Remember Guns N' Roses? Chances are that if you hit puberty between 1987 and 1993, you're familiar with a handful of their songs. Considering the band was only really active for 6 years, they did manage to put out five albums, 3 of which are golden from first to last track.

I remember the first time I heard "November Rain". I thought Slash was a god (still sort of do) but the tune was an instant classic.

As I got a little older, I came to love some of the others, particularly "Paradise City" and the totally awesome "Welcome to the Jungle" but to this day, my all time favourite G N' R tune is a cover of a Rolling Stones classic. "Sympathy for the Devil" was fetaured on the Interview with a Vampire soundtrack and it was a perfect fit not to mention that it's a great, great tune.




If you can remember that far back, 2002 was a milestone year for the band. After nearly 9 years of working on their new studio album titled "Chinese Democracy", the band announced a North American tour which was to kick off in Vancouver. I spent $200 on 2 tickets for my sister and I. I clearly remember getting off of the Skytrain and walking towards GM Place. We left our arrival until fairly late thinking we'd miss the opening band but the show was scheduled to start in a few minutes and it didn't look like anyone had been let in. We made our way to the now closed Mavericks on the Water Front to have a few drinks and about 2 drinks in we hear the bartender announce that the concert has been cancelled. We don't believe him so we walk out the door and towards the stadium but when we saw a mass of people running towards us, we headed back into the bar. Not only had the show been cancelled, a riot had broken out.

We spent a few hours at the bar and finally headed towards the Skytrain and home before midnight. There was garbage all around and from the train we could see the broked glass of the doors. It was a total disaster.

Six years later, the band (not really the same band since Axel is the only returning member) has finally released their first single from the new album, still called "Chinese Democracy" and which also happens to be the first single. I heard this a few days back and have to admit, I was not impressed. It's not as instantly catchy as their previous work though I will admit that on a second listen it's not too bad.

The album will be released November 23 and at this point, I'm not sure I'm going to invest in it. We'll see what the other tracks sound like. If you want a sneak listen, "Chinese Democracy" is being streamed on the band's official webiste.