Chinese Anti-"Chinese Democracy"

Chinese Democracy, the long-awaited new album from what’s left of Guns n’ Roses (mostly just the Rose at this point), is a lot of things: surprisingly good, late ‘80s rocking without sounding like a relic of the late ‘80s, chock full of bewildering musical decisions that even more bewilderingly took fifteen years to make. But a “venomous attack” on China? Not so much. However, that’s just what the Chinese government is claiming in their state-sponsored media as both a general rebuke against the album and as a sort of backdoor explanation for why the thing will never be allowed to be legally imported into the country. Of course, that won’t stop intrepid Chinamen (can we call them that anymore, or is that term now considered so retro it’s not racist?) from torrenting the thing from behind anonymous proxy servers. After all, the Chinese have continued to enjoy this very site even though it’s sometimes banned in some places in the country with no apparent reasoning or method. While the title track from the album does engage in a little gentlemanly prodding at China’s disastrous history of human rights abuses between the serpentine wails from what’s left of Axl Rose’s throat, I’m sure that Mr. Rose would love to have his album sold in the country. If only to recoup the expenses of whatever the hell he’s been doing these past fifteen years. More details here.