Drinks on Dr Pepper if Guns N' Roses release new album

PLANO (AP) - It's been 14 years since Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose and his bandmates started recording the now-mythical "Chinese Democracy" album.

Plano-based Dr Pepper says it will give away a free soda to everyone in America if the album is finally released in 2008.

The offer didn't escape the attention of Rose.

Fans of the rock group have been taunted over the last decade with perpetual rumors of the album's completion.

Rose, in a statement on the band's Web site, says they're surprised and very happy to have the support of Dr Pepper with the album "Chinese Democracy."

Dr Pepper spokesman Greg Artkop says the company is simply fans of the band.

Rose is the only remaining original member of Guns N' Roses, whose albums "Appetite for Destruction" and "Use Your Illusion" vaulted the band to worldwide popularity.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)