Guns N’ Roses made some fantastic documentaries about the making of the music videos from the Use Your Illusion albums. Since then, fans have been clamoring for more.

Over the years, Guns N’ Roses has begun filming multiple new documentaries and then scrapped them and fired the people making them before they could be completed and released. In case you haven’t seen these yet, some samples of footage from the documentaries have leaked over the years. Here for your viewing pleasure are clips from the cancelled documentaries from 2006 and 2010.

“Chinese Democracy”, the 2008 album released by the GUNS N’ ROSES after a 15-year wait, sold around 3,200 copies in the United States in the week ending Sunday, April 3 — nearly three times the units (1,200) it shifted the previous week. As a result, the CD has re-entered The Billboard 200 chart at position No. 198.

As previously reported, “Chinese Democracy” can now be purchased at BestBuy.com for $1.99.

Best Buy, which was the exclusive U.S. retailer for GUNS N’ ROSES decade-plus-in-the-making album “Chinese Democracy”, is offering a special deal on copies of the CD.

You can now purchase the album via the BestBuy.com web site for just $1.99.

GUNS N’ ROSES has been officially confirmed for this year’s Rock In Rio festival, which will take place September 23 – October 2 in “The City Of Rock” in Olympic Park, Barra da Tijuca/Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Axl Rose and his bandmates will perform on Sunday, October 2.

GUNS N’ ROSES played at the second and third editions of Rock In Rio, in 1991 and 2001, respectively.

Also scheduled to perform at this year’s Rock In Rio are ANGRA, COHEED AND CAMBRIA, METALLICA, MOTÖRHEAD, SEPULTURA and SLIPKNOT.

The Rock In Rio festivals are massive events, drawing millions of people and a diverse roster of local and international artists.

Tickets are on sale now at the Rock in Rio official web site, www.rockinrio.com.br.

GUNS N’ ROSES mainman Axl Rose has released a brand new statement on Twitlonger.com, a related Twitter site where one can post messages longer than 140 characters, in response to recent rumors of a tour and “Chinese Democracy” album relaunch that that were apparently started by former independent wrestler — and current musician/journalist — Mister Saint Laurent.

Wrote Axl: “Contrary to anyone’s claims, there are no concrete plans nor were there ever for a tour, a relaunch or sponsors (n’ certainly not to replace anyone in the band) beyond a collection of random ideas thrown out by various individuals [without] any real foundation or negotiations in place other than our prior involvements (which wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to put together). And [for] the record, [famed manager] Doc McGhee is no longer involved [with] either myself or GN’R.”

Seriously? Does THIS GOOFBALL actually have the inside scoop on Guns N' Roses?

Word on the street for a few days has been that Doc McGhee was going to be fired as GnR manager. Now it seems like that rumor just might have become a fact.

Insider talk has Jeff Kwatinetz – Prospect Park (formerly of The Firm) fingered as the new shot caller for GnR in the way of management.

It seems that  the self proclaimed “Chinese Democracy” guy Mister Saint Laurent, (we’ll call him Mister DeSaint for short) has turned into a blog found >HERE< on his official site.

Sludge is hearing that the popular UK magazine “Classic Rock” is offering a solid near 6 figure payoff of ca$h money to Mister DeSaint for his GnR memory stick of personal documents. This includes an alleged Axl Rose autobiography, his personal emails, contracts for DJ Ashba, the good, bad & ugly.

See more below and stay tuned!

On December 16, Guns N’ Roses took the stage in Abu Dhabi to cap off the most recent leg of the never-ending Chinese Democracy World Tour.

On December 15, Guns N’ Roses manager Doc McGhee was informed by members of the band that Tommy Stinson did not intend to take the stage.

And now, on February 2, those same band members find themselves uninformed, unpaid and searching for the same answers as the rabid GNR fanbase . . .

What is next for Guns N’ Roses?

Answering that question is nearly impossible and Doc McGhee is just the latest in a long line of managers learning first hand that no matter what you have planned, at any point, W. Axl Rose may take his ball and go home.

