heavy metal, the economy and the most dangerous band in the world

Lately I have been thinking about the similarities between the late 80s and early 90s and now. There was much made about how the state of the economy had not been this bad since the great depression... yada yada yada. My perception is that at a street level for the average person things are actually better now than in that time period. Another parallel that struck me recently was the simultaneous release of albums by Metallica and Guns and Roses. In 1991 within a few weeks of each other Metallica released their self titled album (sometimes called the black album) and GNR released the Use Your Illusions (two full length albums released at the same time). I recall an entertainment writer for the Ottawa Citizen - I believe his name was Greg Barr, writing something to the effect that... "economists look to various kinds of financial indicators including the sales of everything from oil to pork bellies, if we accept heavy metal albums sales as a financial indicator the recession is over." Anyway here we are some 17 years later and both Metallica and GNR have again released albums close together. Sales also seem to once again be exceeding expectations. I have listened to Metallica's Death Magnetic several times, I have not heard all of GNR's Chinese Democracy. Death Magnetic is fascinating return to their thrashy roots for Metallica. Axl Rose on the other hand is taking GNR to new territory, with all kinds of experimental sounds on this album. As usual heavy metal is getting little respect in the media. A recent change in Billboard magazine's practice is going to keep Chinese Democracy off the top 200 albums chart - at least at first. Pop figures like Britney Spears, Kanye West, Paris Hilton and others seem more likely to get media coverage for buying a coffee than anyone in heavy metal would get even if they raised the dead, while walking on water. Bands like Metallica and GNR are selling more albums overall than Britney Spears or Beyonce but guess which artists are getting more attetion? If Chinese Democracy hadn't been 17 years in the waiting prompting the Dr Pepper publicity stunt I don't wonder if there would be any mention outside of the new releases. I for one am excited about the potential of Chinese Democracy - the title is just as poignant now as it was when it was first announced - probably about 15 years ago? I won't say that I agree with everything Axl Rose has said or done, buy I will say that he is one of the most interesting mavericks in modern music, one who has consistently challenged the status quo. They may not be as radical as say Fugazi or Rage Against The Machine, but how much airplay do they get? Have any of these bands crossed nearly as many genres or presented as many challenges to concert promoters? How many other bands have caused rioting on the scale of GNR? It may mainly be Axl Roses' trip these days but I stil feel that there is no band more deserving of the title "most dangerous band in the world"