Axl Rose: Taking Questions, Taking Names

noah | December 16, 2008 9:45 am

Axl Rose’s foray into handling his own press continued on Sunday, when he dropped by the Guns N’ Roses fan site MyGNRForum.com to answer fans’ questions. The end result is half extended rant, half one-sided interview (he picked out questions from a list), with lots of talk about his tussels with Slash, how the real inspiration for “Sweet Child O’ Mine” was Lynyrd Skynyrd, and how a W. Axl Rose solo album would be “much more experimental and instrumental.” There’s a lot more, including some talk about the legal wrangling over the GNR name:

If I hadn’t secured the rights I don’t know where I’d be and I’d probably call what would then be the current lineup “Those mother fuckers!!”

This is followed by something called “rofl-lol.gif.” Yes, that’s right: Axl Rose has turned into someone who uses emoticons. Now when I think of the opening to “Patience,” I won’t be able to get this image out of my head:

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal has a long article on why Chinese Democracy flopped. Along with saying that Axl’s reclusiveness was a factor in the album’s poor sales (even though the damn album got more free press than any other record this year, thanks to its tortured backstory), it intuits that the lack of a music video hurt as well. Are that many people tuning in to those 5 a.m. video blocks on MTV? Huh.

Axl Rose Chat #3 [mygnrforum.com] At Best Buy, an Album Sounds a Sour Sales Note [WSJ]

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