GUNS N’ ROSES’ ‘Chinese Democracy’ Finally Has A Release Date

[Bill Bailey]

This is the Black Friday ad for the United States:



It's nice to see they're advertising it front and center.

[Bill Bailey]

[Queenie]

bad news for chinese democracy:

http://www.rollingstone.com/rockdaily/index.php/2008/11/24/chinese-democracy-hits-best-buys-in-new-york-with-a-yawn/

11/24/08, 11:49 am EST

Guns n’ Roses fans expecting to be met with pyro, a giant inflatable Axl Rose — or at least Chinese Democracy blaring from the sound system — were in for a surprise when the anxiously awaited album hit Best Buy stores yesterday. At all the Manhattan outlets Rock Daily visited Sunday, you’d be hard-pressed to know it was one of the most hyped release days of the century.

Best Buy has released its share of exclusive music (notably live DVDs from the Rolling Stones and the Police), but serving as the sole distributor of Guns n’ Roses Chinese Democracy, which the retailer dubbed “the most anticipated album of all time” in its promotional materials, was a coup. Yet there were no midnight sales, and therefore no opportunities to nab video like the 1991 footage of fans lining up to buy both of the Use Your Illusion long boxes. When the doors of one downtown New York City store opened at 9 a.m., there were two customers waiting outside. Once in, it took a few minutes of searching to actually find the discs, and the promised vinyl was nowhere to be found — and neither was a cashier, for that matter.

The Chelsea location fared better with a full stand-up display, but the kids in the store were more interested in playing “Santeria” on Guitar Hero. That is, except for the one longhair who stared at the disc in his hands on his way out the door, as if it would disappear if he neglected it. As he left the store, he held it up to a passerby, laughed and said, “Crazy.”

The Midtown Manhattan store had the most purchases during Rock Daily’s visit of any of the locations, including one uniformed police officer who must have gotten over Axl’s diss on “One in a Million.” One customer flipped through every copy on the rack, either on an OCD quest for the most pristine packaging or finally coming to the conclusion of his 14-year internal struggle over whether he should buy it. He did.

With what must have been a precisely negotiated deal, it’s curious how minimally Chinese Democracy was emphasized in the Best Buy stores. In none of the four locations visited Sunday was the record playing on the house music system, and only one had any sort of stand-alone display. This isn’t to say that Chinese Democracy won’t do big numbers, especially with customers descending on the retailer en masse this week for Black Friday sales, but after a decade and a half of anticipation, Best Buy’s release of Chinese Democracy began in New York with a shrug.

[Queenie]

gnr "chinese democracy" #1 for most countries on itunes:


http://www.apple.com/euro/itunes/charts/top10rockalbums.html

[Queenie]

According to HITS Magazine's web site HITS Daily Double, the unprecedented Sunday release of Guns N’ Roses’ Geffen album Chinese Democracy as a Best Buy exclusive is causing havoc on the sales charts, making the guesstimate process even more of a crapshoot than usual. After yesterday’s first-day sales, which include a reported 25k downloads at iTunes, first-week sales prognostications are ranging anywhere from 300-500k.

We’ll keep you posted as the week goes on, as this number is bound to fluctuate. Thanks to a recent controversial SoundScan ruling about counting digital sales, Chinese Democracy will not debut on tomorrow’s chart, but the following Tuesday, Dec. 2.

Speaking of Guns N’ Roses, the band’s free MySpace streaming premiere of Chinese Democracy has attracted 8,429,387 plays in its first four days on the site, more than half a million ahead of the previous record-holder, Beyonce, after being up half the time.

Source: HITS Daily Double

[Queenie]

Kanye kicks axl's ass

KANYE CAUSES HEARTBREAK FOR CHALLENGERS

West’s New Album Will Approach 500k, as Guns (300k), Ludacris (225k) and The Killers (200k) All Trail

November 26, 2008

Kanye’s the king of Thanksgiving week.
West's Roc-a-Fella/Def Jam album, 808s and Heartbreak, in which he tackles the Auto-Tuner and his own inner demons, will be #1 on next Tuesday’s chart with a total that looks to be between 450-500k.

That’ll be more than enough to beat back Axl Rose and his first Guns N’ Roses album in some 15 years, Chinese Democracy, which will move around 300k, more or less, out of Best Buy outlets. And that’s including the 25k or so not counted opening week at iTunes for the Sunday release.

Ludacris’ Island Def Jam album, Theater of the Mind, looks good for 225k, followed by the other one of IDJ’s big holiday power trio, The Killers’ Day and Age, clocking in with 200k more or less.

