Top Ten | Highly Anticipated Disappointments

Like many Americans with a vague recollection of the 1990s, we at the Daily were eagerly awaiting the release of "Chinese Democracy," the latest album from Guns N' Roses that reportedly took more than a decade to complete. In order to make Axl Rose feel better (and ourselves for shelling out 10 bucks), we've compiled this list of the comparably disappointing events in recent memory.

10. Prom: Between agonizing about asking a date, stressing over an outfit and foraying into the dubious realm of "the prom group," the lead-up to that fateful spring weekend night is resoundingly unpleasant. Then, of course, there's the evening itself, with over-eager parents snapping one impossibly awkward photo after the next, a limo that smells (did I really pay $80 for this?!) and the dance itself, with teachers uncomfortably mingling amongst the perspiring masses. And, lest we forget, the after party is also generally a disappointment, unless you especially enjoy drinking and driving.

9. Brian Wilson's "SMiLE" (2004): One word: meh :(

8. "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" (2008): All summer, we waited patiently for the return of the whip-cracking crusader and debated whether Ford's 66-year-old body would hold up against rolling boulders and booby-trapped tombs. Then the franchise went all M. Night Shyamalan and brought in a ridiculous alien plot, complete with a flying saucer. Epic fail.

7. Queen + Paul Rogers: Queen would have been nothing without its flamboyant frontman, Freddie Mercury. Yes, their music is awesome, but did you people honestly think it would be remotely the same without him? Not even bassist John Deacon wanted to be around for that trainwreck. Yet, somehow, the group begged audiences to be disappointed by sticking with its original name.

6. Recovered Funds: So we get handed a nice sum of money with five zeros and no strings attached, and what do we do? Town hall meetings? Give me a break; we want a water slide already…

5. "Quantum of Solace" (2008): After the success of "Casino Royale" (2006), James Bond fanboys across America couldn't wait to see Daniel Craig kick butt and take names in his second outing as the famed super-spy. After a long wait and much anticipation, viewers were left with nothing short of a bad revenge flick with Jason Bourne-style fighting and acting. Let's hope the next movie isn't such a downer. Here's a clue: Bond girls + villains = good movie.

4. "Spiderman 3" (2007): Are you serious, Sam Raimi? The other two films leading up to this weren't bad at all, and then you make this steaming pile... Why did you ruin the thrillogy?! The first part of this film was fine, but there was no need to break out a dancing emo Tobey Maguire that served no other purpose aside from inducing laughter. Nothing could have saved this film, not even James Franco's impressive green screen acting. Face it: try as you might, you can't make sand scary. It just doesn't work.
3. "Chinese Democracy" (2008): The funny thing about Axl Rose's long-awaited release is that no one really thought it was going to be that good to begin with because, hey, let's face it, it's Axl Rose. That said, the album still stank, and after 13 years and nearly 13 million dollars in production costs, it should have at least been mediocre. It's almost less funny now that he actually released the album; actually, it was better when it was just a pipe dream. See how much you've stolen from us with this record, Axl?

2. "Star Wars: Episode I" (1999): The Rastafarian special-needs lizard saves the planet by being a complete failure at life. The script sounds like it was written by an inebriated raccoon who was in the middle of a nasty divorce. George Lucas even managed to make Natalie Portman look like a snow tiger that had had its face run through a wheat thresher. But at least there were lots of cool computer-animated creatures ... right?

1. Y2K: Naturally, the only thing worse than the disappointment of the century has to be the disappointment of the millennium. With all the hype associated with the approach of the second millennium, we found ourselves let down that something dramatic and catastrophic didn't happen. Computers morphing into robots and taking over the world, perhaps? A massive blackout would have been nice, too (Pls don't use candles!). Not to mention the Second Coming expectations — way to bail out on us, Jesus.