Axl Rose and Dr. Pepper: About the fans or the money?

Axl Rose must be a bit worried. At least that's what I gather. Because so far there has been no official report on the sales of the latest Guns 'n Roses album, Chinese Democracy. But Axl Rose is looking to garner more media attention, and possibly a few bucks as well.

By now everyone knows that Dr. Pepper famously made a promise to the public that if Chinese Democracy was released this year they would give the nation a free drink. At the time the odds of the much rumored and 15 years delayed album actually arriving in stores for sale were slim at best. But Guns 'n Roses finally got it out, and Dr. Pepper decided to make good on their promise - as I mentioned in a prior post.

The problem for Dr. Pepper is that everyone paid attention to their offer. There was such a rush on their site that it crashed. They then extended their offer by 24 hours. But it seems that the company's website was still unable to handle the demand, or was otherwise disabled for most of the extension time. This is where Axl Rose comes in.

Rose has now gotten his lawyer to jump into the fray and demand that Dr. Pepper do more to live up to their word. He is insiting that Dr. Pepper make good for all the people that were unable to receive the coupon that would provide a free 20 oz drink of their products. And Rose wants the company to take out full page ads apologizing for the problems encountered, and the use of Guns 'n Roses' as a publicity stunt.

If all of these things are not done, then Axl Rose plans on some form of lawsuit to get paid.

Now who is using who to get paid, make sales, and drum up publicity? It makes me wonder what the sales numbers are really going to look like. According to Newsday

"..."Chinese Democracy" is a good effort and it would have seemed even better if it came out in a decent amount of time, say, you know, a decade ago....

That "Chinese Democracy" came out at all is a monument to Rose's artistic vision and his belief in himself. But all its excesses and its occasional lack of focus also serve as a testament to the kind of ridiculous spending and star-coddling that led to the music industry's current sales-dropping predicament. All along the line, this project would have benefited from someone telling Rose "no," but any check on him came too late."

Mark Savage at the BBC had a bit more positive take on the album

"This record is an uncompromising, fully-focused, hard rock monster.
At times, it will rattle the rafters with its ferocious riffs. At others, you will laugh out loud at the ridiculously overblown melodrama.
In other words, it's business as usual for Guns N' Roses."

And of course there is Rolling Stone

"Let's get right to it: The first Guns n' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record...

You may debate whether any rock record is worth that extreme self-indulgence. Actually, the most rock & roll thing about Chinese Democracy is he doesn't care if you do."

In every review, positive or not, there is the consistent thought that this album would have been a stellar release a decade ago. Everyone seems to agree that there are several songs that relive the glory of the past that Guns n' Roses enjoyed. But overall the final thoughts seem to say mixed things. And that's never wonderful for sales.

So I expect that this bruhha over Dr. Pepper is just a way to either gain more record sales, or more likely an attempt to get Dr. Pepper to dole out some cash in a settlement so as to recoup some of the $11 million spent on creating Chinese Democracy. In effect it gives me pause on just how good the album is, which I admit I have not heard yet.

So in the end what do you think? Is Axl Rose protecting his property as he did when he had blogger Kevin Cogill arrested, or is it to just make some money in the face of low sales?

Is Chinese Democracy good? You win even if it's not

Guns n’ Roses’ can be called many things. Sporadic, drugged, crazed, genius, lyrical, inspirational all have been used and fit well to this band. Perhaps this can all best be ascribed to lead singer Axl Rose, a man with a plethora of issues, passion, demons, and intensity. And it can be said that Axl’s many weaknesses are his strengths as well. But one of the short-comings of the band he famously heads will soon be naught but the memories of the past.

It’s been more than a decade since Guns n’ Roses’ last released an album. The upcoming album Chinese Democracy has been worked on and redone since 1994. And most believed that it would be the equivalent of Meatloaf topping Bat Out of Hell. It just won’t happen. But all things are probable, even the improbable (as a certain engine proved).

Thus Chinese Democracy is going to come out in a mere handful of days. Most in Rock and Roll are more than just a bit surprised. And no one is sure what to really expect. Well no one except a blogger that placed early bits of the album on his blog, and was rudely awoken by the police because of it.

