Chinese Democracy: The Danny Darragh Commentary

Danny Darragh, c. The Spaghetti Incident

I met Dan Darragh when we were in 8th grade, and some part of us will always be that age when we talk or hang out -- despite the fact that we are now in our thirties. The former informs my continuing to call him Danny, and his marveling at my doing so exemplifies the latter.

So, Danny Darragh and I used to listen to Guns N Roses back when cassettes still drove industry record sales. We listened to them all of the time, almost non stop – when no listening to Motley Crue, I guess. We, along with Dave Wilson -- the third Musketeer, would: call girls we liked and leave GnR lyrics on messages; decorate the cover of our canvas binders with Robt. Williams rip-offs; and design GnR tattoos that we all were going to get when we turned eighteen.

We were going to be in a band, you see. Dave was going to sing and play guitar, I was going to play bass, and Danny would play the drums. Surely we’d get to writing our own songs, once we learned how to play instruments and in turn learned all of the GnR catalog -- which at that time only included Appetite for Destruction and Lies.

Of the three of us, Danny was the only one who took that dream kind of seriously. I don’t know if he ever thought that the three of us would actually form a band, but he actually took up an instrument and did the plan one better by teaching himself how to play the drums by learning the Guns n Roses catalog.

God bless him. He kept up the drums for years, popping in and out of bands throughout the 1990s before forming Varistor, a band that made somewhat of a mark on the NY indie music scene back in the early oughts.

Dan stayed into GnR, too. For as long as Axl and Slash kept it together that is. I remember him taping every video, concert and TV appearance through the Use Your Illusions and the Spaghetti Incident. The day the cassette single for You Could Be Mine came out – with the Terminator 2 cover art – was a holiday for him. For both of us. I remember going to the Wall on Austin Street in Forest Hills to pick up copies. Even in our late teens and early twenties, as our tastes “matured” into grunge and then lo-fi indie, he and I would always go back to the well and dust off Appetite. If not just for the end of "Rocket Queen." The sweet ballad part that comes after Steven Tyler’s girlfriend does.

Now Axl, sans Slash and Duff – the real core of the band, has bothered to release a new album and call it Guns n Roses. Of course I wanted to know what Dan thought.

So, here’s a copied and edited transcript of an IM session between the two of us that I call, Chinese Democracy: The Danny Darragh Commentary. Enjoy!

Dan: Have you heard the new AC/DC single?

Matt.: Nah, does it sound like every other ACDC song ever?

Dan: Absolutely, and rocks well

Matt.: AC/DC does, indeed, rock well

DAN SENDS MATT. AC/DC’S ROCK N ROLL TRAIN

Matt: Yup.

Matt: That's ACDC, alright

Matt: Hey, how's Chinese Democracy?

Matt: I'm probably picking it up this weekend

Dan: I only heard the single. Don’t give a shit bout the album. Not GnR

Matt: Really?

Dan: That ain’t Guns n Roses, dude.

Matt: Well, sure it's just Axl

Dan: I’ve heard enough leaks over the years to recognize it’s overproduced

Dan: I should buy the record just to be a completist, though. I guess. lol

Dan: 10 bucks on iTunes. Downloading now…

DAN PROCEEDS TO DO A TRACK BY TRACK BREAKDOWN OF THE RECORD AS HE LISTENS TO IT

Dan: Track 1. Word. The single. Title track. Ain’t half bad

Dan: Track2. So far standard Axl Rose "leave me be, dont tell me what to do" stuff. Not so bad, actually. Marilyn Manson influence

Dan: 199wha?

Dan: Neat, anthemic chorus

Dan: Track 3. It’s called "Better." Wow, more Axl being maudlin

Dan: I hear a couple different guitar tone

Dan: Definitely buy it its good to listen to

Dan: Fun

Dan: Ugh. The bass tone trying to be Duff, though.

Dan: "Street of Dreams" is as cheesy as "Yesterdays"

Dan: Holy shit, the way these cats try for Slash's pentatonic scale solo

Dan: thingy

Dan: I need to read the album credits

Dan: I like it though, ‘cause it’s fun to hear Axl’s voice. heh

Dan: “Street of Dreams” favorite so far

Dan: "If the World"... again with the production

Matt: That's what took 14 years, dude

Dan: Ah crap. If I approach this without GnR, I couldn’t like this stuff

Dan: Ugh. Dude this is no rock

Dan: There is so much layering on this tune

Matt: Someone described it as Axl's shot a trying to be Phil Spector

Dan: Heh, ya

Dan: As I listen deeper, there is less personality

Dan: Ah, this is "There Was a Time." One of the leaks I heard. I liked it ‘cause it was Axl

Dan: Axl without Slash is like a day without sunshine, though

Dan: Hot dog, no bun. All that malarkey

Dan: It also sounds like he has been using electric piano

Dan: On this particular number, perhaps he dumped his free dr pepper on the yamaha

Dan: I HATE how guitar-fer-hire guy feels he must emulate Slash

Dan: Ugh

Dan: "Catcher in the Rye" sounds Use-Your-Illusion-2-ish

Dan: BLARGH KEYBOARD sampling

Dan: Tortured lyrics you would expect

Dan: Sounds like the chorus was recorded a week after…

Dan: …like I can hear the "punch ins"

Dan: Wow, the further in it sounds like a vanity album. I guess it is

Dan: There’s no band synergy

Dan: Wow

Dan: "Scraped" -- This one aint bad

Dan: This one sounds like a bunch of people made it

Dan: A band made it

Dan: I think I’m gonna go back to listening to Tom Petty

Matt: How many tracks in did you get?

Dan: I’m bored at track 9 out of 14

Dan: "I’m sorry for you, not sorry for me"... these type of lyrics

Dan: It’s fun to hear Axl’s voice in new shit, though

Dan: Finally, heh

Matt: "It's been 14 years of silence, It's been 14 years of pain, It's been 14 years that are gone for ever and I'll never have again"

Matt: How prophetic on his part

I didn’t buy the album, BTW. After all of that I figured I could wait till someone else handed me off a rip. I mean if Danny Darragh could barely muster up any kind of endorsement, why bother?