Axl Rose blamed for poor sales of Chinese Democracy

It's more than just Axl that is leading to poor sales. Numbers for the big 4 realeases last week are more horrible than anyone could have imagined. Geffen should be blaming George W. for the economy.

Part of the blame also has to fall on the fact that GNR are long past the point of relevance, and after 15 years their fanbase has all moved on.

Bad promotion (though I can't imagine this is totally true, because even without Axl showing his face, didn't everyone in America hear about this album at least 20 times over the last couple weeks?), bad economy, lack of relevance, the fact the album just isn't good, and of course the ever-present truth that the record industry is dying in its current form: all this, and you get the perfect storm for crappy sales. I'm not crying for Geffen--though I still respect them for signing sonic youth and nirvana back when major labels were needed.

Poor sales are most likely linked to people tightening their budgets, saving their money for Black Friday, downloading the album or copying it, and that some people are probably scared to see what the new material is like. I've been an avid and die hard fan since 1990 when I was 6, and this long-awaited album took a few listening sessions to realize a lot of it is good. If this album was released when it was supposed to be it would have been ground-breaking and ahead of its time. A lot of the sounds are like powerman 5000 and other various bands that emerged in the late 90's. This album would have led the way.

That is my new favorite picture of Mr. Rose.

this headline is straight out of the Onion.

Maybe the Botox wore off.

Best Buy dropped the ball too. Why would they not adverstise that they exclusively carry the album in commercials? Bad move. Axl not promoting the album is just lazy behavior. But who cares, Axl is a millionaire and if he is not overly concerned why should we be?

The album is horrible, sounds dated, irrelevant, might have been decent 10 or 12 years ago when electronic drum machines were still cool, and I bet he's hiding because he is ashamed of his work. I would be.

It's a very strong release, certainly better than 95% of the trash released these days. But, the reality is, people don't buy music anymore. We not getting back at the record companies for all their years of price gouging by downloading everything in free trade services like SoulSeek. I like the albumn, but I wouldn't buy it. I haven't bought a CD for over 7 years and I am a big music fan.

I love pretty much every track on Chinese Democracy with the exception of

Well all this talk and so called speculation about why the album is not selling well. Even blaming the seller as they did not promote the album good enough.

WAKE UP AND LISTEN TO THE ALBUM G&R ARE DONE. THIS IS A HORRIBLE ALBUM!!!

Poor sales are probably linked to the fact that Chinese Democracy is an extremely mediocre album..... Axl a genius!!!!....Oh please!....He has the illusion of genius and no doubt the delusion....He takes 15 years to release an album and for that it gets called an epic...Give me a break...Since when does Procrastination = epic .....GNR showed there hand way back when they released the two albums Use your Illusion 1 & 2...instead of releasing 1 quality album or even a double album they release two mediocre albums thus forcing their fans to shell out full price on both knowing full well they would (hence the Title "USE YOUR ILLUSION"...Try ABUSE YOUR ILLUSION)....GnR are irrelevant Chinese Democarcy should be included as a Trilogy with Use your illusion and should of been called USE YOUR DELUSION!

Let me preface by saying I am (was) a big GnR fan. This album sucks. After all this time all I wanted was ONE track like I would have heard on Appetite. Not to be. I held out hope and have been disappointed. Some bands pride themselves on trying to change (e.g Metallica - PLEASE record another Ride the Lightning), but for God's sake, when the recipe works WHY change it. We all loved GnR for what they were but that memory isn't going to move crappy music now.

I work at an independant record store. We may have sold one copy and they brought it back. We are stuck with some LP's we can't even return to our supplier. I haven't listened to the album as the word on the street was so bad I didn't even bother. I grow up on early guns and roses and still appreciate it now. To call axle rose a genius is a huge overstatement he was good way back when but so were and are a lot of artists. What gets me is they were to tour with a great and under rated band like The Eagles of Death Metal and bash them because there fans are too narrow minded to accept them. It was a bad combo with a predictable outcome, but instead of Axle just ignoring it and carrying on he bashes them. The Eagles of Death Metal rock and put on a killer performance and that is the treatment they get. The only reason guns and roses sold any albums is because people will buy anything with a name they recognise. They should thank God that they sold as many copies as they did and call it a day.

I have listened to Chinese Democracy over and over and I think it is an awesome cd in the classic rock form!! THE BEST SONG IS 'SORRY' AND EVERY OTHER SONG IS AWESOME!! If this cd is so bad listen to hip hop or
(c)rap music....this is a very good cd!!!! Mike