It's always sorta been Axl's show

[Vincent Vega]

IMO, Axl has ALWAYS been GN'R's dictator, when you think about it, even before he owned the name. Where he now has legal ownership of the name, and thus the band mates are literally his employees and so can't protest or act as co-pilots of the ship, in the old days he had something much simpler: Fear. Slash and Duff were afraid, to an extent, of Axl's unpredictability. Hence why they generally gave in to the late starts, why they stopped playing when Axl TOLD them to "stop", why they tolerated his five minute long rants while the audience waited for music to play, why they tolerated him releasing shit like Get in the Ring or One in a Million with their names associated with it. It was fear in that, if they stood up to him, he might do something truly crazy, like refuse to play, cancel the tour, disband the band. He'd rant about them publicly (like the rant where he threatened to end Guns if Slash didn't stop heroin, or the one where he threatened to kick Slash's ass). Slash and Duff admitted as much, that they appeased Axl; The only ones who didn't were Steven (who became so messed up that no one in the band wanted to be around him, much less listen to him) and Matt, who could be fired anytime Axl chose. Axl didn't have contracts at the time, but treated them like hirelings, or at the very least, like he was the "first among equals." Axl has always treated GN'R like it was HIS band, with guys backing him up. It's been this way since 1988. I think the "Hell House" brotherhood mentality died the day SCOM took off on the charts, despite what Axl said at the time, and it became increasingly less of a "band" and more of a legal partnership. Axl used Slash, Duff and Izzy's drug addiction to take charge, much like Mick Jagger did with the Stones.

I'm not talking about it being Axl's show in terms of creativity--on the creative front, it was Axl, Izzy, Slash and Duff--but in terms of how the band seemed to operate, it just seems like after the band got big, it wasn't a brotherhood; it was a group with a very clear leader--Axl. Axl calling the shots. In a way, the new band basically gets to experience what Slash and Duff did, only they know going in what the terms are (that to Axl, it is HIS band)--Slash and Duff didn't, if they did they probably would've never joined.

[grigori]

No. He was fired from the band briefly. This is a gross exaggeration. Only after Alan Niven got removed and Axl had Doug Goldstein force them to sign the name over in the early 90s did Axl get control.

You think Axl was in control of the band because he told the rest of the band to "STOP"? What else would they do? Seriously this is a short-sighted thesis built on weak evidence.

[GnRDuff1]

According to Watch You Bleed, Axl's observance of Mick Jagger when they opened for the Stones is actually what sort of led to him trying to take everything over. He saw Jagger handling the money end of things, having a keyboard player so he could stay in tune etc. IDK if this is true or not, but it seems like it may have led to a change in Axl's mentality.

[dalsh327]

According to Watch You Bleed, Axl's observance of Mick Jagger when they opened for the Stones is actually what sort of led to him trying to take everything over. He saw Jagger handling the money end of things, having a keyboard player so he could stay in tune etc. IDK if this is true or not, but it seems like it may have led to a change in Axl's mentality.

It wasn't just one reason, and the Stones were on pretty fragile ground at the time, they were just better at not showing their dirt - until recently. It was Bill's last tour with them. In a way, Keith won, Mick lost when they did their solo projects, and Mick's acting career never took off the way he wanted it to. They needed the break anyway, Charlie of all people had drug problems going on and they hadn't toured for Undercover or Dirty Work. Keith and Bill wrote their books and explained what was going on.

I think from Axl's POV - the band had this smash success on their hands, and trying to pull it together opening for the Stones was difficult. They were enjoying themselves a little too much, but those shows were the Stones getting some of GnR's fans, GnR getting the torch passed on to them, and getting to see a really big, polished, professional operation at work behind the scenes. Jagger's always picked the opening act, that's why there were some odd ones like Prince, Stevie Wonder, and Ike & Tina.

[maynard]

basically, axl has always been a cry baby is what you are trying to say? well, i agree. that doesn't make it the axl's show. the axl's show started after duff left.