GNR Women's Discussion - Part 2

[MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle]

@marlingrl03 Thank you for posting those!  What a lovely shot of Axl, looks bloody good there.  In fact, he's looking the best he has in years...  And Duff, well, he always looks good. 

[Zoot]

Sorry, @Frey I was wrong in my other post. It was Marc Canter who said they were trying to work things out with Izzy in 96', not Izzy. Here's the post where he mentions it:

On 5/21/2015 at 5:12 PM, recklessroad said:

No I din't think at thisw point in time when Axl no longer trusts me that I can reunite them, however there was a time where I could have helped up until 2007. What I said was if they can work out their differences the best place for them to get anything new out of them would be to come to a space where they can just jam together in the same room and build on eachothers ideas like they used to back in 1985/1986. I don't really believe in the pass a demo around and see what you can add to it thing.

When Axl called me in 1996 and told me that Slash and Izzy are back and that they may work something out. I told him the very same thing, go in a room with the rest of the guys and don't come out until you have a record. Why would I think differently now?

That doc just tells the story of me and my time with Slash and then gnr. It also showcases Reckless Road and it was a cool story and will help fans find out about Reckless Road that don't already know about it. For the people that already know about it, its still cool to see the way it was put together with the photos and footage. I think they still did a good job except for the the way they named it and a bit they cut out about working out their differences first. By the way the guy that directed it also didn't like the way they marketed it. Now that you know what it is really about, watch it again pretending it was called GNR where it all started.

I'm very proud of the doc but I think uproxx didn't have a lot of class to market it the way they did. At some point I will probably make one with the real name for my website.

 

[marlingrl03]

1 minute ago, MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle said:

@marlingrl03 Thank you for posting those!  What a lovely shot of Axl, looks bloody good there.  In fact, he's looking the best he has in years...  And Duff, well, he always looks good. 

YW! True about Duff and I just love it when he smiles...he is a doll.

[Blackstar]

2 hours ago, MillionsOfSpiders said:

If it's the same one, I remember this corker of a line from him though - "Axl inexplicably started rolling up his white shorts on the legs and top until they became nothing more than a condom!" 

LMAO!! 

LOL!  It mustn't be Sugerman though, because his book was published in 1991, before the white shorts era

In Stephen's Davis' book there's this line (he doesn't like Axl either): "Later in the concerts, he pranced around in tight white shorts that outlined his pert buns and bulging crotch in vivid detail (Many fans thought this strange, and even a little 'gay')"

It seems that authors (and other guys) who don't like Axl have a fixation with his white shorts 

1 hour ago, Kris_1989 said:

2 hours ago, Frey said:

Why randomly bring up Izzy and talk shit about about him, when Izzy was out of the band for years by that point? Why would he expect Izzy to sit down with them and write songs (or do anything at all with them)? @Kris_1989 ???

After the Juju hounds ended Izzy almost went back to GNR, so maybe that's why Slash expected Izzy to write for them? I'm not sure if they had another falling out or what happened but the material that Izzy wrote ended up on his solo record, 117°.  I believe this all was around the same time that Duff, Izzy and Matt played with Bo Diddley.

Yeah, I've been reading Slash interviews from the same period as the Stern interview (1995, when he was on tour with Snakepit) and there are a couple of comments like that about Izzy. He mentioned that Izzy went back and wrote with Duff, but he didn't want to deal with much (he said though it was all good between them and that Izzy played at one of his shows).

F- There's rumors about Izzy getting back...
S- Izzy agrees with writing stuff but he's not interested in touring... He doesn't want to deal with Axl y'know? The Rockstar thing... Like me, he just wanna play... We never thought GNR would become so big...

http://www.a-4-d.com/t637-1995-07-21-interview-with-slash

There have been rumours about Izzy writing for the next Guns album, leading to further rumours and speculation that he's going to re-join the band. How much truth is involved there, and how do you get on with Izzy these days?
"Izzy jammed with Snakepit in Chicago, and we did a Stones song, and it was great to see him. But Izzy quit Guns because of the same bullshit that sort of forced me to take off for a while.
"He's been writing; he wrote some stuff with Duff. He wants to write songs, but he doesn't wanna deal with the whole thing. And it took me a while to finally get to the point where I couldn't handle it either, y'know?
"He wants to write material, but he's not really sure what he wants to do. He's so laid back. He doesn't want to deal any pressure. Izzy does what he wants to do.
"As much as has gone on, and as much as I resent Izzy for quitting and all that, and leaving me in weird spots where I had to find a replacement weeks before the next leg of a tour, or if he didn't play on the "Use Your Illusion" records - which is for the most part true - looking back on it, Izzy's Izzy."
What do you mean he didn't play on "...Illusion" albums?!
"I had to double guitars up for him on most of it. He didn't play very much."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t638-1995-11-dd-interview-with-slash

