$1,000 for Chinese Democracy

It was just a couple of months ago that Dr. Pepper announced they would give a free can of soda to everyone in America should Axl Rose release the more than a decade-in-the-making album Chinese Democracy.

But what about the people who aren't particularly fond of Dr. Pepper and perhaps prefer Pepsi or Sprite? Or the people who think one can of soda just isn't enough? Or the ones who flat out don't drink soda?

It's pretty clear to most fans that Axl Rose wasn't biting and the stakes needed to be raised.

One man has stepped forward to up the ante, well, at least for Axl. According to the same blog that announced Dr. Pepper's "free soda for all" scheme, a disgruntled Guns N' Roses fan is offering $1,000 to the charity of GNR's choosing if he is given an unreleased demo of Chinese Democracy.

According to that blog, the man was quoted as saying..

“I am willing to pay one-million dollars to charity if Guns N’ Roses, their management or other ‘interested parties’ provide me with a previously unleaked demo off of the band’s long-awaited Chinese Democracy. It must be in its entirety – and with Axl’s vocals. I am willing to pre-pay in advance via Paypal.”

The word now is that he's actually only offering $1,000 and not $1 million, which means nothing will likely come of this. Not that anything would have in the first place, because I doubt Axl Rose has been holding onto this album for the last decade just waiting for some guy to come along and offer him a big fat check for.. $1,000.

As hard up for money as Axl may be right now, after having reportedly spend more than $13 million recording to the album over the last ten years, I don't think $1,000 or even $1 million is really an enticing enough offer. In fact, I don't know if any amount of money will be able to pry the album away at this point. It's not really about money as much as it is about Axl Rose just getting in a place mentally where he's ready to release a new album with a new band and welcome whatever positive and negative reactions will come from it.

It's a nice gesture, and certainly more enticing to me than free cans of Dr. Pepper, but in the end it's probably a fruitless effort. Can't fault the guy for trying though.