Guns N' Roses Fans - Axl Rose Biography

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A Small Town White Boy...

The religious experience of his family marked Axl Rose since he was a child: not many nice things such as feeling you've been abandoned by God. "I watched my father speak in tongues and people interpret it. I watched him sing in perfect Japanese, and my dad doesn't know Japanese, and sing
every note right on key with his eyes closed, driving 100 miles an hour down the freeway and not hitting a car.

I dont know how that happened. I've seen people healed... I've seen people with no eyes read. It was very strange, but nothing ever happened to me. I always won all the Bible contests. I taught Sunday school. I played piano and I knew more gospel songs than anybody I knew... but nothing ever happened to me. If there's someone there above, I don't know him. I don't have a clue about it. I used to believe in God. Then he left me."

His parents, Stephen and Sharon Bailey, used to go to the Pentecostal Church in Lafayette, Indiana. Pentecostals don't allow their members smoking, drinking, going to dancing clubs or listening to rock n' roll music. It's very hard to get out of this style of life for those who have been deeply involved with it. It represents a revolt against a list of values that oftenly choke young people.
"His parents, Stephen and Sharon Bailey..." says above... That's not exactly correct. Another hard time for the little Bill Bruce Bailey, born on February 6th, 1962, came when he realized that William Rose was his real father. "I wasn't told I had a real father until I was 17. My real father was my stepdad, as far as I knew. But I found some insurance papers, then I found my mom's diploma with the last name Rose. I was never born Bill Bailey. I was born William Rose."

This bunch of troubles with his family and his own identity determined Axl's fate. Soon he started smoking pot, drinking masses of alcohol and finally, he dropped out highschool in his junior year. Axl keeps only a few nice memories of his school years in Lafayette: "When I was in the first grade, I wasn't allowed to cross the street until I sang two Elvis Presley songs. And then, when I was in the third grade, at recess, I would have to get up on top of a tree stump and the teachers would make me sing all the Top-40 Elvis tunes for the younger kids."
Izzy Stradlin recalls the first time Axl impressed him. "The first thing I remember about Axl, before I really knew him, is the first day of class, eight or ninth grade, I'm sitting in class and I hear this noise going on in the front... then there's this scuffle and I see him, Axl, and this teacher bouncing off a door jamb. And then Axl was gone down the hall with all these teachers running after him." For Izzy, "Axl was like a serious lunatic when I met him. He was just really bent on fighting and destroying things. Somebody'd look at him wrong and he'd just like start a fight." One of the tattoes on his left arm says rocker and the other says "Victory or Death". When Axl puts on some of his black leather jackets, he use to wear a pin that prays "Never too young to die".

From time to time, he reads NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE, Jim Morrison's biography written by Danny Sugerman. In APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION: DAYS OF GUNS N' ROSES, the book that Sugerman wrote about the band, Axl tells that in 1990 he visited Morrison's grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris. Seems like the encounter with his idol's death beat the shit out of him: "I decided to live for myself, not to die for rock n' roll." Axl Rose is very smart and talented, but sometimes his explosive personality makes him miserable.
"I'm very sensitive and emotional and things upset me and make me feel like not functioning or dealing with people...

I went to a clinic thinking it would help my moods. The only thing I did was to take one 500 question test, you know, filling in the little black dots... All of a sudden I'm diagnosed manic depressive. 'Let's put Axl on medication', well, the medication doesn't help me deal with the stress. The only thing it does is keep people off my back." His lyrics are as changing as him.
In love with model Erin Everly, Axl got married to her and after several arguements and break-ups, he finally got divorced on January '91. "Erin and I treated each other like shit. Sometimes we treated each other great, because the children in us were best friends. But then there were other times when we just fucked up each other's lives completely."

During 1991, Axl showed up in public only drinking Coke, "alcohol hurts my throat", he said. Since Guns N' Roses existance, a bunch of riots and violent episodes contributed to make Axl's bad boy fame bigger. In 1990, Axl's neighbor, Gabriella Kantor, claimed Axl clubbed her with a wine bottle on the head, she went to a hospital but was released after 2 hours in "good condition". According to the police report, the arguement began over over loud music Rose alledgedly had been playing. Axl got arrested and spent 4 hours in jail before posting bail.

Then came the St. Louis riot we all know and the last time Axl crossed his arms behind his back was in 1998, at the Phoenix Airport, when the personnel of the airport tried to check his baggage and Rose refused to open it.

In spite of all these, sometimes true - sometimes funny facts, Axl is still a genuine artist, but above all, a human being. "In some ways I hate the way I was raised... the lack for supporting anything I was into or good at. But in a way, I can't hate it because this sense of drive... this mission to do something with my life."

