Taylor Swift sold 592,000 copies of her new record making herself immune from the dwindling record biz.  She is more than an artist, she is a role model and a figure head to a certain segment in this generation.  Christina Aguilera ‘Keeps Gettin’ Better” came out just in time for the Christmas holiday but sold only 72,869.  Old School marketing strategies cannot get the public excited to spend 10 bucks on a diva that graces the pages of tabloid mags and gossip columns. Pink’s ‘Funhouse’ sold 52,000 records this week. Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic’ sold 31,000 records, can we say they cameback? Regardless, The Day That Never Comes is a classic song.  AC/DC ‘Black Ice’ sold 105,146 with a total of  1,320,000.

Guns N’ Roses new release expects to sell 600k in its first week, which would make this one of the biggest releases of the year. Once again, where are the new artists?

13 years later, Guns N’ Roses ‘Chinese Democracy’ can be streamed in its entirety on myspace.

Guns N’ Roses began to write and record new music in 1994. Ex-bassist Duff McKagan is quoted as saying, “The band was so splintered at that point that nothing got started”. Slash has criticized Rose for making the band seem “like a dictatorship”. Slash quit the band in 1996; drummer Matt Sorum and McKagan left soon afterwards.

Chinese Democracy is a collaboration of artists who include:

* Axl Rose – lead vocals, backing vocals
* Robin Finck – lead guitar, backing vocals
* Bumblefoot – lead guitar
* Richard Fortus – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
* Tommy Stinson – bass guitar, backing vocals
* Dizzy Reed – keyboard, piano, percussion, backing vocals
* Bryan Mantia – drums, percussion
* Frank Ferrer – drums, percussion
* Chris Pitman – synthesizer, programming

Former members who are featured

* Buckethead – lead guitar
* Paul Tobias – rhythm guitar

Additional musicians

* Sebastian Bach – backing vocals (uncredited)
* Patti Hood – harp
* Marco Beltrami – orchestral arrangement
* Paul Buckmaster – orchestral arrangement

The Cost Of The Record: According to a March 2005 New York Times article, production costs for the album have reached $13 million

Virginia pop rock outfit My Favorite Highway who spent years on the scene finally signed to Virgin Records after generating excitement with their new full length.  My Favorite Highway caught the interest of KOAR when they released their first track ‘Murder On The Radio‘.  During the course of the years, the band dropped the rock roots and gravitated towards the pop direction ala Jason Mraz and The Fray.

Abby Owens who hails from Waycross, Georgia may have channeled the ghost of the south. Fans of Patti Griffin, Chrissie Hynde, and Joni Mitchell could connect with the track Bringin Us Down as Owens sorts out her pain and loss.

In her myspace blog Ownes writes, “Everyone goes through that time in their life when they’re so hopeful. So motivated and secure with things and then the rug gets snatched right out from underneath them. I realized I missed a step in the big math problem. I stepped where no stone was put. I breathed on my way up from the bottom too soon and now I’m drowning, skinning my knee, and failing.
Why don’t people have any guts anymore? Where’s the fire these days? ………

After thirteen years, Guns N’ Roses new album ‘Chinese Democracy’ has leaked on the internet.

Idolator says the entire album leaked within the last 24 hours lighting up Rapidshare and BitTorrent sites while causing lots of headaches for the Internet police.

Posted in New York Daily Mag, “How is it? Well, these are pretty much the same songs we’ve been listening to for the past six years, so if you liked that static-y MP3 of “I.R.S.” you downloaded in 2003, you’ll probably really like the cleaned-up version.”