Haters clock off - Why Axl Rose is still a legend!

[carsonskitz]

Has anyone seen this weeks nme, article on axl? not bad compared to the usual though NME journalist Jeremy allen does throw in some unnessesary digs here n there, funnily enough they have been quite positive of late. I havent got a scanner so il write up the article.

HATERS CLOCK OFF - WHY AXL ROSE IS STILL A LEGEND.

He may not have been punctual at the reading and leeds festivals, but axl rose doesn't have to play by our timetables, argues NME'S Jeremy Allen.

Few legends come with punctuality on there resumes. Mark E Smith is never on time. Amy Winehouse, a fledging legend if you willm is dependably tardy. You know your friend who always turns up an hour late for coffee or doesn't show at the cinema for that Werner Herzog double bill you've been excited about for months then texts you at 2am as youre dozing off with a lie like: "Bus hit child, FML". Well, Axl Rose is a bit like your friend, only less considerate. He might look like Mick Hucknall at a linedancing convention, or ex footballer Alan Brazil wearing a stetson these days, but theres one thing you can be sure of, he's Axl Fucking Rose, thats who. His appetite for destruction has not withered with age, it just takes him longer to leave the house.

"I was standing down the front for the whole fucking first hour that they were meant to be onstage. What a total fucking shambles," complained Milo Cordell from the Big Pink, a not untypical reaction. "Then i left before it all kicked off at the end. disaster." But Milo, were you not aware this was the man behind "chinese democracy", a record in gestation for 15 protracted years? Axl's procrastination became such that, in 2003 The Offspring threatened to release 'chinese democracy(you snooze you loose)'.

With this knowledge the question must be asked: why the suprise? Here is a lunatic who nearly caused a riot in Newcastle in 2006 when he refused to appear on stage until somebody had cooked him a roast dinner. If you were confounded by Guns N' Roses late show then you need to learn some rules of life:

1) Never skimp on haircuts or razors

2) Always leave the house with clean pants in case you're in an accident

3) Nothing is certain except for death, taxes and Axl Rosr refusing to play ball 'till his aunt Bessies have risen.

"Whats so civil about war anyway?" he wailed profoundly in 1992, and its 'war' hes declared on the organisers, claiming they had some kind of deal in place so GN'R could play happily 'til dawn regardless of needless, tedious district council regulations. Organiser Melvin Benn was not suprised. Prior to the shows he'd told NME "there isnt an option for them to carry on late" and afterwards said "bands often say things like that when they are curtailed". Axl clearly didn't see it this way.

"The cops and the promoters wanna fuck us in the ass!" he screamed at leeds."Fuck You!"

But the thing is, we mere mortals with our despot alarm clocks and tinpot timetables, dancing to the beat of our circadian rhythms and clocking on and off, we have no concept of what its like to sporadically hire and fire a man called Buckethead. So lets allow Axl to be a legend in his own time ok?

In Nme last week, Tim Chester called Rose "one of musics biggest jokes". But the thing about those shows, most importantly, is that the assembled still got to hear 'welcome to the jungle', 'sweet child o mine', 'you could be mine', 'november rain', at reading an exclusive acoustic performance 'paradise city' with the sound cut and, er ... DJ Ashba's guitar solo. The latter element aside, not that bad considering the fuss that's been made and the slaggings. Joke perhaps, but an entertaining joke, a diva, a dictator and demigod he is also. On the friday he was crucified, but on leeds on the third day he was just Axl Rose. What else did we expect - and really, would we have wanted anything else?

Edited September 11, 2010 by carsonskitz

[Bumble's Bridge Pickup]

WTF is it with their sudden change of style?

[Encore]

bow plz/

[ManetsBR]

Weren't they bashing Axl recently?

And Axl is the one with bipolarity disorder.

[Binge_And_Slash]

Is it so difficult to realise it's a different journalist.... one that actually LIKES Guns?

[Lose Your Illusions]

NME still sucks.

[bangit]

Can't wait to c that magazine go under. Fuckin worst journalism on earth.

[Tom1447]

Wasnt it NME who did that positive one before reading?

Theyve seemed to change their views.

[Nintari]

What the hell does "clock off" mean? Do they not require some sort of formal education when hiring journalists?

[axldavies]

Clock off means "finish work".

I liked the article. He repeated the bollocks story about the yorkshire pudding, but he also actually aknowledged that they played two shows that weekend.