Chinese Democracy is the sixth studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, released on November 23, 2008, through Geffen Records and Black Frog. It was their first album of original material since Use Your Illusion I and II (1991), and the first to feature none of the classic members aside from vocalist Axl Rose. The album's development spanned over a decade, becoming one of the most protracted and expensive recording processes in rock history, with reported costs exceeding $13 million.
Recorded amid lineup upheavals, legal disputes, and leaks, Chinese Democracy saw Rose collaborate with a rotating cast of musicians and producers, including band members Dizzy Reed, Paul Tobias, Robin Finck, Josh Freese, Tommy Stinson, Chris Pitman, Buckethead, Richard Fortus, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, Brain and Frank Ferrer, and producers Youth, Sean Beavan and Roy Thomas Baker. Recording began in 1998 with the intention of producing multiple albums; although more than 50 tracks were completed, Rose's inconsistent studio schedule and repeated re‑recordings caused substantial delays in the project's progress. It is the first Guns N' Roses album not produced by Mike Clink; instead, Rose and Caram Costanzo handled production.
The album blends hard rock with industrial and electronic influences, a shift from the band's previous blues and punk-based music. Upon release, it debuted at number three on the Billboard 200. It was certified platinum, receiving generally favorable reviews for its ambition and vocal performances, though its production and lengthy recording process drew mixed reactions. In the United States, the album was released exclusively via Best Buy, and it was banned in China due to lyrics in the lead single, the title track. The album's release was accompanied by a widely publicized Dr Pepper promotion, with the company offering a free soda to all Americans if the album arrived in 2008. Retrospective assessments have acknowledged its complex legacy, with several critics and publications noting that the album has since developed a cult following and undergone reevaluation, praised by some for its ambition and scope despite the mythology surrounding its prolonged creation.
Background
thumb|Vocalist [[Axl Rose was the main creative force behind the album.]]
In September 1991, Guns N' Roses released the albums Use Your Illusion I and II, selling a combined 35 million copies. That November, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin left the band, citing exhaustion with the current tour and conflicts with bandmates. He was replaced by Gilby Clarke. In 1993, they released "The Spaghetti Incident?", an album of glam and punk rock cover songs. Though certified platinum in 1994, it sold far less than their previous releases, and the band didn't tour to support it.
In 1994, the band began writing new material, but bassist Duff McKagan said "nothing got finished" due to drug use. Lead guitarist Slash accused Rose of running the band "like a dictatorship", while Rose claimed collaboration was impossible, leading to the material being scrapped.
In 1994, Rose replaced Clarke with his childhood friend Paul "Huge" Tobias, without consulting the band. He became "obsessed" with electronica and industrial rock, particularly Nine Inch Nails, and pushed for a more modern sound. Other members opposed Tobias and the stylistic shift, deepening tensions. That August, Rose legally left the band and formed a new partnership under the Guns N' Roses name, which he reportedly purchased the full rights to in 1997. Slash departed in 1996, citing creative differences with Rose and issues with Tobias. McKagan described the sessions as indulgent and chaotic: "Axl brought [Tobias] in and said, 'This is our new guitar player' ... There was no democracy... Slash started going, 'Fuck this. What, this is his band now?'. I'd show up at 10, and Axl would arrive at four or five in the morning."
In January 1997, Slash was replaced by ex-Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck. The following month, electronic musician Moby briefly worked with the band, praising their use of loops but conflicting with Rose over recording vocals. He pulled out to focus on his solo work, later admitting he was not suited to produce a rock band. Mike Clink, who had produced all previous Guns N' Roses albums, was considered as producer, as were Scott Litt (R.E.M., Nirvana), Steve Lillywhite (Dave Matthews Band, U2), and Mark Bell (Björk, Depeche Mode).
In April 1997, drummer Matt Sorum was fired after arguing with Rose over Tobias. Sorum later said "I'm so glad I left because it was just stagnant. It didn't make any sense to be a musician to be sitting there not being able to put any of your creative energy out to the world. All my stuff was on some tapes on a shelf and four years had gone by." That same month NBA player and rapper Shaquille O'Neal briefly jammed with Reed, Tobias and studio drummer Sidd Riggs, though Rose dismissed it as a casual encounter. Nine Inch Nails drummer Chris Vrenna auditioned, joining a tentative lineup of Rose, McKagan, Tobias, Finck, Vrenna and keyboardist Dizzy Reed. Vrenna recalled "When I was there, Moby was going to produce. Axl didn't come in very often." Vrenna left and multiple drummers auditioned, including Riggs, Dave Abbruzzese (Pearl Jam), Joey Castillo (Danzig), before Josh Freese (The Vandals, Devo) was hired mid-1997. Freese joined after Rose invited him to help write songs, rare for a drummer in his experience.
