do you
37:01
Speaker 1: land on that?
37:02
Speaker 2: Well, I think he did complete it. I don't think
37:04
Speaker 2: he realized he completed it. I don't I think he
37:09
Speaker 2: like I mentioned a few minutes, you know, like there
37:11
Speaker 2: were people who are like these songs were done years ago.
37:14
Speaker 2: I think he just spent too much time, uh you know,
37:18
Speaker 2: polishing it or going over it with a fine tooth comb.
37:21
Speaker 2: You know. He and but it's he obviously he made
37:26
Speaker 2: many statements and its like you know this this it
37:29
Speaker 2: wasn't they took it out of my hands. They ripped
37:31
Speaker 2: it from me. And you know there are other Chris
37:34
Speaker 2: Pitman said he was always saying that, and you know
37:36
Speaker 2: we wanted he We were telling him go get it
37:39
Speaker 2: back then, you know, go fight for it or whatever.
37:45
Speaker 2: I think that you know, he just if he just
37:49
Speaker 2: let it consume him, and it was it was probably
37:52
Speaker 2: such he took on a bit off more than you
37:54
Speaker 2: took on a herculean task, you know, I mean, uh,
37:59
Speaker 2: the only real comparable. I kind of mentioned the Doctor
38:03
Speaker 2: Dre album Detox, which you know, famously the Chinese Democracy
38:09
Speaker 2: of hip hop, which didn't come out, uh, you know,
38:12
Speaker 2: because he was like, you know what, man, I'm just
38:14
Speaker 2: sick of working on this, like I got this going on. Yeah,
38:17
Speaker 2: you know, so I think and that leaves you what
38:23
Speaker 2: that leaves us hanging like, oh my god, can you
38:25
Speaker 2: imagine what what? What kind of what would that has
38:27
Speaker 2: sounded like I you know, I'm sure you know Axel
38:33
Speaker 2: has said all kinds of crazy stuff about the Guns
38:35
Speaker 2: and the other classics, or it's like I need to
38:38
Speaker 2: re record Afterime for distruction because I'm unhappy with some
38:41
Speaker 2: of the effects on the drums.
38:43
Speaker 1: Please do not.
38:43
Speaker 2: Man, that's perfect, yeah, perfect. So you know, everybody is
38:48
Speaker 2: their own worst critic.
38:49
Speaker 1: If you finished it in the late nineties, would Guns
38:52
Speaker 1: and Roses history look completely different?
38:55
Speaker 2: Yeah, it might, I mean, but then you know, they
38:58
Speaker 2: might have also fallen into the trap that a lot
39:02
Speaker 2: of their contemporaries fell into, where it's like they'll release
39:05
Speaker 2: an album ever a few years and the things cool
39:09
Speaker 2: off on them anyway, And it's like it's like, I
39:11
Speaker 2: don't know how many albums Motley Cruez made at this point.
39:14
Speaker 2: I'm sure sure I've missed a lot of them, but
39:17
Speaker 2: they're still going. You know, so the guy from Marilyn
39:20
Speaker 2: Manson's and Motley Cren now, I don't know what's going on,
39:23
Speaker 2: but you know, uh so that that could have been
39:26
Speaker 2: the case of them, like like who knows, you know,
39:29
Speaker 2: who knows? I think it's that's really that's really tough
39:34
Speaker 2: to say. Uh And if they could you know, if
39:37
Speaker 2: they would have maybe if they had released it in
39:40
Speaker 2: the late nineties, would they have been able to successfully
39:44
Speaker 2: hang on to their place in the culture, or whether
39:46
Speaker 2: they'd still have faded away or you know what it's
39:49
Speaker 2: it seems like even in the mid nineties, people are
39:53
Speaker 2: just like, we gotta get we gotta get the appetite
39:56
Speaker 2: lineup going. So it seems certainly, certainly the record labels
40:01
Speaker 2: that a lot of the label people were like, let's
40:04
Speaker 2: let's go back to that.
40:08
Speaker 1: The Book Down Rock podcast is part of the Boneless
40:11
Speaker 1: Podcasting Network. If you're a fan of classic rock and
40:14
Speaker 1: classic film like I am, go to Boneless dot lovable
40:17
Speaker 1: dot app to find over twenty great shows there. That's
40:20
Speaker 1: Boneless dot lovable dot app. Or just go to book
40:23
Speaker 1: down Rock dot com the Boneless podcasting network. It is
40:27
Speaker 1: what you want to be Listen with confidence. If you
40:32
Speaker 1: could sit across from Axelrose today and ask him one
40:36
Speaker 1: question about this album, what would it be?
40:40
Speaker 2: That's an excellent question on your behalf.
40:45
Speaker 1: Why why so long? Why why so many people that
40:52
Speaker 1: came in and came, you know, came and went.
