Chinese Democracy they had cost $12 million." On March 26, 2008, media reported that soft drinks manufacturer Dr Pepper would offer a free can of its product to everyone in America—excluding former Guns N' Roses guitarists Buckethead and Slash—if the band released "Chinese Democracy" in 2008. Later that day, Rose wrote of his surprise at the company's support on the Guns N' Roses website, and said he would share his Dr Pepper with Buckethead as "some of Buckethead's performances are on "Chinese Democracy"". After it was announced that the album would be released in 2008, Dr Pepper confirmed that it would uphold
Chinese Democracy and a reference to Falun Gong. The Communist Party of China said through media that it "turns its spear point on China". "Chinese Democracy" was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 28 reviews. "Los Angeles Times" writer Ann Powers called it "a test for contemporary ears" and "a cyborgian blend of pop expressiveness, traditional rock bravado and Brian Wilson-style beautiful weirdness". Chuck Klosterman, writing for "The A.V. Club", praised the vocals and guitar parts but criticized