Chinese Democracy he played me these songs, asked me my ideas about them... I actually wrote some melodies and stuff.The music was eclectic and at the time that I was doing it there were no lyrics on the songs that I was working on." In February 2001, Geffen head Jimmy Iovine asked Tom Zutaut, whom the label had fired two years previously, to help Guns N' Roses complete "Chinese Democracy". Zutaut was an A&R man who had discovered the band and guided them through the recording of their previous albums. After they had resolved some personal differences, Rose told Zutaut of his
Chinese Democracy At one point, the band was using a budget of almost $250,000 a month. Rose said the expense would be negated by the recording sessions yielding multiple albums. In February 2006, "I.R.S.", "The Blues", "There Was a Time", "Better" and "Catcher in the Rye" leaked to the internet. In October, the song "Better" was inadvertently leaked by Harley-Davidson in an online ad. A "final version" was leaked in February 2007. "Madagascar" was leaked in March 2007. In May 2007 the title track was leaked, and updated versions of “Chinese Democracy,” “The Blues,” “I.R.S.” and “There Was a Time” were leaked