The lead vocalist of the popular American hard rock band Guns N’ Roses, Axl Rose, is known mostly for his deeply appealing voice and almost genius musical abilities, with many acknowledging him as the greatest singer of all time. But despite his great musical tendencies, the man has made for himself quite an image with a long list of his disturbing scandals and problematic behavior.
The band altogether has gone through a lot, with the original lineup leaving the band only a few years after their debut, followed by Axl Rose disappearing from the public eye as well. He came back many years later with a brand new line of band members with whom he toured and promoted his album called Chinese Democracy.
But in 2016, Axl Rose managed to bring back the original lineup of members, and the band went on a tour once again to perform for the fans. The group was originally formed in 1985 by Axl Rose himself, and since its debut, they have managed to find for themselves a devoted fan group that continues to support them despite their controversies.
While the group does identify as a hard rock band, Axl Rose refused to attend the event where they were supposed to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The vocalist also requested not to associate the band’s name with the Rock Hall. This was upsetting and offending for many rock fans, who hoped for Axl Rose to get over his bad attitude.
Born in Indiana, Axl Rose has apparently been arrested a total of twenty times throughout his teenage years. The man might be a genius, but he also knows how to be a nuisance to others. Continue reading till the end to find out more about Axl Rose’s controversies.
Axl Rose’s Controversy
One of the biggest issues that have probably tainted Rose’s image was the case of 1985 when he was arrested for sleeping with a minor who was seen coming out of his place completely naked at night after a fight. Though Rose claimed that was not what happened, the charges against him were also dropped due to lack of evidence.
He has been known to have ego problems, and he continues to be a douchebag to fellow artists and the media people. He is known to have kept his audience waiting for him during his tours, and insiders have revealed that he used to spend much of his time drinking till he could not even see things straight. Fans have revealed having waited for hours for the man to show up and give them their money’s worth.
While the band comes under the hard rock genre, Rose seemed to have taken the entire theme too seriously, as he had a phase where he went around using all sorts of explicit cuss words toward people. One particular popular case was when he started using racial slurs toward black people, and members of his band found that unsettling.
He also released songs with disturbing lyrics, cussing, stereotyping immigrants, and being specifically hateful toward the Islamic people. Also, after fourteen years of hiatus, the band finally released a much-awaited album titled Chinese Democracy, but the response to it turned out to be ridiculously underwhelming.
The chemistry among the bandmates was not the best either, as Rose and Slash, out of all the others, used to get into fights the most, with Rose even calling Slash out, on one of their on-air stages, for using too many drugs. The band Guns N’ Roses contributed heavily to Axl Rose’s bad image, with the members disbanding for years or getting into fights with each other.
Rose took the band name too seriously and did his best to carry the band and himself in public exactly like a street gang. He has produced and released songs talking about how they will ‘kick everyone’s ass,’ especially the journalists who ‘go around talking shit about them.’
That Axl Rose has issues of his own that really need to be dealt with is true, but for fans, the final straw was when he made a fan strip his Slash merch at one of their events. He did not like fans wearing merch of other members at the band’s events and eventually also asked the Slash fan to leave the arena. He had a childish thick-skinned personality which brought significant trouble to the group.
But maybe that is what has kept the attention of the group for so many years, and fans continue to listen and vibe to their problematic songs.
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