Everything about Axl Rose totally explained
W. Axl Rose (born
William Bruce Rose, Jr.;
February 6,
1962), frequently called
Axl Rose, is an
American musician, best known as the
frontman of American
hard rock band Guns N' Roses.
Rose grew up in
Indiana in a troubled family environment. His love of music was fostered by singing in church, participating in school chorus and studying piano, but his numerous run-ins with the police and activities as a teenager led to his leaving home at a young age. After moving to
Los Angeles in 1982, Rose fronted various local bands, eventually forming Guns N' Roses with former
L.A. Guns bandmate
Tracii Guns.
As lead singer for Guns N' Roses, Rose enjoyed tremendous success, recognition, record and concert ticket sales in the late 1980s and early 1990s before dropping out of the public eye for several years. In 2001, he resurfaced with a new line-up of Guns N' Roses, and has since played periodic concert tours.
The only original member still part of the band's line-up, Rose still places high in numerous polls as one of hard rock's all-time greatest frontmen, but is also infamous for his onstage antics and high-profile disputes with former bandmates and others in the entertainment business.
Biography
Early years
Rose was born as
William Bruce Rose Jr. in
Lafayette,
Indiana, His father left the family when Rose was two years old. As an adult, after recovering
repressed memories in therapy, Rose publicly stated that he was
sexually abused by his biological father.
Rose'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. He has two younger half-siblings, a sister named Amy and a brother named Stuart. Rose has stated that he, as well as his siblings, were
physically abused by Bailey. Growing up, Rose believed that Bailey was his biological father.
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. Rose was so involved with the church that he even taught
Sunday School. Later, he spoke of his disillusion with his religious upbringing:
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 the words "
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.
In addressing the accusations of racism, Rose gave several explanations. In one 1989 interview, he stated that he'd used the word to signify "somebody that's basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word nigger doesn't necessarily mean black," and referenced the rap group
Niggaz with Attitude (NWA) as using the word in a positive context. 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 threw his microphone down and walked off stage and the other band members followed, 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.
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 didn't play the usual "
Paradise City" encore.
Work outside of music
Axl plays the voice of Tommy "The Nightmare" Smith, former lead singer of the fictional 1970s rock band Crystal Ship and
radio DJ of
Classic Rock radio
K-DST, in the game .
In addition, Rose appeared as an uncredited background performer in a funeral scene in
Clint Eastwood's 1988 film
The Dead Pool.
Discography
Pre-Guns N' Roses
| Title |
Release Date |
Label |
| Hollywood Rose: The Roots of Guns N' Roses |
2004 (Recorded in 1983) |
Cleopatra |
With Guns N' Roses
See Guns N' Roses discography
Guest appearances
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. Rose wrote the lyrics of "
Sweet Child o' Mine" for Everly, and she appeared in the video for the song. Rose and Everly were wed in late April 1990 in Las Vegas, albeit under duress: according to Everly, Rose showed up at her home, told her he'd a gun in his car, and that he'd kill himself if she didn't marry him. Interestingly Rose wanted one of his heroes
Dan McCafferty frontman of
Nazareth to perform at his wedding. McCafferty commenting in 2004 said "I laughed when Axl asked me to sing "Love Hurts" at his wedding, because the song seemed to last for longer than the marriage! Around 18 people from their management kept phoning me to ask – 18 people! – but I eventually told them I was busy, which I probably was.”
The couple separated after less than a month of marriage, In 2006 Guns N' Roses fan sites and news media outlets claimed that Rose dated, at various points, Diane O'Connor, the ex-wife of
fashion designer
Tommy Hilfiger's brother, and Ukrainian model Sasha Volkova, but the rumors have never been publicly supported or verified by Rose, O'Connor or Volkova.
Following the Video Music Awards, Neil and Rose traded insults and challenges for confrontations through the press for a number of months. The duel never happened; each singer accused the other of backing out. At the 1992
MTV Video Music Awards Cobain's wife,
Courtney Love, jokingly asked Rose to be the godfather to their daughter,
Frances Bean, prompting Rose to challenge Cobain to a fight.
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."
Then-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 former Guns N' Roses guitarist
Slash, have played Nirvana's song "
Negative Creep" in concert and released a version of it as the B-side of their CD-single for "
Slither".
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 didn't prove to be the case."
Slash didn't comment on Rose's press release, but a Velvet Revolver spokeswoman did promise that he'd be heard from "within days". Slash never released an official statement on the matter, but on
May 13,
2006, during an interview on the Camp Freddy Show on Indie 103.1 FM, he denied ever having visited Rose's house, noting that he'd neither seen nor spoken to the singer since the mid 1990s. In his 2007 autobiography, Slash changed his version of events slightly, saying he'd dropped off a note at Rose's house asking for a meeting, but that Rose had never responded directly. Vocalist Scott Weiland posted an inflammatory letter, addressed to Rose, on the Velvet Revolver official website, but it was quickly removed.
In 2008, after parting ways with Velvet Revolver, Scott Weiland stated that his opinion of Rose had changed. Speaking with
Rolling Stone, he said, "Everyone has made Axl out to be this horrendously crazy person, this bad guy, and I don't know him very well at all. He and I for whatever reason got almost tricked into this little media spat for a moment because one of our band members happened to run into him and said that he said something. So, my point being that having been in a band with Velvet Revolver now for five and a half years, I'm not quite so sure that it was all Axl's fault."
Tommy Hilfiger
In May 2006, Rose had a close encounter with
Tommy Hilfiger at the Plumm nightclub in
New York City. Hilfiger reportedly took a couple of swings at Rose, hitting him on the arm and face, before being carried away by his own security guards and ejected from the club. Rose made the claim that the attack began when he moved a drink belonging to 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'd 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 was 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, although this hasn't been confirmed by either side.
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 Eagles of Death Metal 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 didn't play for as long as they were scheduled to. ... In the past I've thrown my bass. I've 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
Hyatt 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 name their
1986 album Guns N' Roses after Jon read an article about the band in a newspaper.
In a 2006 interview, Jon Bon Jovi was critical of the public and media attention Rose received, despite not having released 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've continued to write about the freak show aspect of him. Because he's a recluse. That makes him interesting, right?" In addition, Bon Jovi keyboardist
David Bryan publicly criticized Rose and his late arrivals at concerts in another 2006 interview.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Axl Rose'.
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