complicityiii

I caught this as part of the long Duff interview someone linked the other day and was also pretty disappointed. I expected something along the lines of 'Yeah, times were different and we behaved really f'n badly. That was 30 years ago, and while it was reflective of the time and place, that doesn't make it OK. " which, to be honest, given that it is GNR ,is probably best you can do. And either you accept that apology and move on or you don't. 

He kept harping on the  idea that 'They didn't hang around guys like that, we wouldn't have put up with that'. As if there is some magic model for how rapists and sex abusers behave that is super easy to spot and block out?  There is a big difference in power dynamic between a groupie and a rockstar vs a Weinstein and a wannabe actress --- but the fact that in their case the women were often aggressively pursuing them doesn't mean there wasn't a risk that some people in their circle, especially with the amount of booze drugs and women around constantly, crossed a line and that maybe the band was too high to notice or interpret that behavior at the time. And there was most definitely a power dynamic between the crew who could allow or deny access to the band, and the women trying to get with the band. And that power balance can lead to more of a Weinstein dynamic. And no way were the band aware of all of this while they were on tour in the 80s and 90s.

In the long interview he also went into how his wife and hopefully his daughters wouldn't put themselves in situations that could get them in trouble, again a really awful sentiment which is pretty much saying that no smart woman would have put themselves in a room with GNR at any time ever, given that lyric he has penned and their reputation.

I've never really understood the idea that celebrities shouldn't express political opinions -- so many express their political opinions in all sorts of different forums because they have a strong belief and they want to share it. Sure, you don't always agree, but I don't get knocking them for sharing. Half of my Facebook feed is political opinions of people who 'aren't politicians' but still use every opportunity they can to blast their opinions. 

Besides music and politics have gone hand in hand for decades. 

And in this instance, you have someone who is notoriously private. And these tweets are perhaps the most insight we have had into the man personally in years. The level of political awareness coupled with humor create an interesting picture of who Axl Rose may actually be. And it is intriguing. 

Nothing he says will eliminate the fact that OIAM exists, or that he defended it, but it may, perhaps, illustrate that people can grow and change. That flip flopping on opinions is not a bad thing. And really, what more can you ask, than that people learn and try to do better next time.

On 11/19/2018 at 11:18 PM, Old_school_gnr_fan said:

I'm betting there's pictures of Donald Trump and Axl and/or members of the band from the late 80's or early 90's out there. If you were able to have a photo taken with Donald Trump back then, you did it.

It's like the old photos you see of Trump with Jesse Jackson, with Don King, with Mike Tyson. Nobody hated Donald Trump until he ran for President, then the liberal media labeled him as "racist" and "misogynistic".

Kind of like a guy named Axl Rose, back in the day.

 

Haha nope, at least in New York Trump and his ‘building projects’ were strongly ridiculed by both the left and the right throughout the 80s. I know it isn’t spoken of now but many went bankrupt. The NY post, a Murdoch owned right leaning paper has hung him out mostly based on the long, long history he has with New York.

I wouldn’t be surprised if some of Axls vitriol towards Trump may come from personal experience.