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AXL ROSE'S TRAGIC REAL-LIFE STORY
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BY ROB SMITH AND BRIAN BOONE/UPDATED: AUG. 30, 2022 9:56 AM EST
One of the aspects of Guns N' Roses' music that fans love most is its sheer ferocity. Who can hear "Welcome to the Jungle," "You Could Be Mine," "Garden of Eden," "Mr. Brownstone," or a couple dozen other tunes without recognizing that snarl, that explosiveness, that feral energy? Yes, the band's instrumental nexus, built around Slash's guitar and Duff McKagan's bass, provides the music that illuminates the danger expressed in singer Axl Rose's lyrics, but Rose's delivery makes you believe every word he sings.
Rose's volatile personality feeds his songs and persona on stage and on record; it's when he's expressed that volatility in the "real world" that he has done real damage, the kind that causes real injury, ends real relationships, and summons real authorities to level legal consequences against him. And while he currently leads Guns N' Roses on a successful, years-long reunion tour virtually without incident, the 30-year trail he left in his wake can still make one wonder why he did what he did — what in his past made Axl Rose's appetite for destruction such a real and dangerous thing?
HE WAS A GOOD STUDENT, BUT A DROPOUT
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Though Axl Rose certainly got into his share of trouble as a kid (and your share, and the share of the person sitting next to you), he was not lacking in intellect. But it was his zero tolerance policy towards authority that became problematic. "On the placement tests in school, I was always in the top 3 percent," he told Rolling Stone. However, he "dropped out in the eleventh grade, went back as a senior, then dropped out again." Apparently he wasn't "stimulated" or "excited" by the curriculum, so he took a permanent hall pass to pursue topics of greater interest — or what he deemed "Axl's school of subjects that I wanted to learn about" — which one day led to the authorship of the immortal couplet, "Found a head and an arm in the garbage can / Don't know why I'm here."
He also "studied" music, though due to his stepfather's religious beliefs, he had to do so clandestinely. While most kids his age could crank their stereos or destroy their hearing with headphones, Rose had to rely on Ma Bell. "I remember once my friend Dave called me and played Supertramp over the phone," he told the LA Times, "I just acted like I was talking to him so no one would know."
THE COPS IN INDIANA DIDN'T LIKE HIM
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Looking at Axl Rose over the years, listening to his music, and tallying the paperwork generated by his arrests and court cases, it's easy to conclude he had a rebellious streak while growing up in Lafayette, Indiana. "[Me and my friends] got in trouble for fun," he told Rolling Stone in 1989. "It finally reached a point where I realized I was gonna end up in jail 'cause I kept f***ing with the system." As an example, he cited a fight he got into with a young man who eventually befriended Rose and wanted the charges dropped. "The state kept on pressing charges ... they tried other ones," Rose explained. "I spent three months in jail and finally got out. But once you've pissed off a detective, it's a vengeance rap back there."
The alleged harassment continued for quite a while, and included a bust for underage drinking, albeit in his own backyard (the charge was eventually thrown out of court). Finally, Rose left Indiana to find his fortune in California, and the rest, as they say, is history. Even two years after becoming famous, though, he was still hesitant to return. "Now when I go back to see my family, I avoid the police there," he said. "I try to avoid all police in general."
HE ALLEGES HORRIBLE ABUSE BY HIS BIRTH FATHER
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"My real father was a pretty f***ed-up individual," Rose told Rolling Stone in 1992. His birth father's very existence was hidden from him until late in his childhood. "I wasn't told I had a real father until I was 17," Rose said. "My real father was my stepdad, as far as I knew." Eventually, he came across some insurance papers and other documents that revealed the truth, adding more confusion and pain to a life that didn't need more of either.
When Rose was 2 years old, his parents split, which, according to Rose, led to his being kidnapped by his birth father. While undergoing therapy, Rose recalled a horrific incident. "I remember a needle. I remember getting a shot. And I remember being sexually abused by this man and watching something horrible happen to my mother when she came to get me." Because of his age and the awful nature of the alleged abuse, Rose buried the incident in his mind, only to have it crop up again as he got older and more confused about the relationship between sex and power, a confusion he struggled with for years.
CHILDHOOD TRAUMA LEFT HIM FEELING THREATENED BY WOMEN
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Axl Rose's mother married his birth father while she was still in high school, and Rose was aware from an early age that he was unwanted. "My mom's pregnancy wasn't a welcome thing," he told Rolling Stone. "My mom got a lot of problems out of it, and I was aware of those problems." These problems manifested themselves in several ways, one of which was his mother's choice of a second husband. "She's picked my stepfather over me ever since he was around and watched me get beaten by him. ... She wasn't there for me."
Rose's stepfather was a Pentecostal preacher, and in addition to allegedly physically abusing Rose, he also made every attempt to indoctrinate the boy into his narrow view of women and sexuality. "Whenever there was any form of sex, like a kissing scene, on TV, we weren't allowed to look," Rose told RIP. "Whenever anything like that happened, we had to turn our heads. [My stepfather] had us so brainwashed that we started turning our heads on our own. We scolded each other." His mother, cowed by her husband's bullying, did nothing; she was, in Rose's view, too insecure to stand up to her husband, or to leave him.
HE CLAIMS ABUSE BY HIS STEPFATHER
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The abuse Rose says he received at the hands of his stepfather was not limited to the bullying in front of the TV set. "This person basically tried to control me and discipline me because of the problems he'd had in his childhood," Rose told Rolling Stone. "And then my mom had a daughter. And my stepfather molested her for about 20 years. And beat us. Beat me consistently. I thought these things were normal." By the time Rose made those revelations public in 1992, he had long since separated from the man he called "one of the most dangerous human beings I've ever met."
"It's very important that he's not in my life anymore, or in my sister's," Rose said. "We may be able to forgive, but we can't allow it to happen again." Rose had also, in true big-brother fashion, become very protective of his sister, even in adulthood. She became the Guns N' Roses Fan Club manager and accompanied the band on the road, enabling her to see her brother howl out in anger over their childhood in front of tens of thousands of people every night.
