Reacting to Madagascar by Guns N Roses | Rock Music Producer Reacts

We are back to Chinese Democracy by Guns N Roses and here I'm Reacting to Madagascar from chinese democracy by Guns N Roses.
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00:00 Introduction
01:06 Song Begins Here
02:49 First Commentary
06:44 Analyzing the Mix
13:49 WTF just Happened?
17:31 Final thoughts

[@paulfortuin5735]

This entire album is an under appreciated gem. It's fantastic.

[@bardonmusic]

it totally is, thanks for your comment

[@thehighcouncil662]

One of the most underrated albums of the 2000s

[@bardonmusic]

it is extremely underrated

[@tmcen4]

Axl Rose - vocals Robin Finck - lead guitar Buckethead - lead guitar, guitar solo (12:30) Bumblefoot - guitar Paul Tobias - guitar Tommy Stinson - bass Dizzy Reed - orchestral arrangement Chris Pitman - bass, keyboards, orchestral arrangement, sub bass Brain - drums, drum arrangement

[@bardonmusic]

Not surprised with buckethead being the one playing this solo, his contributions to this album are incredible. Thanks for your comment!!!

[@cimc13]

Madagascar's orchestral arrangements were produced by Marco Beltrami. Axl hired him to work on this and 3 other songs on the album, and a few other songs that have never been released to date.

[@zacharypharr1373]

Chinese Democracy is one of my favorite albums of all time. I love and listen to a lot of more raw music, but Chinese Democracy is so polished it almost reminds me of classical music sometimes. It's a beautiful and complex work of art that feels more personal to Axl and not a blend of the whole band, and I'm all for it. He is such an interesting person with a complicated life, and I think Chinese Democracy is the only GNR album to do those life experiences justice. Prostitute is without a doubt my favorite song on the album, although I will accept arguments for probably 6 of the songs on it. It's fantastic and oddly fresh (in spite of many people comparing it to other punk rock for some weird reason) and I could listen to it all day.

[@bardonmusic]

What a great way to describe this album!!!! You nailed it, CD is kind of a character study now that you mentioned it as it sounds like a very personal and visceral expression of Axl's ideas and emotions. Thanks for your comment!!!

[@zacharypharr1373]

@@bardonmusic thank YOU for your content!

[@NickDePanfilis]

What makes his vocals on this track so special and emotional is if you pay attention to the lyrics - This song was his message to everybody who was against him in regards to GnRs history - This was his message to the "haters" per say - You wont hold me down and hold me back .. I wont drown in this storm - I'm going to survive

[@bardonmusic]

What you say makes sense specially considering the situation of GnR in that period

[@kerenolivero7097]

I love the Chinese Democracy album as much as I love the two Illusions albums & Lies album, too (by the way, Appetite is my fav. GnR album). It took me time & many listens to love & appreciate Chinese Democracy album as much as I do. Then, when Slash & Duff returned to the band in 2016, hearing & seeing them playing the chinese democracy songs, live, along-side Axl, made me love the album even more. The way I feel about the creation of the chinese democracy is that it is a different kind of gem, it is not the normal GnR album, that is true. It has a direct shine (shine, because it is a gem, get it?) from Axl's brilliance. It still has some of his anger from before, and on the other hand it also has some of his coming to terms with some of his past issues which shows that Axl had matured over the years. Is it an Axl album, yes, but to me it is also a GnR album & not actually a solo album as some tend to call it. Axl kept the band alive (throughout its various line-ups. I love all of GnR's line-ups) & he recorded with his new GnR line-up (among many other musicians), so to me, it counts & it is awesome. Was the album over-produced? probably, but it does not bother me. Axl is a perfectionist, he had the time to create the album he had envisioned & he made it happen. I also sort of see it as the flip side of Appetite. Appetite is from the band's young & raw years, while Chinese Democracy is older & more mature years, yet for me, it all falls into place. like a whole story told, just with music. I hope all this made sense :)

[@bardonmusic]

Thanks for sharing your take, and you got a great point when calling Chinese the flip side of appetite it totally sound like you described one is raw and rough while the other is refined and focused. And there is beauty on both for different reasons

[@Bona21]

Buena interpretación de los álbumes

[@mikecortesascencio7278]

thanks for your reactions! I really enjoy this series of videos you are making, reacting to Chinese Democracy songs, I really hope you complete the whole album with your reactions! You are great and we learn a lot with your videos! cheers from Colombia

[@bardonmusic]

Glad you like them! At this rate i'm pretty sure I'll cover the entire album at one point !!!

[@sethhardcastle4093]

Pretty sure it's Buckethead on the guitar bud. He's who played the song at that mtv awards like 5 or 6 yrs before the album came out so I assume he wrote it. Ur right, it really is a great tone. It's cool to see u react to this album.

