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Axl's Favourite Albums...


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I just wondered if Axl ever did one of those 'Favourite albums of all time' lists... or has albums that he has singled out as his favourites in interviews over the years?

 

I'm guessing there would be some early Queen, Some Elton John, Stones, NIN etc?

I figured you guys would know, cheers! :) 

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The ones listed all check out.

I believe the Singer of Nazareth was a big influence, so Id assume that library.

Bon era AC/DC

Pink Floyd, The Wall, Final Cut (iirc)

Pearl Jam, Vitalogy-Yeild (at least)

Ozzy, No More Tears ( I assume, since after that he tried to poach Zakk??)

 

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I think what he likes and what he listens to might be very different things.

In a Youth interview he mention that Axl was buying huge boxes of albums a week at one point- pretty much anything that was released. Given that you could probably draw a line between him and any music you choose! 

I"d probably look to the people we know he's been to see live as his favourites. I know Weezer are one of these as he asked them personally to support him at their 2001 London show a day or so before. They mentioned it on stage. 

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1 hour ago, Blackstar said:

From 1989:

Also (mentioned by him or others in interviews or based on the t-shirts he wore etc.):

Elvis, Frank Sinatra, The Rolling Stones (Some Girls must be one of his favourites from them), The Beatles, The Who, AC/DC (especially Highway to Hell), Thin Lizzy (especially Black Rose), Billy Joel, The Doors, Eagles, George Michael, Depeche Mode, The Pet Shop Boys, LL Cool J, Jane's Addiction (the two albums before they broke up), Soundgarden, NIN, Prince's Purple Rain, David Bowie, Sweet, The Raspberries, Neil Young, Leonard Cohen, Bauhaus, Devo, Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run,Led Zeppelin, Rose Tattoo, Nazareth, old blues (Bessie Smith, Bo Diddley, Muddy Waters etc.), Janis Joplin, New York Dolls/Johnny Thunders, The Ramones, Lou Reed, Johnny Cash, Fiona Apple, The Black Keys' El Camino (said it was his favourite album of 2012), Philip Glass, movie soundtracks...

Thanks for this!!

I also remember reading about Axl blasting Ride the Lightning in his new car showing off his stereo.

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21 minutes ago, Tom2112 said:

Thanks for this!!

I also remember reading about Axl blasting Ride the Lightning in his new car showing off his stereo.

I don't remember reading about the album, but there's these about Metallica:

Quote

"I think I'm growing. I have more insight into things. I know when I listen to music, I really want something to be there. Like, I hated Metallica, but then everyone started talking about them so I bought their records. And the song that really caught me was 'Fade to Black.' I got addicted to that song. It was usually around dawn. It's a song about suicide, but I would put it on before I went to sleep and it would make me relax. For some reason it made me want to try harder. I'd think, 'Yeah, I can get up and face tomorrow.' The only thing that worries me about death is, I have this record to make and I'll be really pissed off if I die before I make it. After that I won't give a shit. That's when it's gonna get dangerous."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t2899-1988-12-dd-musician-if-guns-n-roses-are-outlawed-only-outlaws-will-have-guns-n-roses

Quote

"I drive my friends crazy now because I change the [radio] stations all the time. I'll go from listening to a Frank Sinatra tune to a symphony thing to a Metallica song to the Carpenters. I like variety in music. I don't want us ever to hem ourselves in. I think you can go from writing a heavy metal song to writing a mellow song without selling out. The important thing is approaching the music with the same conviction."

http://www.a-4-d.com/t2457-1988-12-25-interview-with-axl-in-los-angeles-times

He was also blasting FNM in his car stereo:

Quote

During the photo shoot for this article, Rose reached into an inside pocket of his leather jacket and pulled out a cassette from a recent Guns N’ Roses recording session. He inserted it into the deck and out blared a new song called "Civil War."
 
Rose leaned his head down, listening intently. Afterward, he explained, "I hadn't listened to 'Civil War’ in the car yet and I wanted to hear that. Then he cranked up Faith No More's The Real Thing CD saying, "They're the only band I'm jealous of."

https://www.a-4-d.com/t3848-1990-08-dd-car-audio-electronics-axl-rose-rocks-out-axl

 

But I think he was wrong to be jealous of them :lol:

And in 1992 he said he liked the Mr. Bungle album.

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He also liked Radiohead (I guess OK Computer mainly), as he was at a show in 1997 and mentioned them in the forum chats.

Moby said Axl liked his album Animal Rights a lot, as well as the DJ Shadow album (Entroducing) and the Passengers album by U2 and Brian Eno.