HE CLAIMED TO BE 'BRAINWASHED' BY RELIGION
Rose's stepfather strictly adhered to the tenets of his Pentecostal faith, and insisted that his family do likewise, a situation that left Rose feeling "brainwashed." Speaking with RIP, he said, "I'm not against churches or religion, but I do believe, like I said in 'Garden of Eden,' that most organized religions make a mockery of humanity." He was particularly angered by the hypocrisy he saw as prevalent in Pentecostal churches, and how emotional harm was passed on through generations. "These were people who were finding God but still living with their damage [from their own chilhoods] and inflicting it upon their children," he said.
Compelled to attend church services "anywhere from three to eight times a week," Rose was also confused about the fluctuations in what the church considered to be evil. Confusion spawned within the walls of his church was exacerbated once he came home. "We'd have televisions one week, then my stepdad would throw them out because they were satanic," Rose remembered. In all, his entire childhood religious experience wound up having the opposite effect on Rose than what his stepfather had intended. "The Bible was shoved down my throat, and it really distorted my point of view," Rose told RIP. "We were taught 'You must fear God.' I don't think that's healthy at all."
HIS ROMANTIC LIFE WAS MORE GUNS THAN ROSES
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Given Axl Rose's issues growing up, it's not difficult to predict he would have problems in his relationships with women as an adult. "I've been hell on the women in my life," he told Rolling Stone, "and the women in my life have been hell on me." This was particularly true of his brief marriage to Erin Everly (inspiration for the Guns N' Roses hit "Sweet Child O' Mine"), who Rose both fondly described as his "best friend," and also said: "other times ... we just f***ed each other's lives completely up." A high-profile relationship with model and actress Stephanie Seymour was likewise fraught with trouble; he even mourned her "death" in the "November Rain" video — and those were the good times.
As a celebrity, though, Rose was forced to work through his problems in public, which added unwanted complications. He channeled his frustrations into his songwriting, which could also be problematic, particularly when the lyrics were viewed as mean-spirited ("My Michelle"), or misogynistic ("Back Off, B****"), or even jokingly murderous ("Used to Love Her"). Rose tried to explain his rationale to Rolling Stone: "The anger and the emotions and stuff scare people. ... I don't think our music promotes that you should feel this way. ... We're saying you're allowed to feel certain ways."
HIS VOLATILITY COULD CAUSE REAL DESTRUCTION
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When Rose vented his rage, anything in his path could be in jeopardy. When Rolling Stone visited him in 1989, his condo looked like the aftermath of a battle between Chuck Norris and Godzilla (with Norris, of course, emerging as the victor). "One guitar has been destroyed," the magazine reported, "a mirrored wall shattered, several platinum albums broken beyond repair and the telephone dropped off a twelfth-story balcony. Apparently ... Axl Rose had to get something out of his system." Rose wouldn't tell the reporter what had set him off, but he did explain his typical tantrum: "When I get stressed, I get violent and take it out on myself," he said. "I've pulled razor blades on myself but then realized that having a scar is more detrimental than not having a stereo. I'd rather kick in my stereo than cut my arm."
"Axl is like a magnet for problems," Slash told Rolling Stone years later, having endured multiple tours and recording sessions with the singer. "I've never met anybody like him. He's the kind of guy that would get a toothbrush stuck down his throat because that particular toothbrush happened to be defective."
HE LEFT RIOTS IN HIS WAKE
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Rose's volatility might have been self-directed in some instances, but the decisions he made either as a result of his anger or disregard for others occasionally had massive consequences. According to Rolling Stone, Rose ended a 1991 St. Louis show early after becoming irate with his security team for not properly dealing with an camera-wielding audience member. Following the tussle in the front row, Rose left the gig, and a riot started not long afterward, resulting in 60 injuries, 16 arrests, and $200,000 in damage to the facility.
Similarly, at an August 1992 double bill with Metallica in Montreal, James Hetfield, Metallica's front man, was severely burned in a pyrotechnics accident, cutting their set short. Rose then ended Guns N' Roses' set early, complaining of a sore throat. That set off a riot in which concertgoers, according to the New York Times, "smashed stadium windows with an uprooted street lamp, looted a souvenir boutique, burned a sports car and Guns N' Roses T-shirts and set dozens of small fires." As late as 2003, Rose would simply not show up at scheduled Guns N' Roses shows, causing riots in some venues (most famously in Vancouver, as reported by The Guardian) and leading some promoters to stop booking the band.
THERAPY HELPED HIM WORK THROUGH HIS ISSUES
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Early in his career as the frontman of Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose sought treatment for the mental difficulties that had long troubled him. "I went to a clinic, thinking it would help my moods," he told RIP Magazine (via the Los Angeles Times) in 1989. Doctors told Rose that he had bipolar disorder, which at the time was called manic depressive disorder, although it didn't solve everything for the singer. "The medication doesn't help me deal with stress. It keeps people off my back."
Rose told Rolling Stone that he began controversial regression therapy in February 1991, hoping to identify the source of his volatile nature and deal with it proactively. "It's finding some way to break the chain," he explained. "I'm trying to fix myself and turn around and help others. You can't really save anyone. You can support them, but they have to save themselves." Much of this kind of therapy deals with recovering "lost" memories, which can sometimes be unreliable. Still, Rose claims the practice has helped him. "My life still has its extremes and ups and downs," he said, "but it is a lot better because of this work."
The result of this effort was not forgiveness, nor was it to simply "handle" the problem and walk away. It was about grieving and assessing and coming to some understanding of the core reasons he sometimes behaved the way he did. "My growth was stopped at 2 years old," he said. "And when they talk about Axl Rose being a screaming 2-year-old, they're right. There's a screaming 2-year-old who's real pissed off and hides and won't show himself that often, even to me." Here's to the hope that he's found some peace.
TWO FANS DIED AT A GUNS N' ROSES CONCERT
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In 1988, Guns N' Roses was probably the hottest and most popular band on the planet, having just released the mega-selling "Appetite for Destruction," and was thusly a huge draw at that year's iteration of Monsters of Rock, an annual hard rock and heavy metal multi-act festival-style show held at Castle Donington in England. According to the documentary "Guns N' Roses: Breaking the Band" (via RadarOnline), organizers didn't set any rules for crowd capacity or control, which, combined with heavy rainfall, made for a restless crowd of about 120,000 lurching forward toward the stage, placing dangerous pressure on those toward the front. That all resulted in the death of two fans, who suffocated and were trampled to death.