This an earlier one (before Slash went on tour):

"When the Snakepit thing is over, and I've got that out of my system," says Slash, "we all seem to be pretty amicable about how we feel about each other as far as Guns are concerned. I just want to do a really cool Guns record, and I don't want to push it 'cause I don't feel like we have to rush it out to keep up with the Joneses. So when everybody feels comfortable doing that... I don't know exactly where [Rose's] head is at, as far as what that should sound like. It changes from month to month.
"But we talk," Slash continues. "We're fine. All the rumors and all that kind of stuff, it's between us. It's sort of like getting involved in someone else's marriage: You don't know what's going on, but people love to write about it. Me and Axl and Duff are obviously way the fuck more close and personal than they can even possibly put out in some magazine. That goes back to when Guns started, before we even got signed. The first quote that was in Music Connection was `They'll be great if they live long enough.'"
Drugs, and by proxy, death, are a big part of the G n' R myth, playing roles in song and in stage tiffs. "The only reason I'm working so much now," says Slash, "is that the last time Guns took some time off, that's straight where I went [to drugs], before the Stones gigs." (Which prompted the infamous Guns onstage "breakup" at L.A. Coliseum, with allusions by Rose to a certain band member who was "dancing with Mr. Brownstone.")
"This time around, having been really down and out and strung out and losing Steven [Adler, original drummer]...," Slash says. "Izzy, obviously, is doing doughnuts in Indiana somewhere. His own band doesn't even know where he is. I don't want to go through that again. I got off dope. It's been six, seven years."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t636-1995-04-dd-interview-with-slash

Edited July 29, 2017 by Blackstar
added quote

[MillionsOfSpiders]

28 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

LOL!  It mustn't be Sugerman though, because his book was published in 1991, before the white shorts era

In Stephen's Davis' book there's this line (he doesn't like Axl either): "Later in the concerts, he pranced around in tight white shorts that outlined his pert buns and bulging crotch in vivid detail (Many fans thought this strange, and even a little 'gay')"

It seems that authors (and other guys) who don't like Axl have a fixation with his white shorts 

I think that must be the guy me and Jan are on about, the pretentious wanker one (not sugerman) 

He went on quite a bit about the white shorts and the hot pants lol

He also didn't like Axl's black combat boots and claimed he was wearing two sizes too big because he doesn't want to admit he has small feet 

It went on and on like that for pages and you get to a point when you just think - oh FFS! There's more things to have a go at Axl for than his stage wear 

EDIT: it wasn't watch you bleed, I have that book also and it was a book published earlier than that. 

Edited July 29, 2017 by MillionsOfSpiders

[janrichmond]

@MillionsOfSpiders maybe the paul stenning one?

[MillionsOfSpiders]

5 minutes ago, janrichmond said:

@MillionsOfSpiders maybe the paul stenning one?

I haven't read that one. Nevermind, at least we both read the same thing that he used to climb the roof to get out of the way and go to sleep, or else I would think I had lost the plot 

[killuridols]

39 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

In Stephen's Davis' book there's this line (he doesn't like Axl either): "Later in the concerts, he pranced around in tight white shorts that outlined his pert buns and bulging crotch in vivid detail (Many fans thought this strange, and even a little 'gay')"

It seems that authors (and other guys) who don't like Axl have a fixation with his white shorts 

I think most men have an issue with the white shorts (whether they like Axl or not) and this is because of the patriarchy in which we live in, still going on in this time and era, and much more in the 80s/90s, where men aren't supposed to be a sexual object for women (or other men) and his attractiveness is seen as a threat to the other machos in the room. 

It is also jealousy and fear of that guy getting the attention of most females available. So the intention of those words is to invalidate him as male.