This biography was taken from the book "Las Manzanas Podridas" by Daniel Riera and translated to English by Xozi
Updates to the biography by Xozi

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» Axl Rose Biography «
A Small Town White Boy...
	The religious experience of his family marked Axl Rose since he was a child: not many nice things such as feeling you've been abandoned by God. "I watched my father speak in tongues and people interpret it. I watched him sing in perfect Japanese, and my dad doesn't know Japanese, and sing every note right on key with his eyes closed, driving 100 miles an hour down the freeway and not hitting a car.
I dont know how that happened. I've seen people healed... I've seen people with no eyes read. It was very strange, but nothing ever happened to me. I always won all the Bible contests. I taught Sunday school. I played piano and I knew more gospel songs than anybody I knew... but nothing ever happened to me. If there's someone there above, I don't know him. I don't have a clue about it. I used to believe in God. Then he left me." His parents, Stephen and Sharon Bailey, used to go to the Pentecostal Church in Lafayette, Indiana. Pentecostals don't allow their members smoking, drinking, going to dancing clubs or listening to rock n' roll music. It's very hard to get out of this style of life for those who have been deeply involved with it. It represents a revolt against a list of values that oftenly choke young people. "His parents, Stephen and Sharon Bailey..." says above... That's not exactly correct. Another hard time for the little Bill Bruce Bailey, born on February 6th, 1962, came when he realized that William Rose was his real father. "I wasn't told I had a real father until I was 17. My real father was my stepdad, as far as I knew. But I found some insurance papers, then I found my mom's diploma with the last name Rose. I was never born Bill Bailey. I was born William Rose." This bunch of troubles with his family and his own identity determined Axl's fate. Soon he started smoking pot, drinking masses of alcohol and finally, he dropped out highschool in his junior year. Axl keeps only a few nice memories of his school years in Lafayette: "When I was in the first grade, I wasn't allowed to cross the street until I sang two Elvis Presley songs. And then, when I was in the third grade, at recess, I would have to get up on top of a tree stump and the teachers would make me sing all the Top-40 Elvis tunes for the younger kids." Izzy Stradlin recalls the first time Axl impressed him. "The first thing I remember about Axl, before I really knew him, is the first day of class, eight or ninth grade, I'm sitting in class and I hear this noise going on in the front... then there's this scuffle and I see him, Axl, and this teacher bouncing off a door jamb. And then Axl was gone down the hall with all these teachers running after him." For Izzy, "Axl was like a serious lunatic when I met him. He was just really bent on fighting and destroying things. Somebody'd look at him wrong and he'd just like start a fight." One of the tattoes on his left arm says rocker and the other says "Victory or Death". When Axl puts on some of his black leather jackets, he use to wear a pin that prays "Never too young to die".
From time to time, he reads NO ONE HERE GETS OUT ALIVE, Jim Morrison's biography written by Danny Sugerman. In APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION: DAYS OF GUNS N' ROSES, the book that Sugerman wrote about the band, Axl tells that in 1990 he visited Morrison's grave at the Père Lachaise Cemetery, in Paris. Seems like the encounter with his idol's death beat the shit out of him: "I decided to live for myself, not to die for rock n' roll." Axl Rose is very smart and talented, but sometimes his explosive personality makes him miserable. "I'm very sensitive and emotional and things upset me and make me feel like not functioning or dealing with people...
I went to a clinic thinking it would help my moods. The only thing I did was to take one 500 question test, you know, filling in the little black dots... All of a sudden I'm diagnosed manic depressive. 'Let's put Axl on medication', well, the medication doesn't help me deal with the stress. The only thing it does is keep people off my back." His lyrics are as changing as him. In love with model Erin Everly, Axl got married to her and after several arguements and break-ups, he finally got divorced on January '91. "Erin and I treated each other like shit. Sometimes we treated each other great, because the children in us were best friends. But then there were other times when we just fucked up each other's lives completely." During 1991, Axl showed up in public only drinking Coke, "alcohol hurts my throat", he said. Since Guns N' Roses existance, a bunch of riots and violent episodes contributed to make Axl's bad boy fame bigger. In 1990, Axl's neighbor, Gabriella Kantor, claimed Axl clubbed her with a wine bottle on the head, she went to a hospital but was released after 2 hours in "good condition". According to the police report, the arguement began over over loud music Rose alledgedly had been playing. Axl got arrested and spent 4 hours in jail before posting bail.
	Then came the St. Louis riot we all know and the last time Axl crossed his arms behind his back was in 1998, at the Phoenix Airport, when the personnel of the airport tried to check his baggage and Rose refused to open it. In spite of all these, sometimes true - sometimes funny facts, Axl is still a genuine artist, but above all, a human being. "In some ways I hate the way I was raised... the lack for supporting anything I was into or good at. But in a way, I can't hate it because this sense of drive... this mission to do something with my life."