In this day and age of bit torrents and file sharing, I’m one of the few people who don’t actually mind paying for music and movies.  I do view file sharing as stealing from artists and tend not to participate in newsgroups where you can get anything for free.  Were I a poor college student, my attitude might be different but as of right now I buy my music via iTunes and rent my movies through Netflix.

That being said, I have a copy of 10 tracks from your now-almost-mythical album “Chinese Democracy” – more than 14 years after you actually started the damn project.  Those songs got leaked the other week and how they’re easily attainable by anyone that wants it.  Since I, like most Guns N’ Roses fans, don’t believe you’ll ever release this album; I have no qualms about having these unreleased songs on my computer.  I also burned a CD and have been listening to it in my car on the way to work.  It's on my iPod and other coworkers now have it too.

Here’s the thing – if you ever DO release the damned album (and we all know that won’t ever happen), I’ll still buy it.  That’s the frustrating part.  Of the 10 songs I’ve heard, 5 are “classic Guns ‘N’ Roses" tracks.  Your voice is still great (at least in the studio), the guitar riffs are killer even though it’s not Slash, and I’m even willing to overlook the electronic sounds you’ve added here and there.  All but 2 of these songs sound like they’re darn close to a final cut production-wise.

So here you are in 2008 and now the internet’s gonna bite you in the ass.  I’m almost wishing that the supposed 100 songs you have crafted this past decade and a half get leaked and force you to officially release the album(s).  Stop jerking the fans around.  The sooner you realize your eccentricity and insane quest for musical perfection has alienated almost your entire fan base.  You used to be the lead singer of the most important band in the world at the time.  Now you’re an overweight joke with corn rows in his hair who tours under the name Guns N’ Roses simply because you own the name.  Forget the fact that no other original member is still in the band because they all became fed up with you.

To put this in perspective, when you initially titled this album, the term “Chinese Democracy” truly was a far-out concept at the time.  14 years later, China is about ready to overtake the world and the term “democracy” won’t get you killed or run over by a tank.