[PaperDoll]

I'm not sure how to post a pic, but the white shorts are very Freddie Mercury. I think he was Axl's fashion influence in the first half of his career, gay, glam, theatrical.  Self-assured in his sexiness.

http://rebloggy.com/post/1k-2k-freddie-mercury-queen-rock-montreal-fm-these-were-made-in-1954-and-i-ha/89898132388

[PaperDoll]

Im not saying the red bathrobe is an homage to this...

[killuridols]

I have never seen Freddie in white tight shorts 

[PaperDoll]

I'm here for you. Bonus: red bandana.

8 minutes ago, killuridols said:

I have never seen Freddie in white tight shorts 

Edited July 30, 2017 by PaperDoll
Bandana

[PaperDoll]

Okay okay one more...

[killuridols]

2 hours ago, PaperDoll said:

I'm here for you. Bonus: red bandana.

 

2 hours ago, PaperDoll said:

Okay okay one more...

Ok.

IMO he wasn't trying to pay homage to Freddie by wearing those shorts. Besides, they are a bit different. Freddie's ones look more like what a woman would wear while Axl's look like biker shorts, more like, something you'd wear for practicing a sport.

Axl's posture is masculine while Freddie's pose resembles a ballerina, more feminine.

You know, the first time I ever saw Axl wearing these clothes I was a little girl, but I already knew if I was attracted to adult men like him and, honestly, it never crossed my mind that Axl was gay or weird for wearing those shorts, like that journalist who suggests the fans were creeped out by this.

I never heard of that, neither was Axl lumped along with gay artists or anything at the time... It was just recently that I learned some men felt uncomfortable by the tiny shorts.... back in the day, I never heard anyone complaining and so now, all of a sudden, I read them talking about this... it leaves me wondering what the hell is going on.

Like I said, in the early 90's, for most females who were into this band, Axl was a sex symbol. A guy that exuded sex appeal, sexual freedom, attractiveness and didn't have a problem with becoming a sexual object himself. I'm not sure if he ever alluded to this, if he knew the reaction to his actions, if he did it consciously or he was just being himself. It's funny because, I don't know, this is my perception, but Axl always came across to me like a reserved guy when he had to talk about sex to the media. I know he's said some things but compared to Slash, Steven or even Duff, he didn't say too much. Yet he seemed to be screwing loads of women here and there, but all in all, for a guy, he sounded sort of... discrete.... and in many aspects he remains a mystery and even more so now.

And also the rest of the guys in the band were provocative and sexy in their own way. They did not expose themselves as much as Axl did (showing off body) but they had something going on with them too. Like.. the other day I read in a Reddit forum someone who said "Guns N' Roses was initially a group of male whores", which takes us back to that creepy topic we were discussing here about what they did for a living before GN'R. 

I think this idea of them being or acting like "male whores" is represented in a nutshell in that incredible, unique, unrepeatable, the best live performance of 'Rocket Queen' ever, from 1992 at the Tokyo Dome, where we can see the whole band choreographing this song as what it is: a sexual song. But none of this, in my opinion, could be labeled as gay or homoerotic at all..... Whoever sees it this way, I, not sure what their beef is.... 

 

[Lumikki]

Damn, you people talk so much I can't keep up I've only skimmed the last couple of pages (still got a lot of stuff to catch up on), but the Axl as a parent discussion reminded me of this little quote. In 1994, Axl apparently imagined his daughter would be as stubborn and headstrong as he himself

Would Axl Rose let his daughter date a rock star? "My luck will be, if I have a daughter, she's probably going to do whatever the hell she wants to do," he said.

Seems like he was aware the apple wouldn't fall far from the tree and didn't have any unrealistic expectations about any potential female off-spring lol.

 

And since we were posting old radio interviews, I also came across this yesterday, which is new (to me at least, I've never heard this particular snippet or interview before). It's Axl talking about his piano playing and how it relates to his childhood.

Radio host: "Axl, on NR you play some wonderful piano. Since when did you become such an accomplished player?"

Axl: "Oh thanks. I can really only play my own songs and I really don't have the time to practice a whole lot. I m hoping to get a piano to take on the road and work with more often.

I started playing when I was really little, kind of forced to. Something my father wanted me to do because he regretted he hadn't taken piano lessons, but they didn't really know anything about music, so they couldn't tell if I was doing my lessons or not. So I didn't really pay attention to my lessons; I'd only play my lessons for the teacher when I went in. Basically, I'd sit down at the piano for a half hour to do whatever, sometimes I'd sit there for a couple and I'd just make up things.

