10 Hyped Hard Rock Albums That Weren't Worth The Wait

It's hard to know where to begin when it comes to Chinese Democracy. Never has an album been more documented prior to its release, and rarely has one failed so completely in doing justice to the band's name, the fans and the hype.

Recording originally began in 1998, a comparatively slender five years after Guns N' Roses' previous studio album, The Spaghetti Incident?. Trading on the band's legacy, Axl Rose whipped up a frenzy for what was going to be the next era of Guns N' Roses, although the band was now only Rose and a revolving door of talent from the next generation of rock legends, including Buckethead, Bumblefoot, Josh Freese and Robin Finck.

But by delaying the creative process and insisting on the rerecording of the album several times over, Rose had a hard time keeping things together. His bandmates lost faith and bailed, and the record lost funding, leaving Rose to produce it himself.

After a decade of anticipation, Chinese Democracy was a weak, overproduced train wreck of an album, and definitely not Guns N' Roses. Tonally and musically all over the place, the record attempted to blend half-baked political statements, industrial and nu metal riffs and a cat-squalling Rose whose prime had long since faded in the rear mirror. What should have been an Axl Rose solo album managed to put a big, ugly full stop on the legacy of one of the world's greatest hard rock outfits.

But, you never know, maybe redemption is yet to come.