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Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
Here is an interesting blog from Classic Rock's editor Scott Rowley. I think it sums up the love hate relationship for Axl pretty well:
The Classic Rock Opinion: We Hate Axl. Or Love Him.
Following today’s news that Guns N’ Roses may be coming to play in Europe this summer, Classic Rock’s Editor In Chief Scott Rowley offers his viewpoint on the band’s current status.
I might love Axl Rose. It’s either that or I hate the despicable, contrary, miserable ginger twonk.
I really can’t decide but it’s definitely one or the other. One minute I’m in thrall to the genius of Chinese Democracy tracks like Better or Madagascar, punching the air to ballads like Street of Dreams and There Was A Time, and ready to argue the toss that Chinese Democracy shouldn’t just have been CR’s album of the year in 2007, it should have been album of the year in 2008 too (c’mon: it out-gunned, out-crafted, out-ambitioned, out-emoted, out, er, song-ed Black Ice by a country mile and you know it in fact we should make it album of the year every year until someone makes something better).
The next minute, I see an article about him, read his comments online, see a picture of him, or consider the Michael-Jackson-in-training freakshow his life is in danger of becoming and I realise that, actually, he’s how to put it a bit of a dick.
That’s the weird impact the former William Bailey has on the world of rock.
And as the band currently known as GN’R look like they will come out of the woodwork this summer, the question has gotta be: Does anyone care anymore?
Well, yeah. The new GN’R have the most passionate internet fan community out there. The CR office is bombarded daily with updates on every rumour, whisper, movement and he-said-she-said from Axl and his enormous guitar army. Every posting on our website about GN’R is followed by postings from normal people saying, “Yeah, tell someone who cares” immediately followed by 30 posts from assorted lunatics who wrte n txt spk and thnk ChinDem is the tits and bthead is god.
But what about those normal people? Do they care? Well here’s the thing.
Recently I heard a great story about the Steven Adler trial (Adler sued the band for wrongful dismissal). The story went that the GN’R camp offered to settle out of court for a relatively small amount. The Adler camp at first accepted but then Axl stepped in. Axl didn’t want to settle he wanted his day in court, he wanted JUSTICE! (Read: he wanted to humiliate that motherfucker.)
So the band went to court and while Adler allegedly didn’t have a very strong case, as the days worn on and especially after Axl took the stand (see footage here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MqNW2z4kvyY) a strange thing started to happen: everyone realised that the court battle had turned, as they tend to, into a personality contest. And the cuddly, dumb-ass, shaggy-haired drummer bloke who’d been sacked was much more likeable than the horrible, arrogant millionaire rock star bloke in the pale blue suit wot had sacked him.
So before things got out of hand, the band settled out of court for a considerable amount more than had been originally offered.
And here we are. Today we’re the jury and in the big pop culture popularity contest, Axl slippery, evasive, arrogant, weird-looking old Axl is losing out. And as much as we might say that it’s not about the people, it’s about the music, when we look up to those guys onstage we want to just do
that: look up to them. And Axl is a hard man to love.But I love him. Or hate him. I dunno. It’s one of the two. So let’s hope he does make it to Europe. It’ll be brilliant. And if it’s not it’s a good excuse to chuck stuff.
Scott Rowley
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
"we should make it album of the year every year until someone makes something better." - Scott Rowley
I agree. 
(was I the only person that really though Priest's Nostradamus was an amazing album of 2008? I know Von likes it, because only we even mention the damn thing)
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
Hey sums up the GNR fanbase quite well too:
Every posting on our website about GN’R is followed by postings from normal people saying, “Yeah, tell someone who cares” immediately followed by 30 posts from assorted lunatics who wrte n txt spk and thnk ChinDem is the tits and bthead is god.
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
Haha, great blog. Nice find Aussie.
That is the love/hate relationship between CR and Axl.
I think if CD would have been more successful (sold a million records in the US) it would have been labled as genius. I remember hearing a guy on FUSE rating the best albums of 2008; he said he really wanted to put Chinese Democracy there, but couldn't becaue it didn't sell big enough.
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
Which goes to show that Fuse only appeals to what they THINK is popular.
Sales never equal popularity. I can't tell you how many "70's kids" i've known through my life that'll go on 3-hour rants about disco, and how nobody even liked that shit outside of NYC.
- monkeychow
- Rep: 661
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
I think CD is a work of genius. I really do...it's an album of beautiful songs.
It's always been this way with GNR, both about Axl, the old band, and probably the new band as well.....we don't know the people personally, but we know that for whatever reason the people involved tend to get involved in lots of conflicts and dramas.....but whyever that is....and whomever is a fault...slash, axl, the media, the fans, the universe, bad luck....whatever the hell....
the one undeniable thing is that when it comes to music, their art...they are very very talented.
And that's what matters. IF axl is asshole (and I do say IF) then he'd be an asshole for what 80 years maybe more, then he is dead, what will be left will be his works of beauty.
Maybe mozart was a real fucker you know? Maybe not...it wont matter one day.
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
Well, yeah. The new GN’R have the most passionate internet fan community out there. The CR office is bombarded daily with updates on every rumour, whisper, movement and he-said-she-said from Axl and his enormous guitar army. Every posting on our website about GN’R is followed by postings from normal people saying, “Yeah, tell someone who cares” immediately followed by 30 posts from assorted lunatics who wrte n txt spk and thnk ChinDem is the tits and bthead is god.
I don't agree with this at all. The internet Gn'R fanbase is a small niche group of people who gravitate towards any kind of outside information they can get because that's all they get. Something pops up and a few hundred fans go check it out and comment. Just as an example(that I'm familiar with) you'll never convince me that a Gn'R fanbase is more passionate about new Gn'R than U2 fans are about U2 and I think that can be said about alot of different fanbases. The fact is most bands opperate without the fucking secrecy. Their fans stick to the main fan sites cause they are the most reliabel source to gain information. Sadly the same cannot be said about Gn'R sites with Evolution of course being an exception. The main U2 sites promote open discussion about anything relevant to the band be it rumors or fact. The Big Gn'R sites force you to go else where to discuss these things.
I'm not cutting down the Gn'R fanbase cause it's no doubt a loyal group of people but no more loyal than other fanbases. It just opperates under a differet type of circumstances which often times forces fans to post all over the place making them appear to be more rabid and hardcore.
Re: Classic Rock Blog: We Hate Axl. We Love Him.
Axl didn’t want to settle he wanted his day in court, he wanted JUSTICE! (Read: he wanted to humiliate that motherfucker.)
