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Axl Rose

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W. Axl Rose[1] (born William Bruce Rose, Jr. on February 6, 1962) is an American musician, best known as the vocalist of Guns N' Roses.

Axl Rose

The only original member still part of the band's line-up, Rose places high in numerous polls as one of hard rock's all-time greatest frontmen and is also infamous for his onstage antics and disputes with former bandmates.

Biography

Early life

Born in Lafayette, Indiana to William and Sharon E. Rose, Rose was brought up in a deeply religious Pentecostal family, singing in church, which he started doing at the age of 5, and teaching Sunday school. William Rose left the family when Rose was two years old, bringing the start of a troubled childhood for Axl who, as an adult, has claimed that repressed memories had revealed to him that his biological father, William Rose, had sexually abused him as a small child. His mother remarried when he was a small child, and changed Axl's name to William Bailey, using the last name of her new husband, L. Stephen Bailey, a man whom Rose has also stated physically abused him. He has two younger half-siblings, a sister named Amy, and a brother named Stuart.

Growing up, Rose thought Bailey was his biological father; his name had been "William Bailey" since his father had left. At age seventeen, he learned of his biological father's existence and readopted his birth name, William Rose. He referred to himself as "W. Rose" only, however, as he did not wish to share a name with his biological father.

Because of his turbulent upbringing and his mother's reluctance to leave the abusive Bailey, Rose is said to have issues with women. He claimed in a Rolling Stone interview in 1992 that during his childhood, he was made to believe that women and sexuality were evil and that due to the violent treatment of his mother by his stepfather he witnessed as an impressionable child, he had been led to think that domestic violence was the normal way of doing things.[1]

At age 16, he was kicked out of his house for not cutting his hair. At this age, Rose also met Izzy Stradlin in a driver's education class.[2] The two bonded together over their love of rock music and eventually started playing in bands together. Izzy eventually left Rose and Indiana, to go to Los Angeles and focus on music.

Throughout his youth, Rose was in trouble numerous times with the police and was arrested over twenty times on charges such as public drunkenness and assault. In his late teenage years Lafayette authorities attempted to have him locked up as a habitual criminal.[3] When he was 17, on the advice of his lawyer, he left Indiana and headed to Los Angeles in the early 1980s to pursue a rock music career. He adopted the name W. Axl Rose ('Axl' after a band in which he once played [4]), and set out to re-unite with Stradlin. Rose legally changed his name to "W. Axl Rose" in 1986.

Early years of Guns N' Roses

The early 1980s music scene in Los Angeles featured both punk and heavy metal bands. Rose wanted to meld the two styles into a unique musical form. He moved through a number of bands, including Hollywood Rose, L.A. Guns and Rapidfire. After bringing in his former L.A. Guns bandmates, Tracii Guns (who was soon replaced by Slash), Rob Gardner (who was soon replaced by Steven Adler), and Ole Beich (who was replaced by Duff McKagan) Guns N' Roses was formed in the summer of 1985.

Desperately poor, the fledgling band struggled to survive in the streets of LA. Rose and Stradlin sold drugs for petty cash [5], and according to Rose, they manipulated women for their money, an example being when, at a party at an unnamed woman's house, one band member had sex with the woman, while the others would raid her wallet for the little cash they could salvage [6].

They eventually rented a small apartment, dubbed "The Hell House", which quickly became a den for sex, drugs and rock n' roll. L.A. promoter Vicky Hamilton managed the band and got them their first gigs.

Guns N' Roses; Axl Rose (vocals), Izzy Stradlin (rhythm guitar), Slash (lead guitar), Duff McKagan (bass), and Steven Adler (drums), were signed by A&R whiz kid Tom Zutaut to a recording contract with Geffen Records in 1986. The band released its first full-length album, Appetite for Destruction, in 1987. Mixing blazing power chords with Rose's distinctive vocals, the album was not an immediate success, but soon grew in popularity. By 1988, Guns N' Roses had shot to the top of the rock music charts, helped by the surge in popularity of the songs "Welcome to the Jungle", "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child O' Mine".

Alleged bigotry and incited riots

File:Axl-guns.JPG
Axl Rose performing with Guns N' Roses at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992.