McKagan left in August 1997, frustrated by the band's lack of progress and erratic studio habits. Chris Pitman (Tool, Lusk) joined as a second keyboardist and multi-instrumentalist/producer in early 1998. On Freese's recommendation, bassist Tommy Stinson (The Replacements) was hired. By early 1998, the lineup included Rose, Stinson, Freese, Finck, Tobias, Reed and Pitman.
Recording and production
Early sessions with producer Youth
In February 1998, manager Doug Goldstein said the band was "three to five months away from actually recording," but a release should not be expected until 1999. Barber described the music as "pretty incredible... like GNR, but with Led Zeppelin, Nine Inch Nails and Pink Floyd mixed in. If Axl had recorded vocals, it would have been an absolutely contemporary record in 1999."
Rose did not attend sessions regularly. Dominguez said, "He'd be 'on' for a couple of weeks and then 'off' for a couple weeks. He called in pretty much every day, though."
Work with producer Sean Beavan
The band worked with producer Sean Beavan (Nine Inch Nails, Marilyn Manson) from late 1998 to early 2000. Engineer Dave Dominguez left a few days after Beavan brought in his own engineer Jeff "Critter" Newell. Doug Goldstein claimed Beavan was the only main producer up to that point, saying the others were just "people we met with or tried out on some tracks [with]." Beavan recorded Rose's vocals in under a week, most of which are the takes appearing on the final release. He claimed to have worked on 35 songs. Billy Howerdel, hired as a Pro Tools engineer, said "I came in making sounds for Robin Finck, and that turned into this two-and-a-half-year gig." At one point, Rose paused work to have the new lineup rerecord Appetite for Destruction (1987) using modern recording techniques. He said this helped members reach the needed quality and improved the writing process. The re-recordings of Appetite were never released; except part of the re-recorded version of "Sweet Child O' Mine" appears during the end credits of Big Daddy later that year. In 1999, Queen guitarist Brian May recorded guitar for several tracks. By mid-1999, over 30 songs had been recorded, and the album was tentatively titled 2000 Intentions.
In 1999, Rose said they had enough material for at least two albums, Sources said the plan was to release Chinese Democracy, tour for a year or two, then release the second album without returning to the studio.
Album title revealed and release of "Oh My God"
thumb|left|Guns N' Roses at 2006's [[Download Festival, attending as a part of the Chinese Democracy tour]]
In a November 1999 interview, Rose announced the title Chinese Democracy, saying: "There's a lot of Chinese democracy movements... It could also just be like an ironic statement. I don't know, I just like the sound of it." He would later state, "The use of the two words "Chinese" and "Democracy" was intentional... I do not purport to know what system of government is best for the people of China. I feel that the prejudice and closed-mindedness of at least many outspoken Guns N' Roses fans seems to warrant an awareness of the realities of a constantly evolving and ever-growing world where China continues to play an ever-increasing role." He described the album as a "melting pot" of varied sounds, including heavy and aggressive tracks. In 1997–98, sources described the album as electronic influenced. Chris Vrenna said that Rose aimed for a sound like U2 and Brian Eno's Original Soundtracks 1. Though often labeled industrial rock, Rose clarified: "It is not industrial ... There will be all kinds of styles, many influences as blues, mixed in the songs."
That same month, Guns N' Roses released "Oh My God", their first new track in five years and first original in eight, featured in End of Days. The lineup included Rose, Tobias, Stinson, Reed, Pitman, Finck, and Freese, plus guest guitarists Dave Navarro (Jane's Addiction) and Gary Sunshine (Circus of Power). Navarro, briefly recruited in 1991 to replace Stradlin, recalled: "Axl called... I showed up with my gear ... there were 10 people in the studio, and I was like, 'Where's Axl?' And they were like, 'He's coming. But let's get started anyway'... I recorded a couple of passes... and then I hear, 'Yeah, that sounds really good. Why don't you keep that one?' What it was was Axl on speakerphone from his home. Very strange – but I love that it was strange."
