day, one of the premiere heavy metal
albums of all time and without a
doubt the greatest thing the band has
m ever done. Later on, the release of

" Use your Illusion furthered G N’ R as
MTV superstars, and turned them into
household names.

Since then, the band has
disintegrated to the point that the
m only remaining member of the once
4 almighty superpower is Axl Rose. If
you know anything about the history
of rock and roll (or of Vancouver for
that matter) then you probably have
your own special reason to dislike this
man.

Every pre-existing member of
, \ the group decided to leave after Axl
insisted that the rights to Guns N’
Roses belong solely to him, and stated
' that he himself, for a fact, was the
most important member of the group.
If Axl would only take the time and
care involved in removing the giant
rod from his ass, then he would see
how successful he’s been leading “his
band” without the other members.

So, for the last 15 years, Chinese
Democracy has been in the works and
is finally being released on November
23” at your local Best Buy. My first question to Axl is how it takes 15 years to complete one
album of original material? To put things in perspective, Led Zeppelin had an entire career in
the span it has taken for this album to come out. The Beatles and Nirvana’s career combined
didn’t even take that long, and in the ‘90s, Kurt Cobain was one of the first people who took
pleasure in heckling Axl.

Of the $13 million spent in production, one million was given up front as a bonus to
Ax] himself if he could finish the album by March of 1999, with another million to follow
post completion. What a waste, huh? Chinese Democracy now holds the world record for the
longest produced and the most expensive album of all time.

When getting the album, you’d expect an accordion of discs full of quality material
that made the wait worth it. And what do you get instead? One disc of 14 sub-par songs that
sound like crap!

In 2005, Axle rose decided he was more important than Vancouver and didn’t show
up to a concert at General Motors Place causing a riot and tens of thousands of dollars in
damages to the Garage. My opinion is that it’s difficult enough to be heard in this industry,
but when you have a headlining show at the biggest venue in town, you damn well better
show up, you unappreciative bastard!

After leaving G N’ R, Slash and other members of “Axl’s band” joined forces with
Scott Weiland of the Stone Temple Pilots for a short five year stint as Velvet Revolver. The
band was instantly famous, and toured North America’s best venues before realizing what a
horrible thing they had done and disbanded earlier this year.

Weiland then announced that he and his boys from the Pilots were reuniting for a 64-
city tour beginning just months after leaving his supergroup. STP came through Vancouver a
few months ago in yet another money-grabbing attempt to prove themselves. Unfortunately,
without a new album, the group was simply on repeat and (for lack of a better expression)
sucked balls.

Local(ish) boys, Nickleback, are another classic example of crap rock that makes
money. It fills our airwaves, our venues, our music stations and our shelves at HMV. There is
no escaping the wrath of Chad Kroeger, who has dominated the Vancouver music scene and
sold himself out for the millions and millions of dollars that he was offered.

So, why is it such a bad thing that these groups are making so much? Well, for starters,
the money involved could be given to other talented bands of equal or usually better quality.

Every time a band releases a new album of recycled garbage, it’s another spot on the
Billboard charts that could be held by someone else more deserving of it. Or better yet, get
rid of the Billboard chard and throw your millions towards something useful like ending
world hunger. In recent history, the Billboards have turned into a way of the media to rank
itself against...well, itself!

This month, the CBC Radio orchestra was abolished and the format of their stations is
changing to more mainstream musical acts. This accompanied by a $45 million budget cut to
the arts made by Stephen Harper. Thanks to Mr. Harper, being a musician just became even
harder without venues to play at and jobs to be filled.

With all this taking away from the arts, it seems almost unbelievable that some
individuals still get paid millions and millions of dollars and take a decade and a half to
release one mediocre album. When Guns N’ Roses comes back through town, I refuse to see
their show, but I'll be there... riot gear and all!