Guns n Roses: Critical Rehab

Rose is 5'9", 145 lbs.

Wow, I'm 5'7" and weigh 145. No wonder Axl is getting beat up.

I just had an amazing thought; what if it had been Bob Stinson in GNR instead of Tommy? Whoa.

can't believe this track didn't make the cut for Chinese Democracy

or You Can't Stop The Reign

It hit me last night as I was settling down to sleep: maybe "hatpin" is a dig on Slash.

axl's a victim of sexual abuse at the hands of a male right? obv armchair psych but i'd imagine that's what a lot of his abusive behavior and bullshit talk is about

Yeah I remember something about his biological dad abusing him as a kid, iirc

He's not off the hook for how he's treated ppl by any means, but ultimately william axl rose is an american tragedy

i wonder if he got kicked out of his first band

axl really is neck-and-neck with mj as far as becoming the charles foster kane/howard hughes figure of their generation of pop stars

Hardly. If you read or see recent interviews with him, he is clearly lucid and reasonable. Just bears a lot of grudges.

well obviously he hasn't played out his full arc yet like mj, there's still more looniness to come

Dunno, he's already 50! I think if he hasn't hit MJ level craziness yet, but has already run the gauntlet of extreme fame and extreme wealth several times over, I think he'll be OK. I don't think he's a recluse. He just keeps odd hours, And aside from the people people suing him, most seem to say good things about the guy these days.

Like I maybe said in another thread, I saw the band in a club a few weeks ago. In the (reasonable, actually) wait for the group to go on, obviously people were nervous and chatty. This one guy starts talking about his girlfriend, who works in a nice hotel that Axl stayed in earlier this year. He gets this look in his eye, and I think, OK, here comes the juicy gossip! So the guy kind of looks around, lowers his voice, and says that when Axl stayed there, someone called the front desk and had them send up ... an elliptical machine! OMG, rock stars, WTF?! Anyway, that's where we are in Axl-ville. Elliptical machines.

i'm just saying, the lana del rey chapter of his story just started, i'm not going to say it's time to roll credits just yet

Elliptical Games

I'm not sure why, but I want to root for Axl Rose. I like him even though everything in me suggests that I should not.

that bio linked upthread is utterly insane reading, if it isn't already clear

is axl actually insane? i could see sympathy for an actually insane person, but axl behaves worse and makes worse art than my favorite actually insane musicians.

In a further strange twist, what no one yet knew was that Axl had actually spent a significant portion of the preceding months re-recording all the Appetite songs with his new band, with the bizarre intention of replacing all future copies of the album with the new version, thus depriving the original band of any mechanical royalties they would have been due, and, metaphorically, wiping their names from the band's history. Thankfully, Interscope put their corporate foot down and simply refused to comply, rightfully fearing it would destroy the last remaining credibility of an album still then selling upwards of 10,000 copies a week in America.

wonder if this is where Sharon Osbourne got the idea for those Ozzy reissues

I think what I like is that his behavior is insane, but he's so articulate and collected in interviews.

I think Josh is largely right - Axl's in his mature-nutball phase, at any rate. The days of him doing shit that you hear about and are appalled by have given way to the days of just kinda being a garden-variety dickhead. His "cut out the other Guns" stuff, that's not crazy - it's just mean.

that was in 1999 btw

Just wait for the Axl solo album - it will all become clear

axl rose is a penis

Nah penises have value and serve a purpose

Just wait for the Axl solo album - it will all become clear

You're kidding, right? Pretty sure we've heard the Axl solo record. I can't imagine anything Id-ier than this one.

I think what I like is that his behavior is insane, but he's so articulate and collected in interviews.

― Poliopolice, Tuesday, April 17, 2012 9:51 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Well when you only give one every 5 years...

nah he's not THAT reclusive, it's more like once a year

even when axl is calm and well spoken in interviews there's a really palpable sense of crazy just under the surface in what he's actually saying

It's the mustache talking, not him.

nah he's not THAT reclusive, it's more like once a year

― some dude, Thursday, April 19, 2012 12:58 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

nope

To: Cleveland, Ohio, Guns N' Roses Fans and everyone who's shown support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

I seriously didn't plan on or expect the overwhelmingly positive response and public support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. With such a generous outpouring of solidarity from fans, media outlets, writers and other artists, I'm truly humbled, blown away and unbelievably relieved! To be honest, I thought it would go the other way and was just hoping to weather the storm. As I said, I sincerely didn't want to disappoint anyone. It gets old being the outlaw even if "it's only rock and roll".

It took a lot of focus and soul searching to be sincere and informative while making a genuine effort to be somewhat diplomatic. We made, what I feel, are real efforts to learn about the Hall and the Board, spoke as I said with the president and various members, and though I inducted Elton John and Bernie Taupin in '94 saying something to the effect of "I'm learning what the Hall's about..."