I read in the Memoir of a Roadie book that Axl told one of the writer's colleagues that he wanted to cover KOHD not because of Bob Dylan, but because of The Sisters of Mercy. This is interesting if true, and for the additional reason that Sisters of Mercy's version of KOHD was released only on bootlegs. Probably he had got it from their (mainly Izzy's his) friends Joseph Brooks and Henry Peck who owned the Vinyl Fetish record store in L.A. and imported records from the British scene of the time (and that was how Axl got into Bauhaus also).

Edited by Blackstar
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21 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

I don't remember reading about the album, but there's these about Metallica:

He was also blasting FNM in his car stereo:

 

But I think he was wrong to be jealous of them :lol:

And in 1992 he said he liked the Mr. Bungle album.

I don't know where I read it, I wish I had your memory for quote locations 😄Edit... possibly from the terrible Mick Wall WAR book.

Yeah, FNM were never a band I totally got, but I love a couple of their songs. Maybe they are just one those bands that were better when you experienced it there and then, rather 20yrs after the fact. I remember liking 'We care a lot' and buying a greatest hits collection and the real thing. 'From out of nowhere' sounds like what VR sculpted their sound from. 

Not surprised he liked Mr Bungle 🤣

Edited by Tom2112
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I’ve asked Del before how heavy Axl likes it, as like me, Del likes the heavy stuff like Slayer, Death, Morbid Angel, Kreator etc..., but Del said that Axl doesn’t really get into the heavier stuff. Makes sense I guess considering his first bands he loved included ELO, Elton John and the like.

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You all forgot....the Major Influence of Rose Tattoo's debut album: Rose Tattoo

and

Surprisingly no one mentioned DJ Shadow's album: Endtroducing  

++I read once that Axl would play the Endtroducing album non-stop at one point. Remember though, that album was released in 1996, and about 99% of the album is composed of samples from vinyl records, and was pretty much made using a MPC60 sampler. I'm guessing this album had some influence in forming Chinese Democracy and leading to speaking with Moby as a possible producer as well in the late 90s. 

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50 minutes ago, Axlr0s37 said:

He is also a massive fan of Tom Petty. Seem to remember reading an interview with Petty and he couldn't believe Axl knew the words to Free Falling. 

 

To be fair, I know all the words to that, and I couldn't name one Tom Petty album, let alone claim to be a "massive fan"! 

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21 minutes ago, papashaun said:

You all forgot....the Major Influence of Rose Tattoo's debut album: Rose Tattoo

and

Surprisingly no one mentioned DJ Shadow's album: Endtroducing  

++I read once that Axl would play the Endtroducing album non-stop at one point. Remember though, that album was released in 1996, and about 99% of the album is composed of samples from vinyl records, and was pretty much made using a MPC60 sampler. I'm guessing this album had some influence in forming Chinese Democracy and leading to speaking with Moby as a possible producer as well in the late 90s. 

I did mention both :) 

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Great answers here. A lot has been mentioned. In regards to the shows he's been to, I think Kiss is on that list too.

Axl's the reason I got into Sweet and Nazareth. I remember reading that Sweet was his first favorite band and Nazareth his current. I was just starting to get into music so suggestions were always welome. Coming from the man himself meant so much more. I love the 70's glam era, Cooper, Glitter (I know, I know, but his music still rocks), Bowie, Slade, T.Rex, Sweet.

There was a time I was telling people Nazareth should be as big as Zeppelin. Obviously Zeppelin are a class above and I prefer them to Nazareth by a decent margin but I definitely share Axl's affection to Nazareth. Great songs, great voice.

Edited by Sisyphus
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42 minutes ago, Sisyphus said:

Great answers here. A lot has been mentioned. In regards to the shows he's been to, I think Kiss is on that list too.

Axl's the reason I got into Sweet and Nazareth. I remember reading that Sweet was his first favorite band and Nazareth his current. I was just starting to get into music so suggestions were always welome. Coming from the man himself meant so much more. I love the 70's glam era, Cooper, Glitter (I know, I know, but his music still rocks), Bowie, Slade, T.Rex, Sweet.

There was a time I was telling people Nazareth should be as big as Zeppelin. Obviously Zeppelin are a class above and I prefer them to Nazareth by a decent margin but I definitely share Axl's affection to Nazareth. Great songs, great voice.

Axl turned me onto Zeppelin. It took awhile though. I thought I was going to hear D’Yer Maker and be blown away. I was not.

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There is a picture of Axl with the singer of the band The Pursuit Of Happiness. That was a new band then (in 1988-89) from Canada and Axl apparently liked them. They had a great song, I'm An Adult Now, and the rest of that album was pretty good also.

The Pretenders is another one (and Chrissie Hynde as a singer).

 

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