I think I could have, you know, learned how to be a lot better if I'd have been more dedicated, but there was, you know, so many crazy things going on in my household, that I didn't really need to be doing any extra work like that and it was hard to stay dedicated to something. But I did like sitting down and just trying to express the way I felt with the piano there and it was also kinda like while I was playing the piano, I wouldn't really be bothered by anything else going on in the family 'cause "He's working on his piano now!" (imitating his father's voice). So I wouldn't be bothered by any of the problems or have to do more work or be worried about getting yelled at as long as I was on the piano. But in the 70s when I started playing rock n' roll, my dad started getting a little bit wise when I was playing Led Zeppelin stuff on the piano and he wasn't very happy about that..."

Years later, Axl mentioned the playing Led Zeppelin on the piano thing again (in one of these 2006 radio interviews with Trunk I think?) and said his father hit him so hard he got knocked off the piano chair for doing that (or something along these lines).

About the bolded, I actually wrote a paper about this once for a class I had at university. On why children from dysfunctional, abusive or disadvantaged households perform worse in academics and other activities. What Axl says here is spot on- too much of a child's mental and emotional resources are taken up by worrying about family drama, so there's not enough left to really focus or dedicate oneself to other things. In Axl's case, he most likely drifted through school with relatively good grades because he's naturally academically gifted and didn't have to try very hard (as his teachers have also said), but I'm not surprised to hear the piano playing suffered due to his homelife.

I also really feel for him on a personal level with the "I'm sitting at the piano now, so I'm safe"-thing. My homelife was nothing like Axl's, but I used to employ the exact same tactic as a child when I tried to go unnoticed at home or in school. "I'm doing something (or pretending to do something) an adult wants me to do at the moment, so please ignore me and leave me the hell alone."

And even though it was something that was forced upon him, I'm glad the piano playing could give him a break sometimes and gave him a way to emotionally express himself.

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2017 by Lumikki

[Tori72]

@killuridols and @PaperDoll, I can see Axl remembering Freddie and having an inspiration by his postures, his self assuredness on stage, the thight, tiny shorts and making it into something entirly his own. But in the whole Rock and Heavy Metal scene the gay leather outfit got re-used into something macho, same with the tight tights pants.

I was a teenager already when I got into GnR and Axl was the ultimate, badass, wild sex-symbol and became even more so during his career. Him being a sex object himself just added to the sleazyness and badass-essness of him. He wasn't considered gay at all. Androgynous in his younger years, yes. We already discussed this in the WT, a lot of guys, especially in the music scene, dressed adrogynously.

 

[Blackstar]

Yes, we discussed the other time how his UYI era persona was perceived. Like I said then, to my recollection, Axl wasn't treated like a Freddie Mercury type gay icon; however, he was criticized for his outfits (especially his shorts) in the way Stephen Davis says. There was talk that it wasn't rock and "manly" enough. Many times that kind of talk was part of the overall criticism about Axl being a diva; and, as "diva" is feminine, when this characteristic/behaviour is attributed to a man, there's automatically the implication that he's "effeminate".

[killuridols]

1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

he was criticized for his outfits (especially his shorts) in the way Stephen Davis says. There was talk that it wasn't rock and "manly" enough. Many times that kind of talk was part of the overall criticism about Axl being a diva; and, as "diva" is feminine, when this characteristic/behaviour is attributed to a man, there's automatically the implication that he's "effeminate".

I don't have recollection of any of this being said at the time   Or at least in my country the media focus was more in the drugs and riots.

I'd yet have to read one of those "reports" where these suggestions are made because, honestly, from all the famous interviews and articles we've posted here there is nothing touching the topic.

Even more so, Axl was considered an homophobe because of OIAM, therefore an association like that would have been too contradictory.

Also, the romance with Stephanie was heavily publicized. Especially after those pictures for the Interview magazine, all the other celebrities mags would be gossiping about it and fantasizing with the wedding. So nope, no gay talk either.

This idea sounds new to me. Like revisionist history from people who either weren't alive at the time, or too young to remember or have some sort of agenda.

Edited July 30, 2017 by killuridols

[SerenityScorp]

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/guns_n_roses_are_retiring_after_the_current_tour_live_nation_hints.html

[Ratam]

9 hours ago, PaperDoll said:

Okay okay one more...

