there's a small part of me - no, a big part of me - that wants chinese democracy to be the greatest album ever created. chinese democracy is, for those who don't know, the upcoming guns 'n roses album. axl rose, the only remaining original member of the band, has been working on the album for the last 14 years.
i'm quite sure that chinese democracy won't be the greatest album ever created. i'm quite sure that chinese democracy won't even be a very good album. i'm quite sure that chinese democracy won't even be liked very much by anyone at all. but i still really really really want it to be the greatest album ever created - not just my favourite album of all time, and not just the best album ever created according to, oh, i don't know, guitar world magazine or something. i want it to be universally accepted as the greatest album ever created. i want it to be the michael jordan of albums. i want critics to write about why it is the greatest album ever created. i want it to sell more copies than thriller. i want it to be loved by both my mom and by 14-year-old kids who wear sideways hats.
you see, i feel sorry for axl rose. he's become a bit of a joke these past 14 years. and it's not just because of the cornrows. music writers often make deliciously witty comments about the 14-year gap, the revolving door of band members, the temper tantrums, the bicycle shorts, the cornrows. people want him to fail - which may be why he's been working at it for so long. about a month ago, a bunch of songs from chinese democracy were leaked. of course, certain online music publications, who would never cover a band like guns 'n roses in the first place, were quick to comment on the new material. of course, the comments were not very nice at all. my dream of chinese democracy being the greatest album ever created seems even less likely now. my theory, though, is that the leaked songs are actually fake. axl rose had plenty of time to record some intentionally sub-par material. it would be a genius move - giving critics a false sense of self-satisfaction, only to rip it away by dishing out the greatest album ever created. axl rose is, in fact, a genius, making my theory at least somewhat believable.
i hate to compare myself to a genius like axl rose, but i feel like i can kind of relate to what he's going through. you write something, you record it, you listen to it, you like it but aren't really happy with it, so you go back and re-work it, re-record it, and you keep going through the cycle until you are either happy with it, or you throw it away. you keep second guessing yourself and you start listening to everything else out there. you realize that what you are making is much different from whatever is popular at the moment, and you consider changing what you do to suit the trends. then you realize that you wouldn't be very honest with yourself, and you go back to your own voice. next thing you know, 14 years have gone by.
it hasn't taken me 14 years, but it feels like i've been working on this record for at least that long. fortunately i don't have a whole bunch of people (only 2 or 3) making fun of me for taking so long. and i don't have cornrows. but i'm still always second guessing myself - i want everything to be perfect. i've realized that it can't be perfect - i just have to be reasonably happy with it, i guess, and then start working on the next one. axl has been second guessing for 14 years. except with the title - he's stuck with chinese democracy for around 10 years, i think. so i'm making a deal: if i finish my next album before chinese democracy is released, my next album will be called chinese democracy. it surely will not be the greatest album ever created.
