This girl hates him so much, she has chosen to wear the shirt ironically. What a hipster! |
"Has to be the children, the other doesn't exist."
"The wussification of children causes them to....turn out like Axl Rose! Parents everywhere are looking for a cure!"
"How Axl Rose has contributed to the wussification of children."
Poor Axl doesn't have a lot of fans left... And while some might argue that he is a spoiled brat that brought a close to rock as we know it. Let us take a step back, and look at the pure tragedy that is Axl Rose, and while he might not deserve our sympathy, nor certainly very few could empathize with the man, his life is a tragedy that Shakespeare himself might have a hard time envisioning.
The faces and perms of rock n' roll |
Their albums in the 80's were HUGE! "Appetite for Destruction" is still the number one debut album in the U.S. of all time, and holds up well. At the time, their current offerings, the "Use Your Illusion" albums, were at the top of the charts for months, and pretty much everyone had a copy, or at least knew someone who did. The upcoming concert tour with Metallica/Guns N' Roses was arguably the biggest thing going at the time. They rocked hard, partied hard, and so did their fans. They literally caused riots all over North America. Axl was an international sex symbol, and infamous for his 'bad boy' temper tantrums. He played by his own rules, and was loved and hated for it. They were steamrolling their way through the music industry, top of their game and they showed no signs of stopping.
Now, let's take a break for a second...
I need to define something here...
And God said 'Let there be rock', and it was good. |
Now, I'm sure you can all think of a few of these folks. Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Holly, John Bonhom, Janice Joplin, Bob Marley, Jim Morrison, Freddie Mercury, Tupac Shakur and of course Kurt Cobain (who reportedly was listening to New Kids on the Block and the time of his death. (citation needed)).
Now you might notice that all these people are dead. Most of them died in their prime, were mourned by all and declared geniuses by those who grieved their passing, and wept for the potential music that we would never hear. When you think about it, it's a pretty exclusive list to be included on, the cream of the crop if you will. (Also I know, I didn't name them all, don't get pissy if I missed your favourite.)
Rarer than current non-ironic Vanilla Ice fans. |
Off the top of my head, I can think of very few... Mick Jagger, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Chuck Berry, Angus Young, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, and maybe Ozzy. We could also include John Lennon and Elvis in this list, although they are gone now, they lived to see they status of rock gods for a time.
Having said that, there are in comparison many rock legends out there, hell we could even say that Axl is amoungst them, but the living rock gods are the rarest of the rare, and practically an unattainable goal.
However, in the summer of 1992 the young band from California was staring the possibility of obtaining the highest plateau of rock in the face, and all signs pointed to that they couldn't miss. Leading the charge was Axl himself. This privliged young firecracker, whined and complained, threw temper tantrums, walked off the stage pouting, causing riots, and made his fans love him even more. His stardom was blowing up faster than anyone could ever imagine, and he rode the wave of rock on a surfboard made from drugs, booze, ego, and loose chicks on his way to rock and roll divination.
Then this happened...
Worst. Album. Ever. |
Artist's representation of GN'R in the mid nineties. |
It was really that bad.
When all was said and done, Axl took his ball (the rights to the name Guns N' Roses), and went home. That was the end of one of the biggest bands of the late 80's and early 90's. Axl of course has tried to recreate it with new band members, as has the rest of the band without Axl; however the results have comeback with a resounding unremarkable.
Images for representation of tragedy on Google suck. |
Think about this, if someone offered you to be able to taste the most amazing flavour in the world once and only once, with the knowledge that you could never taste it again, would you take it? Consider, after tasting that, you know nothing you taste would ever come close to as good again. Every flavour you now love would be spoiled by the memory of that one perfect flavour, and it would all pale by comparison. As the memory of that exquisite taste faded, you would forever be haunted, searching and trying to attain that again and again, knowing that it is impossible. That is a sad thought indeed, but at least you got to try the flavour.... Now imagine, if you made the agreement and then as you went to taste it, the sensation was pulled away from you as it approached your waiting tongue, and the essence of it's smell touched your taste buds, allowing the knowledge of the flavour without the pleasure of experience. That, my friend, is tragedy.
Axl Rose then.... |
I'm not saying that Axl didn't have a fun ride up. I'm not saying that his life wasn't way more fun and reckless than most of us dare imagine. I'm also not saying that most musicians wouldn't give everything they had just to taste a fraction of Axl's experience. What I'm saying is that Axl had the possibility of being a living rock god in his reach and he dropped it. It brushed his fingertips, he smelt it's perfume, it may even of grabbed his ass, but then it disappeared. It left only it's trace memory that Axl knows he can never attain, and he has to live the rest of his life in that knowledge.
The sad truth is, if Axl had died in 1992, he WOULD be a rock god right now. It's unquestionable. He didn't, and that ship has sailed. Now the only thing Axl is, and can ever be is a tragic figure, destroyed by a life of excess, only ever wondering what could have been.
Now he takes solace in pie... |
If you're interested on why Guns N' Roses crashed so hard, have a listen to this take by Jim Breuer... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGy_obJa_JQ. It's hilarious, and bang on money with what happened.
I was misquoted. When I said there is no such thing, I meant there was no "wusification". Axl exists, and he is very much a rock god. Some of your facts are just plain wrong. You should read the book "watch you bleed" a rock biography that digs way beneath the scenes on the troubles of the band, the drugs, the shady record execs, bad management and all the lovely lawyer folk who come with the territory. It probably won't make you like Axl, but you will have a much better understanding about what went down in those years.
ReplyDeleteThe band itself has been 40% replacement players since Izzy bowed out and Stephen wigged out back in the early 90's (before the illusions tour). Izzy wrote Gnr's best songs - it wasn't punk enough for him to be in a huge band and he just quit. (also, you will find him absent from videos in the time frame because he thought that they represented the vapid industry is so loathed). I never hear him even partly blamed for the downturn.
As for the weight thing, Axl is 51. Get over it.
I saw G'nR in 91' 92 and again 2011 & 2012. The current incarnation of the band rocks just as hard as any previous one. Go see them next time around and then we'll talk.
Now if your blog post was on "the tragedy that is Buckethead - because he's a fucking weirdo that wears a KFC bucket to hide his true identity, and if it wasn't for the bucket he would be a shitty session guitarist and no-one would know his identity anyways" I would stand behind you 100%.
Screw Jon Cooper. He's dumb.
ReplyDeleteAt least I'm not a pussy hiding behind Internet anonymity.
DeleteJon, I appreciate that what you meant was misquoted. I did cut and paste it, and that is how I interpreted, but I appreciate where you are coming from. I completely agree that the GN'R meltdown was more record company fuelled than I gave it credit for, although I did not know about the Izzy issue.
ReplyDeleteFunny about that, Izzy's complaints sound very 'Sid Vicousy', who could be counted amoungst dead rock gods. I'm unsure of the facts that I got wrong, but subjective opinions may differ. :)
I have to disagree that Axl is a rock god though, if the whole thing hadn't fallen apart, there would be a good argument as such, but much like a pitcher throwing a perfect game, there can be no hiccups. Regardless of fault, GN'R became a laughing stalk after the Spaghetti Incident? and that discludes them, in my mind anyway. Like I said, he's a legend not a god.
Anonymous... screw you. At least Jon uses his real name and has a lucid argument. He's dumb doesn't count. Back it up at least. ;)
Oh and as a side note, the pie comment was a cheap shot I know, but I stand by its comedic value.
ReplyDeleteMmmmmm
ReplyDeletePie.