The ongoing debate of what will happen when Guns N’ Roses are inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame is sure to continue until the April 14 event itself actually happens.
On Monday, Rock Hall President/CEO Joel Peresman told Eddie Trunk that the original GNR “Appetite For Destruction” lineup – Axl Rose, Slash, Izzy Stradlin, Duff McKagan and Steven Adler – have all confirmed they’ll in Cleveland on April 14, along with keyboardist Dizzy Reed and drummer Matt Sorum.
In response to Persman’s comments and a tweet by Trunk backing them up, Slash clarified his current status on Tuesday with a tweet of his own, saying, “For the record, I didn’t RSVP, or in any way commit to attending the RRHF. I don’t appreciate people putting words in my mouth.”
Now, a rare Axl Rose interview with the Los Angeles Times adds more questions than answers about what fans can expect at the Rock Hall induction.
“I've got mixed emotions about what the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame actually really is, but at the same time, there's a lot of people — the fans — that it just means something to them, and they're happy. It's like you won the Heisman or something,” says Axl.
Randall Roberts of the LA Times writes that the last thing Rose wants to do, the singer stresses, is ruin it for others. He refers to Marlon Brando sending an American Indian activist to accept his Oscar and give a protest speech "and everybody getting … off, or when Michael Moore got up at the Academy Awards and said whatever about George Bush. People don't want that associated with their awards shows, even if you have a big audience. In one way it might be right, but it usually backfires on whoever does it. So I really don't want to spoil it for everybody else — or take the beating."
Then he said curtly of the induction performance: "There is no plan yet. There really is no plan. We're still busy with this lineup. We're gonna be busy — we're gonna be busy all next year. We'll be putting out new stuff as soon as we can figure out what our deal is with labels, blah blah blah."
During the extended conversation, Rose went on to explain the source of the friction between himself and Slash.
"It was really a fight with me and Slash," says Rose of the forces that took down the band. "Izzy was doing the same thing, but the fight with me and Slash started the day I met him. He came in, popped my tape out and put his in and wanted me in his band. And I didn't want to join his band. We've had that war since Day 1."
Rose has fired two managers in the past year, and is wary of the motives of many music business types. "All these managers, they all believe in one thing: sell a reunion tour and get their commission. It's just a phone call. It's a half a day's … work, or however long they want to keep the bidding war going. They get their commission and they don't care if it falls on its face."
Read the full interview with Axl at the Los Angeles Times here.
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