Although at first famous for his music, Rose and the band soon gained notoriety for a wild lifestyle fueled by heavy use of alcohol and drugs. In 1987, the band went on a tour with fellow hard rock band Aerosmith, which had just exited rehab for their own drug and alcohol problems. The tour was intense at times because of Aerosmith's new struggle to stay clean amidst Guns N' Roses heavy drug and alcohol abuse (Aerosmith managed to maintain sobriety for more than 20 years since exiting rehab). Also, at a concert in Dayton, Ohio, fans were furious to find out that Rose was a no-show due to a "headache". This caused minor riots outside of Hara Arena. In 1988, the band released G N' R Lies, which also was hugely popular. Criticism fell on the lyrics of the song "One in a Million", which was understandably interpreted as insulting to gays, blacks, and immigrants. Rose was labelled racist and homophobic, charges he heavily denied. However, he did claim he had had bad experiences with homosexuals, and, as such, he did not understand their way of life. Following this, in a surprising move, Rose performed "November Rain" with Elton John at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. He claimed John was a big influence on his musical and lyrical outlook. He also paid tribute to Freddie Mercury, another huge influence, at the 1992 Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, where he again performed with John, this time singing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody.

After a string of delays, the group released two albums called Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991. These albums were also huge hits, but the band soon ran into trouble because of Rose's increasingly erratic behaviour. In July 1991, during the early stages of the 28-month-long Use Your Illusion Tour, Rose jumped off stage during a concert in St. Louis to take a video camera away from a fan. The concert was aborted as Rose and the other band members left the stage, sparking an intense riot, for which he was later arrested in 1992. A judge later ruled that he was not responsible for the riot and dismissed the charges against him. During a show on August 8, 1992 at the Montreal Stade Olympique during a summer concert co-headlining tour with Metallica, James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica, was burned in a pyrotechnics accident, which cut short the previous set. This meant Guns N' Roses needed to take to the stage early, however, Rose, already late for the band's appearance, walked off stage and left the stadium after playing 9 songs, claiming he had problems with his voice and deciding to cancel the band's set. Before "Double Talkin' Jive", Rose said this will be “our last show for a long time”, and at the end of "Civil War", their last song, Rose said “Fuck you” and went off the stage after less than 5 songs. This led to another riot (voted by Vh1 as one of the "50 Most Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll"), which authorities were barely able to bring under control. Metallica stated on its Behind the Music that they were disappointed Guns N' Roses did not play an extended set to mollify disappointed fans. Metallica bassist Jason Newstead is also quoted as saying the tour taught them "what not to do" as a band. These incidents, along with the appearance of a new musical style known as grunge, led to a growing impression of Guns N' Roses as a self-indulgent and out-of-date act.

Decline of Guns N' Roses

After their recent success, Izzy left the band (to be replaced by Gilby Clarke). In 1993, Guns N' Roses released The Spaghetti Incident?, an album of cover tunes, which received mixed reviews. The album sparked a minor controversy due to the inclusion of a hidden track, "Look At Your Game, Girl”, a song that was written by Charles Manson, supposedly after Marilyn Manson had spoken to him about writing another song similarly inspired by Charles Manson, titled "My Monkey". [2]

In 1994, Rose fired guitarist Gilby Clarke and hired old friend (and fellow Hoosier) Paul Tobias. Together with the rest of the band (at this point: Slash, McKagan, Sorum and keyboardist Dizzy Reed), Rose and Tobias recorded a cover of the Rolling Stones song "Sympathy for the Devil" for the Interview with the Vampire movie soundtrack. Unknown to Slash and Clarke, Rose had Tobias re-record some of Slash's guitar parts. When he found out, he was upset; this is one of the things that fuelled his desire to leave the band [citation needed].

Slash left the band in the autumn of 1996. In late 1997, Sorum was fired from the band after an argument with Rose at the recording studio. In early 1998, McKagan became the final charter member, other than Rose, to leave the band.

Chinese Democracy

After Slash's and McKagan's departures, Rose continued under the "Guns N' Roses" moniker. Hired during the Use Your Illusion-era, keyboardist Dizzy Reed stayed on with Rose, and is still with the band. Many musicians have passed through the band over the years.

In 2001, a new incarnation of GN'R appeared at Las Vegas and Rio de Janeiro, where Rose and his new band played in front of 250,000 fans at Rock In Rio III. It was here that he introduced new songs "Chinese Democracy", "Madagascar", "The Blues", "Silkworms" and "Rhiad and The Bedouins".

In August 2002, Guns N' Roses performed six shows (Hong Kong, Tokyo, Osaka, London, Leeds and the Pukkelpop festival in Belgium). Rose also made a surprise appearance at the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards, officially unveiling the new line-up of Guns N' Roses. It was one of the highest rated musical performances in MTV history, and Ozzy Osbourne said that in terms of the energy alone, it was one of the greatest performances ever [citation needed]. A North American tour including 16 shows followed, but it fell apart halfway through after, in December 2002, Rose did not appear for shows in Philadelphia. Blaming the ensuing riot, Clear Channel, the tour's promoter, cancelled all remaining shows.

