|
|
W. Axl Rose (born February 6, 1962) is an American hard rock singer and
songwriter, born as William Bruce Rose in Lafayette, Indiana. According to
his account, he had a deeply troubled family life, with abuse at the hands
of his father and stepfather. His biological father, William Rose, left the
family when Axl was two. His mother later married Stephen Bailey, and his
surname was changed to Bailey. The strict discipline and religious education
he underwent as a child was followed by numerous brushes with law
enforcement as an adolescent.
He had a strong interest in music and as a teenager is said
to have formed a band named Axl. Around the age of 17 Rose made two
important choices. First, he changed his name to W. Rose (Axl was later
added; "Axl Rose" is also an anagram for "oral sex"). Second, he left home
and eventually ended up in Los Angeles, California, where he joined
childhood friend Izzy Stradlin (born Jeff Isabelle) to pursue a rock music
career.
The music scene in Los Angeles during the early 1980s featured both punk
and "hair metal"/heavy metal bands. Rose wanted to meld the two styles into
a unique musical form. Along with Stradlin, Rose moved through a number of
bands, including Hollywood Rose. Then, after bringing in Tracii Guns of LA
Guns (who was soon replaced by Slash), Rose formed Guns N' Roses around
1985. With Rose (vocals), Stradlin (guitar), Slash (real name Saul Hudson/lead
guitar) Duff McKagan (bass), and Steven Adler (drums), Guns N' Roses signed
a recording contract with Geffen Records in 1986. The band released its
first full-length album, Appetite for Destruction, in 1987. Mixing blazing
power chords with Rose's shrieking vocals, the album represented a new
musical style that took some time to catch on. But catch on it did, and by
1988 Guns N' Roses shot to the top of rock music, helped by the massive
popularity (as radio singles and as MTV videos) of the songs "Welcome to the
Jungle, "Paradise City" and "Sweet Child O' Mine." 'Child' was written for
his then girlfriend (later ex-wife) Erin Everly [1] (http://www.mygnr.com/non-members/Erin-Everly.html),
daughter of Don Everly of the Everly Brothers; she also featured in the
video for the song.
Famous first for its music, the band soon gained notoriety for a wild
lifestyle fueled by prodigious use of drugs. Instability followed, with
concert cancellations and rumors of a breakup. In 1988, the band released G
N' R Lies, which also was hugely popular. But criticism also came for the
song "One in a Million," which was interpreted as insulting to gays, blacks,
and immigrants. After a string of delays, the group released a two-disc
album called Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991. This
album was also a huge hit, but the band soon ran into trouble. Rose jumped
off stage to attack a fan in St. Louis, Missouri and sparked a riot. Another
riot was spawned on October 8, 1991 at the Montreal Stade Olympique when
Rose, late for the band's stage appearance, walked out after playing only a
couple songs. These incidents, along with the appearance of a new stripped-down
musical style known as grunge, led to a growing impression of Guns N' Roses
as a self-indulgent and out-of-date act. Rose himself came to be seen as
erratic and strange when he caused long performance delays and challenged
Kurt Cobain to fight during the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, after Cobain
and his wife, Courtney Love, egged him on. Axl Rose was a huge Nirvana fan
and asked Cobain to have Nirvana open up for GN'R. Kurt turned Axl down and
taunted him in the press. This hurt Axl a great deal. In 1993 Guns N' Roses
issued an album of cover tunes, The Spaghetti Incident?, which received
mixed reviews.
After this point, most original members of the band quit or were fired by
Rose. He dropped out of sight until 1999, when he put together a new Guns N'
Roses lineup and released a song, "Oh My God" for the End of Days movie
soundtrack. Rose also at this time revealed the title to the album of new
material the new band was working on, Chinese Democracy. After several
rumored release dates, the album has yet to see the light of day. In 2002 at
the MTV VMA`s, Axl unveiled the new lineup of GNR. Musically, this lineup
showed their immense musical talent, but Axl did not have his best
performance vocally. A North American Tour followed, but fell apart halfway
through in December of 2002 due to Axl not showing up at the show in
Philadelphia. As of this writing, Rose and his new GNR lineup is rumored to
be putting on the finishing touches on Chinese Democracy, an album costing
$13 million and 9 years in the making.
Many consider Rose one of rock and roll's greatest frontmen, along with
such great singers as Freddie Mercury, Robert Plant, Mick Jagger, Steven
Tyler, and David Lee Roth. While Mercury is noted for his operatic voice and
crowd-rousing, Plant is best known for his vast vocal range, Jagger and
Tyler are known for their stage performances, and Roth is famed for his
charisma and showmanship, Rose will be remembered for his electric,
ineffable presence.
Axl plays the voice of Tommy Smith, radio DJ of K-DST in the game Grand
Theft Auto: San Andreas.
The character Axl Low in the Guilty Gear series of fighting games is
clearly named and designed from Rose.
. |
