Chinese Democrazy

There’s a interesting article on Bob Lefsez’s site that speaks about GnR’s Chinese Democracy. He’s actually had a few articles on the subject, but it’s the most recent one that’s telling.
We’ve all heard the story of the poor sap that got busted by the FBI for leaking the most recent mix of Chinese Democracy. By the way, the funniest thing that I ever heard about that event was from a comment that stated “The only one who should be arrested for Chinese Democracy is Axl Rose.”
But I digress…
I don’t think anyone can argue with the point that taking things from an artist is wrong and can potentially hurt their careers and income. And I don’t think you’ll hear any argument that the guy that ran the site where Chinese Democracy was found is kind of a moron. Apparently, he tagged the file with his website address in an apparent ploy to gain more hits to his site. This is the equivalent of leaving your social security card after robbing a convenience store.
I guess the guy was a GnR fan, which is a rare commodity especially after waiting over a decade for some new material. I wish that someone would ask him now if he’s still a fan.
The dude has acknowledged that he was at fault, but was this Draconian method of stopping him the right thing to do?
From the sounds of it, the news of the man being arrested by the FBI not only created a firestorm of interest about the story itself, it created a huge surge in people seeking out getting their own download of Chinese Democracy. That’s right: the action to suppress illegal downloading of this album actually contributed to more illegal downloads of it.
As a matter of fact, I have personally seen my own version of Chinese Democracy…which apparently is not the offending mix…become my most requested upload on the P2P service that I regularly use. Not that this is the most scientific method, but the article on The Lefsez Letter also suggests that the publicity has created more interest in others acquiring their own copy of Chinese Democracy than before.
Why the interest? 1.) because its been over a decade and this album has been a running joke for half of that and 2.) because Axl is batshit crazy and nobody with half a brain gives their money to people who are batshit crazy. Anyone who’s sane and not a GnR fanboy would agree that the band hasn’t done anything notable since Appetite anyway, so all we’d be holding out for is another over-produced and overwrought “epic” that’s just another outlet to satisfy Axl’s Captain Fantastic boner.
So even though I don’t have the “official” Chinese Democracy mix (and, apparently, the real thing is being negotiated for a retail deal ala The Eagles and AC/DC) how does it rate? It’s good…not great…essentially an Use Your Illusion that would have been relevant (ironically) 10 years ago but now sounds somewhat dated. That’s assuming that Axl hasn’t remixed the thing, which is highly unlikely, and that he’s driven himself further in the corner in trying to stay ahead of things. It may have done well years ago, perhaps revered the same way Illusion was when it was first released (remember those midnight sales of it?).
Then it would quickly die and fall off the radar in the same manner that those two albums were when people finally discovered “Hey! These things are not as good as Appetite!” The brilliance about Axl, I suppose, is that he managed to give Chinese Democracy…an album that is shittier than even Illusion(s)...with more shelf life than he could have gotten on its own merits.