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 writing for "The Observer", accused Rose of "cribbing" from the industrial rock of Nine Inch Nails. "The New York Times" described "Chinese Democracy" as "a transitional album". Rock biographer Stephen Davis was more vitriolic and named "Chinese Democracy" "the worst album ever". The album was nominated for the Juno Award for International Album of the Year in 2009, losing to Coldplay's "Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends". The song "If the World" was nominated for Best Original Song at the 13th Satellite Awards, losing to "Another Way to Die" by Jack White and Alicia Keys. Slash reacted