[@bardonmusic]

I wouldn't be surprised, buckethead is an incrible musician, he understands his role at any given point in a song and this track shows it

[@irislusinger949]

What a deep song. One of my favorite songs in the album. I wish I knew exactly the meaning behind this song. It is awesome.

[@bardonmusic]

It is a deep track, and yes it is one of the stand outs of the album!!!

[@scrooge886]

You should do Scraped or Shacklers Revenge!

[@ahbuenoahorasieh]

Este album es una joya de la música 👽... Xq tiene a axl y a un extraterrestre llamado buckethead !!!

[@nasrhodainekalim2825]

Sir it would be great if you also react to Catcher in the Rye of the same Album, salute for your reaction to GNR Chinese Democracy Album.

[@bardonmusic]

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll cover that will be the next song from the album to analyze here on the channel

[@paulfortuin5735]

Best tune on the album.

[@Dave_Langer]

@@bardonmusic The demo to CITR is a million times better and has Brian May. Maybe you could compare the two.

[@DefiantUntilDeath]

The drum machine is woven throughout chinese democracy because they wrote almost all these songs in late 90s early 2000s, Axl was using trying to to incorporate modern equipment, ironically by the time the album was released in 2008 that drum machine was dated as hell. I'm pretty sure madagascar was one of the first songs written by the early incarnations of "new" GNR in 98/99_ Axl, Dizzy Reid and Chris Pitman who were 2 keyboardists and electronic instrumentalists.

[@bardonmusic]

Nice!!! didn't know those details, thanks for sharing!!!

[@Dave_Langer]

yeah it was. I knew a girl who saw Axl in like 98ish and her played her a demo of this song, that was just the looping parts and drum machine with vocals before any guitars on it

[@barbarasestak9085]

I think it's their best album. It 100%diffeent and that way fans didn't like it

[@vivianesilveira5260]

Quando o albúm foi lançado, eu também não gostei muito, exatamente por ser tão diferente do Guns que estávamos acostumados. Mas hoje eu adoro esse albúm.

[@user-zg8gg1lk8r]

👍

[@UnaGunnera]

I love Madagascar ❤

[@maranedzela3142]

I love it a mix of classical and hard rock, very melodic and powerful.

[@MyKombucha]

Thank you! Wow, this is educating and validating for me. I'm just diving into G N' R and this song stood out. Knowing nothing about rock, your analysis is helpful. 👍👩‍🎓👩‍🎤

[@bardonmusic]

Glad it was helpful!

[@Dave_Langer]

The funny thing is if you listen to all those unreleased CD left over instrumental tracks, a lot of them are classic GNR. And others are really far out there.

[@leadleader2023]

My favorite version of this song is the Rock in Rio 2001 version. For some reason, Axl Rose's Mickey Mouse Voice works a lot better for this specific song, Madagascar, than Axl Rose's signature raspy voice which was used on the album version. I mean, I never understood the hate for Axl Roses's so-called Mickey Mouse Voice, it was a great voice that reminded me kind of like a mix between Neil Young and Stevie Nicks.

[@BrunoAmaral2]

I love the album, and I love to see some love for it after all the backlash. I've been covering every song in my channel and I've been "studying" it since the early 2000s, so I know a lot of details about who plays what. I've even talked a bit about the mixing with Caram Constanzo, one of the mixer/producer (along with Axl and, in a less extent, Andy Wallace). If you're interested, we could chat about it, the several different demos each track had, and the little details hidden on the mix. :)

[@UnaGunnera]

6:18 Most of it is Buckethead, even in the live shows Buckethead plays the solo and all those emotional parts. 🔥🔥🔥

[@x_mau9355]

Yes. Buckethead is so particular that his imprint is everywhere. In this track more than ever. It's like Buckethead was devouring GnR ... with his style.. GnR with Buckethead is a total different beast. Maybe not even "compatible" from some point of view but for sure a total different beast. I'm glad we have had this. Coz it's unique in the history of music.

[@OnAFuckinSuzuki]

I preferred the earlier live versions of the song. The VMA 2002 performance is really good, despite the rest of the set being very hit and miss.

[@bardonmusic]

Gotta take a look at that live version, never heard it before!!!

[@DefiantUntilDeath]

@@bardonmusic Dont look at that one, look at Rock in Rio 3 2001 when the song was debuted , Bucketheads solo blows away the album verson.

[@Dave_Langer]

Boston 2002 and Rio 3 are the best.

[@OnAFuckinSuzuki]

Do look at it@@DefiantUntilDeath

[@tmangaming2442]

I Think it is Buckethead