Axl and the media

[SoulMonster]

Axl never had a good relationship with the media. Even back in the beginning of GN'R, when the band was tight and fierce, media was on the fence on whether they liked this maniac or hated him. When GN'R and Axl's ego grew, and his mental issues became more apparent, it became a public war between him and the media. They loved to hate him. They criticised and riciduled him for all that was wrong with the band, and much of it rightly, his diva persona and apparent disregard for the fans. And when old GN'R died it was all his fault. He was such an easy target, a crazy passé rock diva completely out of tune with the current music scene, insisting on being dead serious about rock music, insisting on blaming everyone else for everything. He was a remnant from a hilarious time, the 80s rock and roll silliness. A rock star without irony. He could have retreated then, to live a life away from the public, to be forgotten as the media found someone else to mock. That would have been easy. But he chose to continue. Was it to try to prove for history that he was a great musician? To shift focus away from his persona to his music? To get the praise he felt he deserved?

So he struggled on, assembled a new hilariously looking band, got himself a new look with an additional chin, and tried to initiate a new era for Guns N' Roses. He was mocked again. Late starts, weird looks, violence, cancelled tours, bad management, music that never was released. And when the record eventually did come out it was too late and too little. Too late to convince most of the fan base, too late to be relevant, too late to change the media's ingrained perception. It was another easy target for ridicule and mockery. Incohesive art-hardrock with sappy ballads. It got okay critics, even a few great reviews, but not enough to stem the onslaught of riducule. And throughout the coming tours the media would not let him live down his past failures. The media perception of him became a caricature, based on how he had been and myth that evolved freely, largely because he had chosen to not speak out anymore. Instead hiding from public when he wasn't touring. Criticism and myth uncheked. Maybe if he had released a couple more records he would have managed to shift the focus, but he never did that. Was he shellshocked from the process of releasing CD? Had he become disillusioned with the industry and his fans? Did he now doubt his own musicianship? He did change in other way, though, he became a humbler person, more stable, less angry, and more dependable -- but this was all mostly unoticed by the media. 

Then two huge surprises. He reformed with Slash and Duff, something everybody had been asking for since ages. And more surprisingly, he offered to step in for Brian in AC/DC to let the band finish their tour. The most ridiculed person in rock (maybe music?) decided to stick his neck out, almost invite the mockery to take a new level, unless, of course, he somehow managed to win them over. What courage! The balls on that man. But he succeeded. Maybe media was finally ready to forgive and forget, maybe they now considered him an underdog they wanted to praise and raise up like media often do, raise and tear down, or maybe his strong vocals and professional attitude made it impossible to continue to attack him for what happened in the past. I don't know, but it means that for maybe the first time in his career he is actually universally praised by the media based on his music and talents as a singer and performer. What a feeling it must be for him, after 30 years, to be undividedly recognized for his skills and finally not be the joke of the media for things in the past. For all of us who have been fans of him for his singing, his music, and his frontman abilities, it is nice to see this god of rock resurrected. He has got a lot of deserved criticism in his time, true. And a lot of undeserved criticism. This new praise just feels right. It is fair. I hope he enjoys this. I hope it gives him happiness. And I hope it lasts.

[gunsfanoldie]

Its kinda like how Joe Walsh describes the Eagles in their documentary:

"When you look back on it all, it looks like a finely crafted novel. But at the time, it AIN'T!"

And thats so true. You look back at it now and GNR kind of worked exactly as it probably had to. The band ended their mammoth Illusion tour. They went away to regroup. When they got back together to regroup, it didn't work. So understandably, they had to disappear again for Axl to rebuild. Then he comes back with a new band and a new image. It was weird and maybe too much at the time, but it was the only thing that made sense. You couldn't "replicate" Slash and the original band so you HAD to go balls to the wall weird and do something else. Then as time went by, things got more and more stable, and eventually after 20 LONG years, we get a reunion. It makes sense when you think about it that way. You could have released Chinese earlier, but other than that I'm not really sure what you do differently. Chinese should have come out in 2000-2002, and a reunion should have been 10 years ago in 2006. But thats where Axl's mind comes into play and it makes sense it took another decade. He needed a decade to rebuild and then another decade to let it sink in and accept that it'll never quite be accepted.

As for the press, for what its worth I do think they are pretty fair. They could be very harsh, but usually its justified. We all love Axl, but he's a hard guy to defend all the time. You look back at the riots and late starts with fondness, but the press was doing what anyone would at the time and say "why?" Can't really blame them for that. It was on Axl. Same with the stuff later on. Obviously they'd be nostalgic for "real GNR" when Axl returned in the 2000s, or at least want new music, which never came. The press can be dicks, and they aren't right about everything, but Axl makes and made it hard on himself. I'm glad he is finally getting basically universal praise. I think deep down a lot of people like him, or just find him really interesting, as there's been so much time for the world to turn their back and they didn't. Everyone knows who Axl Rose is, and thats saying something since Slash whores himself out (and I mean that positively as I love him) any chance he gets so that you will REMEMBER who he is. He made himself a household name through the decades. Axl, for what its worth, just did what he did, not TRYING to be remembered, and was. I think his relationship with the press kind of reflects that.