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Chinese Democracy Geffen had removed "Chinese Democracy" from its release schedule and withdrawn funding, stating: "Having exceeded all budgeted and approved recording costs by millions of dollars, it is Mr. Rose's obligation to fund and complete the album, not Geffen's." Around that time, manager Merck Mercuriadis said the album was close to complete. According to a March 2005 "New York Times" article, production costs for the album had reached $13 million, making it probably the most expensive recording "never made". Mercuriadis dismissed the article, writing in a letter that the newspaper's sources had not been involved with the project for several years.