After $11 million and 13 years of hard work poured into Guns N' Roses new release Chinese Democracy, the album is finally out and results finally in. The much-anticipated album has already sold an estimated 250,000 to 260,000 copies, but the band isn't done analyzing the effect of Chinese Democracy's release. One controversial factor was not in the inclusion of album expectations, and Axl Rose is now taking action for the injustice. Dr. Pepper, which earlier this year promised every person in America a free can of soda if Guns N' Roses released the album this year, floundered on its agreement, and the Guns N' Roses frontman is not taking the situation lightly. The legendary rock band's lawyer is threatening the soda company with legal action over what they call “a complete fiasco” of a publicity stunt, demanding public apologies via media outlets.



Dr. Pepper chose to make good on its promise of a free 20-ounce soft drink for all Americans after Guns N' Roses released Chinese Democracy on November 23, yet the campaign faltered when the Dr. Pepper website crashed the day of the promotional offer, resulting in the defrauding of consumers and a seemingly lame attempt at a marketing ploy. In a letter from Rose's lawyer, the band claims to be “outraged at your treatment of their fans and the American public in general…Had you wished to engage in a commercial tie-in with our clients, you should have negotiated a legitimate arrangement instead of hijacking their rights without payment. Rest assured, this misappropriation will not be free.” These threats come in the wake of Guns N' Roses album release, which may or may not have been affected by the Dr. Pepper blunder.

No matter what the outcome of the Dr. Pepper outcry, everything is still coming up roses for the Los Angeles-based hard rock band that just won't leave the glitter rock ‘n' roll scene. Axl Rose and his posse have been staple figures on the metal scene ever since the 1980s, and the band's most recent release Chinese Democracy just proves the band's resilience after 13 years off. Guns N' Roses was originally a big group of rock ‘n' roll misfits, brought together in 1985 with raucous music and raspy yet catchy tunes that have propelled them into the spotlight. Teaming up with rockers Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler and Duff McKagan, Axl Rose began what would amount to be an empire in the mid-‘80s around speculation of a lack of good rock ‘n' roll music in the decade. After naming themselves Guns N' Roses, the band inked a deal with Geffen and released Appetite for Destruction in 1987. The band built up momentum when MTV started playing their epic single “Sweet Child O' Mine,” and after the release of “Welcome to the Jungle” Guns N' Roses was a household name.

Despite inner turmoil within the band, Guns N' Roses held up their musical empire through the 1990s, releasing songs like “Paradise City” while Rose slipped away in the background to violence and bigotry. Changing times were no challenge for GNR, however, and the band kept on truckin' past the grunge era as Nirvana lit up the scene in the early ‘90s. The late ‘90s saw Axl Rose disappear from the band's set for a while, and the entrance and exit of several band members left Guns N' Roses silent into the new millennium. Rumors of a new album circulated for several years before Chinese Democracy became a reality, and the New York Times even called the so-called album “The Most Expensive Album Never Released” in 2005 because of its costly and sticky nature. Eventually, however, GNR came back together for the 2008 release Chinese Democracy, and the band has also taken to the road in the wake of the new album. If you missed Guns N' Roses as the band withered into the early 2000s, celebrate the group's reemergence by getting Guns N' Roses tickets to one of the band's live performances, available from http://www.stubhub.com/guns-n-roses-tickets.