Axl Goes Off (on Slash)!

Axl Rose (apparently) recently posted a long “clearing the air” type diatribe on the GnR message board, and it’s a doozy. The guy who gets cracked the most? Slash.

I’ll leave you to wade through the whole thing, but here are what I thought were the most interesting quotes.
Axl going off on everyone, particularly Slash. Interesitng quote below, though.

> The whole ‘Axl wouldn’t go on stage, yada yada’ is complete and utter crap. Never happened, all made up, fallacy and fantasy.

> When Guns renegotiated our contract with Geffen I had the bit about the name added in as protection for myself as I had come up with the name and then originally started the band with it. It was added to the contract and everyone signed off on it. It wasn’t hidden in fine print etc as you had to initial the section verifying you had acknowledged it.

> Why keep the name? I’m literally the last man standing. Not bragging, not proud. It’s been a fucking nightmare but I didn’t leave Guns and I didn’t drive others out. With Slash it’s been nothing more than pure strategy and saving face while manipulating the public like he used to me.

> Slash never had ANY arguments for keeping the name until long after and again I feel that had a lot to do with seedy biz types and him feeling he had to save face.

> When the reality of the breakup hit and the strategy to have me crawl back was put into play, Slash had to save face and get [a] business team and public support. Painting me as the one who held a crowd hostage forcing the others to sign over the name worked out pretty well in that regard. I’m the bad guy and Duff, the fans and most importantly himself were the victims. Oh, and they had actually made the sacrifice for the crowd, the people, the fans at the show. But again…. IT NEVER HAPPENED.

> Had I not done this [presumably Chinese Democracy, the new album] Slash would have succeeded in destroying me publicly much more than he, others or myself have so far, and I would have gone bankrupt.

> [Before the break-up he allegedly had] 3 to 4 hour phone conversations nearly every day with Slash trying to reach a compromise. I was specifically told no lyrics, no melodies, no changes to anything and to sing what I was told or fuck off.

> Guns did not have specific lifelong criteria to follow, and many of the influences on Appetite were abandoned by the others long before me. In fact Slash hated a good portion of those on Appetite and wasn’t all that into the involvement or association, but knew it worked at the time and realized it was the cusp of a wave that was growing. It’s a trip for me to witness as so many of the people he performs with — he hated…them, their bands and their music where the others or I were the fans.

> That [Zakk Wylde in the band] could’ve worked on some level but like Guns it would’ve been up to those two [Zakk and Slash?] and their relationship. They talk nice, but it wasn’t pretty…but it was pretty awesome!

And my personal, apolitical favorite:

> Sweet Child wasn’t in any way trying to write a “hit” mainstream song. It was trying to write the best Guns N’ Roses Lynyrd Skynyrd-influenced song we could as tribute and recognition in the tradition of Tuesday’s Gone With the Wind or Simple Man…and at a time when nothing could have seemed more unpopular.

Category: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Slash, Zakk Wylde