Guns N' Roses Gets In Fight With Dr. Pepper

November 27. 2008

Axl Rose wants to kick Dr. Pepper's butt

Dr. Pepper made what it thought was a safe bet – that Axl Rose wouldn’t release his band Guns N' Roses' 14-year delayed “Chinese Democracy” album – and promised all of America a free can of soda if he did by the end of the year.

You know they had a Maalox moment when the album dropped with less than 5 weeks left in the year.

Dr. Pepper, sensing they could go bankrupt, gave people 24 hours to download a free soda coupon from their site that basically crashed due to the demand. They extended the promotion by one day, but it didn’t assuage Axl, who clearly had his feelings hurt, deeming the proclamation a potshot.

Now Axl’s lawyer has commenced litigation against Dr. Pepper, stating they used the band’s name and image without permission and want the soft drink company to cut them a check.

In other news, China has condemned the Guns N’ Roses album and song “Chinese Democracy.” I heard the song and it is not very flattering, not to mention, some of it doesn’t make sense.

However, in Axl’s defense, when he was talking smack on the record that was recorded two millenniums ago in 1989 and is just getting released now, China wasn’t the global titan it has become that can pimp slap him into the next century without even trying.

Seriously, this album is not Guns N' Roses' best work. That’s probably why he didn’t release it for 14 years. The song “Shackler’s Revenge” is disturbing and demonic and the album is very melancholy.

Only a couple of the slower tracks brought back the hype of the old Guns N' Roses that dominated MTV in the 1980s. But it’s just as well, as MTV doesn’t play music videos anymore.

Seriously, why call it Music TV, when you’ve dropped the music. If I see one more metrosexual faux rock band wearing eyeliner I’m going to change the channel. Oh wait, that’s right, I already did *sound of remote changing the channel*

*My remote doesn’t actually make noise when the channel is changed. I’m just being dramatic.

Dr Pepper and Rocker in a War of Hype

It took Axl Rose 14 years to complete the latest Guns N’ Roses album. But it took his lawyers only two days to take Dr Pepper to task for not making good on a promise of free soda to “everyone in America” in celebration.

In March the manufacturer made headlines by saying it would give out cans of its 123-year-old soft drink if the album, “Chinese Democracy,” came out by the end of the year. That was by no means a sure proposition, since Mr. Rose had failed to meet so many deadlines over the years that the album had become the music industry’s most notorious (and expensive) shaggy-dog story.

On Sunday the album was finally released, and Dr Pepper gave fans 24 hours to go to its Web site for a coupon redeemable for a can of soda; so many did that the site crashed, and the deadline was extended to Monday.

“We never thought this day would come,” said Tony Jacobs, a Dr Pepper marketing executive, in a statement last week.

http://www.nytimes.com

Gutman's letter makes clear his view that the original campaign was an "exploitation of my clients' legendary reputation and their eagerly awaited album" and "brazenly violated our clients' rights." He is also seeking an "appropriate payment ... for the unauthorized use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights," with the threat of further action if an acceptable offer is not made.

http://www.reuters.com