Will this be a good album? Will it be worth the wait? To be honest, I doubt it. Anything that takes that long to make, and is not destined to operate in outer space is most likely to be a ruinous waste of time. There might be a song or 2 that are ok, but the rest will fail miserably. The past glory will remain in the past – no matter the sales of all the curious.

But even if this new album is a complete waste of time, an utter disgrace confirming that some things are best left undone, you will be able to gain something from the effort. And you won’t even need to buy anything to get it. Yes you can be rewarded for the sweat, humiliation, and decade of work laid out by Axl Rose. Courtesy of Dr. Pepper.

Back in March of this year Dr. Pepper bet that Chinese Democracy was as likely to be released this year as Hillary Clinton becoming the sweetheart of America. Senator Hillary Clinton is still despised by some 50% of the nation (including more than a few in the Obama camp), but Dr. Pepper lost their bet. And that means that every person in America wins. You are now entitled to a free 20 ounce Dr. Pepper. Talk about buying a round for the house.

As of 12:01 Sunday you will have one day to get a coupon, at their website located at www.drpepper.com, which will be good until Feb. 28, 2009. That coupon will get you your free drink.

I have to admit that I never thought they would do this. It’s rare to see a major corporation live up to the letter of their word – when it’s costing them money. Then again the release of Guns n’ Roses’ album is even more rare an occurrence.

AC/DC proves rock and roll is a train on the tracks

AC/DC. Are they a metal band, or rock n roll? It’s a question many wonder about, but honestly who cares. They are just good and that’s all that really matters.

The band is one of the few that can state they cover 3 decades of performance and solid hits. They have gone from Australia (their home) to England, America and the world. They have sold over 200 million records, cleared the 2004 Greatest 100 Artists All -Time List of Rolling Stone, and they just released another album – Black Ice and the single Rock n Roll Train.

The band has survived the loss and replacement of several members. They have outlasted changes in world music fads. They have cleared the hurdle of time. So it’s no surprise that their current tour is filling stadiums.

One of their recent performances gives you a taste of the showmanship of AC/DC, and the quality of their music. This is the single Rock N Roll Train, live.



In an era of music that is sampled, oversampled, and infusing nearly every genre with rap, it’s refreshing to see a band do original work again. Some bands change with the times, some fad over time, and AC/DC is among those that just pass time doing what they do best.

And just to compare here is a view of AC/DC in the past



and one more



Yeah they still got it.

Rock and Roll - the other Black music

Have you ever been up late at night and seen the extended commercials that hawk this good or that? You know the shows for instant fat reduction without requiring you to get off your ass, or the endless promises to make you rich over night without a stitch of effort or knowledge. These infomercials are rampant on the late-nite airwaves. But I saw one tonight that got me thinking.

While watching Tron (a great movie) I flipped channels during the commercial and found an infomecial about the Oldies but Goodies. This Time Life infomecial was about Rock ‘n Roll. Particularly about the original artists and entertainers that created this music genre. These artists are before the Beatles, or Elvis, or the Rolling Stones. We are talking about the people that got the whole ball of wax started.

That would include Chuck Berry, Ritchie Valens, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Chubby Checker, The Platters, The Drifters, Johnny Mathis, Sam Cooke, The Cleftones, The Dells and so many more. You may not know all these artists if you are my age or younger, but you have likely heard their songs in movies and on the radio.

Some of these songs include:

Johnny B. Goode
Rock Around The Clock
What'd I Say
Long Tall Sally
Maybellene
Shake, Rattle And Roll
Blueberry Hill
Please, Please, Please
The Great Pretender
Ain't It A Shame
You Send Me
Wake Up Little Susie
La Bamba
I'm Walkin'
Lonely Teardrops
Shake, Rattle And Roll
Who Do You Love
Dedicated To The One I Love

I’m only barely touching the artists that influenced the decade. There are far more artists and songs I could name. But there is something that is inherently the same in each of these and the entire birth of Rock and Roll. Black musicians.

