Oh My God: 10 Years and 14 Songs Later ...

Today marks the 10th anniversary of the release of "Oh My God," the first single of the Chinese Democracy / New Guns era.

10 years later, and what have we got? A few short tours. One album. A whole lot of empty promises. Dozens of missed opportunities, and a handful of scapegoats: Slash, Jimmy Iovine, Buckethead, and Merck Mercuriadis (to name a few).

10 wasted years.

That's my opinion. What do you think? How would you rate Axl's performance as Captain of the Guns N' Roses ship?

You can leave a comment at the bottom of this page.

And now, without any further ado, here's my third favorite Axl rose press release:


September 22nd, 1999

So here's the story behind this music

The chorus: OH MY GOD etc. deals with the societal repression of deep and often agonizing emotions - some of which may be willingly accepted for one reason or another - the appropriate expression of which (one that promotes a healing, release and a positive resolve) is often discouraged and many times denied. Emotionally the song contemplates several abstract perspectives drawing from personal expression as well as from the film (End Of Days) and its metaphors. The appropriate expression and vehicle for such emotions and concepts is not something taken for granted.

Musically the song was primarily written by Paul Huge over two years ago, with Dizzy Reed writing the musical hook of the chorus.

Former member Duff McKagan as well as former employee Matt Sorum failed to see its potential and showed no interest in exploring, let alone recording the piece.

When the demos were played for the new band, Josh, Tommy and Robin were as they say 'all over it.'

Once the opportunity was presented, the song was given priority in our recording process. As the verse, performance and lyrics were decided on, for us (that especially includes Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine) the choice became obvious. We were more than pleased Mr. Roswell (the film's music supervisor) agreed! Our thanks to Arnold and all for the consideration - it is an association in which we have always felt honored.

Paul Huge, Gary Sunshine and Dave Navarro appear on the song as well as Robin Finck. Robin's part was written by Paul and extensively manipulated by our producer, Sean Beaven. Robin was not involved in the writing of the final recording though did participate in the arrangement. All lyrics were written by myself.

Additional programming (jack boots, screeching tires, etc.) was by Stuart White.

The fight of good vs. evil, positive vs. negative, man against a seemingly undefeatable, undeterrable, unrevealed destiny, along with the personal and universal struggle to attain, maintain and responsibly manage freewill can be and often is frustrating to say the least. In America our country's constitutional right to freedom of expression gives us a better chance to fight for that expression than many in other countries enjoy. It can be a big gig, like kickin' the crap outta the devil!

Power to the people, peace out and blame Canada,

Axl

GNR Evolution Q&A with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal

Yesterday, GNR Evolution published an interview with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal.

I've copied a brief excerpt of the Q&A below.

GNR Evolution Q&A with Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal

GnREvolution: I would like to ask if your solos on "Shacklers" and "Riad" were influenced at all by Buckethead and did you secretly try to out do him?

Bumblefoot: Hahaha, no and no. Listen to my demos from 20 years ago and you'll find that I play the way I play, long before there were buckets on anyone's head or bumbles on anyone's feet. Guys from the same era like me, Bucket, Mattias Eklundh, Christophe Godin, Guthrie Govan, and plenty more, all have a similar thread in the spirit of what we do.

No one's copying each other, the same way most 70's blues rock guitarists aren't copying each other - but there was something in the air at the time their cast was solidifying, that affected how they expressed themselves. This happens throughout every era of music, and in our case, the transition from the fun gluttonous 80s into the tighten-your-belt 90s, a time when cultures began to merge, big hair rock turned toward funk rock, grunge, rap rock ... there was an open-mindedness, more of a multi-mindedness that occurred. Listen to any of our solo albums, you'll hear what I mean.

GnREvolution: Are there any songs on Chinese Democracy that nearly didn't make it? What can you tell us about the alternate album artwork and CD booklet?

Bumblefoot: Ah man, I never get into things that haven't happened - it can affect the final outcome of things, ya can't do that. It's like going up to a stranger and saying, "In 10 seconds I'm gonna try to steal your car." Guaranteed, the outcome won't be the same. So I never talk about plans, things that haven't happened yet - also, as I'm here typing this, managers could be walking out of a meeting in LA, and I don't know what's up until they tell me. Anything I'd say would be mis-information until it's so absolutely undeniably definite, in which case you'd probably find out from them soon after I did.

