Axl Roses’ favourite punk album
Guns N’ Roses are one of the planet’s most energetic and versatile rock bands. When they released their debut album, Appetite For Destruction, they cemented themselves as a force to be reckoned with, as tracks like ‘Welcome To The Jungle’, ‘Double Talking Jive’ and ‘Rocket Queen’ showed how good they were at delivering that hard rock sound.
That said, when the band released their next albums, Use Your Illusion I and II, they showed that it wasn’t just aggressive music they could pull off. They gave in to their ballad side slightly more, allowing songs to be slower and build a little bit to create an atmosphere and provide more versatility.
However, when you begin to analyse the band by its members, that versatility goes even further, specifically with Axl Rose. Though his voice doesn’t sound very punk, as he has excellent range and vocal tone, he has a very punk attitude. This could be because of his confrontational persona but also because of how happy he is to speak his mind.
When you consider Rose’s style, it’s hardly a surprise that he is a fan of punk music. Pair the energy with the mindset, and you will have somebody who wants to listen to it all day. So, it begs the question, what would he consider to be the greatest punk album ever made?
It turns out that Rose is a punk traditionalist, as despite the genre being far-reaching and varied now, he thinks Sex Pistols and their debut album, Never Mind the Bollocks, is some of the best that the genre has ever produced. He said that he listens to that album all the time and is obsessed to the point that if he ever sees a physical version of the album out in public, he feels compelled to buy it.
“I’ve still got my favourites and things,” he said, “Like the Pistols, ELO and Queen. The two records I always buy if there’s a cassette deck around and I don’t have the tapes in my bag are Never Mind the Bollocks and Queen II.” There are certainly remnants of Johnny Rotten present in Axl Rose’s voice and his stage presence; however, the Sex Pistols lead singer would likely deny this, as he has made it clear in the past that he’s not a fan of Rose.
Lydon likens Guns n Roses to the establishment, saying they’re not a genuine band and aren’t people he would like to associate himself with. “I don’t want the establishment to accept me in any shape or form,” he said, “Because I despise them so much.”
He has also attacked Rose personally in the past, saying that his adoration of Sex Pistols is fake. “Axl Rose. His mediocre excuse (not to talk to me), at the moment is that he’s in (the) studio recording,” he said, “This is a man, who also at the same time, proclaims that he loves, huh? My singing style. You’re a fraud, and I’m underwhelmed.”
