Chinese Government Slams New GUNS N' ROSES Album

The Pulse of Radio reports that a newspaper published by China's ruling Communist Party has blasted the new GUNS N' ROSES album, "Chinese Democracy", calling it an attack on the Chinese nation. According to The Associated Press, Chinese paper The Global Times ran a story headlined "American band releases album venomously attacking China," in which unidentified Chinese Internet users described the album as part of a plot by Westerners to "grasp and control the world using democracy as a pawn." The article did not refer to any specific songs or lyrics, just the CD's name, although the title track itself takes a poke at China's authoritarian government.

Spokespersons for China's Foreign Ministry, Culture Ministry, and State Administration of Radio, Film and Television either had no response or could not be reached for comment.

"Chinese Democracy" is unlikely to see a legal commercial release in China, and it is not known whether the country's Internet censors will block access to the songs online. Music, film, books and literature are all closely monitored in the Asian nation for material deemed offensive by the government.

As for how "Democracy" is faring at home, where it was released exclusively through Best Buy on Sunday (November 23),full sales numbers will not available until the week of December 1, since Best Buy closes its weekly CD sales reports on Saturday. Industry insiders are estimating that first-week sales for the 17-years-in-the-making album will fall somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 copies.