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''Chinese Democracy'' is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on November 23, 2008, by Geffen Records. It was the band's first studio album since ''"The Spaghetti Incident?"'' (1993), and their first album of original studio material since the simultaneous releases of ''Use Your Illusion I'' and ''II'' in September 1991. Despite debuting at number three on the ''Billboard'' 200 and being certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), ''Chinese Democracy'' domestically undersold expectations. It received generally favorable reviews from music critics. The album achieved international chart success and has sold over one million copies in Europe. In 1994, Guns N' Roses' progress on a follow up to ''The Spaghetti Incident'' was halted due to creative differences between members. Slash, Duff McKagan, Matt Sorum, and Gilby Clarke all resigned or were fired from the band in the mid '90s. Vocalist Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed were the only members from the previous lineup remaining by the time production had started. A new lineup, consisting of Rose, Reed, guitarists Robin Finck and Paul Tobias, bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Josh Freese, and keyboardist Chris Pitman began working on the album in 1997. Initially intended to be released in 1999 or 2000, the album was re-recorded completely in 2000. The album was worked on by multiple lineups of the band, including later members Bryan Mantia, Buckethead, Richard Fortus, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, and Frank Ferrer. Personnel and legal reasons, as well as Rose's alleged perfectionism caused the album to be delayed multiple times, including missing an announced March 2007 release date, before being released in November 2008. With production costs reportedly eclipsing $13 million, the album is the most expensive rock album ever produced. ==Background== Guns N' Roses began to sporadically write and record new music in 1994.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title= Matt Sorum - 1996 )〕 Bassist Duff McKagan said the band "was so stoned at that point that nothing got finished". Guitarist Slash criticized Axl Rose for making the band seem "like a dictatorship". Rose later stated about the dysfunction of the group at the time: "We still needed the collaboration of the band as a whole to write the best songs. Since none of that happened, that's the reason why that material got scrapped." Rose's childhood friend and Hollywood Rose collaborator Paul Tobias was brought in to replace Gilby Clarke, whose contract with the band was not renewed. Due to creative differences with Rose and personal problems with Tobias, Slash quit the band in 1996. McKagan left soon after and Sorum was fired in 1997. Slash was replaced by Nine Inch Nails touring guitarist Robin Finck, ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson replaced McKagan, and Josh Freese joined as the drummer. In early 1998, the band—which comprised Rose, Finck, Stinson, rhythm guitarist Paul Tobias, keyboardists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman—began recording at Rumbo Recorders, a state-of-the-art studio in the San Fernando Valley where Guns N' Roses had partially recorded parts for their debut album, ''Appetite for Destruction''. During this time, Geffen paid Rose $1 million to try to finish the album, with a further $1 million if he handed it in to them by March 1, 1999.〔 By August 1999, the band had recorded over 30 songs for the album, tentatively titled ''2000 Intentions''. During a 1999 interview with MTV's Kurt Loder, Rose announced the title of the upcoming album to be ''Chinese Democracy'', stating "there's a lot of Chinese democracy movements, and it's something that there's a lot of talk about, and it's something that will be nice to see. It could also just be like an ironic statement. I don't know, I just like the sound of it." Rose also mentioned the album would feature "lot of different sounds. There's some heavy songs, there's a lot of aggressive songs, but they're all in different styles and different sounds. It is truly a melting pot."〔 In 1999, the industrial metal song "Oh My God" was released on the soundtrack of the movie ''End of Days'' and played over the movie's end credits. It featured Axl Rose, Tommy Stinson, Dizzy Reed, and Chris Pitman, along with former members Robin Finck, Paul Tobias, and Josh Freese. Dave Navarro and Gary Sunshine also recorded guitar parts for the song. "Oh My God" received mixed critical reception upon release and was described by Allmusic as "a less than satisfying comeback".〔 The song was the band's first release of new material with the new lineup. In 2000, Rose hired guitarist Buckethead, and drummer Bryan Mantia replaced Freese, who left to join A Perfect Circle. Later on in 2000, Finck (having briefly left the band in 1999) rejoined the band as the third guitarist. On January 1, 2001, Guns N' Roses played their first concert in over seven years at the House of Blues in Las Vegas, Nevada. This was followed by their headlining performance at Rock in Rio III on January 14, 2001 in front of 190,000 people. On August 29, 2002, the band made a surprise visit to the MTV Video Music Awards, playing old songs along with a new "Madagascar" to a New York crowd. The band canceled their tour in 2004 after Buckethead left the band. Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal replaced Buckethead and touring resumed in May 2006, with Bumblefoot adding guitar tracks to the album between legs of touring throughout the year. Drummer Frank Ferrer replaced Mantia in July 2006 and added his drum tracks to the album.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Guns N' Roses Drummer Says Axl Rose Wants To Release Remix Album Of 'Chinese Democracy' Songs - Blabbermouth.net )〕 On December 14, 2006, Rose published an open letter to the band's fans on their website, claiming that remaining tour's shows were taking up time the band needed to finish recording ''Chinese Democracy''. Rose also revealed that the band had parted company with their manager Merck Mercuriadis, implying that the reason the album was not released in 2006 was Mercuriadis's fault (many times throughout 2006, Rose had said the album would be released that year). In the letter, Rose announced a tentative release date of March 6, 2007 for the album; however, the album was once again delayed.〔 On February 22, 2007, the band's road manager, Del James, announced that all recording for the album had been completed and it was in the mixing process. James stated that there was no release date for the album but that things appeared to be moving on after a number of delays.〔 On September 14, 2008, "Shackler's Revenge" was released on the music video game ''Rock Band 2'', making it the band's first official release of new material since 1999's "Oh My God". "Shackler's Revenge" was shortly followed by another release, "If the World", which plays during the closing credits of ''Body of Lies''. A firm release date was announced by ''Billboard'' in October 2008, set for November 23. In the US, the retail release is sold exclusively through Best Buy. The first single from the album, "Chinese Democracy", was released on October 22, 2008, It was first played by the Opie and Anthony show on KROQ-FM. It was then followed by the second single "Better" on November 17, 2008. "Street of Dreams" was then released as the third single as a promo single in March 2009. The entire album was released as downloadable content for the ''Rock Band'' series on April 14, 2009. Shortly before the album's release, mastering engineer Bob Ludwig offered three versions of the album for approval to co-producers Axl Rose and Caram Costanzo, and they selected the one with no dynamic-range compression,〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Gateway Mastering & DVD )〕 to avoid being involved in the ongoing loudness war. Ludwig wrote, "I was floored when I heard they decided to go with my full dynamics version and the loudness-for-loudness-sake versions be damned." Ludwig feels that the "fan and press backlash against the recent heavily compressed recordings finally set the context for someone to take a stand and return to putting music and dynamics above sheer level."〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Chinese Democracy」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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