Axl Rose, the frontman for the mega-watt Los Angeles-born rock band Guns N’ Roses boasts one of the most distinct voices in music history. Listening to songs like “Welcome to the Jungle” and “Paradise City,” it sounds like his singing voice comes out in neon colors.
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During the height of his and his band’s fame, it seemed as if the Indiana-born Rose, now 61 years old, and his crew were in the news constantly. With all that attention and all that experience behind him, one might wonder what the uber-successful artist has to say about his life, craft and career.
Indeed, here are the best 20 Axl Rose quotes.
1. “We have a saying in Guns N’ Roses: ‘When somebody’s gonna get yelled at, they’re gonna get the corn.’”
2. “I sing in five or six different voices that are all part of me. It’s not contrived.”
3. “In general, I usually don’t really go by or live my life by a clock, and outside of touring, I don’t really ask anyone else to. It’s not out of lack of respect for anyone or intentional.”
4. “What I’d tell any kid in high school is, ‘Take business classes.’ I don’t care what else you’re gonna do; if you’re gonna do art or anything, take business classes. You can say, ‘Well, I don’t want to get commercial,’ but if you do anything to make any money, you’re doing something commercial.”
5. “Regarding social media, I really don’t understand what appears to be the general population’s lack of concern over privacy issues in publicizing their entire lives on the Internet for others to see to such an extent… but hey it’s them, not me, so whatever.”
6. “I like to be real private; you don’t always want everyone around you—even when they like you.”
7. “Chinese Democracy wasn’t trying to tell China to have a democracy or anything like that. I don’t have an opinion on what kind of government they should have. My thing is, I went to stay there for about three months, and everywhere I went, the people are so shielded from what’s going on in the world.”
8. “I go to movies, go out with friends, go to car shows. I have a zoo.”
9. “I really liked the Seattle movement.”
10. “I try to be respectful about getting an honor or recognition, but I don’t really know what the Rock Hall actually is. In my experience with the people who run it, I don’t see it having to do with anything other than them making money.”
11. “The Guns N’ Roses reunion didn’t happen by chance or whatever. It was always looked at as a possibility, but it never seemed right or felt right.”
12. “I write the vocals last, because I wanted to invent the music first and push the music to the level that I had to compete against it.”
13. “Appetite for Destruction was the only thing written with lyrics and melody fitting the guitar parts at the same time. After that, I got a barrage of guitar songs that I was supposed to put words to, and I don’t know if that was the best thing for Guns.
14. “I mainly listen to the music that’s playing during movies. It can be the theme to ‘Pirates of the Caribbean,’ ‘The Equalizer,’ stuff like that. I like the blend of orchestra with modern instrumentation. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do.”
15. “I wasn’t looking at it like, ‘I’m singing for AC/DC.’ I was looking at it like, ‘Y’know, if I can, and if they think I’m able to do it.’”
16. “Slash and I hadn’t talked in 19 years, and when we did talk, I was like, ‘You wrote a lot of stuff that didn’t even happen. It’s not real.’”
17. “Mick Jagger is one of the greatest athletes who ever lived, just for how much he puts into it onstage.”
18. “There was a much more self-destructive nature in ‘Appetite.’ It was a going-for-it-at-all-cost thing that worked then.”
19. “I could beat my mike stand into the stage, but I was still in pain. Maybe fans liked it, but sometimes people forget you’re a person and they’re more into the entertainment value. It’s taken a long time to turn that around and give a strong show without it being a kamikaze show.”
20. “Queen has always been my favorite band. Freddie is the greatest singer, ever, is the way I look at it. The other thing about Queen for me is they embraced so many different styles.”
Photo by Marc S Canter/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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