In my own band, there's less riding on things, it's OK to open the window and let everyone see inside. And I enjoy that, making videos in the studio as an album's being recorded, letting people know what I'm planning for myself - no biggie, if the plans don't happen, it's not like multi-million dollar companies have invested time and the work of hundreds of people are affected by the change. There's a need for protection and privacy when it comes to GN'R biz, or anything on that level. I know it can make you feel frustrated, invisible, abandoned - even though it sucks, I hope you understand that there's too much at stake to risk being irresponsible with information.

GnREvolution: Do you have anything to say about the chemistry of the members of Guns N' Roses, either person to person, or as a whole group? And what the hell happened with Robin, it's so weird he left on the eve of the album release?

Bumblefoot: I can't and won't speak on Robin's behalf, it's totally up to him if he wants to share anything about it. Me, I'm in touch almost daily with members of the band and crew, we hang when we can. I see Frank most often because we live near each other on the East Coast. But we all have phones, email, we're in touch pretty often.



GnREvolution: Did you work on any of these tracks which Axl confirmed as working titles of future GN'R Material or was your involvement in the recording process strictly limited to the songs which appear on Chinese Democracy? (Ides Of March, Berlin (Oklahoma), Atlas Shrugged, Oh My God, Silkworms, Down By The Ocean, Soul Monster (Leave Me Alone), Seven, The General, Thyme, Quick Song, Zodiac).

Did you contribute to writing any new material for GN'R that we won't hear until some possible future album? Is the material you've heard for the follow up albums heavier or is it pretty much the same ballad to rocker ratio as appears on CD? Basically anything you can tell us about any future GN'R material would be appreciated...

Bumblefoot: I played on a good handful of songs that weren't on Chinese Democracy. [I] can't predict what the fate of any of those songs will be. I haven't written any new songs with GN'R, [but I] would like to see it get to that point.

(This is but a short excerpt, you can read the full interview here.)

A Modern Classic

"You know, we've only done one show before this, and already we have been criticized for playing the old songs, but I have no intention, and I never did, of denying you something you enjoy, and I thought it was only fair for you to see that this new band can play the fuck out of these songs.

It's very hard to ask a musician to learn to play the part or parts played by other musicians before them. These guys here have worked very hard.

As for you guys ... On lead guitar here we have Mr. Buckethead. You've already met my friend Mr. Paul Tobias. On keyboards once again Mr. Dizzy Reed. On the drums - Brain, and on the keyboards over here, Mr. Chris Pitman. You've met Mr. Robin Finck, and leading us through these rehearsals, General Tommy Stinson.

This is a new song, I hope you like it, this is called "Chinese Democracy."

Guns N' Roses Guitarists

Slash just recorded a guitar part on a song for the British singer Estelle. He also revealed that Velvet Revolver is having a meeting next week. I expect them to announce Franky Perez as their new vocalist. Franky will replace Scott Weiland who left the band last Spring to reunite with Stone Temple Pilots.


Izzy Stradlin's new album is due to be released on iTunes any day now.


Gilby Clarke will play with Wayne Kramer of the MC5 at the Cultura Quente Festival in Caldas de Reis, Ponteverde, Spain on July 10.


After that Gilby's doing a three-week stint at The Viper Room in West Hollywood, CA on July 11, 18 and 25.

Gilby will also host & perform at the Storm Stadium Rock Fest in Lake Elsinore, CA on August 15. Adler's Appetite, Warrant, Great White, and KOTTAK are also playing the festival.

Robin Finck and Nine Inch Nails have announced NEW FINAL DATES.


They're going to play a handful of shows in NYC, Chicago and LA starting August 22. They will be informal affairs in medium to small venues with longer set-lists, possible special guests, cool openers and other surprises. In NYC they'll be playing Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall and Terminal 5. In Chicago, the Aragon Ballroom. In LA they'll be at The Wiltern, The Henry Fonda, The Palladium and The Echoplex. These should be cool, unusual and unique final shows for Nine Inch Nails.

Finally, DJ Ashba will chat live with fans (and non-fans, I suppose) next Wednesday, July 15 at 7 PM Pacific / 10 PM Eastern Time at AshbaLand.com


You will need to download and install Palace chat software to join in.

Chinese Democracy Guitar Tab Book

Coming June 30 from Hal Leonard, The Chinese Democracy Guitar Tab Book.

Awesome. It's great to see things moving again with this project. I hope the book is well done. There's a lot of guitars on this record, so it could be a pretty sweet book (if they do it well).

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