Neither Axl Rose, nor any other member of Guns N' Roses, was aware of the tragic events until hours after they played the show. "I ran into our tour manager at the bar and he was crying," guitarist Slash told Kerrang! "That's when I found out that two kids had been trampled to death."
AXL ROSE HAS BEEN ARRESTED SEVERAL TIMES FOR VIOLENT ACTS
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Axl Rose has frequently found himself in trouble with the law, arrested several times for the results of violent, tempestuous outbursts directed at neighbors, security guards, and authority figures. During a 1987 concert in Atlanta, according to Vulture, Rose struck an Atlanta police officer. The promoter worked out a deal that if Rose apologized to the cop, they wouldn't arrest the singer. After writing an apology, Rose leveled multiple profanities at the officer and was arrested. In 1990, per the Los Angeles Times, L.A. County Sheriff's officials arrested Rose on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon. During an argument with his condo complex neighbor, he grabbed a wine bottle, emptied it, and hit the woman on the head with it after she complained he was playing music too loudly.
Before a flight out of Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix in 1998, according to MTV News, Rose reportedly became so enraged at an airport security guard searching his baggage that he threatened to beat up the man while shaking his fists. And in 2006, according to Today, Norwegian police jailed Rose after he was accused of drunkenly attacking and biting a hotel security guard.
AXL ROSE OFTEN SUFFERS HEALTH PROBLEMS DURING CONCERTS
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During a concert in New York City in 1991 as a precursor to its years-long "Use Your Illusion" tour, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, Axl Rose attempted a powerful jump during "You Could Be Mine" and landed wrong, injuring his foot and leaving him in a cast for a handful of concert dates. According to Spin, that precluded the singer from performing his signature swaying dance move. Fifteen years later, according to the San Diego Union Tribune, and while singing "Mr. Brownstone" during the first show of a Guns N' Roses reunion tour, Rose slipped on stage and broke a bone in his foot so severely that he required realignment surgery.
Per NME, Guns N' Roses had to end a concert early in 2018 when Rose's stomach pain became too much to bear. "I've been throwing up for the last five hours," he told the crowd at the beginning of the show, adding that he'd been bolstered, albeit temporarily, by intravenous and injected medications. A very similar turn of events went down at a Chicago concert in 2021. "I got to the show feeling great, but started getting sick pretty early on," Rose said on his band's Twitter page. "It progressed to where I was throwing up & was light headed."
AXL ROSE AND SLASH PUBLICLY FEUDED FOR YEARS
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By 1997, according to Ultimate Classic Rock, in-fighting and creative tensions had caused every "Appetite for Destruction" member of Guns N' Roses to leave the band, including guitarist Slash. Axl Rose and his former bandmate engaged in a war of words and legal filings over the next two decades.
The relationship began to deteriorate in earnest in 1991, when Slash left a Guns N' Roses tour to collaborate with Michael Jackson, according to Rolling Stone Brazil (via NME), whom Rose, a child abuse survivor, disliked and distrusted over similar allegations levied against the pop singer. In 2005, per Billboard, Slash (and Guns N' Roses bassist Duff McKagan) sued Rose for allegedly freezing them out of their royalty revenue shares in the neighborhood of half a million dollars a year. Months later, Rose countersued (via MTV News) and his management group called Slash an "opportunist and manipulator." Three years later, Rose called Slash "a cancer" to Spinner (via NME), and Slash told Rolling Stone in advance of GNR's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, which Rose ultimately refused to attend, that his former bandmate "hates [his] guts."
"One of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly, or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is," Rose told Billboard in 2009. Nevertheless, in 2018, Rose and Slash happily reunited under the Guns N' Roses name.
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WHAT EVERY EX-MEMBER OF GUNS N' ROSES IS DOING TODAY
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BY PAULI POISUO/UPDATED: JAN. 27, 2023 10:12 AM EST
Since its formation in 1985, Guns N' Roses has existed in some shape, form, or way. As one might assume from a group that has rocked the world's faces for three and a half decades, there have been a few lineup changes over the years. In fact, at this point, the group's only constant member has been singer Axl Rose. Every other position in the band has been a revolving door of new, returning, and briefly visiting faces, to the point that apart from their active, early 2020 lineup, there are no less than 16 people (plus assorted touring members) who have been a part of the Guns N' Roses story. Some of them you might be very familiar with, others you might know from very different circles, and others still you might be hearing about for the first time.
So who are these ex-Roses, and what are they up to these days? Let's take a look at what every former member of Guns N' Roses is doing today.
ROB GARDNER, INTERNATIONAL MAN OF MYSTERY
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As Ultimate Classic Rock tells us, the original 1985 lineup of the band called Guns N' Roses was more than a little different from the classic lineup of the 1990s: Axl Rose, Tracii Guns, Izzy Stradlin, Ole Beich, and Rob Gardner. Some of these names are decidedly more obscure than others, and Rob Gardner definitely qualifies in the "wait, who?" category.
In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, fellow early band member Tracii Guns notes that Gardner was indeed the first drummer of Guns N' Roses, but his train to stardom was quickly derailed when love intervened. According to Guns, Gardner's girlfriend did not much care for him being in the band, so she forced him to quit the band early on. Unfortunately, she subsequently left him, and Gardner has not found his way back in the limelight since, despite Guns pointing out that he was a "great drummer."
TRACII GUNS HAS HIS OWN SUCCESSFUL BAND
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Fans of hard rock are probably quite familiar with Tracii Guns. As Allmusic tells us, he was the original Guns N' Roses guitarist, and Ultimate Classic Rock points out that he's also the "Guns" in the band's name — the "Roses" obviously being Axl Rose. Guns was initially a member of the L.A. Guns, which joined with the band Hollywood Rose to become Guns N' Roses. Guns left after just two months, though, and the L.A. Guns had a second life. As AL.com notes, as of 2019, Guns' three and a half decades as a musician have left him with his own share of hard-rocking hits and no less than 12 studio albums with L.A. Guns. Apart from that, Guns has also worked with several notable artists, including Motörhead, Johnny Thunders, Poison, and WASP.
