Axl Rose

Axl Rose

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

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.

Early years

Axl Rose was born as William Bruce Rose Jr. in Lafayette, Indiana to parents Sharon E. and William Rose. His father left the family when Rose was two years old. As an adult, after recovering repressed memories in therapy, Axl publicly stated that he was sexually abused by his biological father.

Axl's mother remarried when he was a small child. She changed his 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 and his siblings. 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.

The Bailey household was deeply religious, and Rose grew up attending a Pentecostal church, where he was required to attend services three to eight times per week. He sang in the choir from the age of five, and also performed at church services with his brother and sister in the "Bailey Trio." . Rose was so involved with the church that he even taught Sunday School; later, he spoke of his disillusion with his family's church:

My particular church was filled with self-righteous hypocrites who were child abusers and child molesters. These were people who'd been damaged in their own childhoods and in their lives. These were people who were finding God but still living with their damage and inflicting it upon their children. I had to go to church anywhere from three to eight times a week. l even taught Bible school while l was being beaten and my sister was being molested.

— Axl Rose on his religious upbringing,

Church did provide an outlet for Axl's musical interests. In addition to singing in church, he also participated in his high school chorus and studied piano.

Rose is a second baritone, but has a wide range that allows him to sing parts ranging from bass to soprano, and has several recognized different "voices" used in his songs. He has stated that he originally started to develop his range to confuse his chorus teacher in school.

After discovering the truth of his background, Rose began "acting out." 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. The two bonded over their love of rock music and eventually started playing in bands together. Stradlin eventually left Rose and Indiana, to go to Los Angeles and focus on music.

Throughout his teen years, 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 threatened to charge him as a habitual criminal. When he was 17, on the advice of his lawyer, he left Indiana and began hitchhiking and taking buses across the country. . Although he returned to Indiana to visit family from time to time, he left for good in December 1982 and moved to Los Angeles, accompanied by a girlfriend.

He adopted the name W. Axl Rose ('Axl' after a band in which he once played ), and set out to re-unite with Stradlin. Rose legally changed his name to "W. Axl Rose" in 1986, and had the moniker tattooed on his arm.

Pre-Guns N' Roses years

Once in Los Angeles, Rose began performing with various local bands, including Rapidfire,, Rose, L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. While struggling to make an impact on the Hollywood music scene, Rose held down a variety of survival jobs, including the position of night manager at the Tower Records location on Sunset Boulevard. In an attempt to earn money, he and Stradlin even smoked cigarettes for a scientific study at UCLA for the reported wages of $8/hour.

Rose and his L.A. Guns bandmate Tracii Guns formed Guns N' Roses in March 1985; the band was a merger of L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose, and featured musicians who had played for one or both groups, including Ole Beich and Duff McKagan. The band debuted at the Troubadour in Hollywood and proceeded to play the L.A. circuit, eventually building a fan following and attracting the attention of several record companies.

Success with Guns N' Roses

Main article: Guns N' Roses

1995-present

As the stability of Guns N' Roses collapsed, Rose began to withdraw from public view. By the late 1990s, he was considered to be a recluse, rarely making public appearances. In various reports in the press, he was referred to as the "Howard Hughes of rock" and "rock's greatest recluse" Rose was said to spend his nights rehearsing and writing with the various new lineups of Guns N' Roses and to be holed up in his mansion in Malibu.

In a rare interview with Rolling Stone in 2006, 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."

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. 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.

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. However, the album was pushed back once again.

Controversy

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Axl Rose performing with Guns N' Roses at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert in 1992.

Drug use

Unlike the other members of Guns N' Roses, Rose was never known for excessive drug use. He did not disavow the use of illicit substances, stating in a 1989 interview, "I have a different physical constitution and different mindset about drugs than anybody I've known in Hollywood, because I don't abstain from doing drugs, but I won't allow myself to have a fuckin' habit. I won't allow it." After Guns N' Roses rose to success, Rose noted that he had stopped using any sort of hard drugs.

Although Rose has not been known for alcohol abuse, on June 27, 2006, he 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.

One in a Million

Main article: One in a Million

In 1988, Guns N' Roses released the EP G N' R Lies. Although the album had strong sales, there was public outrage over the lyrics of the song "One in a Million", which included references to "niggers" and "faggots". As Rose was the lyricist of the piece and the song was composed about his personal experiences, he was labeled racist and homophobic, charges he heavily denied. The lyrics led to Guns N' Roses being removed from the schedule at a concert benefiting the Gay Men's Health Crisis at Radio City Music Hall in New York City.

