In 1998, legendary heavy metal act Guns N' Roses would enter the studio to produce a new studio album; their first record of original material since 1991's Use Your Illusion I & II, and their first studio release ever since 1993's cover record The Spaghetti Incident?. This record, which would be dubbed Chinese Democracy, was intended for a 1999 release date.
It would not see release until about 9 years later.
The stories behind Chinese Democracy's numerous release date foibles are varied and many, ranging from lineup changes, legal issues, frontman Axl Rose's own obsessive sense of perfectionism, and even an incident involving the soda company Dr. Pepper. But amidst all the hype and comparisons to vaporware, it's easy to forget there's still an album to be heard. An album full of confusing fusions with industrial music and nu-metal, confusingly overblown songwriting from Rose himself, and a confusing man named Buckethead.
On this episode of Jukebox Zeroes, Lilz and Patrick are joined by David Rosen of the Piecing It Together podcast to dig into Chinese Democracy; a record whose protracted production time is the stuff of legends, and is still to this day the most expensive rock record ever produced.
...wait, didn't we already do this one?
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