DEL JAMES: “NO OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE” FOR CHINESE DEMOCRACY

Guns N’ Roses mania has started again: Tuesday night, what was alleged to be a “final” version of “Better”- the GN’R demo that leaked exactly a year ago today, was played at every show on the band’s subsequent European and North American tours, and is heavily rumored to be the first single from the forever-in-the-works Chinese Democracy– hit the internet, and the message boards have been aflutter since. Hipster blog Idolator took credit for the leak (good luck with that one, kids- unofficial GN’R message boards The GN’R Bar and ChineseDemocracy.com had it hours earlier). The Village Voice and Last Train to Jakarta both raved about the track, while hardcore GN’R fans everywhere (this one included) complained that the mix was too poppy, too Axl Rose-by-way-of- Justin Timberlake, and had sucked all the edge and life out of the demo we’ve all been listening to for the past year; GN’R guitarists Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal consequently felt compelled to reassure fans on his message board that this was most certainly not the final mix of the song.
Well, all of this online grumbling must have finally gotten Mr. Rose’s attention, because this morning official GN’R “biographer” Del James posted on the band’s official web site that while there is still “no official release date” for the disc- which not too long ago were all led to believe would be released on March 6- recording has been completed and mixing has begun. And thus the controversy dims… a least for now.
Hey, Axl: I’m all for creating hype through mystery, but we’ve been waiting 15 years. Throw us a frickin’ bone here, okay?

-AR