The posture of Mercury was very gay, Axl instead absolutely NOT

[domino]

7 minutes ago, Ratam said:

The posture of Mercury was very gay, Axl instead absolutely NOT

The photo of Axl screams sex. Nothing hotter as that one 

[MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle]

1 hour ago, killuridols said:

I don't have recollection of any of this being said at the time   Or at least in my country the media focus was more in the drugs and riots.

I'd yet have to read one of those "reports" where these suggestions are made because, honestly, from all the famous interviews and articles we've posted here there is nothing touching the topic.

Even more so, Axl was considered an homophobe because of OIAM, therefore an association like that would have been too contradictory.

Also, the romance with Stephanie was heavily publicized. Especially after those pictures for the Interview magazine, all the other celebrities mags would be gossiping about it and fantasizing with the wedding. So nope, no gay talk either.

This idea sounds new to me. Like revisionist history from people who either weren't alive at the time, or too young to remember or have some sort of agenda.

Hmm...I also have no recollection of anything being said about Axl being feminine, or gay, or not masculine presenting enough etc...he was considered ridiculously sexy.  I'm old enough to have lived through the hair metal days (I saw Poison in concert 1989, yes, I loved them ha! Motley Crue too) and I can't explain it, we just didn't think anything of the way those guys dressed back then.  Except that they were fucking hot.   ...Sebastian Bach...women were crazy for him.

Remember Boy George and Culture Club?  Women loved him, too.  I loved him.  I drew a portrait of him for my high school art class because his braids were interesting and he wore so many colours and feathers and shit that were challenging to draw.  I honestly can't remember a single solitary person except for my father (being of an older generation) pointing out that those guys 'dressed like girls' or 'looked like girls'.  Crazy. I know.  Because now we look back and think, bloody hell, they really were feminine presenting (not so much Axl, but Poison and Motley Crue etc)   I mean, how did we NOT notice the lipstick and eye-make-up and spandex?  I can't explain it.  It was just considered the normal rock star way.  It was part of the rock n roll package.  

On a side note, I still remember how SHOCKED the world was when we found out George Michael was gay.  Looking back it kinda seems obvious now, but back then, total shock.  So to my knowledge nobody thought Axl was gay or presented himself in that way, or a girly way.  I think we all thought he was just doing his rock star thing.  And looking very good whilst doing it.  

[MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle]

20 minutes ago, SerenityScorp said:

https://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/general_music_news/guns_n_roses_are_retiring_after_the_current_tour_live_nation_hints.html

Whaaaaaaat?!?  Please no...

Edit:  Ooops...red the article in full.  No I don't believe it.  I just saw 'Axl retiring' and freaked out. 

Edited July 30, 2017 by MyPrettyTiedUpMichelle

[Frey]

Chill people, there is already a thread about the whole retiring thing over in D&N and the majority seems to think it's just bad wording or a marketing gimmick on Livenation's part.

No need to freak out.

18 hours ago, Kris_1989 said:

Sorry, @Frey I was wrong in my other post. It was Marc Canter who said they were trying to work things out with Izzy in 96', not Izzy. Here's the post where he mentions it:

On 22.5.2015 at 2:12 AM, recklessroad said:

No I din't think at thisw point in time when Axl no longer trusts me that I can reunite them, however there was a time where I could have helped up until 2007. What I said was if they can work out their differences the best place for them to get anything new out of them would be to come to a space where they can just jam together in the same room and build on eachothers ideas like they used to back in 1985/1986. I don't really believe in the pass a demo around and see what you can add to it thing.

When Axl called me in 1996 and told me that Slash and Izzy are back and that they may work something out. I told him the very same thing, go in a room with the rest of the guys and don't come out until you have a record. Why would I think differently now?

That doc just tells the story of me and my time with Slash and then gnr. It also showcases Reckless Road and it was a cool story and will help fans find out about Reckless Road that don't already know about it. For the people that already know about it, its still cool to see the way it was put together with the photos and footage. I think they still did a good job except for the the way they named it and a bit they cut out about working out their differences first. By the way the guy that directed it also didn't like the way they marketed it. Now that you know what it is really about, watch it again pretending it was called GNR where it all started.

I'm very proud of the doc but I think uproxx didn't have a lot of class to market it the way they did. At some point I will probably make one with the real name for my website.

