Guns N' Roses takes its 15-year battle with irrelevance straight to the people today, officially releasing the title track of its long, long, long, long-delayed album Chinese Democracy after years of leaks, lawsuits and general internecine drama that left a once-great rock band in yawning disarray. We've tired enough of attempting to keep up that we hadn't bothered tracking down the new single before this morning (you can hear it after the jump); it's about as soft as Axl Rose's cosmetically burnished features and, as presumed, won't make us forget anything on Appetite For Destruction. And thank goodness, because despite Democracy's Nov. 23 release date finally laid down by Interscope Records, GNR's manager hinted to Entertainment Weekly today that even more "complications" are imminent.Somewhat intriguingly, EW retracted this morning's item headlined, "Guns N' Roses manger: 'Great art takes time'" almost as soon as it was published — right around the time the single first hit the radio and began streaming online. But why? After all, rock managers are chronically bloated with braggadocio, even if shaking up their band's label and exclusive retail partners at Best Buy with suggestions that Nov. 23 doesn't really mean Nov. 23:

[A]ccording to GNR's current manager, Azoff's Andy Gould, you can't rush the magic of rock. "Art and commerce have always made strange bedfellows," Gould tells EW.com. "When they asked Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel, they didn't say, 'Can you do it in the fourth quarter?' so they can make their numbers. Great art sometimes takes time." [...] With less than a month to go until fans can judge the final product for themselves (pending approval of the album's artwork, which, Gould hinted, could have its own complications), the anticipation — and pressure — is most certainly high.

The full EW item (we think — is there something we missed, tipsters?) is currently available only on GNR fan forums (we know you're starved for Matt Pinfield's take on the "most expensive rock record ever made"), but in any case, after hearing what we heard this morning, we strongly encourage Rose, Gould and co. to take all the time they need. We'll gladly wait forever if that's what Chinese Democracy requires. Listen for yourself. Click to view