Guns N' Roses were scheduled to perform at Rock In Rio Lisbon in early 2004, but this appearance was cancelled in an official message by Rose, who apologized to the fans and blamed the no-show on the departure of guitarist Buckethead.

After years went by with no tours or releases, on April 1, 2005, a new GN'R track, titled "I.R.S." was leaked onto the internet by an anonymous source. It was described as being an authentic poor quality demo tape, obtained through the radio program, Friday Night Rocks with Eddie Trunk, a New York City-based program airing on Q104.3. It was on this program where the song originally had aired earlier. Trunk had received a copy of the track from his close friend Mike Piazza, who had received it anonymously in the mail. Piazza is allegedly a friend of Axl Rose, which led some fans to believe Rose had given him the album himself.

In a rare interview with Rolling Stone Rose shed more light on his long awaited Chinese Democracy album, "We're working on 32 songs, and 26 are nearly done," he said in the interview. "People will hear music this year," he said. "It's a very complex record, I'm trying to do something different. Some of the arrangements are kind of like Queen. Some people are going to say, 'It doesn't sound like Axl Rose, it doesn't sound like Guns N' Roses.' But you'll like at least a few songs on there."[7]

With the release of some of the albums tracks, Rose began making more public appearances, showing up at various parties all around Los Angeles, seemingly to change the public perception that he's a recluse. He also performed at Rock in Rio in Lisbon. This has led many fans to believe that the release of Chinese Democracy is indeed imminent. On the other side of the coin, it has been said to be "coming out soon" for nearly ten years.

The band, now consisting of Rose, Dizzy Reed, Robin Finck, Tommy Stinson, Chris Pitman, Brian "Brain" Mantia (who is on family leave or has possibly quit), Richard Fortus, Frank Ferrer and Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal (replacing Buckethead), performed their first live concerts in the United States in over three years on May 12, May 14, May 15, and May 17, 2006 at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City.[8]. They also performed in Madrid on May 25 and in Lisbon (Rock in Rio) on May 27 - this concert was attended by 50,000.

On May 6, 2006, Rose appeared on the Eddie Trunk radio show and promised that the album would be released sometime in the fall or late fall 2006. Axl has said that "it will come out this year (2006)."

On August 31, 2006, Rose presented The Killers at the MTV Video Music Awards by coming out onto the stage and screaming his trademark, "Do you know where the fuck you are?!" In an interview backstage, Rose revealed that the official Chinese Democracy tour will begin "around October 24th," and that the album will be out this year.[9]

On June 11, 2006, Guns N' Roses headlined the Download Festival in Donington Park, England. Within the first half hour of the show; Rose had become annoyed with the quality of the sound and had also lost his footing almost causing him to fall due to the "slippery stage". After briefly leaving and returning the set mid song, throwing the microphone on the floor, yelling at the crowd for throwing a waterbottle at him, insulting a security guard and then finally exiting the stage citing technical difficulties while leaving Bumblefoot to play an instrumental of the song 'Don't Cry', he returned on stage with tennis shoes on (he was previously wearing boots), announced that he had some old friends to bring out, and was joined by Izzy Stradlin to play "Used to Love Her". Stradlin left and returned on stage multiple times, for "Patience", and the final number "Paradise City". During the night, Rose was also joined by Sebastian Bach and together they sang "My Michelle".

On June 27, 2006, Rose was arrested in Stockholm, Sweden, after an early morning altercation in his hotel lobby with hotel security. Rose is alleged to have bitten a security guard's leg and shattered an antique lobby mirror while in a drunken rage. Rose later commented in a press release: "We had a great gig in Stockholm and I am not going to let this incident spoil that. My assistant Beta and I were talking in the lobby of the hotel when security started to give us a hard time. My only concern was to make sure she was ok." After spending the next several hours in a Stockholm drunk tank, Rose admitted to all charges and paid roughly $6,000 in fines and was released and the Summer European tour continued as scheduled.

On July 19, 2006, At a show in Newcastle, England, Rose walked off-stage during the performance of "Nightrain" after what was alleged to be a £1 coin was thrown on to the stage directly at him. Rose addressed the crowd off-stage and informed them that any person caught throwing objects at him or any other members of the band must be ejected from the auditorium. The band returned to the stage to finish the song after which Rose declared "The show is over", the band departed and the house lights were resumed. They did not play the traditional Paradise City encore. [10]

Among the things discussed in a December 15th, 2006 open letter from Rose to the fans are the reasons as to why exactly the album wasn't released in 2006. The letter names March 6th, 2007 as a tentative release date. [11] However, the album was pushed back once again.

