Chinese Democracy which meant that the salaried musicians, engineers, and assistants were often unable to work; Zutaut said: "These fucking people are getting paid shitloads of money and they’re sitting on their arse doing nothing because Axl’s not coming to the studio and they can’t get him on the phone." Zutaut estimated that Guns N' Roses were working on 50 or 60 songs; he went through each with Rose, trying to decide which were worth finishing. According to Zutaut, during his time with the band they completed versions of "The Blues", "Madagascar", "Chinese Democracy", and a "good" version of "Atlas Shrugged". When
Chinese Democracy its pledge. On the album's release, however, Dr Pepper's online distribution of coupons proved inadequate. Lawyers for the band threatened Dr Pepper's parent company with a lawsuit two days after the album's release; in a letter to the company, Rose's lawyer Alan Gutman said: "The redemption scheme your company clumsily implemented for this offer was an unmitigated disaster which defrauded consumers and, in the eyes of vocal fans, ruined "Chinese Democracy"'s release." Gutman also demanded the company make a full-page apology that would appear in "The Wall Street Journal", "USA Today", "The New York Times", and "The Los Angeles Times".