Rate This Song: "Better" by Guns N' Roses

[Chip Z'Hoy]

From 1 to 10, 10 being "Pancho and Lefty," 1 being "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk."

NOW I KNOW YOU, BETA!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FUBQq5stwrY

Chinese Democracy was a wild time, dudes.

But ignoring all the hoopla, what do you think of the song? If you didn't follow GN'R and all the drama/gossip, and this song was on the radio, would you change the station or turn it up to listen closer?

Not sure of my final rating yet. Have to crunch some numbers.

[Nate S Axel]

From 1 to 10, 10 being "Pancho and Lefty," 1 being "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk."

There we go! Now us country music fans can understand you better.

I remember liking the demo version of "Better" better than "Better" on the finished album, which was not necessarily better.

A good track, but not one of my favorites on the album. I'll go with a... 6, which is maybe a Jon Pardi song rating.

[jens]

That opening guitar-riff and vocal are some of the suckiest ever put on tape. But I like the rest allright, Axl in particular sounds good on it.
6/10

[Rocker4Real]

One of the best songs on the album. 7/10

[Bono Nettencourt]

Not good/bad.

[rykait01]

7 not bad song

[ALMOSTsaved]

I like it "Better" than the rest of the album.

[Tommy]

I hate this iteration of GNR. That said, best song on the album.

[pieceofme]

Very good song. 8 out of 10.

[Hair I Go Again]

Verses are great, but needs a better chorus (no pun intended). The live version smokes the studio version.

[vagabond]

One of the 3 songs that I listen to from the much maligned Chinese Democracy album, Sorry and There Was a Time being the others.
8/10

[Chip Z'Hoy]

6.5

2008-2010, I would've rated it much higher, but I think it showcases a major weakness from the Chi Dem era, which is that everything had a very Frankenstein quality.

The verses are fantastic but the choruses are a little clunky and I like the bridge less and less as the years go on.

So what was a highlight when the album first came out is not a go-to track for me anymore.

Oh man, if I had Axl's ear around release time, here's the plan I would've suggested: First single is "Prostitute"; video is a classic Guns N' Roses nonsense epic. Just how I would've liked it to go down.

Tommy Stinson! If you gotta replace Duff "Poster" McKagan, that's the guy. What an energetic and fun performer.

[ParaDime77]

One of the good songs off Chinese.

Jogging my memory, was this song used or supposed to be used on a Harley Davidson commercial back then?

[FreddyFender]

Great verse, tuneless NIN-sounding chorus. Guitars sound like some parts were recorded years after others.

Mess of a song. 4/10.

[Nate S Axel]

I remember really digging "Madagascar" when it came out, so I was going to try and listen to this all the way through to see which songs I liked/still like, but man, it's way too much. Aside from this passing curiosity, I don't know when and where I would ever play this. Can't relate to it, can't drive to it, it's just there now.

I thought the album was great when it came out, but that was 17(!!!) years ago now. My tastes have changed, there's too much going on in most of these songs, and it's hard to follow.

On top of that, not that I could much before, but I can't "relate" to this at all at my age now like I can with most country music. Hard to understand what Axl's singing about; at least "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk" is easy enough to figure out. I was going to go all Jingles and rate each track, but I had to submit. It's too much damn WORK, and it's a Saturday!

Here's what I thought of the first few:

Chinese Democracy - Good
Shacker's Revenge - Good/Very Good
Better - Good
Street Of Dreams - Good
If The World - Average/OK
There Was A Time - Good
Catcher In The Rye - OK
--- I'm about to tap out at this point. One more song and I'm done.
Scraped - OK/Good

I'd actually give "Madagascar" an OK rating at best on this album. I loved the earlier versions of it, but when I heard it on the album the first time, I thought Axl sounded just like Tina Turner.

I doubt I'll listen to this album again anytime in the next decade.

[MattleyCrue]

10

My favs:
TWAT
Maddy
Street of Dreams
IRS
Prostitute

[Mister Freeze]

This was the last song I set up to auto-play on my MySpace profile.

[Chip Z'Hoy]

This was the last song I set up to auto-play on my MySpace profile.

Didn't the album premiere on MySpace?

THAT'S HOW LONG AGO THIS WAS.

[Kid-Wicked]

i agree that it sounds kinda "mechanical". guys just playing the parts as presented. would have loved to hear the original 5 record this. the whole album, really. i like most of it

[Wild Obsession]

7/10, IMO the only noteworthy song from Axl's solo album, and the only song from ChinDem that should be in their set list.

[Indy_Rob]

8/10

Solid and catchy verses. Lame opening and meh chorus. Great guitar solo. I like the demo version best.

Despite its shortcomings I love it. Great song on an absolute shit album.

[SterileEyes1]

9/10.

It was the first song off all the leaks where I realized the album could actually be really good. I didn’t get that impression at all from the title track, Oh My God, Silkworms (Absurd), or the others that had made their way out to that point.

The verses and the solo sections are pretty darn flawless to me.

[GoodJudge]

It's on ChiDem. I've listened to that album about 3 times and each time couldn't remember a single moment as soon as it finished. If I need to waste another hour of my life, there are plenty of other mediocre albums to do it to.

But just for the sake of the thread I tried this song again. It's just finished and I still can't remember a damn thing about it except there were some electronic effects on the intro, and the chorus riff and vocals sound like Axl was trying to channel Soundgarden / Cornell. Should have been titled 'underwhelming'.

[Aerosmith87]

Better is a GREAT song. I give it a 9. Axl sounds good, the verses have great melody. The end part he conjures up some classic Axl scream vocals - no Micky Mouse shit here. I know Slash is back, but he could have done some nice guitar soloing on this track. Not sure what he's doing live.