Relationships

Throughout the mid eighties and into the early nineties, Rose was involved in a turbulent relationship with Erin Everly, the daughter of singer Don Everly, and the person for whom "Sweet Child O' Mine" was written. He eventually married Everly in 1990, but the next month, filed for a divorce. The couple reconciled for some time, during which Everly became pregnant but suffered a miscarriage in October 1990. This deeply affected Rose, who had wanted to have children of his own. The day after Everly's miscarriage, Rose was arrested after allegedly assaulting a neighbor with a wine bottle after the neighbor threatened to call the police because of Rose's loud music. The marriage between Everly and Rose was annulled in January 1991. By mid 1991, Rose had become involved with model Stephanie Seymour. Rose became deeply attached to Seymour's son, Dylan, and tried to be a good father figure for the child, as there had been none in his own life. Seymour and Rose parted ways in 1993, and Rose fell into a deep depression.

Feuds

[original research?]

Vince Neil

In a short lived feud, Mötley Crüe singer Vince Neil and Rose traded insults and challenges for confrontations for a number of months. The animosity stemmed from another unseen and controversial incident, where Izzy Stradlin allegedly assaulted Sharise Neil, Vince's wife, leading Vince to run off stage at the MTV Video Music Awards to confront him. Rose helped break up the fight and later Vince publicly challenged Axl to a one-on-one brawl. The fight never took place.

Kurt Cobain

Rose had been a big fan of Nirvana and twice asked singer Kurt Cobain to have Nirvana open for Guns N' Roses for the second leg of the Use Your Illusion Tour, which Cobain declined. After declining Rose's offer, Cobain began to talk about Guns N' Roses and Rose to numerous media sources, claiming that they were "so obviously pathetic and untalented" (ironically, both bands were signed to Geffen Records).[12] Rose challenged Cobain to a fight during the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards after Cobain's wife, Courtney Love, jokingly asked Rose to be the godfather to their daughter, Frances Bean.

In an interview with Michael Azerrad in the unofficial biography Come as You Are, Cobain admitted there was one thing he did like about Guns N' Roses: "They totally mess things up and then they sit back and look at what they messed up and then try to figure out how they can fix it, whereas we mess things up and just dwell on it and make it even worse."

Cobain further commented on Rose's rock star persona, claiming, "His role has been played for years. Ever since the beginning of rock and roll, there's been an Axl Rose. And it's just boring. It's totally boring to me. Why it's such a fresh and new thing in his eyes is obviously because it's happening to him personally and he's such an egotistical person that he thinks that the whole world owes him something." [13]

Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan was one of the last people to see Kurt Cobain alive before his death in 1994, and the other former members of Guns N' Roses are now getting along with the Cobain estate. Courtney Love has privately apologized to Duff McKagan for their criticism of the band. In addition, the two have performed "It's So Easy", live together, and Velvet Revolver, the current band of McKagan and original Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash, have played Nirvana's "Negative Creep" in concert.

Velvet Revolver

In March 2006 Rose's lawyer released the following statement: "In October of 2005 Slash made an unannounced 5:30 AM visit to Axl Rose's house. Not appearing to be under the influence, Slash came to inform Axl (about his new band Velvet Revolver) that: 'Duff was spineless,' 'Scott Weiland was a fraud,' that he 'hates Matt Sorum' and that in this ongoing war, contest or whatever anyone wants to call it that Slash has waged against Axl for the better part of 20 years, that Axl has proven himself 'the stronger.' Based on his conduct in showing up at Rose's home, Axl was hopeful that Slash would live up to his pronouncements that he wanted to end the war and move on with life. Unfortunately that did not prove to be the case."

Slash didn't comment on Rose's press release, but a Velvet Revolver spokeswoman did promise that Slash would be heard from "within days." Slash's press release never came. On May 13, 2006, Slash appeared on the Camp Freddy Show on Indie 1031 FM and denied having visited Rose's house or saying anything that Axl claimed. However, in 2007, Slash admitted he in fact had visited Rose's house in 2005, but denied making the statements Rose alleged that Slash had made (apparently to a housekeeper in Rose's home, not to Rose himself.)

