'Chinese Democracy': Nature's Miracle

Posted at 1:30 PM Oct 23, 2008

By Kenny Herzog

Clearly, there was no way to let the day meander by without some kind of response to Axl Rose's affirmative decree that Guns 'N Roses' Chinese Democracy will be released (albeit through Best Buy and online) on Nov. 23. For one, the method of distribution is a very sobering indicator of the times, given that Use Your Illusion more or less epitomized the era of wrap-around midnight lines at chain music retailers. Nothing like a 17-year gap between landmark records to emphasize the disparity in cultural consumption.

But beyond that, it's kind of hard to discuss a new G 'N R record with the same reactionary fervor I'd apply to other contemporary pop culture happenings. I was a child of the '80s, they were my favorite band and I still regularly steep myself in their biographical lore and obscure archival material. Reducing my point of view on Axl, the band and Democracy's strange trajectory to snide undercutting would be to tarnish a mystique I place enormous value on.

That being said, am I rushing out to buy it? No. Was I particularly excited by the music I heard off it? Not at all. And do I think Axl has become a strangely depressing, fading icon who fell victim to the very insecurities that drew him to rock showmanship in the first place? You betcha. Mostly, I'm just shocked the LP is still being released as Chinese Democracy. That's the most enduring working title in the history of modern mass culture. Usually bands, movie studios, TV networks, etc. go through 10 of these things in a month when they're testing the market's readiness.

But ah, perhaps that epitomizes what it is we sorely miss about Axl, with or without his shaggy-haired cohorts: the pomp, the arrogance, the bloat, the larger-than-life rockstar bullshit. The sort of behavior that can never be manufactured from a season of American Idol or arise from an overnight MySpace phenomenon. Axl may be both a shell and a parody of his former self, but he's only held our attention with such rapt patience because that previous incarnation was the last of a truly-missed species. So welcome back Axl, and may your Democracy be as fruitful this November as that espoused by Barack Obama.