Art Tavana has reported in a new Billboard article that Guns N’ Roses were planning a trilogy of new albums, and a source said new material was ready in 2016.
“Axl’s goal was to make a more modern record, to make GN’R a more modern band. But Guns N’ Roses fans wouldn’t accept that,” says Tom Zutaut. “Had it been a ‘W. Axl Rose’ record, who knows…but not a lot people know this: Chinese Democracy was going to be trilogy.”
“All of the material that hadn’t been released was coming out in 2016, then, the reunion happened,” says one source. Zutaut says that “Atlas Shrugged” is “a song influenced by Axl’s fascination with Ayn Rand.”
Former Guns N’ Roses bassist Tommy Stinson confirmed that there were more albums set for release, as a trilogy or possibly a multi-disc release.
“All I can say is…that record [Chinese Democracy] was not meant to be one disc.”
Art Tavana wrote, “Chinese Democracy remains curiously incomplete, and though the numbers vary, there seem to be at least 60 different tracks that were at least partially finished when the first part of Chinese Democracy was released. Fans continue to struggle to find a cohesive concept album buried underneath all the years of tinkering and tumult.”
Axl Rose said in a 2016 live Q&A that he had played unreleased material for Slash and Duff McKagan, and there have been rumors that they have recorded new parts for songs.