Successful as Guns became in his own right, Guns N' Roses weren't exactly stabbed in the heart by the talented guitar slinger's departure. After all, he was soon replaced with a certain frizzly-haired top hat aficionado known as Slash.
OLE BEICH DROWNED IN DENMARK
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Out of all original members of Guns N' Roses, the Danish bassist Ole Beich cuts perhaps the most tragic (and arguably the most obscure) figure. According to Ultimate Guitar, former GN'R member Tracii Guns describes his old bandmate as a metal guy who had already played with Mercyful Fate and (possibly) King Diamond. As such, Beich soon grew frustrated with the glam-tinted hard rock direction Guns N' Roses were taking, and he was the first — but far from the last — member to leave the band.
According to Guns, Beich was about a decade older than him, and a nice, helpful guy who was quite serious, yet had a wonderful sense of humor. Unfortunately, Beich went on to lead quite a tragic life. He struggled with depression, and ultimately met a tragic end when he drowned in his native Denmark in the 1990s.
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).
IZZY STRADLIN JUST WON'T RETURN TO THE BAND
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Izzy Stradlin was a founding member of Guns N' Roses, but as Ultimate Classic Rock tells us, he eventually started feeling that his role in the band was diminishing. The public first discovered the situation in 1991, when the "Don't Cry" music video featured a sign that asked "Where's Izzy?" instead of the man himself. Stradlin left the band soon after this.
Slash has stated that his former band member grew weary of touring and left the rest of the band hanging. Meanwhile, Stradlin says he was frustrated by the lax attitude of his band members, and his old friend Axl Rose's "growing tyranny" in particular. Regardless of what his real reasons were, the rhythm guitarist has remained a semi-elusive figure ever since. According to Blabbermouth, Stradlin's only band after his GN'R tenure was the short-lived Izzy Stradlin & The Ju Ju Hounds, after which he released 10 solo albums (the last of which came out in 2010). More recently, he has been in the spotlight because his negotiations to rejoin the "classic" Guns N' Roses lineup keep falling apart. Even Rose has remarked that Stradlin is a notoriously tough guy to negotiate with.
STEVEN ADLER TOOK A STRANGE TURN
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As the BBC tells us, drummer Steven Adler joined Guns N' Roses in time for their "disastrous" 1985 tour that involved a broken van and a stint at hitch-hiking. He was around during the band's rise to success, but developed an addiction to both cocaine and heroin, and started having problems with his playing. For this, he was ultimately fired in 1990 — though Adler himself has argued that the band deliberately made him play a song he hadn't rehearsed with them to make him sound like "an ill-equipped, crappy drummer" and have a reason to throw him out.
Adler wasn't too happy about the decision and filed a lawsuit against the band in 1991 — earning a $2.25 million settlement from the band, per GNR Central. According to Loudwire, Adler has made bitter comments about his dismissal as recently as 2019. However, he has remained friends with Slash, and even took the stage with the band for a few gigs in 2016. Apart from that, Loudwire tells us he's been making moves with his own band, Adler's Appetite, which is ... basically a Guns N' Roses cover band. Ouch.
MATT SORUM HAS BEEN KEEPING HIMSELF BUSY
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Throughout the years, Guns N' Roses has gone through enough drummers to make Spinal Tap proud. Matt Sorum sat behind the drum kit after Steven Adler was fired, and according to Blabbermouth and Alternative Nation, he too was eventually shown the door in 1997, courtesy of Axl Rose. However, Sorum wasn't about to start resting on his laurels. He has played with Velvet Revolver, The Cult, and Hollywood Vampires, and Loudwire notes that as of 2019, he was working with Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler on a project called Deadland Ritual. As Forbes tells us, in 2018 he also founded a "crypto-based" concert hosting platform called Artbit.
Apart from his various ventures and successes, Blabbermouth reports that Sorum has also seen his share of the shadier side of life, and as of 2020 is going to tell the world all about it in Double Talkin' Jive, his autobiography that he claims is "the juiciest of the juiciest of the GN'R books."
GILBY CLARKE IS EXPLORING A SOLO CAREER
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Gilby Clarke's Guns N' Roses stint was a roller coaster, to say the least. As Ultimate Classic Rock tells us, he took guitarist Izzy Stradlin's spot in 1991 after the founding member left the group. In 1994, he discovered that he was no longer a part of the band in a strange way: First, his because his paychecks simply stopped coming, and Slash informed him that Axl Rose didn't want him in the group anymore. Then, Slash assured Clarke that he was still in the band — but the paychecks never returned, so Clarke took the hint.
Despite the odd manner of his dismissal, Clarke says he holds no grudges. He has collaborated with Slash on his Slash's Snakepit project, and as Blabbermouth reveals, he has recently kept himself busy with his solo career. In February 2020, he released a solo single called "Rock n' Roll Is Getting Louder," and is reportedly working on his first solo album in over 15 years, called The Gospel Truth.
PAUL HUGE TOBIAS' DISAPPEARING ACT
Rhythm guitarist Paul "Huge" Tobias replaced Gilby Clarke in Guns N' Roses, which Ultimate Classic Rock tells us had huge implications for the band. Slash was not thrilled with Axl Rose's insistence on bringing Tobias on board and his views about the new man's abilities were, to put it diplomatically, less than enthusiastic. This controversy played a part in Slash's departure from GN'R in 1996.
As Blabbermouth notes, "Huge" and Rose were childhood friends, which may have been a factor in the singer's insistence to bring him in despite Slash's protests. Unfortunately for Tobias, even old friendship couldn't make him a permanent fixture in the band, and in 2002 he was replaced by current GN'R member Richard Fortus. After Tobias' departure, mentions of him have been few and far between. In November 2018, GN'R Central reported that an old song from his other band, Mank Rage, had "leaked" online.
ROBIN FINCK BECAME A NINE INCH NAIL
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As Rolling Stone reports, Robin Finck first played guitar for Guns N' Roses from 1997 to 1999. He was part of a peculiar "recording" lineup that included Axl Rose, Paul Huge, Dizzy Reed, Josh Freese, and Tommy Stinson, and though his time with the group was comparatively brief, a spokesperson of their label said that he recorded "several albums' worth of material" with them. Indeed, Ultimate Guitar tells us he was one of the "main contributors" on 2008's Chinese Democracy.
