Rose To Blame For Album Flop?

The long-awaited Chinese democracy failed to top the British charts this weekend (29-30Nov08), losing out to the new offering by Las Vegas rockers The Killers.

And the record, which took over a decade to make, looks set to miss out on the top spot on the U.S. Billboard chart, falling 200,000 short of Kanye West's 808s + Heartbreak, which is expected to hit number one on Wednesday (03Dec08).

And bosses at the rockers' Geffen label are said to be fuming about failing to hit their targets, blaming the famously reclusive Rose for not doing enough to publicise the LP.

A source tells British newspaper The Sun, "Everyone knows Axl is a bit of a maverick genius and won't do anything he doesn't want to do.

"The label is really glad to have him back. But it is frustrating because the album would have had a much better chance of going to No1 if he had only been prepared to show his face.

"People have been trying to contact him for two months and he's been completely AWOL.

"You would have thought after spending 15 years on an album you might do a few weeks promotion."