In a new interview, Sons of Apollo and former Guns N Roses guitarist and songwriter Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal believes that the much-maligned Chinese Democracy album will gain more acceptance over time from fans and critics alike. Thal was in GNR from 2006 to 2014 was the featured guitarist on Chinese Democracy. The album took over ten years to complete as a reported cost of one million dollars. As reported by Radio Station Q104.3, in a recent interview with Music Is Win’s Tyler Larson, Thal pointed out that the conversation around Chinese Democracy had been tainted for years before the album actually arrived. But that doesn’t change the fact that the music is good. He noted that some of the stigma of the album has to do with the GNR acrimony over their issues, and not the music on the album, or GNR leader W. Axl Rose.
As transcribed by Q104.3
“At the time, people were still just going on about how it took this long to make and it took this much money and all that nonsense. And I always said, ‘Wait 20 years. People are going to forget about all of this stuff, all of this baggage that they’re trying to attach to this record.’ And they’re just going to listen to it for what it is and just listen to it as music,” Thal said.
“They’re going to hear so many layers of things and such an interesting combination of parts and people and changes in style and technology that was happening over the course of …10-ish years from when they started writing to when it was actually on the shelves in stores,” Thal added. “I don’t think any album in the history of rock went through those kinds of changes. It’s a very special album with a lot of history just within each song that has layers to it. I’m grateful that they had me on it.”
