Chinese Democracy Chinese Democracy Chinese Democracy is the sixth and most recent studio album by American hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Released on November 23, 2008, by Geffen Records, it was the first Guns N' Roses studio album since ""The Spaghetti Incident?"" in 1993, and their first album of original studio material since the simultaneous releases of "Use Your Illusion I" and "II" in 1991. In the mid-1990s, amid creative and personal differences, guitarists Slash and Gilby Clarke, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Matt Sorum all either quit or were fired. Only singer Axl Rose and keyboardist Dizzy Reed remained. In
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"