Finally, what would the turkey shoot be without Barry Manilow? The "Copacabana" guy scores 85k for his new Arista/RMG album, The Greatest Songs of the Eighties, thanks to huge QVC sales.

Coldplay’s Prospekt’s March EP on Capitol will chalk up between 75-80k, while Capitol Nashville’s Trace Adkins appears headed for the 40-45k area for his new album, X.

After some Monday confusion over release dates (all three major circulars advertised the IDJ albums coming on Tuesday), the numbers seem back to normal.

Meanwhile, the market was up 6% vs. last week, down 32% vs. same week last year and now down 14% year to date. Feels like a tryptophan hangover even before the turkey is served

[Queenie]

  sues dr. pepper

Guns N' Roses’ Lawyer Blasts Dr Pepper
November 26, 2008 - Legal and Management | Digital and Mobile | Rock and Pop

By Andre Paine, London

Guns N' Roses' and Axl Rose's lawyer has castigated Dr Pepper, accusing the soda maker of failing to deliver on its "Chinese Democracy" (Black Frog/Geffen) free soda promotion, which the band was never involved in.

Beverly Hills-based Alan Gutman has written to Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. president and CEO Larry Young, accusing the company of operating an online redemption scheme that was an "unmitigated disaster which defrauded customers." Gutman is demanding that Dr Pepper makes good on its offer by extending the period for the offer; he also wants full-page apologies in The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal.

Gutman's letter makes clear his view that the original campaign was an "exploitation of my clients' legendary reputation and their eagerly awaited album" and "brazenly violated our clients' rights." He is also seeking an "appropriate payment... for the unauthorized use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights," with the threat of further action if an acceptable offer is not made.

"Now is the time to clean up the mess," says Gutman.

Rose did not take any action when, in March, Dr Pepper put out a press release offering free soda to any American if the long-awaited Guns N' Roses album came out before the end of 2008. However, Rose has reacted to the news that fans have been unable to get their soda following the Nov. 23 release of "Chinese Democracy."

Dr Pepper's Web servers crashed under the demand for coupons that could be exchanged for free drinks. Dr Pepper extended the Nov. 23 promotion for an extra day, but the company's Web site was inaccessible for a substantial part of it.

"Dr Pepper was completely unprepared for the traffic to its site," says Gutman in the letter, describing the promotion as a "complete fiasco."

Gutman adds: "The entire point of your campaign has been to use public interest in Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses as a lure to increase consumer awareness of Dr Pepper." He further states that "mocking undertones" in the online promotional content represent a "raw and damaging commercial exploitation of our clients' rights," adding that the association is "even more damaging in light of your shoddy execution of your disingenuous giveaway offer."

The soda maker declined to comment. Dr Pepper was considering extending the promotion, according to a source close to the situation.

[Queenie]

engineer talks working with axl

Next month will mark two years since audio engineer Mark Gray, 31, dropped by the studio at the Palms to say goodbye to his co-workers before departing for a vacation. His boss asked him if he would be willing to come back early to do some just-booked sessions. "I went from 'no way,' " he recalls, "to changing my plane ticket right away." All it took to change his mind is what the sessions were for recording. And, on Dec. 27, 2006, Gray found himself one of the many engineers to be connected to the legendary Guns N' Roses disc "Chinese Democracy."

Axl Rose arrived at the Palms Studio inside the resort and worked for 13 days in 2006 on his vocals for the finally released disc. Gray recalls a list of 14 songs (the same number as on the released version) many with working titles. Among those Rose worked on at Palms Studio he is sure are on the disc are "Chinese Democracy," "Madagascar" and "Prostitute." Despite the years and controversies that accompanied over a decade-long (The Palms was years from being built when Rose started work on the album) process of creating "Chinese Democracy," Gray found Rose focused in their sessions at the end of 2006. Gray recalls:

"He had a firm handshake and looked you straight in the eye. It was all vocal overdubs or vocal leads. He would move from song to song, working on different parts. He was jumping about, but he knew exactly what he wanted. The producers set everything so the workflow is catered to the artist for anyone, and that is how it went down here. From what I saw, it was first takes or at most two or three takes. Rose would say, 'I can get the part better' or 'I can tighten it up.' "

And even if it took two more years for the results to be released, Gray was sure the album would eventually come out based on what he heard during those weeks working with Rose. While Gray was happy to play his tiny part in the disc, of course, he is happier now that "Chinese Democracy" is available to all, with Gray's engineering work from 2006 integrated into the finished disc. Gray notes of the sessions:

"This is Guns N' Roses. I had the butterflies in the stomach the night before each night. It was absolutely special. When you hear his voice, it was a highlight of my career. He just went in and sang. He was living with the record a long time by then, and he really knew what he wanted to do. He proved a good guy to be around. We would start about 5 or 6 in the evening, hitting tape by 7. We worked five or six hours. These were great sessions. It was a great moment in the studio for me, and it was technically flawless." (Photo: Geffen Records
 

[Queenie]

man arrested for demanding chinese democracy

Man Arrested For Demanding Chinese Democracy
by James Barron, New York Times, posted 1 hour ago.

