After more than a decade, Guns N’ Roses have finally released the track “The General” to streaming services. The band recorded the song while assembling the 2008 album Chinese Democracy. Since then, members of the band have occasionally talked about the song in interviews. As a result, fans have been waiting with bated breath to hear it.
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Some Guns N’ Roses fans heard the song live last month when the band debuted “The General” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles. Axl Rose introduced the song as one they had never played before and warned fans it “could be very interesting.” Additionally, the band released the song as a limited-edition vinyl single earlier this year.
[RELATED: Guns N’ Roses Debut Unreleased Song “The General” at Their L.A. Show Thursday]
According to Blabbermouth, former Guns N’ Roses drummer Bryan “Brain” Mantia talked about “The General” with Rolling Stone in 2008. Additionally, the publication notes that Sebastian Bach talked about the track with Metal Edge in 2007. That illustrates how long fans of the band have been itching to hear the song that dropped Friday (December 8).
Mantia reportedly co-penned “The General” in the early 2000s. Additionally, he claimed to be the one to give the song its title.
Bach shed a little more light on the song in his 2008 interview. He told the publication that Rose told him the song serves as a sequel to “Estranged” from Use Your Illusion II. He described it as a “slow, grinding track.”
Bach added “The General” was one of his favorite songs. “It’s by far the heaviest metal tune I think I’ve ever heard Axl do, this slow, grinding riff with these high, piercing vocals, screaming vocals,” he said.
B-Side to “Perhaps”
Guns N’ Roses released the single “Perhaps” to streaming services in August. They also offered a limited-edition, seven-inch vinyl single of the song for pre-order. “The General” was the B-side of the vinyl single that shipped in late October.
[RELATED: Guns N’ Roses Release New Single “Perhaps”]
Before the band released “Perhaps,” a rough demo of the song leaked to the internet. As a result, the band decided to release a studio-quality version of the song days later.
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