40:56
Speaker 2: I guess I would ask him what he would if
41:00
Speaker 2: he would do anything differently because there's a lot of
41:03
Speaker 2: stuff where it's like, Okay, Josh Freese, who everybody agrees
41:08
Speaker 2: is one of the greatest, uh you know, drummers of
41:11
Speaker 2: all time. He records pretty much the entirety of the album,
41:14
Speaker 2: as I understand. Then he leaves a group and uh,
41:17
Speaker 2: you know, Brain comes in as the drummer. Brain very
41:21
Speaker 2: very underrated percussionists, very underrated musician, has has a great
41:26
Speaker 2: a great style, great approach to everything, and they make
41:30
Speaker 2: him re record the drums in Josh Reese's style. Uh
41:37
Speaker 2: you know, just tons of stuff like that where it's like,
41:42
Speaker 2: you know, I I you know what I might ask him, like, Okay,
41:45
Speaker 2: can you make me a chart of who is playing
41:48
Speaker 2: every single guitar part on this album? So I know
41:51
Speaker 2: for sure? You know, I mean, I feel like I
41:54
Speaker 2: can tell when it's buckinghead. But it's like, well, okay, no,
41:56
Speaker 2: but who which which? What I was gonna ask, Yeah,
42:00
Speaker 2: what am I hearing? Robin Think? What am I hearing?
42:02
Speaker 2: Paul Hugi? You know what? Am I hearing you playing guitar?
42:07
Speaker 2: Because apparently, you know make that's.
42:09
Speaker 1: A guitar part on Better? I love that intro.
42:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there's a lot of great there's a
42:16
Speaker 2: lot of great playing on it. It would be nice
42:20
Speaker 2: to know exactly, you know, who is doing what you know.
42:24
Speaker 1: Hey, maybe someday you'll be able to sit across from
42:27
Speaker 1: Axel and ask him that question. But in the meantime,
42:31
Speaker 1: congratulations on this book. Because you did thorough research and
42:34
Speaker 1: you did talk to a lot of people. You got
42:36
Speaker 1: some great stories, you got people on the record off.
42:38
Speaker 1: But the story is complete. I mean it. You know,
42:42
Speaker 1: this is going to be the definitive story of Chinese democracy,
42:46
Speaker 1: magnum Opus, the unbelievable fifteen year Saga of Guns and
42:50
Speaker 1: Roses Chinese Democracy. This is out now and you can
42:52
Speaker 1: find it wherever books are sold. You can find it
42:55
Speaker 1: all the usual places, right Amazon, all those places, Okay.
42:59
Speaker 1: You can also port at your nearest independent bookstore. Go
43:01
Speaker 1: to book down rock dot com to find your nearest
43:04
Speaker 1: independent bookstore. And where can people find you online? James
43:07
Speaker 1: if they want to reach out to you.
43:09
Speaker 2: I'm not too hard to find.
43:13
Speaker 1: You're not like Axule, You're easy to find.
43:15
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel like I must be easy to find
43:17
Speaker 2: because a lot of people have been emailing me since
43:19
Speaker 2: this book came out.
43:20
Speaker 1: Cool.
43:21
Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, I've got a I've got a blog
43:26
Speaker 2: at JG two dot com JG two dot com, and
43:32
Speaker 2: I'm on Facebook and Blue Sky and Instagram, all under
43:36
Speaker 2: my real name, my actual name, so it's not not
43:41
Speaker 2: too tricky to get hold of me, you know.
43:43
Speaker 1: Cool, I'll track you down and put the links in
43:45
Speaker 1: the show notes. So all right, what's been the response?
43:49
Speaker 1: The response overall you said people are reaching out to you.
43:52
Speaker 2: So far, people seem to really like it a lot,
43:54
Speaker 2: and I'm very grateful. I'm just glad people have an interest.
43:57
Speaker 2: People are like, I'm excited to read it. You know.
44:00
Speaker 1: It is a fascinating story. It's a mystery.
44:03
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I thank everyone for their interest and support.
44:07
Speaker 2: I've tried not to go on to the guns and
44:10
Speaker 2: the rest's message boards. I know that they can be
44:13
Speaker 2: a little brutal, but I saw some encouraging stuff. Some
44:15
Speaker 2: people seemed to really like it, So, you know, I
44:21
Speaker 2: appreciate any of every reader's support. You know, even if
44:24
Speaker 2: you read it and you don't like it, you know,
44:26
Speaker 2: as long as you give me constructive feedback.
44:30
Speaker 1: Yeah, you got a fan here. I enjoyed the book.
44:32
Speaker 1: James Green Junior, thank you so much for coming on
44:35
Speaker 1: The show Man.
44:36
Speaker 2: Thanks for having me, Eric, I appreciate it. That's it.
44:46
Speaker 2: It's in the books.