Exclusive GN'R 'Chinese Democracy' Album Art
Holding an actual copy of Guns N' Roses' 'Chinese Democracy' in your hands is like finding a Wonka Golden Ticket. More than a decade in the making, 'Chinese Democracy' was soon becoming the stuff of urban legend. Until Axl Rose decided to release it on Nov. 23, 2008. No, really.
Part of that legacy is the album's numerous false starts, be it due to empty Internet release rumors or announcements from Rose himself that never came to fruition. I had the opportunity to interview Rose for Rolling Stoneat the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in January 2006, at a Korn tour launch party. At the time, an easy-going and very chatty Rose said, "People will hear music this year."
That release date turned out to be three years premature, but other details he mentioned were true. For example, the Queen-like arrangements he described, which can be found on the theatrical 'Street of Dreams,' as well as the ballad 'This I Love.'"I'm trying to do something different," Rose told me. "Some of the people are going to say, 'It doesn't sound like Guns N' Roses. It doesn't sound like Axl Rose. You'll like at least a few songs on there."
This may have been his greatest truth.
In celebration of the album's release, we bring you exclusive 'Chinese Democracy' album art, sure to whet your appetite for the real thing. Finally.
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U2 Looks Toward New 'Horizon'
December 18, 2008 02:52 PM ET  Jonathan Cohen, N.Y. U2's twelfth studio album, "No Line on the Horizon," will arrive March 3 from Interscope. A track list for the set, which was produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois and Steve Lillywhite, has not been announced. Following sessions in Fez, Dublin and New York, "No Line on the Horizon" was originally expected to be released before the end of 2008, but U2 was not fully satisfied with the material and continued working. "I met with the guys in U2, and they say to me, 'You know what? This album needs two more songs, and it will be exactly what we have in mind.' I go there and I listen, and I agreed with them," Interscope-Geffen-A&M chairman Jimmy Iovine told Billboard last month. "It's a great record, but it deserves the time. Labels need to work with artists to help them achieve their best work, not to jam records out that are half-baked or three-quarters baked." "I'm always the one who underestimates how easy it is to simply 'put out the songs now.' If it was just up to me they'd be out already!," Bono told fans in September. "But early next year people will be able to start hearing what we've been doing. We want 2009 to be our year, so we're going to start making an impression very early on." "No Line on the Horizon" is the follow-up to 2004's "How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb." U2 is expected to be back on the road in 2009, marking its first tour as part of a massive recent deal with Live Nation. Among the songs expected to appear on the album are the title track, "Moment of Surrender" and "Unknown Caller." One source who has heard several of the songs in their early forms described them to Billboard as "amazing and a little out there. I hope they don't change anything." |
E! Online – Ex-Guns N' Roses Drummer Gets Rehab(E! Online)Los Angeles (E! Online) – Steven Adler has an appetite for rehab.
The former Guns N' Roses drummer escaped jail time Friday after aLos Angeles court commissioner ordered him Friday into a state-mandated drug-treatment program.
Adler, 43, pleaded no contest last month to felony drug possession charges resulting from a July bust in Hollywood. The plea means Adler will almost certainly receive probation and avoid a stint in prison as long as he completes an intensive rehab stint. Prosecutors also agreed to drop a misdemeanor count of being under the infuence.
The rocker has in recent days taken his battles with substance abusepublic, appearing on VH1's reality show, Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew, which chronicled his travails in another drug treatment facility. He checked out on Friday.
··· THEY SAID WHAT?