While McGhee refused to comment for this story, documents recently received by mistersaintlaurent.com reveal a very thorough and dedicated plan to re-market Chinese Democracy in the US later this year.

A full North American arena tour and Best Buy exclusive reissue of Chinese Democracy would both launch on March 29. The tour would run through May 17 and hit 30 markets, including NY, LA, Vegas, Ft. Lauderdale, Boston, Detroit, Toronto, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Minneapolis, Atlanta, Tampa, Philly, DC, Denver, San Jose, Calgary, Winnipeg, Omaha and Houston.

The album reissue would contain new artwork and a second disc containing bonus material. In addition to remixes of tracks from the album, the bonus disc would contain a new song ‘Blood In The Water‘ as well as a new version of ‘Better‘ featuring DJ Ashba, which would serve as the radio single for the reissue.

All of this would be announced February 7, with a secret show the day before the Super Bowl (February 5) at The Lodge in Dallas. Yet, it’s February 2 and those in the GNR camp that were willing to speak to mistersaintlaurent.com insist they have not received any airfare or itinerary.

While nobody would dispute that a very disappointed Axl Rose has holed himself up at home once again, most agreed he was justifiably upset.

“When we got back to the states, we expected Doc to have a US tour ready for us,” said one member of Guns N’ Roses that spoke with mistersaintlaurent.com. “When we found out things were still up in the air, everyone was deflated, but Axl took the news the worst,” he continued.

But why is Doc McGhee having so much trouble finalizing a North American tour? Multiple sponsors have already signed on, including John Varvatos, Bloomingdales and Deleon Tequila. Companies such as Monster Energy and Harley-Davidson have had discussions with GNR as well about sponsoring a tour.

The answer may very well lie with Axl‘s previous manager, the mega powerful Irving Azoff. With Azoff controlling everything from venues to ticketing, many have accused Azoff of interfering with Doc‘s plan of attack for 2011.

So with the tour appearing to be off, where does that leave things with Best Buy?

Although Best Buy had been burned by the first release of Chinese Democracy, they’ve pledged major funds to help market a reissue. Will they continue to be so supportive when clearly it is impossible for Guns N’ Roses to reliably stick to any sort of plan.

And if and when the band returns, who will be playing bass? It wasn’t that long ago that Duff McKagan appeared on stage with the band, a move that shocked fans throughout the world.

But what wasn’t publicly known at the time was that for years there have been internal discussions about canning Stinson due to problems with alcohol as well as his treatment of staff and crew. What role this played in Stinson threatening to not take the stage in Abu Dhabi is not known, but what is known is that as far back as 2008, Axl and other members of the band had many discussions about the pros and cons of a Duff return, a return Duff has privately expressed interest in repeatedly behind closed doors.

So what is next for Guns N’ Roses? Unfortunately, not even Guns N’ Roses itself knows the answer to that question.

Rick Landers of Guitar International recently conducted an interview with GUNS N’ ROSES guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow below.

Guitar International: GUNS N’ ROSES is gonna be on the road in February, right?

Ron: We’re supposed to be and suddenly there’s silence. I don’t think it’s gonna happen. Figuring February is weeks away and I’ve yet to see a single confirmed date. It’s the kind of thing where you have a tour that’s coming together, but it’s so complicated at this level with managers and booking agents and different promoters and venues and itinerary and the production. The manager has to figure out how to get the gear from point A to point B all the time, without us going broke, and making sure all the crew is available. With everything, all it takes is just one link in the chain to get weak and everything unravels. So, I don’t know what the status is of this U.S. tour that I’ve been impatiently waiting for. It’s been five years since we’ve played the U.S. Last year we did some acoustic shows in New York in February, but as far as a real tour, we haven’t done that. A couple of shows in May and September of 2006 and then a fall tour from October to December.

Guitar International: What does that mean for you? Does that mean you’ve got to keep February and March open as far as anything else you want to do?

Ron: That’s always the dilemma. Things come together so quickly with GUNS N’ ROSES that I just get a week’s notice.

Guitar International: Jeez.

