Yes, that’s right and it’s red hot.

Former Red Hot Chili Pepper guitarist, John Frusciante, has been voted the best guitarist of the last 30 years, reports CHARTattack.  The voting was done in a BBC 6music listeners’ poll.

Frusciante left the Chili Peppers this past December.

But, since 1980, there has been no greater guitarist than Frusciante.

Frusciante beat out many great guitarists for the top spot.  He beat former Guns N’ Roses guitarist Slash, as well as Muse front man Matthew Bellamy and Tom Morello.

Overall, Frusciante picked up 13.9 per cent of the votes.

Just recently, the top guitarist of the last 30 years, contributed his talent to Man Meat, Swahili Blonde’s debut album, to be released July 6.

Frusciante is also the executive producer for Mars Volta axeman Omar Rodriguez-Lopez’s The Sentimental Engine Slayer debut album, and plans to release two albums with Rodriguez-Lopez sometime this year.

Frusciante also beat out Metallica’s Kirk Hammett, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, and Jack White.

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Guns N’ Roses fans are certainly a dedicated bunch and they don’t like to be disappointed. Axl Rose and his crew cancelled a show in Sao Paula, Brazil on Saturday (March 13) which resulted in a riot, according to chartattack.com.

The crowd apparently waited until 3am but were then told GNR would not be performing according to the New York Post.

“The audience got angry and started to mount the stage, and fight and destroy everything,” a witness told the newspaper. “It was wild. There were fights everywhere, on the dance floor, in the bathrooms, outside the club. Crazy. I guess the free drinks didn’t help.”

So why was the show cancelled? Apparently on Saturday someone in the audience tried to bottle Axl. This understandably infuriated the singer and he called the show to a halt.

“Where’s the little fuck over here?” Rose reportedly said, according to the website. “C’mon, coward. You wanna fuck up the show for everybody? ‘Cause I’ve got no problem — I will leave. We will all leave. You wanna play games? You can fuck yourself or we can have some fun. You guys wanna have fun? Then I don’t need no little fucking pussies like we had the other night at the club.”

To make matters worse GNR’s Sunday (March 14) show was cancelled after the stage collapsed in Rio De Janeiro. Although there were initial reports that someone died in the collapse, later reports confirmed injuries were minor.

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Legendary rock band Guns N’ Roses’ former guitarist Slash said that he has turned down “seven, eight digit kinds” of amounts of money to reunite with his old band at various times since his leaving, reports NME.com.

Slash said that despite the huge sums of money being put on the table for him to once again join frontman Axl Rose – who is fronting the current version of the band – he is still not interested in being part of the band.

“I can’t remember exact numbers, but it’s excessive,” he reportedly told GQ magazine of the money offered. “Oh, you know- seven, eight digit kinds of things.”

“I am a pretty realistic kind of person, and don’t expend energy worrying, ‘What if?’” he added. “If I hear great music that we did together, I respect it for what it was and appreciate it. But I’m not like everyone else around the band who wants to somehow try to recreate it because there’s so much money to be made.”

Slash left Guns N’ Roses in 1996.

Axl Rose’s latest band reincarnation recently completed a tour in Asia, and are currently touring in Canada.

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Bravado International Group is suing Dollar Days International, Alan Shrem and Kennedy-Shrem International for millions, claiming they are illegally using the names of Michael Jackson, the Rolling Stones, the Doors, Guns N’ Roses, Led Zeppelin and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, reports TMZ.

Bravado says they have the exclusive right to merchandise related to these artists, and the other companies have violated this right by selling shirts, watches, posters and other items. They are seeking $2 million per violation.

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To promote their latest album, Chinese Democracy, Guns N’ Roses will tour Canada in January, reports CBC.

The first show will be in Winnipeg on Jan. 13. The band will also perform in Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Regina, Hamilton, Ont., London, Ont., Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa, Quebec City, Halifax and Moncton, N.B.

The band will also tour Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.

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Kevin Cogill, a U.S. blogger accused of posting leaked tracks from the latest Guns N’ Roses album “Chinese Democracy,” pleaded guilty to a criminal charge of copyright violation in Los Angeles.

Cogill admitted to posting nine of fourteen tracks from the Guns N’ Roses album to his online blog in June. Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose had been working on the songs for over a decade.

Cogill, 28, initially pleaded not guilty to the federal charges in October, and the blogger must now cooperate with any further investigation. This may include disclosing how he got access to the leaked tracks.

He faces a $100,000 US fine, five year’s probation and a maximum of one year in federal prison.

“Chinese Democracy” was officially released in November, with much anticipation.

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Axl Rose, lead vocalist of American rock band “Guns N’ Roses,” is putting Dr Pepper to task through his attorney after finding out not all customers were served a bottle of the drink according to E! Online.