As NME tells us, Finck later rejoined the band, only to leave again in 2008. His departure came as something of a shock to Guns N' Roses, though Guitar FX Depot notes that he had a pretty decent reason to leave Rose's troops behind. See, Finck happens to be a long-serving guitarist for a little band called Nine Inch Nails, who were about to commence on a tour. As of September 2019, he's still holding the six-string fort for Trent Reznor.
JOSH FREESE HAS PLAYED WITH EVERYONE
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For some people, playing with Guns N' Roses is the highlight of their life. For Josh Freese, it was a Tuesday. As the Drummers' Journal tells us, Freese is a noted session drummer who had a two-year contract with GN'R from 1998 to 2000, but chose not to renew it because the band was pretty much buried in the studio abyss at the time.
Instead of devoting his professional career to Axl Rose, Freese chose to work with ... well, pretty much everyone. He has been a prominent member of A Perfect Circle, and has at various points of his career drummed for Queens of The Stone Age, Bruce Springsteen, Weezer, The Replacements, Chris Cornell, Avril Lavigne, Selena Gomez, Katy Perry, Michael Bublé, and Miley Cyrus ... among others. As Modern Drummer notes, he has several world tours with Sting under his belt, and keeps up with his punk side as a member of The Vandals. Oh and just in case the hat didn't tip you off, he's also a longtime member of Devo. Axl who?
TOMMY STINSON HAS HIS OWN THING GOING
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As Blabbermouth reports, Tommy Stinson held the bass player position in Guns N' Roses from 1998 to 2014, when he semi-accidentally quit the band due to his failing marriage and hectic home life forcing him to withdraw from touring. However, he says that he doesn't particularly miss his time with the band. Though he was just fine with the people involved, he says that he's happy to have moved on.
To be fair, Stinson has had his fair share of the rock 'n' roll lifestyle, even without the whole GN'R gig. He is arguably better known for his lengthy tenure with alt-rock icons The Replacements, where Rolling Stone tells us he played from the ripe old age of 11. Since moving on from that group as well, he has resurrected his old band, Bash and Pop. Oh, and according to Ultimate Classic Rock, he was also in Soul Asylum from 2005 to 2012.
CHRIS PITMAN SUED AXL ROSE AND DISAPPEARED FROM THE MAP
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As Loudwire tells us, Chris Pitman joined Guns N' Roses as a backing vocalist, second keyboardist, and second bass player in 1998. However, he fell out with the band (read: Axl Rose) over money. By 2012, Rose reportedly owed Pitman about $125,000 for a year's worth of work, and when Rose failed to pay on time, Pitman took him to court for $163,000. They eventually reached a settlement in 2016, though TMZ reports that the money Pitman actually received was significantly less than what he was seeking.
Though Pitman was supposedly set to rejoin the band on its 2016 tour featuring classic era members Duff McKagan and Slash, his place was ultimately taken by current member Melissa Reese. This may or may not have something to do with the various acidic and extremely public remarks about said tour as "a money grab" and "an oldies reunion."
BUCKETHEAD'S HAD A ROUGH FEW YEARS
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Buckethead, the prolific guitarist who famously wears a mask and a KFC bucket hat onstage, spent four years as a Guns N' Roses member, but Rolling Stone tells us he left to do his own thing in 2004. (Blabbermouth says this may have had something to do with his frustration with the band's "inability to complete an album.") The masked guitar slinger has gone through some pretty tough times since. In 2017, the man, whose real name is Brian Carroll, gave a surprisingly honest out-of-character interview for the Coming Alive podcast (via Spin). He revealed that he had gone through a roller coaster of difficulties, involving the death of his parents, a nasty back injury, and a condition that caused his heart to beat out of rhythm.
Fortunately, Rolling Stone reveals that judging by his recent musical output, Buckethead seems to be more or less back on track, seeing as he's been collaborating with his musical hero, the legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins. In October 2019, they released a manic funk-metal cover of "Monster Mash," of all things.
BRAIN MANTIA MAKES MUSIC FOR VIDEO GAMES AND COMMERCIALS
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Drummer Bryan "Brain" Mantia is one of those guys who have played with pretty much everyone. According to Drummer World, he tends to work with cult characters such as Tom Waits, Primus, Godflesh, Praxis, and the aforementioned Buckethead. However, his accolades also include a six-year stint with Guns N' Roses: According to Blabbermouth, Axl Rose invited the drummer in the band in 2000, and he performed with them until 2006.
Though Mantia is well-known for his tenure with GN'R, it by no means characterized him. A drummer's drummer and "one of the premiere drummers in contemporary music," he is an advanced music (and music theory) enthusiast who has released instructional DVDs and written columns for Drum! Magazine. Oh, and you've almost certainly heard his work, even if you've never knowingly listened any artist he's played with. He's a member of Brain and Melissa, a musical duo responsible for a wide array of music from all walks of culture. The pair has contributed to B-movie soundtracks, NFL and MLB original game music, various high-profile commercials, and even video games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, not to mention and the upcoming The Last of Us 2 and Cyberpunk 2077. It's "Brain" Mantia's world of sound, the rest of us are just living in it.
RON BUMBLEFOOT THAL HAS A LINE OF AWARD-WINNING HOT SAUCES
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As Blabbermouth tells us, guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal first joined Guns N' Roses in 2006, and though he says he doesn't want to dwell on the negative sides of the job, he found it difficult to fit in the group and even had to "get a little violent" to gain respect at first. He remained with the band until 2014, and though Louder notes that his departure was never officially announced, he says that the decision to leave was an extremely difficult one and at least partially fueled by the knowledge that some of the best-known band members were planning a reunion.
After leaving the GN'R ship behind, Thal's official website reveals that he has focused on solo work, running music camps, and playing in a supergroup called Sons of Apollo. Interestingly, he also has a line of award-winning hot sauces. Chowhound ranks his "Bumblef**ked" ginger-ginseng-caffeine sauce among the spiciest in the world.