Today, and for a couple of decades, Rock music has been dominated by White musicians. In fact it’s so common that most people associate rock music with White audiences. I’ve never ceased to be amazed by the people that wonder why I enjoy rock and roll since it’s “not my music”.

Yet there would be no rock and roll without Black musicians. In fact many of the popular artists of the 1950’s and 60’s started off as cover artists. White performers would sing the exact same song as a Black artist and record companies would sell it. The highly racist and segregated nation preferred to buy the White version of the song and propelled those artists to fame and fortune; perhaps the best known of these cover artists was Elvis Presley.

But my point is this. Why is rock and roll associated with Whites only? Why is it a dirty word among African Americans, the little secret that you listen to without your friends knowing? Why is it that millions of baby boomers are buying compilation records by the thousands, or tens of thousands, yet year after year the names of the African American music pioneers that they listen to each night get spoken less and less.

I wrote a post about Chubby Checker recently. I doubt anyone under 45 really knows his music. But he helped found rock and roll. As did Chuck Berry. But when was the last time you heard their names connected to the genre they helped to create?

Today the music industry would like Americans to believe that Rock is a White music. That is a lie. They want to make it seem like African Americans have no place in the genre. That is another lie. We created it, and helped to make it what it was and is.

Without Fats Domino, or Chubby Checker, or B.B. King, or Ray Charles, and on there would be no Beatles, or The Who, or Led Zepllin. There would be no Lynrd Skynrd, or ZZ Top, or Stone Temple Pilots. It’s just the reality of the history.

So knowing this and watching that infomercial featuring Bowzer of Sha-na-na (an older TV show) and seeing 4 out of 5 video clips in that infomercial featuring a Black musician I could not help but wonder what happened. How did the African America creation suddenly become devoid of color? Why did Elvis become a mega-star for singing covers of Black artist’s songs? Why is it that today most people can name Prince, Lenny Kravitz and maybe Living Color or Jimi Hendrix as the only Black rock and roll entertainers?

Perhaps it’s me but I find it troubling that Time Life is making a boatload of money on the backs of entertainers that were paid pennies and created a genre of music that now brings in millions if not billions each year. And while tens of millions of Americans know the songs (not including fans across the world) the recognition and association for their music goes to copycats and runner-ups.

Today some say that racism has been defeated because 1 Black man has the chance to become President. But how can anyone say that when something as basic and universal as music denies the existence of African Americans that created a legacy that thrives today?

Maybe I am up too late without sleep. Or maybe, just maybe, America continues to have a schizophrenic attitude to the contributions and existence of people of color. And if the latter is true, the success of any 1 person will never be enough to heal the nation and move us all to the future together.

Or do you think I’m wrong?

Chubby Checker: Acknowledged at last

Back before I was born Ernest Evans was out across America spreading cheer and rallying crowds. This is significant for 2 reasons. First is the fact that as a Black man in the late 50’s and early 60’s, Mr. Evans was doing this for crowds of Black and White Americans in a segregated America. The second is the fact that as Chubby Checker he was helping to usher in Rock 'n Roll, which at the time had the same opposition that gangsta rap thrives off of today.

But let me ask a question to my younger (at least younger than me) readers. Can you name a song that Chubby Checker sang? Can you tell me the last time you heard a song of his on the radio?

I imagine that the answer to the first and second question will be “I can’t”.

And that is a shame. Because Chubby Checker is a stellar performer. He is a singer and songwriter. He is the only entertainer to have 5 albulms on the Top 12 all at the same time. The Beatles didn’t do it, Elvis didn’t do it, the Rolling Stones didn’t either.

Chubby Checker recorded albums for 6 consecutive years, and had songs featuring him 23 and 43 years after his last album was created. Few if any artists, in Rock and Roll or any other music genre, can say. In fact the number of entertainers that can say they have 6 years of consecutive success and a career that spans 49 years are almost nil.

But you don’t hear the songs of Chubby Checker on the radio. You probably have never heard his rendition of Georgia on My Mind – which reportedly rocked the crowd in the Apollo. You never heard the song Dance the Mess Around, or Birdland. And you never hear his name mentioned in the all-time greatest Rock And Roll artists.

