Axl Rose on the most difficult album to sing in the rock canon: “It’s really challenging”
Rock and roll has never been known for being kind to the human voice. As much as artists like to throw their entire bodies into their performances, there comes a point when sometimes the voice just gives out on someone because they push it way too hard to get the exact right take. Although Axl Rose could have claimed to be one of the greatest vocalists of the 1980s, even he knew that he couldn’t touch something as perfect as Back in Black without going through his paces.
Listening back to Guns N’ Roses, though, Rose was always his own unique animal behind the microphone. There are many great vocal runs that he got up to during the Appetite for Destruction era, but by Use Your Illusion, people realised that they weren’t dealing with just another screecher. This was a raw vocalist who knew what they were doing, which became a much greater headache when it came to Rose cancelling shows because of his voice.
Aside from not showing up at all for some gigs, Rose wasn’t the most cordial bandmate to work with. He was the one who demanded that the group be given necessary treatment before shows and would bother not showing up to some of the gigs on the tour when his voice was giving him trouble, the PA system wasn’t up to his standards, or probably if the stars weren’t aligned in just the right way.
But when working with a band like AC/DC, they were not going to take any of that shit. The Young brothers were always known for having an ‘on with the show’ mentality, and nowhere is that better exemplified in Back in Black. They had just buried their former frontman, Bon Scott, but with Brian Johnson at the helm, they had a phoenix from the ashes moment with nearly every track on the record.
Whereas Scott had a voice suited for rough-and-tumble rock and roll, Johnson’s screech was almost impossible to do properly. So when the frontman had to bow out due to health concerns and problems with his hearing, Rose stepped up to the plate, singing some of their greatest hits on tour with them.
Then again, Rose knew that he had to come prepared if he could even hope to pull it off effectively, telling Billboard, “I can’t take anything away from [Brian Johnson’s] singing. He’s a great singer, and it’s really challenging to sing. I’m just trying to do it justice for the fans… A lot of the Back in Black stuff is really challenging.”
Despite his reputation for being unhinged if he so much as chipped a fingernail, Rose couldn’t have been more committed if he tried, always trying his best and, more often than not, reaching similar levels that Johnson could. In fact, it’s a wonder why some rock fans had such severe pushback to Rose as a choice, considering his screech on ‘Paradise City’ just feels like a more youthful version of what Johnson was known for.
Rose was probably far better suited to his main act, but should AC/DC need another vocalist in the future, he makes a worthy candidate to take the reins if needed. The music might be totally different, but when it comes to vocal tone, he and Johnson are at least speaking the same language half the time.