DJ ASHBA MOVED FROM AXL ROSE TO NIKKI SIXX
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DJ Ashba joined Guns N' Roses in 2009 and, as Billboard reports, quit his tenure with the band in 2015. He said that he wants to spend more time with his family and his other musical ventures, though, as Loudwire tells us, it may be worth noting that Slash's return to the band was announced that very same year.
After he left the GN'R solo guitar spot open for the more famous hat-wearing shredder's grand comeback, Ashba has remained quite busy. He plays guitar in Mötley Crüe main man Nikki Sixx's Sixx:A.M., and his official website reveals that he has his spoon in many other soups as well. Apart from the occasional TV appearance and his upcoming band Pyromantic, he owns a company called Ashba Media, which "specializes in the build of thematic designs and scenic fabrications for the entertainment, hotel, and hospitality industries and a wide range of other commercial clients."
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THE MESSED UP TRUTH ABOUT THE 1980S MUSIC INDUSTRY
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BY BECKY STEPHENSON/JULY 21, 2022 2:59 PM EST
The 1980s were a wild time. Digital technology was improving on all fronts, fashion was neon and outrageous, hair was big, and excess was everywhere. Musically, the decade saw the dawn of exciting new genres like electropop, new wave, and hip hop, as well as the birth of the pop megastar: Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Prince became known as "the holy trinity of pop," as per NME.
In fact, those 10 years had such a lasting effect that people still love the '80s to this day. In 2010, an 11,000-person poll by Music Choice (via Music News) determined that the '80s was the most popular musical decade. Indeed, shows like "Stranger Things," movies like "Top Gun: Maverick," and the popularity of modern artists like The Weeknd, Dua Lipa, and Harry Styles demonstrate that our collective '80s nostalgia is still strong.
But it wasn't all DayGlo and John Hughes movies. When the decade began, people continued to enjoy rock music but, per AllMusic, conventional '70s disco had fallen out of mainstream favor. A global recession was underway (per Federal Reserve History), and, according to Harold L. Vogel in his book "Entertainment Industry Economics," record sales were way down. The music industry took action to save itself, and the results weren't always tubular. From moral panics to the MTV color barrier to rampant commercial greed, here is the messed up truth about the 1980s music industry.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY WAGED WAR ON MIXTAPES
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Cassette tapes were all the rage in the '80s, owing to their portability and the recent invention of the Sony Walkman and boombox (per Jehnie I. Burns in her book, "Mixtape Nostalgia"). According to Diffuser, an affordable dual tape deck that could record material from one cassette onto another soon launched –- and home recording was born. Mixtapes –- in which songs were recorded from albums or off the radio and assembled into primitive playlists –- became a hallmark of '80s youth culture.
But, while it seems ridiculous now, the music industry viewed home recording as a major threat to profits. According to The Washington Post, record sales were down in 1979, and label executives were desperate for a scapegoat. Shortly after the advent of the dual tape deck, the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) — a trade group that represented most of the United Kingdom's record labels — launched an aggressive ad campaign bearing the slogan: "Home Taping Is Killing Music –- And It's Illegal" (per Diffuser). The slogan, which occurred alongside a dramatic cassette tape Jolly Roger, was printed on many album sleeves and cassettes in the early '80s. The BPI pushed for taxes on blank tape sales to recoup losses, and CBS even sued the creators of tape copying equipment, as per Mondaq. Both attempts both ultimately failed.
A federal government study determined that the majority of home taping involved transferring already-purchased music for portability (per The Washington Post). According to Burns in "Mixtape Nostalgia," the campaign was also widely ridiculed by musical artists –- The Dead Kennedys even released a cassette that read "Home Taping Is Killing Music Industry Profits!" on one side and "We Left This Side Blank So You Can Help" on the other.
MUSIC VIDEOS KINDA DID KILL THE RADIO STARS
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On August 1, 1981, MTV (Music Television) launched in North America –- and it changed everything (per Britannica). The network's first music video, The Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," now seems kind of prophetic. As the network gained a foothold, music videos became so popular that other music channels like Much Music and VH1 soon followed. But there was a major problem.
According to Dale Andrews in his book "Digital Overdrive," video had in fact killed the radio star –- or at least completely changed the rules of the game. Before MTV, most artists were heard but rarely seen. Now, with music videos serving as the ultimate promotional tools, image became just as important as the music –- arguably even more so. Simply making music was not enough. Artists also had to look attractive or interesting and sometimes even act. Those who mastered the visual aspect outperformed all others, regardless of musical ability. And there was another problem.
Because music videos were considered advertisements for artists, no one made any money off of them. In fact, according to singer-songwriter Ian Tamblyn in his speech at Trent University (via Roots Music Canada), artists had to pay for their own music videos –- and making one worthy of airplay wasn't cheap. Because music videos became expected in the '80s, labels would front the artists money to produce them, later recouping the expense out of their royalties. As the decade progressed, production costs became astronomical. To give you an idea, Michael Jackson's 1987 video for "Bad" cost $2.2 million to produce (per HowStuffWorks). In the end, only a select few good-looking, fashionable, rich, or already signed artists were able to keep up with the industry.
THE EXPENSIVE CD WAS BORN, AND VINYL ALMOST WENT EXTINCT
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In 1982, per Britannica, Phillips and Sony teamed up to release the compact disc –- more commonly known as the CD. According to PBS, record companies claimed CDs offered superior sound quality and durability when compared to vinyl. In his book "Entertainment Industry Economics," Harold L. Vogel notes that the quality of vinyl had become notoriously poor in the late '70s, which contributed to low album sales. Record companies hoped that the technologically advanced CD would inspire people to buy music again.
But when CDs first launched, they were only for the wealthy. According to Billboard, a CD player in 1982 was priced at $750, which is about $2,100 today. CDs themselves were around $15 each, according to PBS -– about $45 today. Despite CDs being relatively cheap to produce, record companies justified the high price, citing the audio superiority they provided and the added cost of building new manufacturing facilities. And, of course, a large percentage of the profit from each CD sale went directly to the record company, as per The New York Times.