 

17 hours ago, Blackstar said:

18 hours ago, Kris_1989 said:

19 hours ago, Frey said:

Why randomly bring up Izzy and talk shit about about him, when Izzy was out of the band for years by that point? Why would he expect Izzy to sit down with them and write songs (or do anything at all with them)? @Kris_1989 ???

After the Juju hounds ended Izzy almost went back to GNR, so maybe that's why Slash expected Izzy to write for them? I'm not sure if they had another falling out or what happened but the material that Izzy wrote ended up on his solo record, 117°.  I believe this all was around the same time that Duff, Izzy and Matt played with Bo Diddley.

Yeah, I've been reading Slash interviews from the same period as the Stern interview (1995, when he was on tour with Snakepit) and there are a couple of comments like that about Izzy. He mentioned that Izzy went back and wrote with Duff, but he didn't want to deal with much (he said though it was all good between them and that Izzy played at one of his shows).

F- There's rumors about Izzy getting back...
S- Izzy agrees with writing stuff but he's not interested in touring... He doesn't want to deal with Axl y'know? The Rockstar thing... Like me, he just wanna play... We never thought GNR would become so big...

http://www.a-4-d.com/t637-1995-07-21-interview-with-slash

There have been rumours about Izzy writing for the next Guns album, leading to further rumours and speculation that he's going to re-join the band. How much truth is involved there, and how do you get on with Izzy these days?
"Izzy jammed with Snakepit in Chicago, and we did a Stones song, and it was great to see him. But Izzy quit Guns because of the same bullshit that sort of forced me to take off for a while.
"He's been writing; he wrote some stuff with Duff. He wants to write songs, but he doesn't wanna deal with the whole thing. And it took me a while to finally get to the point where I couldn't handle it either, y'know?
"He wants to write material, but he's not really sure what he wants to do. He's so laid back. He doesn't want to deal any pressure. Izzy does what he wants to do.
"As much as has gone on, and as much as I resent Izzy for quitting and all that, and leaving me in weird spots where I had to find a replacement weeks before the next leg of a tour, or if he didn't play on the "Use Your Illusion" records - which is for the most part true - looking back on it, Izzy's Izzy."
What do you mean he didn't play on "...Illusion" albums?!
"I had to double guitars up for him on most of it. He didn't play very much."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t638-1995-11-dd-interview-with-slash

This an earlier one (before Slash went on tour):

"When the Snakepit thing is over, and I've got that out of my system," says Slash, "we all seem to be pretty amicable about how we feel about each other as far as Guns are concerned. I just want to do a really cool Guns record, and I don't want to push it 'cause I don't feel like we have to rush it out to keep up with the Joneses. So when everybody feels comfortable doing that... I don't know exactly where [Rose's] head is at, as far as what that should sound like. It changes from month to month.
"But we talk," Slash continues. "We're fine. All the rumors and all that kind of stuff, it's between us. It's sort of like getting involved in someone else's marriage: You don't know what's going on, but people love to write about it. Me and Axl and Duff are obviously way the fuck more close and personal than they can even possibly put out in some magazine. That goes back to when Guns started, before we even got signed. The first quote that was in Music Connection was `They'll be great if they live long enough.'"
Drugs, and by proxy, death, are a big part of the G n' R myth, playing roles in song and in stage tiffs. "The only reason I'm working so much now," says Slash, "is that the last time Guns took some time off, that's straight where I went [to drugs], before the Stones gigs." (Which prompted the infamous Guns onstage "breakup" at L.A. Coliseum, with allusions by Rose to a certain band member who was "dancing with Mr. Brownstone.")
"This time around, having been really down and out and strung out and losing Steven [Adler, original drummer]...," Slash says. "Izzy, obviously, is doing doughnuts in Indiana somewhere. His own band doesn't even know where he is. I don't want to go through that again. I got off dope. It's been six, seven years."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t636-1995-04-dd-interview-with-slash

Thanks guys.

Somehow I'd never heard about this before.

Wonder what went wrong again that time. Somehow they always screw everything up

 

7 hours ago, Lumikki said:

And since we were posting old radio interviews, I also came across this yesterday, which is new (to me at least, I've never heard this particular snippet or interview before). It's Axl talking about his piano playing and how it relates to his childhood.

Radio host: "Axl, on NR you play some wonderful piano. Since when did you become such an accomplished player?"

