I was 8. I was 8 years old when the last Guns N’ Roses album was released. Which to me is kind of ironic. Guns N’ Roses is a band that I have followed for years. I loved their music. I loved their videos. I loved their hair. This was what my father used to listen to when he wanted to rock and something I will listen to for the rest of my life when I want memories of the Vogue on a Retro Rewind Wednesday.
I remember sitting on my living room floor watching November Rain. We had blue carpet back then (we might actually still have blue carpet to be honest) and I can remember it like it was yesterday. I was sitting on the floor and watching Axl play his piano in the middle of the desert. The camera movements in and around the church were enough to make me want to take a motion sickness medication. And then you have Slash slamming his guitar with his sunglasses on and no amplification. When you are that good you don’t need an amp.
This was many years ago. And not too many years after that the band broke up and everyone went their separate ways. Some went to a new band called Velvet Revolver. Some went to rehab. And others (not pointing any fingers here front man) went to the loony bin. But for the last few, and as in few I mean more than ten, years Guns N’ Roses have been talking about this new album called Chinese Democracy being their next big release. It got to the point that they were giving release dates and then nothing came from it other than pissed off fans.
So Dr. Peppers comes out and says, in March of this year actually, that if Guns N’ Roses gives us their album this year then they will give everyone in the country a soda. That is right. If they provide music, Dr. Pepper will provide thirst relief.
The album came out. The album is actually pretty good. Considering its a whole new band and Axl is the only original member left, they did a pretty solid job of still keeping the Guns sound. I am quite impressed with the sound of the album actually. It is no Appetite for Destruction but is solid none the less. So Dr. Pepper is forced to anti up their free soda. They did. Or did they?
According to Guns N’ Roses they did not. Well, they are admitting now that they did, but not the way that the original promo was set out to be handled. Originally it was going to be a dead set give away from Dr. Pepper. The album comes out and you get your soda. But the night the album dropped, at midnight, Dr. Pepper released a coupon on an undisclosed website that got you your free pop.
But the coupon was only good for 24 hours. And when the first fan heard about it within just a few hours there were so many Guns fans flooding the site that the servers crashed and there were a ton of pissed off people. But Dr. Pepper realized this and extended the deadline from 24 to 42 hours. Again, they were still falling short of their original deal.
So Guns N’ Roses got a little angry. They, never having anything to do with the promotion to begin with, are suing Dr. Pepper. They have the audacity to sue over a promotion that had nothing to do with a little “fire under your ass” motivation from a huge company to get your record out.
I just found this to be enlightening that a band that takes 17 years and an entire lineup change to record an album has the guts to sue over a promotion they were never involved in. And their spokesman stated that they had to “clean up this mess” so their fans were not upset because of the miscommunication. All in all, Guns, get the hell over it. Your album finally dropped, it is decent, so move on. If you want Axl, I will buy you a Dr. Pepper to make you feel better.
