It turns out that since beginning the recording process in 1994, Axl Rose was actually working on his Chinese Democracy album, to be released under the Guns N Roses name. The album has a release date of November 23rd, which is nothing to get excited about until we see actual copies of the album available for purchase (pre-orders are available, if you like to gamble), but a single has been released, and played, on radio. Who thought this day would ever come? Do we still actually care?

According to The Times, the single is as produced and self indulgent and as 90s hair band sounding as you would have expected after 15 years of work.

Clearly, Axl is not a man in a hurry. There’s 45 seconds of people talking while an orchestra tunes up before the snare drums crashes down and an understated guitar arpeggio joins the warm up. The actual power chord riff that signals that the band is ready to rock doesn’t kick in till the minute mark, and Axl doesn’t let out his trademark scream till 1 minute thirty seconds.

The opening line is “It doesn’t really matter,” which you might think was a bit defeatist after all that preamble, but the song itself is surprisingly lean, mean and to the point, verging on old school power pop with extra twiddling (it sounds like they might have spent most of the last two decades mixing guitars).

Linking onanism and politics, Axl rhymes ‘masturbation’ with ‘rule the nation’, but I couldn’t actually work out what the connection was, or what the song is supposed to be about, but that’s par for the course in the genre. There’s a lead solo at 3.15, the purpose of which seems to be to set the record for the number of notes that can be played per bar. It’s sparky but not particularly memorable. Slash is unlikely to lose sleep.

The song climaxes at 4.20 but then there’s another 25 seconds of fading rumble, presumably while the band catch their breath. The whole thing lasts nearly five minutes, but I only make that about three minutes of actual song, the rest is just a kind of elaborate set of bookends, lending the whole experience an air of self importance. Still, after all that time, you can forgive them for making a meal of their comeback.

London Times

I’m guessing that talking about masturbation and politics together isn’t going to catch on leading up to the election…

Dr Pepper will now have to pony up with their offer of a free can for every American if the album came out this year, and surprisingly enough they have. Of course, when they made the offer the economy was still good.

On the release date you can go to www.drpepper.com and for 24 hours register your details to get sent your coupon, which is valid for a free can until February. Former band members Slash and Buckethead are excluded from the offer.

The New York Times archives has a great article on the convoluted recording process of Chinese Democracy.

Here’s the single:

Axl Rose is shown out at a Versace party on 9/2/07. Credit: Fame

Lately I’ve found that it can be surprisingly – and disturbingly – difficult to explain to men why hitting on women half their age is considered creepy. For some reason I’ve heard all sorts of guys trying to play it off like it’s the women who have the problem and they’re just cold, rude, etcetera for daring to have any other feeling than absolutely gratitude. Here’s a great example of why it’s creepy: guys like Axl Rose hitting on relatively young girls like Kelly Osbourne.

AXL ROSE has spent 10 long years recording GUNS N’ ROSES’ ‘new’ album, but he cuts to the chase when it comes to women.

According to New York designer RICHIE RICH, the temperamental frontman took a shine to KELLY OSBOURNE at a recent Hollywood bash and made his sexual attraction to her lewdly clear.

Rich said: “Axl was really weird with her.

“He kept leering at her and saying, ‘I want to f*** you’.”

Unsurprisingly, Kelly didn’t take him up on the eloquent offer.

Just as well, because nothing would disrupt the fractious Osbourne family more than having Axl Rose for a son-in-law.

[From The Sun]

Several U.S. magazines picked up this story but have since taken it down, which makes me wonder about it a bit. So take it with a grain of salt. That said, if there’s anyone I’d imagine saying something so lewd, it’d be Axl Rose. That guy seriously looked a hell of a lot better BEFORE he had all that plastic surgery. Now he just looks like a surprised St. Bernard. One hell of a confusing look, if you ask me. I seriously can’t imagine what woman would be able to sleep with that face.

Update by Celebitchy: The news from Kelly’s camp is that Rich made up this story about Axl and Kelly for some reason, likely to do with a personal vendetta and publicity:

New York fashion designer Richie Rich claimed that he was with Osbourne when Rose began behaving oddly.

He told OK!: “He was really weird with her. He kept leering at her and saying, ‘I want to f*** you!’.”

Representatives for Sharon Osbourne and Rose denied the rumours, branding Rich “a self-promoting liar”.

“Kelly and Axl may have met briefly at a party more than four years ago, but Mr. Rich’s fantasy of what happened, in reality… never did,” the statement said.

“Both Kelly and Axl resent this falsehood and respect each other immensely.”

[From DigitalSpy.co.uk]

Here’s Axl Rose at a Versace party in February 2007. Images thanks to Fame.