I still don't exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how or why it makes money, where the money goes, who chooses the voters and why anyone or this board decides who, out of all the artists in the world that have contributed to this genre, officially "rock" enough to be in the Hall?

This isn't an attack. These are genuine issues I don't have enough verified information on to have more than rough ideas. Certainly not enough information to make any judgments about.

I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!

Now that the smoke's cleared a little, any desperate, misguided attacks have been just that, a pathetic stab at gossip, some lame vindictiveness, the usual entitlement crap, he's obsessed, crazy, volatile, a hater. I once bought a homeless woman a slice of pizza who yelled at me she wanted soup. We got her the soup. You can get your own.

Again: HUGE thanks to the fans and to everyone for the incredible public support. My congratulations to the other artists inducted. And my apologies to the city and people of Cleveland, Ohio. I hope you'll forgive me and we hope to see you again soon!

Keep Rockin',

Axl

Unlike my open letter to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N' Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern this was written for GNR's official website, Facebook account and my personal twitter account and not intended as a press release. If anyone does choose to pick this up as has been done previously I'd appreciate if you'd run in full including this paragraph so as not to give a partial picture, have things taken out of context or to imply or inadvertently give the impression this was intended for other outlets.

Thanks in advance. Peace-

oh my God I really love this graf

I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!

These letters read like rampaging paranoia, aggression and conceit rammed through a filter that is trying desperately hard to remove all evident traces of paranoia, aggression and conceit.

I really hope he wrote [the ceremony]

my guess is he wrote "the awards deal"

just a hunch

We got her the soup. You can get your own.

*nods*

These letters read like rampaging paranoia, aggression and conceit rammed through a filter that is trying desperately hard to remove all evident traces of paranoia, aggression and conceit.

― yuppie bullshit chocolate blogbait (contenderizer), Thursday, April 19, 2012 1:23 AM (5 hours ago) Bookmark

absolutely

oh my God I really love this graf

I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!

As a Clevelander I officially disavow all knowledge of anything to do with this dude. "Welcome to the Jungle" is still a jam, though.

Is Cleveland in fact a Jungle??

More of a dystopia.

The Internet is a terrible idea for people like Axl Rose.

Also fuck him forever for "One In A Million" tbh

It took a lot of focus and soul searching to be sincere and informative while making a genuine effort to be somewhat diplomatic.

Sending your cookie now, Axl.

lol

I share your displeasure, Dan, but ...

you know what song I really, really like in spite of myself, is "They Don't Care About Us"

― robbery by sudden snatching (DJP), Friday, February 24, 2012 9:42 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Just sayin ...

generally speaking, when someone says they like something in spite of themselves it should be taken as a wholly uncritical, unconflicted embrace of every aspect of that thing

I know what you mean, for sure. Just sayin' it's a lot softer than "fuck him forever."

I think "They Don't Care About Us" is a much more ambiguous case than "One in a Million". I'm not defending the lyrics but they're not nearly as explicit in their statement as "One in a Million" is: Jackson's explanation is at least plausible, if naive. Besides, he actually re-recorded the song, changing the questionable lyrics, and censored the original lines in the video. No way is it on par with the lines that Christgau quoted.

Jackson changed his lyrics because they got bad publicity and he didn't want the album pulled from stores, let's be clear

He still changed the lyrics and apologized, plus he never claimed his original intention was to denigrate or insult Jewish people: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_Don%27t_Care_About_Us#Dispute_regarding_lyrics_and_context

Axl, OTOH, said this:

In response to the following accusations of homophobia, Rose initially stated that he was "pro-heterosexual" and did not understand homosexuals, and spoke of negative experiences in his past, such as a seemingly friendly man who let him crash on his hotel room floor and then tried to rape him.[4] He later softened this stance, and insisted that he was not homophobic, pointing out that some of his icons, such as Freddie Mercury and Elton John, as well as David Geffen, the head of his record label, were bisexual or gay

Several times Axl defended his use of the word 'nigger'. In one 1989 interview, he stated that he had used the word to signify "somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem... the word nigger doesn't necessarily mean black," and referenced the John Lennon song "Woman Is the Nigger of the World" as using the word in a positive context.[4] Rose also discussed the use of the word by the hip hop group Niggaz With Attitude (NWA) and was occasionally photographed wearing an NWA hat from then on. Other times he recalled personal experiences which had driven him to write such lyrics, such as feeling intimidated by the black street merchants selling gold chains.[7] Rose also claimed that he had used the word because it was considered taboo.[8]

By 1992, however, Rose seemed to have gained new perspective on the song and its lyrics. In one interview, he conceded that the word had been used as an insult, but added, "I was pissed off about some black people that were trying to rob me. I wanted to insult those particular black people. I didn't want to support racism." [8]

i was replying to sund4r's point, obv axl is a dick