Guns N’ Roses’ 2008 album “Chinese Democracy” took decades to finish and at reportedly a cost of $13 million, it’s the most expensive rock album ever produced. Singer Axl Rose was the main creative force behind the album, as it didn’t feature anyone else from the band’s classic “Appetite For Destruction” lineup. The album took on a more industrial-sounding approach, and it’s polarizing reception led to it being included on several year-end best-of and worst-of lists. The album featured a host of different musicians and at one point was supposed to have a guest spot from Queen guitarist Brian May. The legendary guitarist composed a guitar track for the song “Catcher in the Rye” in the mid-’00s and attended a series of recording sessions, but May’s contribution was later abandoned.
May spoke about the recording in a recent interview with Classic Rock Magazine. “It was an odd experience,” he said. “I think it was about midway through the whole thing. By that point, Axl was pretty much a recluse. … He was working in his house, and I was working in the studio at the bottom of the hill with his engineer at the time, and he only rarely came down. Now and again he would call in and get all enthusiastic and talk a lot, and then he’d be gone again. I don’t think any of what I played actually got onto the album.”
“Chinese Democracy” was released amid a series of lineup changes, legal battles and artistic second-guessing. May discovered his input wasn’t used when a fan wrote to let him know. “Well, it is a shame, perhaps,” he responded at the time. “I did put quite a lot of work in and was proud of it. But I could understand if Axl wants to have an album which reflects the work of the members of the band as it is, right now. I do have mixes of the tracks with my guitar on, work tapes at the time, but they will remain private, out of respect for Axl.”
