The moment Axl Rose lost respect for a classic rock singer: “He was disgusted”
The genre of rock and roll has never been known for being one big happy family. As much as people may like to think that the best musicians in the world get together on weekends and barbecue once a month, many would gladly take a hatchet to each other if society allowed them to.
Axl Rose has probably had a track record of burning a lot of bridges during his lifetime, but he admitted that he wasn’t a fan of David Lee Roth from the first time he saw him.
Granted, there’s a good chance that without Roth, Guns N’ Roses wouldn’t have had the opportunities they were given. After being inundated with glam bands for years, the Los Angeles music scene started to switch over to a new sound with the release of Van Halen’s self-titled album. Birthing the genre known as hair metal, acts like Poison and Warrant were quick to follow in Roth’s footsteps, all while Rose was brooding in the background.
Moving to California from Indiana, Rose wanted to put together a band that made every hair metal band look like a poser by comparison. Working in bands like LA Guns and Hollywood Rose, Rose finally found the right lineup when bringing together drummer Steven Adler and guitarist Slash, forming the band by combining the names of their old outfits.
Even though the band were hanging on by a thread throughout most of their time together, they still managed to leave their competition in the dust with Appetite for Destruction. If hair metal made songs for the arena, Guns made songs for the streets, chronicling their rise to fame with songs about living in the dumps on tracks like ‘It’s So Easy’ and ‘Nightrain’.
After a few months at the top, Rose started to become a major player in the hard rock scene when he bumped into Roth on the bar circuit in the UK. While Rose was excited to meet the man who kicked down the door for LA hard rock, he quickly realised that this was a different type of rock star than he had bargained for.
Coming off a recent show in the UK that left a couple of their fans trampled to death, Rose wanted solace from the rock legend, only to be told to lighten up. Instead of playing the understanding mentor figure, Roth was ice-cold, saying that Rose was making too big a deal of it and chalking up those casualties to rock and roll shenanigans.
It was the kind of response that cut through any illusion Rose might have had about the rock and roll brotherhood. For someone who had built his identity on intensity and taking everything to the edge, hearing that kind of indifference felt less like tough love and more like a complete disconnect from reality.
From that point on, whatever respect he may have had for Roth as a trailblazer started to wear thin. There’s always been a fine line between living the rock and roll lifestyle and becoming numb to its consequences, and in that moment, Rose clearly felt that Roth had crossed it.
According to manager Doug Goldstein, Rose was absolutely appalled that someone could say such a thing, recalling, “Axl just said, ‘Really? I’m sorry, I don‘t really want to sit here anymore.’ He went back to his room. He was disgusted at Dave, and I was kind of embarrassed that I introduced them. To each his own, I guess”.
Even though Rose was more compassionate at the moment, that rock and roll spirit eventually became a dangerous part of their future shows, including multiple riots going on during the Use Your Illusion tour when Rose would call out early or not show up at all. Rose may have had an axe to grind when he took to the stage, but he had no time for Roth being so morbid coming off of a concert tragedy.
