‘It’s toxic’: The Guns N’ Roses Fandom Seeking Unreleased ‘Chinese Democracy’ Songs

Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
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Among the great plethora of dedicated fandoms that exist within the heavy metal space, one of the most fascinating is the Guns N’ Roses fanbase.

A new story investigated and written by David Peisner over at Rolling Stone makes for an incredible deep dive into the more obsessive side of the GNR fandom; specifically, this story focuses on those within the fanbase seeking unreleased material associated with the band’s Chinese Democracy recordings.

While the story itself involves layers of intrigue and a plethora of characters, an individual who stands out is Rick Dunsford, who brought over $10,000 with him in order to buy unreleased tracks associated with the band’s Chinese Democracy recordings. Among those unreleased songs he purchased was “Atlas Shrugged,” which would eventually get leaked onto the internet and lead to one hell of a headache for Dunsford.

The story dives into the obsessive nature that some GNR fans exhibit, covering everything from how some fans are hungry as hell to collect unreleased songs, as well as the intense hype that surrounded the release of 2008’s Chinese Democracy.

A lot of this report provides quotes from various people who are/have been part of online GNR fan forums. Chris Kooluris, who was interviewed as part of this report, shares the following about his experiences interacting with these fan forums:

“It’s a scary bunch. I’ve been physically threatened. People have said they’re going to fly to New York and kick my ass. It’s toxic.”

As you dive deeper into this report, it’s surreal how intense the drama gets, with people trying to screw one another over and the amount of money people have paid and have been sued for pertaining to Guns N’ Roses material.

Some folks will go to extreme lengths to get a hold of music or memorabilia associated with a band/artist they care for deeply.

If you want to check out the full report yourself, you can do so by following this link here.

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