He’s been called the Jim Morrison of a new generation, but Scott Weiland’s bandmates in Velvet Revolver consider him a giant pain in the ass. The supergroup, made up of members of Guns N’ Roses and Stone Temple Pilots, has been more than patient with the temperamental front man, even during his well publicized fall off the wagon and rehab stint last year. But when Scott started slamming band members in the media after their recent European tour, and expressing interest in getting back together with newly formed version of Stone Temple Pilots, the rest of Velvet Revolver decided that enough was enough.

The announcement came in a terse statement from the group’s management company as Weiland, 40, and his recently reunited original band, Stone Temple Pilots, were set next week to announce plans for a highly anticipated summer tour.

The Pilots, also known by their acronym, STP, already have confirmed a handful of upcoming dates, beginning with the Rock on the Range festival in Columbus, Ohio, on May 17-18.

For Weiland, whose career has long been overshadowed by heroin addiction, Rock on the Range will mark his first show with STP since the band played 13 concerts to promote its last album of new material, 2001’s Shangri-La Dee Da.

Following the breakup of STP, Weiland was welcomed as lead singer for Velvet Revolver, the newly formed grunge rock band founded by three former members of Guns N’ Roses - guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum - along with second guitarist Dave Kushner.

Velvet Revolver was confronted from the start with Weiland’s drug and legal problems as it juggled performance schedules, recording sessions and promotional work to accommodate his court dates and rehab.

Last month, Weiland pleaded innocent to a charge of driving under the influence of drugs stemming from his arrest on a Los Angeles freeway ramp in November.

He is free on $US40,000 bail and is due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Friday.

A public feud between Weiland and Velvet Revolver’s drummer already had cast doubt on the band’s future when the statement on behalf of Sorum, Slash, McKagan and Kushner was issued under the headline “Velvet Revolver to Part Ways with Singer”.

“This band is all about its fans and its music, and Scott Weiland isn’t 100 per cent committed to either,” Slash was quoted as saying.

“Among other things, his increasingly erratic on-stage behaviour and personal problems have forced us to move on.”

[From Stuff.nz]

Well, I say good riddance. I’ve always thought Weiland was overrated, and definitely the weakest link in every band he’s been in. The question now is, will Velvet Revolver continue without him- and who will replace him? There’s been speculation that Axl Rose will rejoin the fold, thus reuniting the original lineup of Guns N’ Roses (without Traci Guns), but given the animosity between Axl and guitarist Slash, there is no way that’s gonna happen. My vote for the new frontman is former Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell. THAT would be a supergroup.

Apparently, the marketing team at Dr. Pepper are fans of rock band Guns N’ Roses. The soft drink company has proposed that if the band’s “Chinese Democracy” CD, which has been more than 15 years in the making, is released within the calendar year 2008, everyone in the U.S. will receive one free can of Dr. Pepper. Well, almost everyone.

Many have tried, but so far nobody has been able to pry the decade-in-the-works Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy” from the hands of lone remaining original member Axl Rose.

Now, Dr Pepper thinks it’s up to the challenge. The soft drink company says it will give a free can of Dr Pepper to “everyone in America” (excluding ex-Guns members Slash and Buckethead) if “Chinese Democracy” arrives anytime during the calendar year 2008.

Rose responded on his band’s web site (http://www.gunsnroses.com) that the band was “surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper.” But the offer did not prompt him to rose [sic] to the challenge.

“Chinese Democracy” was most recently scheduled for release in March 2007, but promptly vanished from the schedule without a new date being set. Rose said at the time that all the recording had been completed, but there were some “scheduling difficulties.”

It will be the first album of fresh Guns N’ Roses material since the 1991 sets “Use Your Illusion I” and “Use Your Illusion II.” Rose has reportedly burned through $13 million in recording expenses for “Chinese Democracy,” and also burned his bridges with the bandmates who helped him turn Guns into one of the biggest rock groups in the world by the early 1990s.

[From Reuters]

I doubt this CD is ever going to see the light of day. Sources that that control-freak Axl Rose is obsessed with it and can’t stop re-recording the tracks to make them perfect. Besides, most people who buy popular music these days probably don’t even know who Guns N’ Roses are anymore.

Who knows - maybe Axl Rose really liked Dr. Pepper and will finally release the CD so he can get his free can. This kind of reminds me of the Taco Bell stunt during the 2007 World Series, in which the fast food restaurant offered to give everyone in America one free taco if someone stole a base during the games. They must have freaked when Boston Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury stole second- they had to follow through on that offer!

Axl Rose is shown below on 9/1/06, thanks to WENN. He’s seen in the header image performing on 6/1/06, thanks to PRPhotos.