New Guns N’ Roses: Stream “Hard Skool,” a Reworked ‘Chinese Democracy’-Era Song ft. Vintage Axl Rose Vocals

Back in early August, Guns N’ Roses surprise-debuted a new song, “Absurd,” a reworked version of a long-existing demo recording known as “Silkworms” that originated from the lengthy album sessions that ultimately produced 2008’s Chinese Democracy album.

Late Thursday night, Sept. 23, GnR dropped another new track, “Hard Skool,” and it, too, dates back to the Chinese Democracy era, when it had the running title of “Jackie Chan.”

Hard Skool is Fn here!! https://t.co/EvupybLzYQ pic.twitter.com/f801BYPaYF

— Guns N' Roses (@gunsnroses) September 24, 2021

Starting with a blistering bass line, the high-energy track finds Axl Rose sounding pretty much vintage — or at least as close as can be expected at this point:

“But you had to play it cool, had to do it your way/Had to be a fool, had to throw it all away/Too hard school and you thought you were here to stay/If that were true, it wouldn’t matter anyway.”

The song contrasts starkly with “Absurd,” which features a rather abrasive overall feel, by design:

Recent years have seen Guns N’ Roses embark on globally successful reunion tours, but the emergence of new studio tracks was somewhat unexpected — at least officially. Who knows what else the band may get up to next!

Catch GnR on the road on its coming tour dates:

Sun Sep 26 – Baltimore, MD – Royal Farms Arena*
Wed Sep 29 – Raleigh, NC – PNC Arena*
Sat Oct 02 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live Arena*
Sun Oct 03 – Hollywood, FL – Hard Rock Live Arena*

And don’t forget that the planned Summer 2021 European tour was pushed to Summer ’22.