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 audiences, bountiful royalties, escalating ambitions and dangerously open-ended deadlines", the music business in the early 21st century had become "leaner" and "leakier". In a 2015 review inducting the album into their "New Classic Albums" category, Artistdirect praised the album, calling it "a timeless work of art". Best Buy purchased 1.3 million copies of "Chinese Democracy" from UMG before release and pledged not to return unsold copies. The album was released on November 22, 2008, in Germany, Switzerland, and Austria. It was released the following day worldwide, except for the United Kingdom, where it was released on November 24. "Chinese Democracy"