Still, it was hardly much incentive to swap out your entire vinyl collection. But in 1983, with the launch of more affordable players and the slow decrease of CD prices, that's exactly what started happening. Vinyl was in trouble. By 1984, cassette sales surpassed vinyl sales, as per Quartz. And in 1988, according to MTV, CDs outsold vinyl. As the '80s drew to a close, vinyl had become a rare sight at record stores.
MTV HAD A PROBLEMATIC COLOR BARRIER IN PLACE
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When MTV first launched, the network played pretty much any video they could get their hands on (via SBS) –- but, still, very few by Black artists. So, in an interview with MTV in 1983, David Bowie called them out for it. The network fumbled for a response. According to The Washington Post, the reasons given included MTV focused on rock music, Black music would alienate many viewers, radio segregated music racially so it was an accepted practice, and Black artists were not making music videos.
A notable example of MTV's color barrier was the network's curious omission of Rick James' "Super Freak." Despite the song being a top hit in the United States in 1981, MTV was not playing the music video for it. James declared this "blatant racism" in a 1983 interview (via Jet Magazine). He also noted that MTV had no problem playing music videos for obscure white punk bands who didn't even have a label.
The color barrier came crashing down later in 1983 when, according to Yahoo!, CBS head Walter Yetnikoff threatened to withhold videos from his label's other artists (which included Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Cyndi Lauper) to get the network to play Michael Jackson's music video for "Billie Jean." MTV complied, and "Billie Jean" became a huge hit, launching Jackson to stardom. (Although Les Garland, MTV's cofounder, told Jet Yetnikoff putting on the pressure was a myth, and he saw value in Jackson's video right away.) MTV later aired his video for "Thriller" –- which is widely considered the greatest music video ever made (even by MTV in 1999, as per Rock on the Net). Videos by Black artists like Prince and Whitney Houston were soon in heavy rotation on MTV.
DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY MADE EVERYTHING SOUND THE SAME
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Music of the '80s has a very distinctive sound. Whether you're head-banging to arena rock like Journey or grooving to the seductive synth-pop stylings of OMD, you'll know it was recorded in the 1980s. But why is that? As it turns out, the '80s saw several key developments in production technology that are easily heard in its music.
According to Popular Mechanics, one such invention was the LinnDrum machine, which allowed the digital sampling of real drum beats. Its ubiquitous presence can be heard in a great many songs in the '80s, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "Relax." The sampler was another '80s staple, allowing just about any instrument to pop into a song at the push of a key. And then, of course, there is gated reverb — which is responsible for the crashing drums on Phil Collins' "In the Air Tonight"– as well as the now-legendary synthesizers heard in a-ha's "Take on Me" (and just about every '80s song, really). Producers had found a formula that worked and stuck with it.
But all of these new effects gave '80s music a feeling of over-production, especially when compared to the more organic sounds of the 1970s. Love it or hate it, digital technology resulted in a decade's worth of music that all sounded ... kinda the same. According to a 2015 study published in The Royal Society, a computer program scanned 17,000 top hits from 1960 to 2010, examining elements of tonal qualities and chord progressions. The study found that the mid- to late-'80s (precisely when all of these effects saturated the market) was the least diverse era of mainstream music in the last 50 years.
RECORD LABELS RESORTED TO SHADY MAFIA DEALINGS TO PROMOTE SONGS
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It turns out that payola — a crime in which commercial radio stations are bribed to play songs without disclosing they have been paid –- was not just a thing of the '50s and '60s. According to The Los Angeles Times, record labels in the mid-'80s regularly hired independent promoters to influence radio program managers to play certain songs, spending around $60 to $80 million a year on such endeavors. In exchange for play, promoters offered everything from cash to cocaine to sex workers.
In 1986, a federal investigation into payola exposed Joe Isgro, whose Los Angeles music promotion business made $10 million a year in the 1980s, as per The Hollywood Reporter. Isgro was indicted in 1989, but the case was dismissed in 1990 (per MTV). According to The New York Times, he was later revealed to be a member of the Gambino crime family, aka the Mafia. And he was just the guy they caught.
According to Fredric Dannen in his book "Hit Men," major record labels worked regularly with a group of music industry mobster middlemen known as The Network in the '80s. When they needed to ensure a song was played on the radio –- or, worse, that another song was not played –- they contacted members of The Network to make it happen. Following all the bad press, record labels quickly off-loaded all of their independent promoters (per The Washington Post).
ARTISTS WERE SHAMELESSLY USED TO SELL PRODUCTS
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If music videos were commercials for artists, artists themselves could become commercials for so many things. In a decade thoroughly enamored with television, TV commercials became key to selling products. And who better to model them than music's megastars?
According to Billboard, Michael Jackson made history again when he signed a $5 million deal with PepsiCo in 1983 –- the biggest celebrity endorsement yet. Jackson rewrote "Billie Jean's" lyrics as an ode to Pepsi, and in exchange Pepsi sponsored his U.S. tour. According to Brian J. Murphy, the VP of branded entertainment at TBA Global, the integrated marketing strategy was ground-breaking. "You couldn't separate the tour from the endorsement from the licensing of the music, and then the integration of the music into the Pepsi fabric," he said. The results were astounding: Pepsi turned $7.7 billion in sales that year. When Jackson released his album "Bad," they were quick to sign a second deal with him –- this time for $10 million.
But marrying your product to an artist can have unintended consequences. According to The Pop History Dig, Pepsi's 1989 deal with Madonna backfired when the wholesome commercial they shot with her hit the airwaves one day before she released her controversial religious-themed music video for "Like a Prayer." Amid threats of product boycotts, Pepsi promptly canceled the deal. Calamity also ensued in 1987 when, according to CBC Radio, Anheuser-Busch tried to bring Michelob beer sales up by featuring Eric Clapton in a commercial. Unfortunately, Clapton entered a rehab facility to treat his alcoholism later that same year. Needless to say, it was not a good look for Michelob.
THE MUSIC INDUSTRY EXPERIENCED A BOOM BUT ARTISTS STILL DIDN'T MAKE THAT MUCH
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By the mid to late '80s, record companies were making enormous profits, and album sales were increasing each year, as per Digital Music News. Yet, for some reason, artists were still making the same as they were before –- which wasn't much, comparatively.
