When I was 17 years old I talked my parents into letting me subscribe to SPIN magazine. I enjoyed most of the issues that arrived in our mailbox, but one of them got me more excited than i can perhaps express using words. On the cover was an image of classic, '87 Axle Rose with a single cover line: "What the world needs now is Axle Rose."

I can't think of a sentence my hormone-addled, suburbia-muddled 17-year-old brain could not have agreed more with at the time. And I'm not the only one who remembers that issue fondly.

The article promised us that Axle was in the studio working on his big comeback, "Chinese Democracy." In fact, he had apparently been laying down tracks with the Diesel himself, Shaq (I remember even then thinking this sounded suspect.)

It's now 2008. And Chinese Democracy is still not upon us. In the years since, Axl got together an imposter version of Guns, played a few shows and cancelled a planned tour. He's also become a regular, disappointing sight on celebrity news shows, being spotted in sleazy L.A. bars wearing white suits, Dexter Holland-era dreads and way too much plastic surgery. Where's the album Axl?

But fear not. The interweb is hear to assist. A few weeks ago, tracks from the album were leaked online and circulated throughout the music blogosphere. Most of them were pulled down by Axl's people, but some enterprising students at M.I.T. who are archiving all the stuff that gets pulled down from sites like YouTube. They've got the tracks. Enjoy! I did....for a while...until I realized that the Axl I knew and loved as a kid is probably gone forever.

The World Still Needs Axle Rose. But I'm not sure these tracks make the world look any smarter for needing him.