The most “perfect” classic rock frontman, according to Lana Del Rey
Listen closely to Lana Del Rey’s music, and you’ll notice that every album is filled with nods to the artists and influences that shape her world, from the songs she loves to the poems she knows by heart.
Her first two albums are especially busy. On her 2012 debut, Born to Die, Del Rey referenced everything from Tom Petty to Snoop Dogg, Russian literature to ultimate American icons like Marilyn Monroe. On her follow-up, she doubled down, with 2014’s Ultraviolence offering a treasure trove of nods to Jim Morrison, David Lynch, Nina Simone, Lou Reed and beyond.
It carries on through everything she does, especially when it comes to calling out her ultimate idols by name. From Elvis Presley on ‘Body Electric’, to a list of sweet references to women like Stevie Nicks, Joan Baez and Joni Mitchell on her song ‘Dance Till We Die’, all of whom have inspired her or even become her friends or guides, she puts it right there in her work as a way of honouring them.
However, the same goes for influences that don’t quite match up with her sonics. On occasion, Del Rey gets slightly heavier than her usual ethereal sound. Tracks like ‘Pretty When You Cry’ or ‘Shades Of Cool’ show that best, but on ‘Guns and Roses’, she stays soft in sound, but in inspiration, it’s her ultimate rock hero that moves her.
“I love Guns N’ Roses,” Del Rey told Rolling Stone. An unlikely fan of the iconic heavy rock band, she shared that she’s seen them live several times, adding that she’s now even sparked up a friendship with Axl Rose.
“Axl is perfect. He’s exactly what I thought he would be,” she shared, as his work spurs her on, onstage and on tape, and even though their shows are vastly different due to their varying sounds, she added, “He’s an inspiration. He goes onstage for three-and-a-half hours every night, you know? He doesn’t get tired. It’s amazing. Stamina.”
Rose and his band also seem to stand as a perfect metaphor for her. In her song ‘Guns and Roses’, the band appear as a descriptor for the type of love she was in, at once both violent and tough, but also tender and beautiful. Singing to a “Heavy metal love of mine”, the chorus simply repeats, “He loved guns and roses”, even though it was always her who loved the band.
They get another shout-out in one of her fan-favourite unreleased tracks, ‘Axl Rose Husband’, which feels like an early iteration of ‘Guns and Roses’, singing, “You, my heavy metal king”.
Clearly, Axl Rose and the band hold a special place in her life, not just as a band she loved, led by an artist she admires, but also a stand-in for the idea of a heavier, harsher love between Del Rey as a delicate rose and a heavy rocker, punk partner of hers.