"Oh My God" received mixed reviews; AllMusic called it "a less than satisfying comeback", while Rolling Stone saw it as a stopgap to appease fans and offset costs. In a February Rolling Stone interview, Rose said delays were partly due to learning new recording tech: "It's like from scratch... not wanting it just to be something you did on a computer." His eccentric stage persona – a white mask and a KFC bucket on his head – led to rumors he was Slash in disguise. Josh Freese said of writing songs at the time "I wrote three or four songs... There would be an A-list and a B-list of tracks on the old dry-erase board... Forever, I had three or four songs on the A-list... but they all had working titles, because they were just instrumentals at the time." Freese left after his contract ended to join A Perfect Circle, formed by Billy Howerdel, who had exited the project months earlier. Freese, frustrated by the lack of touring, likened the band to "a giant jumbo jet sat on the tarmac." On Buckethead's recommendation, Brain (Tom Waits, Primus) was hired as drummer. Baker felt Freese's drums sounded too "industrial"; Brain said they sounded digital and lacked "air movement".
Rose had Brain learn Freese's parts note-for-note, using transcriptions and a teleprompter before reinterpreting them. and the final album blended both drummers' styles. Rose had previously threatened to remove his parts after seeing him perform at the 1999 MTV Video Music Awards. Producer Bob Ezrin (Aerosmith, Kiss, Pink Floyd) was brought in as a consultant, when Rose said the album was ready to mix, he disagreed with Rose over the quality of the songs, later describing them as "something that [had been] painted over too many times". Rose said the album was partly inspired by his conflicts with former bandmates and ex-fiancé Seymour. He hoped that her son Dylan, whom Rose was close to, would one day hear it: "if he ever wants to know the story, to hear the truth."
At Interscope's request, Zutaut reviewed the budget and found thousands wasted monthly on unused gear. His changes saved an estimated $75,000 per month. Lebeis said 48 songs were completed by March 2001, and Geffen began selecting tracks. Zutaut reviewed all 50-60 songs with Rose to decide which were worth finishing, and said they had completed versions of "The Blues", "Madagascar", "Chinese Democracy" and "Atlas Shrugged". They headlined Rock in Rio III on January 14 to an audience of 190,000 people. On August 29, 2002, they made a surprise appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards performing the new song "Madagascar". The 2002 Chinese Democracy Tour received mixed reviews, show cancellations in Vancouver and Philadelphia led to riots and the tour's cancellation.
Rhythm guitarist Paul Tobias left in 2002. Rose called him vital to the writing process but said touring was not his preference. The band had considered Marc Ford of The Black Crowes, but he declined. Fortus called recording "challenging" since every guitar part had to be structured with three guitar players. In August 2002, Rose wrote that the album was nearly complete, with a finalized tracklist and artwork. Weeks later he told MTV: "You'll see [the album], but I don't know if 'soon' is the word." In November, Reed said the album would be out by June 2003, with only minor work left. Rose confirmed plans for multiple albums and blamed delays on lack of label support, saying he had taken on roles beyond his scope. In 2003, Beltrami said: "Axl played me these songs, asked me my ideas... I wrote some melodies and stuff. The music was eclectic, and there were no lyrics on the songs that I was working on." Buckmaster said: "Axl was supposed to be there at 3pm, but turned up at 5. He was apologetic and ran me through four songs that he wanted to put strings over."
In 2003, Eddie Trunk described the song "I.R.S." as Illusion-era hard rock with modern touches. Rose responded with a cease-and-desist order, which Dexter Holland said was blown out of proportion.
In mid-2003, the band reportedly began rerecording the album again. A journalist said Rose wanted it "as perfect as possible." In 2004, Stinson said it was "almost done", but delays stemmed from legal issues and Rose's desire for full band input: "You have to get eight people to basically write a song together that everyone likes." An engineer said Rose aimed to make "the best record ever," which lead to endless revisions.
Label disputes and funding issues
By 2004, Geffen removed Chinese Democracy from its release schedule and cut funding, citing overspending: "It is Mr. Rose's obligation to fund and complete the album." Mercuriadis dismissed the report, saying most sources had not been involved in years and had not heard the album. At one point, the band's monthly budget reached $250,000.
Buckethead's departure and Greatest Hits
On March 17, 2004, Buckethead quit Guns N' Roses, prompting cancellation of their planned tour, including a headlining slot at . His management cited frustration with the band's inability to finish an album or tour. stated they hoped to announce a release date "within the next few months."