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Axl's Letter To The RRHOF


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To: The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N' Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern,

When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first announced I had mixed emotions but, in an effort to be positive, wanting to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was honored, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing. Of course I realized as things stood, if Guns N' Roses were to be inducted it'd be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation.

Since then we've listened to fans, talked with members of the board of the Hall Of Fame, communicated with and read various public comments and jabs from former members of Guns N' Roses, had discussions with the president of the Hall Of Fame, read various press (some legit, some contrived) and read other artists' comments weighing in publicly on Guns and the Hall with their thoughts.

Under the circumstances I feel we've been polite, courteous, and open to an amicable solution in our efforts to work something out. Taking into consideration the history of Guns N' Roses, those who plan to attend along with those the Hall for reasons of their own, have chosen to include in "our" induction (that for the record are decisions I don't agree with, support or feel the Hall has any right to make), and how (albeit no easy task) those involved with the Hall have handled things... no offense meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony doesn't appear to be somewhere I'm actually wanted or respected.

For the record, I would not begrudge anyone from Guns their accomplishments or recognition for such. Neither I or anyone in my camp has made any requests or demands of the Hall Of Fame. It's their show not mine.

That said, I won't be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N' Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf. Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of "Guns N' Roses".

This decision is personal. This letter is to help clarify things from my and my camp's perspective. Neither is meant to offend, attack or condemn. Though unfortunately I'm sure there will be those who take offense (God knows how long I'll have to contend with the fallout), I certainly don't intend to disappoint anyone, especially the fans, with this decision. Since the announcement of the nomination we've actively sought out a solution to what, with all things considered, appears to be a no win, at least for me, "damned if I do, damned if I don't" scenario all the way around.

In regard to a reunion of any kind of either the Appetite or Illusion lineups, I've publicly made myself more than clear. Nothing's changed.

The only reason, at this point, under the circumstances, in my opinion whether under the guise of "for the fans" or whatever justification of the moment, for anyone to continue to ask, suggest or demand a reunion are misguided attempts to distract from our efforts with our current lineup of myself, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Frank Ferrer, Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba. 

Izzy came out with us a few times back in '06 and I invited him to join us at our LA Forum show last year. Steven was at our show at the Hard Rock, later in '06 in Las Vegas, where I invited him to our after-party and was rewarded with his subsequent interviews filled with reunion lies. Lesson learned. Duff joined us in 2010 and again in '11 along with his band, Loaded, opening in Seattle and Vancouver. For me, with the exception of Izzy or Duff joining us on stage if they were so inclined somewhere in the future for a song or two, that's enough.

There's a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the actual realities. Until every single one of those generating from or originating with the earlier lineups has been brought out in the light, there isn't room to consider a conversation let alone a reunion.

Maybe if it were you it'd be different. Maybe you'd do it for this reason or that. Peace, whatever. I love our band now. We're there for each other when the going get's rough. We love our fans and work to give them every ounce of energy and heart we can.

So let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move on. People get divorced. Life doesn't owe you your own personal happy ending especially at another's, or in this case several others', expense.

But hey if ya gotta then maybe we can get the "no show, grandstanding, publicity stunt, disrespectful, he doesn't care about the fans" crap out of the way as quickly as we can and let's move on. No one's taking the ball and going home. Don't get it twisted. For more than a decade and a half we've endured the double standards, the greed of this industry and the ever present seemingly limitless supply of wannabes and unscrupulous, irresponsible media types. Not to imply anything in this particular circumstance, but from my perspective in regard to both the Hall and a reunion, the ball's never been in our court.

In closing, regardless of this decision and as hard to believe or as ironic as it may seem, I'd like to sincerely thank the board for their nomination and their votes for Guns' induction. More importantly I'd like to thank the fans for being there over the years, making any success we've had possible and for enjoying and supporting Guns N' Roses music.

I wish the Hall a great show, congratulations to all the other artists being inducted and to our fans we look forward to seeing you on tour!!

Sincerely,

Axl Rose

P.S. RIP Armand, Long Live ABC III

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26 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

Equally interesting are Axl's comments saying Slash couldn't play anymore. 

In lieu of these comments, you could interpret this whole tour as a sham, the death knell of GN'R's collective artistic integrity or could look at it as Axl being hurt by a former friend and now happily mending a broken professional and personal relationship for the betterment of himself and the band as a whole. 

Which comment is that where Axl said Slash couldnt play? I dont think I have ever seen that one, the only times I remember him commenting on Slash's playing was the late 90's Kurt Loder interview and I believe the forum chats where Axl talked briefly about Velvet Revolver

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11 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

Q: Do you think he can play guitar?

A: I prefer listening to others in general, especially those who both push their talents and infuse them with a level of energy that I've seldom heard in his efforts over the years. I'm not taking anything away from the man that are his to claim for his past efforts; it's just that for whatever reason for me, whether the approach, style or basic hands-on technique is there, the passion and true dedication to the art of guitar in his chosen area other than being, in my opinion, a whore for the limelight has generally seemed absent or lacking with most efforts for a long time. To me, it's sad. I don't get it. Where does it go? Is it a choice? Sometimes it's there on covers; I think Clive [Davis, legendary record executive] fell for that.

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=168

Thanks for the link, that is very interesting to read especially after the reunion lol.  

 

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19 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

Q: Do you think he can play guitar?

