“Why do you hate me”: Faith No More’s rare form of hell on tour with Guns ‘N Roses
The taller the flower grows, the quicker people are to cut it down. We all know that it’s a tale as old as time by now. When an artist becomes successful, well, then you have a bigger stick to beat them with, for a number of reasons. They’re more exposed, so anything you don’t like about them is more consistently served, but mainly, it’s rooted in jealousy. And so when the flower of Axl Rose towered over the remainder of rock in the early 1990s, the remaining artists had their shears at the ready.
Okay, the truth is, while I wouldn’t choose to be Axl Rose in a one-night-only opportunity to live in someone else’s shoes, he represents the sort of world-conquering frontman who would be the envy of many fans. Regardless of your thoughts, he climbed to the top of the musical mountain and has felt what we mortals can only dream of feeling.
Along with Slash, Guns N’ Roses created a commercial brand of hair metal that incited widespread chorus across the globe. But they treaded that tricky line of global megastardom while representing a subcultural genre. Naturally, their success can become confused with the simple notion of them selling out, and the very idea of them enjoying the fruits of their labour seemingly negates the sense of anti-establishment that many musicians thrive on.
So what do you do when you’re midway through beating the band with your stick of hate and they come to you and ask to support them on an epic arena tour? Do you steadfastly maintain your morals, or does the potential payoff cloud your moral compass? It was that very rock and hard place that Faith No More found themselves in.
In 1992, Axl Rose’s band asked them to join them on a stadium tour on the basis that they were one of his favourite acts. But unfortunately, the backslapping didn’t charm the San Francisco band, who instead spent most of their time on tour laughing at Rose, belittling his performances in media appearances as well as making jibes throughout their supporting show.
While talking to Select magazine that very year, bassist Bill Gould forthrightly said, “Every band in the world might think they want to open for Guns N’ Roses, but let me tell you, it’s been a real ugly personal experience.”
The band continued their jibes, taking aim at Guns N’ Roses’ growing sense of on-stage theatrics, clearly outlining a distaste for the grandiose nature of stardom. “I’m getting more and more confused about who’s who in Guns N’ Roses, and it’s blowing my mind,” said keyboard player Roddy Bottum. “There’s Dizzy and Iggy and Lizzy and Tizzy and Gilby and Giddy. Onstage there’s a horn section, two backup singers, two keyboard players, an airline pilot, a basketball coach, a couple of car mechanics.”
To Rose’s credit, he addressed the air of awkwardness and invited the band to his trailer at 2am in a bid to understand what exactly the problem was. He was reported to have said, “‘I only like you guys, Nirvana, Jane’s Addiction and two other bands, and all of you hate me’” He then simply asked, “Why do you hate me?” which reportedly cooled the tensions.
As a supporting band given a highly exposed opportunity, they can only be left with egg on their face when confronted about their behaviour and as years have passed, have acknowledged the good grace the band showed them despite their petulance. “They were quite cool with us,” said Gould, “much more than we probably deserved.”