Lawrence Reilly from Queens, New York was arrested early Tuesday evening for disorderly conduct inside the Virgin Megastore at the Times Square section of Manhattan for reportedly demanding a copy of the new Guns N' Roses album "Chinese Democracy."
Witnesses say Reilly was racing back and forth in the New Releases section of the store where he carelessly knocked over and threw down cds from the shelves in an attempt to find the new disc that was released by the band on Sunday, November 23.
When a worker came over to assist Reilly the situation became more volatile as Reilly was told that the disc was not available at the Virgin Megastore. Guns N' Roses have a deal with electronics store Best Buy where the album is exclusively being sold.
"He began cursing and yelling and becoming more and more agitated by the second," said John Garvey, a customer in the store at the time who first became aware of Reilly when he was bumped from behind. "I was looking through the new release section when I was suddenly slammed in the back. When I turned around to see what had happened, I noticed him (Reilly) behind me grabbing cds and moving them off the display shelves."

Other workers at the store began to notice the commotion and confronted Reilly according to store manager, Kent Debnam. "He began to yell threats and obscenities at the workers," said Debnam, reading from a report of the incident in which Reilly allegedly shouted, "I'll punch your lights out right here and right now," while allegedly shaking his fists at them.

"He kept demanding to be sold the album 'Chinese Democracy' and refused to listen to the reason as to why the album was not being sold at our location," Debnam said. When told that if he did not calm down security and the police would have to be called he reportedly said, "I don't give a (expletive) who you are. You are all little people on a power trip."

Police arrived soon after when Reilly said "Just arrest me."

According to police, Reilly was arrested at approximately 7:45 p.m. on Tuesday, and was released by 11 p.m.

Reilly was charged with a class one misdemeanor, the highest kind next to a felony. A conviction on this charge would merit either a $2,500 fine and/or six months in jail. Reilly will be arraigned in ten days and go before a judge, who will decide which it will be.

[BITCH™]

Are you sure that wasn't you, Queeno?

[Warrior]

Are you sure that wasn't you, Queeno?

It reminds me exactly of Axl's airport incident back in 1997(think thats the year). Didn't Axl say those EXACT same lines?? lol

[Queenie]

Are you sure that wasn't you, Queeno?

wasn't me 

[Xozita]

Yeah, Axl said those same lines... haaaha... what a stupid wacko

[BITCH™]

Beverly Hills-based Alan Gutman has written to Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. president and CEO Larry Young,

I've talked to this guy on the phone before, he called my office a bunch of times :O

[Queenie]

chinese democracy is an official failure:


Kanye, Guns N' Roses Post Slow Debut-Week Sales
Guns N' Roses' Axl Rose

December 01, 2008 04:46 PM ET

Ed Christman, N.Y.

While mainstream media is touting that the Black Friday weekend started the holiday selling season with a bang, music merchandisers certainly didn't have that experience.

Music sales were down anywhere from 10% to 30% and hit albums released for Black Friday didn't perform up to expectations, according to merchants contacted by Billboard. Sources say Kanye West's "808s & Heartbreak" will sell in the range of 425,000-450,000 units, significantly down from 700,000-975,000 units previously projected.

Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" is expected to clock in at 250,000-260,000, which is also down from expectations that it would sell anywhere from 300,000-784,000 units.

While some press reports show across-the-board retail weekend sales up 7%, music merchandisers point out that in order to accurately measure the holiday, it should be measured the week containing Black Friday this year, which was the last week in November, versus last year when the day fell in the third week of the month.

At music specialty stores Newbury Comics, sales were down 21% on a comparable store basis for the last two weeks of November, while music sales were down 28%, reports the Brighton, Mass.-based chain's CEO, Mike Dreese.


At big boxes like Wal-Mart and Barnes & Noble, label executives report that hit sales were off significantly for the Black Friday weekend, anywhere from 30% to 40%.

On the other hand, as expected, online shopping was stronger than last year, says an executive with a wholesaler that does CD and DVD fulfillment for online stores. But he declined to provide details, other than to say that Friday was better than Thursday, for the first time.

"I hear traffic was high, but overall purchasing wasn't because shoppers were cherry-picking the deals," says one senior distribution executive.

says chinese democracy selling around 200k "first week" is the death of guns n roses

RIP