A: I prefer listening to others in general, especially those who both push their talents and infuse them with a level of energy that I've seldom heard in his efforts over the years. I'm not taking anything away from the man that are his to claim for his past efforts; it's just that for whatever reason for me, whether the approach, style or basic hands-on technique is there, the passion and true dedication to the art of guitar in his chosen area other than being, in my opinion, a whore for the limelight has generally seemed absent or lacking with most efforts for a long time. To me, it's sad. I don't get it. Where does it go? Is it a choice? Sometimes it's there on covers; I think Clive [Davis, legendary record executive] fell for that.

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=168

Lol he was so bitter. Contraband only came out like 4 years before he said that too. Slash was awesome on that album

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1 hour ago, Asdiz said:

this line made me vomit a little:

with our current lineup of myself, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Frank Ferrer, Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba. 

Yeah he wanted Ashba inducted in the hall of fame for posing as Slash hahahahaa

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1 minute ago, GoBucky said:

Ha...didn't Kiss refuse to play because the HOF wouldn't let the Ace and Peter impostors perform with the original four? 

Yeah, but at least the 4 of them came on stage together. 

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“It was a really nice event all around, and it was a special moment for all the guys that showed up,” Slash reflected. “It was a nightmare going into it, but when it actually happened it was like, ‘This is pretty cool.'”

According to Slash, it was actually Axl’s letter that inspired the band to reconvene on the Hall of Fame stage. “The funny thing is we never would have played had he never written it,” he chuckled. “I think at one point he alluded he was at least going to go, and so we hadn’t really prepared to play at all. We were just going to show up as almost an obligatory thing — more for the fans than anything. But that letter set a fire that was like, ‘Okay, (bleep) it. We’re going to go play.’ So it really almost didn’t happen. And if it hadn’t been for that special letter, it wouldn’t have.” Ultimately, in spite of all the years of bitterness and turmoil leading up to the ceremony, the performance was a positive experience. “Going up there you feel very much part of something that is bigger than…all the stories, drugs, the fights and this and that and the other,” he explained. “There was a body of a music that had a significant impact. When you think about where we come from, which is really like sort of the back alleys of Hollywood and being just scourges of the neighborhood…it was like, ‘Wow. It was a pretty big thing we ended up doing.'” 

 

 

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57 minutes ago, Wagszilla said:

Q: Do you think he can play guitar?

A: I prefer listening to others in general, especially those who both push their talents and infuse them with a level of energy that I've seldom heard in his efforts over the years. I'm not taking anything away from the man that are his to claim for his past efforts; it's just that for whatever reason for me, whether the approach, style or basic hands-on technique is there, the passion and true dedication to the art of guitar in his chosen area other than being, in my opinion, a whore for the limelight has generally seemed absent or lacking with most efforts for a long time. To me, it's sad. I don't get it. Where does it go? Is it a choice? Sometimes it's there on covers; I think Clive [Davis, legendary record executive] fell for that.

http://www.heretodaygonetohell.com/articles/showarticle.php?articleid=168

Yes, it was the "cancer" interview in 2009. I think Axl's bitterness had peaked at that time because of Velvet Revolver (along with Slash's book and CD not having the reception he was expecting). It was not so much that VR had been relatively successful, but that Slash did with VR things he had refused to do when he was in GnR.

Slash, 1995;

"Everybody used to go, "What's gonna happen when Guns is no longer.. when a new fad comes along?" or whatever. And I'd be, "I don't give a fuck". And I watched it happen, and it didn't matter to me. With Axl it mattered a hell of a lot. Next thing you know, he wants to be Pearl Jam, right? Why? I hate Pearl Jam anyway, so what's the point? And it's great to watch Pearl Jam going through what they're going through, cos I'm going, "See Axl?"

"We do what we do the best that anybody does. Let's just go out and do a club tour, a theatre tour, and fucking get back down to where we have some validity with an audience that we can relate to. But Axl was all fucking.. he wants to be on MTV, he wants to do Unplugged, he wants to be this, he wants to be that. So we didn't see eye to eye, and that's where a lot of that bullshit got started, and of course it was blown out of all proportion in the press.

Axl was anxious to be relevant with what was going on in music in the 90s, whereas Slash didn't care about that. It's reasonable to assume that Slash hated STP as much as he hated Pearl Jam (Axl hinted on it in the chat, saying Slash now performs with people he once hated, while Axl was a fan). Then Slash formed a more "modern" sounding band with Scott Weiland, did unplugged, etc.; and in his book, written during the VR era, he downplayed the disagreement about the musical direction as a cause of tension between Axl and him.

Edited by Blackstar
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8 minutes ago, Slash787 said:

Its 2008 and Chinese Democracy is going to be released in the next 2 months HOORAYY! 

You heard it here first. 

LOL. Since someone thought that Axl's letter in 2012 is so relevant in 2016 that it deserves a new thread, the travel back in time is inevitable.

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1 minute ago, Blackstar said:

LOL. Since someone thought that Axl's letter in 2012 is so relevant in 2016 that it deserves a new thread, the travel back in time is inevitable.

Gonna give you some inside info, Robin is going to leave the band, I know you would say Im lying, but there is another guitarist name DJ Ashba joining next year and he is not a DJ at a disco. 

Spoiler

SLASH AND DUFF ARE COMING BACK IN 2016! 

 

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There's a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the actual realities. Until every single one of those generating from or originating with the earlier lineups has been brought out in the light, there isn't room to consider a conversation let alone a reunion.

:rofl-lol:

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