2. Guns N Roses - Chinese Democracy
GeffenWhen finally released in 2008 - 17 years after their last original studio disc and the most expensive-to-produce album in history - Chinese Democracy landed with a resounding thud. The only reason it eventually went platinum was because Best Buy (exclusive retailer of the album in the U.S.) cut their losses and started selling the CD for $1.99. With hindsight, its easy to see why Chinese Democracy tanked. Sole remaining original member Axl Rose wasnt fooling anybody by recruiting hired guns to take the place of Slash, Izzy Stradlin and Duff McKagan, all a huge part of what made the band great to begin with (imagine The Rolling Stones without Keith Richards). In addition, even diehard fans can be strung-along only so long before they either stop caring or have grown up and moved on. Its constantly-delayed release date became a running joke; Dr. Pepper even offered a free can of soda to everyone in the U.S. if Axl & Friends actually delivered the album on its final promised release date. By the time Chinese Democracy finally landed, the musical landscape had changed dramatically, and many of the albums tracks were now over a decade old (even the title sounded dated). While not a terrible album by any stretch, Chinese Democracy was doomed to fail. The only way to justify the amount of time and money spent to create it, Chinese Democracy would need to become one of the biggest selling albums of all time. In 2008, with record companies withering on the vine and even the biggest rock artists struggling to sell the number of records they used to, this wasnt gonna happen. But ultimately, Chinese Democracy deserves to a high place on this list because the only thing it really accomplished was to make everyone miss the original line-up even more. Despite what Axl Rose thinks, it was the five of them together who made those early albums great. Todays Guns N Roses are nothing more than a competent cover band.