Axl: "Oh thanks. I can really only play my own songs and I really don't have the time to practice a whole lot. I m hoping to get a piano to take on the road and work with more often.

I started playing when I was really little, kind of forced to. Something my father wanted me to do because he regretted he hadn't taken piano lessons, but they didn't really know anything about music, so they couldn't tell if I was doing my lessons or not. So I didn't really pay attention to my lessons; I'd only play my lessons for the teacher when I went in. Basically, I'd sit down at the piano for a half hour to do whatever, sometimes I'd sit there for a couple and I'd just make up things.

I think I could have, you know, learned how to be a lot better if I'd have been more dedicated, but there was, you know, so many crazy things going on in my household, that I didn't really need to be doing any extra work like that and it was hard to stay dedicated to something. But I did like sitting down and just trying to express the way I felt with the piano there and it was also kinda like while I was playing the piano, I wouldn't really be bothered by anything else going on in the family 'cause "He's working on his piano now!" (imitating his father's voice). So I wouldn't be bothered by any of the problems or have to do more work or be worried about getting yelled at as long as I was on the piano. But in the 70s when I started playing rock n' roll, my dad started getting a little bit wise when I was playing Led Zeppelin stuff on the piano and he wasn't very happy about that..."

Years later, Axl mentioned the playing Led Zeppelin on the piano thing again (in one of these 2006 radio interviews with Trunk I think?) and said his father hit him so hard he got knocked off the piano chair for doing that (or something along these lines).

About the bolded, I actually wrote a paper about this once for a class I had at university. On why children from dysfunctional, abusive or disadvantaged households perform worse in academics and other activities. What Axl says here is spot on- too much of a child's mental and emotional resources are taken up by worrying about family drama, so there's not enough left to really focus or dedicate oneself to other things. In Axl's case, he most likely drifted through school with relatively good grades because he's naturally academically gifted and didn't have to try very hard (as his teachers have also said), but I'm not surprised to hear the piano playing suffered due to his homelife.

I also really feel for him on a personal level with the "I'm sitting at the piano now, so I'm safe"-thing. My homelife was nothing like Axl's, but I used to employ the exact same tactic as a child when I tried to go unnoticed at home or in school. "I'm doing something (or pretending to do something) an adult wants me to do at the moment, so please ignore me and leave me the hell alone."

And even though it was something that was forced upon him, I'm glad the piano playing could give him a break sometimes and gave him a way to emotionally express himself.

 

I remember Axl telling that story.

Or more accurately, I remember Baz's reaction.

Baz was all "Duuude, WTF " when Axl talked about his father beating him for playing Led Zep on the piano.

 

Speaking of this, I have a question for @Blackstar and all the other people good with interviews and sources here:

I've forever been confused about how many radio interviews Axl gave in the mid 2000s (and maybe later on too).

- There's the famous one with Baz, Trunk and 2 other guys from May 2006. I thought this was also the one where Axl mentioned the piano story towards the end of the interview, but I just skipped through that one and couldn't find that part, so did he say that in another interview where Baz also was present?

- Then there's an interview where Axl was asked about dating someone and he replied that he had no one special in his life (I think that one was also in 2006 because I remember some people being like "So Sasha is no one?"). I think it was also in the same interview where Axl admitted being very sensitive about what other people and the media are saying about him, in particular I also remember him jokingly saying the line "When have you ever know me to be reactionary?" This interview is particularly mysterious to me, because I remember listening to it a long time ago, but I've never been able to find it again.

Can anyone help me out here? I can't be making all of this up, I'm not that crazy (yet)

 

 

 

 

Edited July 30, 2017 by Frey

[PaperDoll]

I think I'm being misunderstood. In talking about Axl's sense of style, whether consciously or not, he emulates Mercury, the New York Dolls, Bowie, and the glam scene in general. 

It's subversive and sexy to bend gender styles. 

And you can't not wrap yourself in gay style anyway, since it's gay men who design the vast majority of clothing. 

None of this is to say that Axl is gay, because I don't know that. I believe sexuality is pretty fluid. 

I believe that given how much of an influence Mercury had on Axl, of course we'd see Axl emulating his style. Theatrics make for a great front man, and both Mercury and Axl were/are great front men. Axl took what Mercury did and made it his own.

Axl was a better dancer, though.