That is until now. As of today Billboard has named The Twist as the #1 Top Hot 100 song of the past 50 years. Above the Beatles, Elvis, Santana, Frankie Avalon and Fabian (both of which he went to school with), or Los Del Rio’s hit The Macarena. And it’s about time.

Considering the longevity of Chubby Checker, the popularity he had then and now, and the challenges he overcame in that time in American history I have to wonder why he has received such little acclaim. Why has it taken so long to acknowledge his talent, especially when so many minor talents get constant attention over the years.

My only answer is that Chubby Checker symbolizes a time in America most Americans don’t want to acknowledge. Segregation, Jim Crow, and a severely racist America are all key features of the time that Evans came to national attention for. To recognize him is to bring up images of that time. And America is remiss to acknowledge the wrongs based in race that it has done.

That’s a real shame because there is no question of the talent of this entertainer. Billboard recognizes it, millions have heard it.

So for those that have not heard of Chubby Checker, for those that want to hear him again, and for those that want to see one of the few African Americans that was able to break the race barrier on television (appearing without being portrayed as a buffoon or stereotype) at the time, I present the Grammy winning song Let’s Twist Again.



And for something a little different here is a song you might have heard in movies, commercials and other places and didn’t know it was a Chubby Checker song – Limbo Rock

Concluding Now that Imus is gone - 4.12.2007.3

Concluding Now that Imus is gone...

Any institution that serves the public has a responsibility and morale imperative to not disparage the public. Commentators are not allowed to say anything they wish in a discussion, television broadcasters (public and cable alike) cannot show movies and films of any content at any time to every viewer without discretion, news media cannot report anything they cannot justifyably confirm. There are limits to what can be done, as there should be. Even in the 1950’s and 60’s when parents were outraged by Rock ‘n Roll, with its mantra of sex and drugs there was still limits. There were boundaries that the society and the corporations abided by. In breaking those boundaries record companies, media corporations and entertainers have violated a trust the public has placed in them. Rather than rewarding this breach of unwritten laws with our money we should protest and deny them our funds.

The good and bad must be taken when appropriate. The Black community has failed its children, just as the record companies, radio stations, and gansta rappers have failed the public. This is not something that cannot be resolved, in fact it must be. We have shown the fact we have power, and we need to use it. We must use it in a positive manner. We need to change the Black culture from the commodity it has become to something greater. We are born Black, to sell that off as a cheap triffle is no different than shooting ourselves in the foot. It’s just stupid.

We must also recognize the failures and positives of some of our more recognized figureheads. I say figureheads and not leaders as at this moment there are no leaders of the Black community. There has been no leader since Mr. Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King, with perhaps some argument made for Minister Louis Farakhan or Rev. Jesse Jackson for a segment of the community. While Rev. Al Sharpton was helpful, as was Rev. Jackson, in bringing this recent incident to public attention neither are leaders in my mind. They bring baggage and questionable motives to every arena they enter.

Rev. Sharpton is particularly in question. He has a long history of inflammatory actions who’s main motive seems to have been the promotion of Rev. Sharpton primarily. We need to accept that those that would claim to be leaders of the Black community are accountable for what they have said, positive and negative, and when they are in the wrong they admit to this. I say this as the credibility of serious issues that plague the entire community are lessened and placed in question when public figures of questionable motive jump into the limelight. As an example I pose the fact that several of the pundits on television questioned the seriousness of the demand for the removal of Mr. Imus on the sole basis that Rev. Al Sharpton was asking for it. Leaders are followed because they are credible, because they bring a somber tone to the subjects they deal with. To accept less is to weaken the causes, no matter how worthy, that are being pursued.

Again I say that we must change the nature of rap music as it stands today. In doing this we bring ourselves into full accountability for our community and the Black culture as a whole. We are more than just pimps, ho’s, drug dealers, ganstas and other riffraff. In reclaiming and redirecting one of the most popular and prevalent formats that the society and world views us by, we gain in all aspects of our lives and futures.

This is what I think, what do you think?