Rose denied allegations of homophobia, however, he claimed that he had had bad experiences with homosexuals, and, as such, he did not understand their way of life. He also pointed out that many of his musical idols, including Elton John and Freddie Mercury, as well as the head of his record company, were gay or bisexual. Following this, in a surprising move, Rose performed "November Rain" with Elton John at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. 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. Rose has maintained his friendship with John to the current day , and inducted him into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

Riots and rants

Throughout Guns N' Roses' career, Rose has been notorious for personally addressing disruptive fans and giving instructions to security guards from the stage, at times stopping concerts to deal with issues in the crowd. In his 1992 Rolling Stone interview Rose explained, "Most performers would go to a security person in their organization, and it would just be done very quietly. I'll confront the person, stop the song: "Guess what: You wasted your money, you get to leave." He has also been noted for his late appearances at concerts, sometimes taking the stage hours after the opening acts.

In many instances, Rose's actions have seemed to be based in concern for the safety of the band and audience members. At the 1988 Monsters of Rock concert at Castle Donington, England during which two fans were crushed, Rose stopped the show several times when the audience rushed the stage. The final report into the Donington tragedy noted that Rose had immediately cooperated with venue security when advised of the dangerous crowd conditions, and had attempted to calm the crowd. In a more recent incident, during a concert in 2006 in Birmingham, Rose stopped the show and had a security guard ejected for assaulting a fan in the audience.

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, . Rose was blamed for the melee, and was charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault and one charge of property damage, for which he was arrested in 1992. The case eventually went to trial in late 1992, and resulted in a conviction, two years' probation and a US $50,000 fine for Rose.

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.

Since Guns N' Roses' return, Rose's onstage antics have remained much the same as they were 15 years ago. 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 water bottle 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 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.

Pop culture references

Video games: 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). 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's parallel being named "Axl the Red".

Music: Punk band Against Me! named their 2001 album Reinventing Axl Rose, as a reference to the canceled Guns N' Roses "comeback" concerts in 2001 and the growing culture of corporate rock. Pop punk band SR-71 named a song on their 2004 album Here We Go Again 'Axl Rose'.

Work outside Guns N' Roses

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.

In addition, Rose appeared as an uncredited background performer in a funeral scene in Clint Eastwood's 1988 film The Dead Pool.

Discography

Guns N' Roses: See Guns N' Roses discography

Pre-Guns N' Roses: Hollywood Rose: The Roots of Guns N' Roses (released 2004; recorded circa 1984)

Rapidfire: TBA

As guest artist:

Michael Monroe: Not Fakin' It (1989). Song: "Dead, Jail or Rock N' Roll" (with Michael Monroe)

Don Henley: The End of the Innocence (1989). Song: "I Will Not Go Quietly" (with Don Henley)

The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years (1988). Song: "Under my Wheels" (with Alice Cooper)

Gilby Clarke: Pawnshop Guitars. Piano and backing vocals.

Personal life

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

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 - and still are - signed to Geffen Records, even though Nirvana has disbanded). 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."

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 103.1 FM and denied having visited Rose's house or saying anything that Axl claimed.

Tommy Hilfiger

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.

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." It has been rumored on several celebrity gossip chat boards that Rose and Hilfiger (who was wearing a Guns N' Roses t-shirt under a blazer) 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".

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."

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. Incidentally, Bon Jovi had planned to title their 1986 album after Guns N' Roses.

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?"

External links

• GunsNRoses.Com - Official website of Guns N' Roses
• W. Axl Rose at IMDb

Interviews

• Eddie Trunk Show (France) Radio Intv. May 5, 2006 (Transcript)
• Rolling Stone Intv. Jan. 17, 2006 Axl Rose Breaks His Silence by Steve Baltin
• KISW 99.9 Radio Intv. Dec. 28, 2005 (Transcript)
• Detroit Radio Intv. Nov. 22, 2002 (Transcript)
• Kerrang Intv. Aug. 14, 2002 G-N-R Man Breaks His Silence
• MTV Intv. Nov. 8, 1999 Axl Breaks Silence, Talks About New GN'R Album by Kurt Loder
• Rolling Stone Intv. Aug. 10, 1989 An Interview with Mr.Rose by Del James
• Additional interviews with Axl Rose