Ron: In fact, when I joined the band, I only had a week to learn all the songs and then hit the road. And to learn the “Chinese” songs, they wouldn’t give me a copy because they were so worried about leaks. I had to learn all of that stuff on a pair of headphones in the rehearsal room on a laptop just listening and taking notes.

Guitar International: That’s like learning guitar in the ’50s and ’60s with a turntable. Crazy.

Ron: Yeah, so with GUNS what’ll happen is I’ll get a week’s notice. They’ll say, “All right. It’s happening. We’re FedExing your tickets.” The thing is, for the rest of the world, if you want to plan something, it’s months in advance. What would happen is I would plan a tour for five months from now and by that point GN’R would say, “All right. It’s time for us to do something,” and I would have to cancel. It just becomes impossible to make plans. All I can do is make very short-term plans that don’t require too much commitment and if I have to break them, it’s not gonna hurt a lot of people. I’ve shied away from playing live and doing shows because of that, because if I have to cancel a show, it could disappoint hopefully only a few hundred people — okay, maybe 100. [Both laughing] If it’s just a meet-and-greet or something like that, it could be the same, but it’s not like they spent a lot of money and made a lot of plans. It’s just not as big a thing to cancel. So, I’ve been doing more meet-and-greets and not doing any performances other than quick jams. Like I played in Sydney, Australia and jammed with FOZZY.

Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has been voted the greatest lead singer of all time by readers of MusicRadar.com, ahead of such legendary vocalists as Freddy Mercury, Robert Plant, Ronnie James Dio, John Lennon and Bruce Dickinson.

MusicRadar.com says: “The public have spoken. Forget the caricature of recent years and think back to the late 1980s — he was dangerous, lean, angry, confrontational, and controversial. The hotheaded, horny ginger stepchild of Steven Tyler and Robert Plant, a born rock star who made being fashionably late a lifestyle choice and started riots in the process.”

Axl’s response post from the official Guns N’ Roses Facebook account said the following:

“Thank you for all of the support you give us day in day out. All you folks on Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, the message boards that fight the good fight – we feel it and very much appreciate it – THANK YOU!. And special thanks to MusicRadar for holding the poll and letting people speak. – Axl”

MusicRadar.com’s 30 greatest lead singers of all time:

01. Axl Rose (GUNS N’ ROSES)
02. Freddie Mercury (QUEEN)
03. Robert Plant (LED ZEPPELIN)
04. Ronnie James Dio (BLACK SABBATH, HEAVEN & HELL, RAINBOW, ELF)
05. John Lennon (THE BEATLES)
06. Bruce Dickinson (IRON MAIDEN)
07. Thom Yorke (RADIOHEAD)
08. Kurt Cobain (NIRVANA)
09. Matt Bellamy (MUSE)
10. Paul McCartney (THE BEATLES)
11. Jim Morrison (THE DOORS)
12. James Hetfield (METALLICA)
13. Maynard James Keenan (TOOL, A PERFECT CIRCLE)
14. Mick Jagger (THE ROLLING STONES)
15. James LaBrie (DREAM THEATER)
16. Bon Scott (AC/DC)
17. Steven Tyler (AEROSMITH)
18. Roger Daltrey (THE WHO)
19. Geddy Lee (RUSH)
20. Morrissey
21. Liam Gallagher (OASIS)
22. Jack White (THE WHITE STRIPES)
23. Joe Strummer (THE CLASH)
24. Stevie Nicks (FLEETWOOD MAC)
25. Iggy Pop (THE STOOGES)
26. Smokey Robinson
27. Black Francis / Frank Black
28. Diana Ross
29. Debbie Harry (BLONDIE)
30. Martha Reeves

Lots of up-close, fan-filmed video footage of GUNS N’ ROSES‘ December 4, 2010 concert at the Sydney Olympic Park in Sydney, Australia has made its way online. A clip can be viewed below. Fore lots of other footage from this show, click here. Also, make sure to check out photos from Getty Images.

Guns N’ Roses guitarist Ron ‘Bumblefoot’ Thal has posted a competition on his official website. The winner will get two tickets and two aftershow passes for the concert at Sydney Telstra 500 on December 4th.

Full info about how to enter the competition can be found here.