Chinese Democracy was one of the most anticipated albums ever and was poised to set sales records. The numbers are now in, and they are disappointing. What went wrong? Many are blaming Axl Rose for the poor sales numbers for Chinese Democracy, claiming that he did not do enough promotion for the album. But, here are a few interesting facts:1.) "Chinese Democracy," "Guns N' Roses," and related terms were all in the most-searched terms on places like Twitter, Google, etc around the week of release. People were talking about it.
2.) The album was streamed millions of times on MySpace in a few days. People were listening to it.
3.) Axl has been talking about new songs for Chinese Democracy for over 15 years and promising an imminent release more than once. People did know about the album.
I have more than one guess as to why the new Guns N' Roses did not blow the world out of the water with sales numbers. I do not believe this was an issue of poor promoting. My best guess is that the content was not there. The songs were outdated and simply could not live up to the hype created. After millions listened to the album on MySpace, they realized that it wasn't that special, and therefore did not rush out to purchase it. Sure it has its moments, but the album simply became a victim of too much promotion spread over 15 years. Agree or disagree?