Tommy Hillfiger

In May 2006, Rose had a close encounter with Tommy Hilfiger at the Plumm in New York City. Hilfiger reportedly took a couple of swings at Rose, before being carried away by his own security guards. Rose made the claim that the attack began when Rose moved the drink of Hilfiger's girlfriend so that it wouldn't spill. [14]

Club owner Noel Ashman stated "Axl was a gentleman and had the good sense not to retaliate as he would have done some serious damage to Hilfiger."... Guns N' Roses were playing an acoustic set at Rosario Dawson's birthday party. Later that night Rose dedicated the song "You're Crazy".. to "My good friend Tommy Hilfiger." [15] It has been rumoured on several celebrity gossip chat boards that Rose and Hilfiger were seen "hugging" and "burying the hatchet" backstage at the MTV Video Music Awards in late August 2006.

Eagles of Death Metal

On November 24, 2006 at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, Rose referred to opening act the Eagles of Death Metal as the "Pigeons of Shit Metal."He then said, "I'm sorry to say that this will be their last night with us". The EODM later claimed that Tommy Stinson took his bass off and threw it on the floor saying "Fuck you, that's it".[3]

However, on December 2, 2006, Stinson posted a message: "As a matter of fact, Eagles of Death Metal were a suggestion of mine a while ago. Turns out they were the wrong band for our crowd. They were booed and did not play for as long as they were scheduled to. ... In the past I have thrown my bass. I have never thrown it at Axl or anyone else in the band nor has anyone thrown my bass back at me... yet. Axl has been a dear friend to me for nine years. We have no problem communicating and wish that people would stay the fuck out of shit they don't know anything about."[4]

Bon Jovi

Rose has had a long time feud with the members of the rock band Bon Jovi, especially with the lead singer, Jon Bon Jovi. At a 1987 show opening for Alice Cooper, Rose said "Now last night, what happened was, five guys in suits decided in the Higher Regency Hotel that we were scumbags. They were right, we're scumbags but that don't mean we're gonna take their shit. So first off, this guy grabs me and calls me Bon Jovi. Bon Jovi can suck my dick. Second off he tried to hit me. That's when Steven cracked him in the head with his cast. And his words were 'You never try to hit one of the family.'" The audio of this speech is often referred to as Axl's Blues as the rest of the band play a blues jam as he speaks.

In an interview, Jon Bon Jovi stated how Rose got all the press attention, despite not having made an album for years. ""You know what pisses me off? I was reading this British rock magazine this month and there was a story about Axl Rose and the $13 million Guns N' Roses record that was never made. That motherfucker hasn't made a record in 13 years and he gets all that attention. You know what I've done in 13 years? A lot. But they have continued to write about the freak show aspect of him. Because he's a recluse. That makes him interesting, right?"[5]

Trivia

  • Axl plays the voice of Tommy "The Nightmare" Smith, former lead singer of the (fictional) 1970's rock band Crystal Ship, and radio DJ of Classic Rock radio K-DST in the game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. [16]
  • The character Axl Low in the Guilty Gear series of fighting games is clearly named and designed from Rose, as is the Fighting Vipers character Raxel, who wields a guitar. In addition, one of the enemies in Final Fight is named after him (another is named and patterned after Slash). [17]
  • Inducted Elton John into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. [18]
  • The house in the "Estranged" music video is Axl's real-life Malibu home. [19]
  • "Welcome to the Jungle" features a line that was originally directed to Rose while hitchhiking in New York: "Do you know where you are? You're in the jungle baby. You're gonna die!". [Said repeatedly in interviews, most recently Eddie Trunk interview, May 2006]
  • Axl Rose and the other Guns N' Roses members, were the source of the names of the Mavericks in the American version of Mega Man X5, Axl parallel being named "Axl the Red". [20]
  • Guns N' Roses played in Caracas the night before one of the Venezuelan coup attempts of 1992.[21]
  • Was a background singer on Don Henley's song "I Will Not Go Quietly".[22]
  • "Welcome To The Jungle" featured 3 times in "The Simpsons", once when Marge and her friend where in a red car, and they started listening a tape which contained this theme; another time when Homer buys a RV; and finally when Homer changes to the Catholic Religion School, and abuses of another student, telling to him: "Welcome to the Jungle, Tim".

References

  1. ^ http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:fpfixq9gldhe~T1
  2. ^ Manson, Marilyn (1999). The Long Hard Road Out of Hell, Regan Books. ISBN 0060987464
  3. ^ "Eagles of Death Metal Lash Out at Guns and Roses". nme.com. November 29, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
  4. ^ "GUNS N' ROSES Bassist: We Are 'Getting Along Better Than We Ever Have'". December 2, 2006. Retrieved 2006-11-18.
  5. ^ Blabbermouth.net

Interviews

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