Chinese Democracy "Better" was released as a promo single on November 17, 2008, followed by "Street of Dreams" in March 2009. Several days before its release, the band streamed the album on their Myspace page. It was streamed over 3 million times, breaking the Myspace record for most streamed album ever. After the album's release, Rose did not appear in public for several months and did not respond to calls from the label to promote the album. On December 12, Rose answered questions and posted statements regarding the record, former bandmates, and tour plans on several Guns N' Roses fan forums. On
Chinese Democracy the Not in This Lifetime... Tour in 2016, Slash complimented Buckethead's guitar parts and spoke of the album in a 2018 interview, stating "You know, it's very different. It's really cool stuff, but it was played by guitar players that are very different from me, style-wise... I also want to give credit where credit's due - the guitar players that played on Chinese Democracy, Buckethead being one of the main ones - are fucking amazing guitar players." Soon after its release, Stradlin said "I have listened to some tracks off the record and I enjoyed them" and "I like what