You’d think that after spending 15 years making an album, you would stick around to promote it – but this simply isn’t the case for missing Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose.
Rose, who is the only original member of Guns N’ Roses, has been missing for over two months, and has caused panic at record company Geffen.
“People have been trying to contact Axl for two months and he’s completely AWOL.” A source has said to Britain’s The Sun.
“It is frustrating because the album would have had a much better chance of going to number one if he had only been prepared to show his face.
“You would have thought after spending all those years on an album you might do a few weeks of promotion.
“Everyone knows Axl is a bit of a maverick genius and won’t do anything he doesn’t want to.”
His absence to promote the record has taken its toll - despite high levels of anticipation for the long player, it has only cracked the top spot in two countries – Brazil and Finland.
Sales of the album have been moderately successful, but considering its $13 million cost, it will take a lot of shifted units to recoup the expenditure of the most expensive album ever made.
There are rumours that Axl’s disappearance could be due to his own quest to snare several members of the classic lineup, including original guitarists Slash and Izzy Stradlin.
While Axl is off in the wilderness, it hasn’t stopped his people fighting his battles for him.
His lawyers are currently immersed in a dispute with the manufacturers of soft drink Dr. Pepper over an apology to Guns N’ Roses fans, who were promised a free can of the drink if Chinese Democracy was released in 2008.
Overwhelming demands for the free offer caused the companies online presence to crash – creating embarrassment for both parties.
Rose’s lawyers claim that Dr. Pepper were receiving direct publicity from association with the band – causing the promotion an "unmitigated disaster which defrauded customers".