Dr Pepper had announced that it would provide a 20-ounce bottle free of charge when “Chinese Democracy,” the latest album from “Guns N’ Roses,” was released.

According to E! Online, Dr Pepper had agreed to provide online coupons for anyone who visited their website on November 23, but the site crashed due to high traffic.

Although the promotion was extended for one more day, the site was reportedly unaccessible for most of that day.

Alan Gutman demands that the company extend its promotion in a letter to Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc.

Gutman also requests, “appropriate payment…for the unauthorized use and abuse of their publicity and intellectual property rights.”

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A blogger from Los Angeles that has been accused of leaking tracks from “Chinese Democracy,” the new album from American rock band “Guns N’ Roses,” has agreed to plead guilty according to E! Online.

Kevin Cogill has agreed to plead guilty to one misdemeanor count of federal infringement. Cogill, 27, remains free on $100,000 bail.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Craig Missakian told ‘Wired’ that in the hearing taking place on December 8, Cogill will acknowledge the fact that he anticipated the new songs on his website.

The blogger’s lawyer told E! News last month a felony charge had been downgraded to the misdemeanor count, carrying a maximum term of one year in prison. Attorney David Kolyanides said as a first time-offender, it is likely the prosecutors would settle with a probation as opposed to a term in prison.

“Chinese Democracy” is set to release on November 23, 2008.

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If you want to hear Guns N’ Roses play live, you better give Axl Rose his beer. Fans in Portland, Maine were shortchanged this week when the band canceled a scheduled concert at the Cumberland County Civic Center due to a no-drinking order issued by state officials.

According to Stephen McCausland of the Maine Public Safety Department, the band wanted to knock back some beer, wine and Jagermeister on stage. When the state fire marshal’s office told Guns N’ Roses that doing so would violate state law, the band canceled the show altogether.

In a press release from the band, a Guns N’ Roses spokesperson said the fire marshals made it “making it impossible for the band to perform their show to the usual high standards that their fans deserve.”

Frontman Axl Rose added on the band’s official website, “It was important for us to play there and it is a shame that what should have been a great night for all of us was not possible due to the actions of two people.”

I agree with, and ultimately take responsibility for, the end decision not to jeopardize the safety of the fans, the crews, the bands and myself as a result of the methods of these particularly draconian authorities. We hope to find another way to play for you in the future.”

Maine’s state law prohibits performers from drinking while on stage. Fans can get refunds for the concert at point of purchase.

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Guns N’ Roses fans got an unexpected surprise last week when three tracks from the band’s upcoming “Chinese Democracy” album were leaked on the Internet.

Die-hards have been waiting for this moment for a long time – the band has been working on the record for a decade. Their last studio album, “The Spaghetti Incident?” was released in 1993.

Studio-quality recordings of “Better,” “There Was A Time,” and “IRS” were leaked online Wednesday. Mere weeks before, GnR frontman Axl Rose told RollingStone.com at a Korn tour launch party that “people will hear music this year,” when asked about “Chinese Democracy.”

The Associated Press reports that the new songs mark a new direction for the band, away from the raunchy rock it’s been known for in the past. In particular, it says, the track “Better” has “emo/industrial touches.”

Rose’s manager, Merck Mercuriadis, has ordered Internet sites to remove links to the new songs. However, fans have sent “IRS” to radio stations and Boston’s WAAF still had the song on heavy rotation on Monday night, despite cease-and-desist orders sent to stations by Mercuriadis.

Meanwhile, it was also confirmed on Monday that Guns N’ Roses would headline major music festivals this summer, including the Rock in Rio-Lisboa in May and the NovaRock festival in Austria this June.

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Two former Guns N’ Roses members are suing Axl Rose for the second time in as many years.

Slash and Duff, also known as Saul Hudson and Michael McKagan, say band leader Rose named himself sole administrator of the band’s copyrights, jilting his former band mates out of $500,000 a year.

The complaint was filed on August 17 at a federal court in Los Angeles. It claims Rose is “suffering an apparent attack of arrogance and ego” and says “he is no longer willing to acknowledge the contributions of his former partners and band mates in having created some of rock’s greatest hits.”

Rose?s attorney, Howard Weitzman, says the singer has asked to receive only his share of royalties and that the overpayment was due to a clerical error. He said Rose had returned the extra funds to the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers.

Guns N’ Roses recorded such songs as “Welcome to the Jungle,” “Paradise City” and “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”
Last year, Hudson and McKagan filed a suit alleging Rose had wrongly claimed ownership of the group?s assets after he left in 1995. The case is pending.

Rose is the only group member who is still allowed to perform under the Guns N’ Roses name. Hudson and McKagan are now members of rock group Velvet Revolver.

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