The YZA

You know, from what I have heard, the reason that Axl Rose has delayed releasing the Guns n’ Roses album Chinese Democracy was because he was nitpicking every detail, hiring guitarists to redo what other guitarists had already recorded, perpetually unhappy with what it sounded like. His megalomania fused with perfectionism and resulted in a music that could never please him.

Well I guess he finally decided to give in cuz it seems like the album might actually get released this year. I just listened to the title track from it streaming on radio station Q104.3′s website (link here). I guess in order to prevent people from recording the stream and distributing the song as an mp3, every so often a woman’s voice comes on and says “Music on demand” in a sultry kind of voice. It happened about three or four times during the song, and the first time it happened I thought for a second that it was Axl’s attempt at something arty. Anyway, all that blood and sweat perfecting his song, and some woman is talking all over it the first time thousands of people hear it. Poor guy.

I am not sure I understand why music fans are interested in hearing remixes of songs. I don’t even really understand what a remix is.

I know that you can take the separate tracks of a song and mix them differently (different levels for each track, different equalization, etc.), but it sounds like people are adding different drumbeats or ornamentation to the songs, and maybe restructuring them as well, adding new parts and such.

Why would anyone want to hear that, and why would anyone be motivated to do that to someone else’s music? I’d much rather spend that time working on something that is wholly my own creation. Maybe there’s something I’m missing… If there is, please let me know. And if you can point me to a remix of a tune that is better than the original, I would love that.