CDs, which sold at a huge profit margin, were a big part of the industry's growth. But the majority of this money went to the record label, with most artists being awarded less than 5% of every CD sale, per Pitchfork. To make matters worse, labels also charged artists for the use of new technology while reducing their royalties by 20%, according to Steve Knopper in his book "Appetite for Self-Destruction." Despite CDs costing about $8 more than a vinyl record, artists made around 81 cents per CD sale. And then, of course, there were the hefty advances labels provided for promotional music videos, which often had to be recouped before artists saw a dime (per the U.S. IRS in "Entertainment: Audit Technique Guide").
When it was all said and done, royalty rates stayed around 10% for most artists –- only the decade's biggest stars made over 35% (per AWAL). But a few '80s artists successfully fought back against this perceived injustice. According to Refinery29, once Madonna discovered that much of her profit came from songwriting royalties, she ensured that she was listed as a co-writer on every song she sang. Still, even Madonna only made 20% in royalties during the '80s.
UNDERGROUND ARTISTS WERE OVERLOOKED
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According to GQ Magazine, music in the 1980s was overseen by only six major labels. Together, they controlled 80% of the music industry and determined what was mainstream based on what sold, according to a 2021 study in The French Journal of British Studies. For much of the decade, the main product was electronic pop music. But pop was far from the only type of music being produced in the '80s. Many artists making different music didn't fit with the mainstream and were confined to the underground scene.
Per Michael Azerrad in his book "Our Band Could Be Your Life," underground artists gained followings through touring, college radio stations, and mentions in fanzines. They would often sign with independent labels, whose goals were promoting creativity rather than commercial success. According to the French Journal of British Studies, most indie artists played guitars and physical instruments as a way of rebelling against the synthesizers and digital sounds that dominated the mainstream. The Smiths, who became very popular in the '80s indie scene, represent a great example of this phenomenon.
Many underground artists were overlooked by major labels in the '80s. Their music became known as a new genre: alternative rock, according to Dave Thompson in his book "Alternative Rock." Its very name suggested opposition to the mainstream. Yet, oddly enough, many of these artists would later become mainstream in the '90s –- in fact, grunge grew out of the underground '80s scene, as per Britannica.
A GROUP OF ANGRY MOTHERS TRIED TO CENSOR MUSIC -- AND IT WORKED
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According to a 2020 study published in American Journal of Criminal Justice, trouble started brewing in the mid-'80s when Tipper Gore, the wife of politician Al Gore, heard her 11-year-old daughter listening to Prince's "Darling Nikki," which references female masturbation. Susan Baker, the wife of the White House chief of staff, had a similar revelation when she heard her 7-year-old daughter singing Madonna's "Like a Virgin."
The concerned mothers formed a group called the Parents Music Resource Center (PMRC) and started a moral campaign, contacting the Record Industry Association of America (RIAA) seeking censorship of music they deemed objectionable and harmful to children. The RIAA initially shot the attempts down, citing the First Amendment. Eventually, they agreed to consider adding a warning label to albums that contained explicit songs, and the movement escalated to a 1985 Senate hearing.
At the hearing, the PMRC presented a list of unacceptable songs they deemed the "Filthy 15." Standing in defense of freedom of speech were an unlikely trio of musical artists: John Denver, Frank Zappa, and Dee Snider. According to Rolling Stone, Denver likened such censorship to the Nazi book burnings, and Zappa called the committee "the wives of Big Brother" (via American Journal of Criminal Justice). Oddly enough, Snider, the frontman of Twisted Sister gave the most eloquent testimony. Introducing himself as a drug-free Christian father, he explained to the Senate that song lyrics were subjective, proclaiming, "There is no authority who has the right or the necessary insight to make these judgments" (per Business Insider). Nonetheless, the Parental Advisory Label was approved and went into effect in 1990.
ONE-HIT WONDERS WERE MASS-PRODUCED AND THEN THROWN AWAY
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A measly 10% of albums released each year turn a profit, as per the RIAA (via PBS). To offset such large losses, record labels churned out as many songs as possible, hoping that a few would become hits. In his book "The Billboard Book of Gold and Platinum Records," Adam White points out that the RIAA also introduced the cassette single in 1987 and lowered the certification sales criteria so more hit singles could be classified as gold or platinum. This created excitement and shifted the listener's focus to the single, a trend that continues today.
According to Harold L. Vogel in "Entertainment Industry Economics," labels focused on finding many new acts as the upfront costs were much lower. Once the label found a hit, there was little incentive to keep investing in the artist unless they could immediately replicate the experience. Thus, a culture of mass-producing one-hit wonders was born.
Consider the career of Madonna. In 1982, her first deal with Warner Brothers Records was based purely on singles and was not a full contract. According to Refinery29, she was simply offered an advance of $15,000 per single. Luckily, it worked out for her, but the same cannot be said of most '80s acts, who had one big song and then faded away. In a list VH1 compiled of the "100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders of the 1980s" (via EW), you will find the likes of "Come on Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners, "The Safety Dance" by Men Without Hats, and "I Melt With You" by Modern English –- songs that defined the '80s and are still loved today, but whose creators became carnage in the decade's excess.
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ROCK STARS WHO LOOK NOTHING LIKE THEY DID WHEN THEY WERE YOUNG
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BY JASON IANNONE/UPDATED: MARCH 7, 2023 6:33 PM EST
Getting old happens to the best of us, and the worst of us. All of us, really. Wrinkles occur, it becomes increasingly harder to keep weight off, and hair becomes a hassle because any attempt to grow it out simply exposes how thin it's getting. Rock stars are human, too, so the same rules apply. If they don't die before they get old, they're eventually going to look old.
Some rock stars, however, don't just look like older versions of their younger selves. Instead, as they age they begin to look like completely different people. In many cases, they don't even look the same in the face, never mind the hair and gut. You can look at a picture of them from their youth, swear in a court of law they're two different people, and nobody would convict you of perjury.
Here are some rock stars who, for one reason or another, look almost nothing like they did when they were young and virile.
Read More: https://www.grunge.com/126763/rock-stars-who-look-nothing-like-they-did-when-they-were-young/
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