Rock Scene-Axl Rose Speaks 1989

Rock Scene - October 1989

Axl Rose Speaks!

Rock Scene: What did you dream about when you were little? Is this it?
Axl Rose: No. I always had a million different ideas of what I wanted to do. It's like any kid. First you want to be a fireman, then a cowboy, and everything else. In about eighth grade I knew I wanted to do something with music, and that took on all kinds of different shapes, and didn't really get a solid shape until probably about eight years ago of exactly what I wanted it to look like, and I think we're achieving that now.

RS: What's the most valuable thing you've learned since this all happened?
Axl: Wow, I don't know. Never to underestimate yourself or anybody else around you, and especially never underestimate your opponent. There's always an opponent.

RS: Is being controversial part of the Guns N' Roses mystique?
Axl: Yeah, obviously it is, but I mean, we don't go out of our way to be controversial. If we do something that is controversial, we'll use it to our best advantage. We'll use it in the press and stuff like that, but we don't sit around thinking up ways to be controversial.

RS: Would Axl Rose make a good father?
Axl: Would Axl make a good father? Um... not yet. I love kids, but I think I would be too hard on them because... A lot of people say that when they're raised a certain way, "I'll never be like that with my children," but then those things seem to come out, whether you want them to or not, cause that's how you were taught to raise a kid. And I'm still wrestling with those things, and until I come to terms with them and feel like I could give a child the upbringing that it would deserve, I don't want to attempt it. Like I've said before, I'm so much of a perfectionist I don't want to attempt it and end up smacking it when I shouldn't have, or something. I don't want to give a child anything bad to look back on except for what may have happened in just the natural course of life. I don't want to be in the situation of, "Yeah, well if I wouldn't have locked him in his room..." You see, I get along with my father real well now. Actually, he's my stepfather, but he raised me. But I see some of the pain that he has to go through in dealing with the way he raised me, and the pain that I have to deal with in getting along with my father, and thinking back on certain things that happened every now and then, and how mad I get. I don't want those things to happen.

RS: Well, even good parents make mistakes.
Axl: Yeah. I just have a very short temper with things.

RS: What discourages you?
Axl: Distrust, and the feeling that you can't trust a situation. Things like that make you go, "Man, this isn't worth dealing with." Basically, I'm just here to make my songs, everything else is second fiddle, and if I gotta deal with this shit on top of it... lies and bullshit like that, then you just kinda get discouraged on the whole thing, cause you know that you can always figure out how to scrounge up the money for a shit room and still write your songs.

RS: What are some of your favorite foods?
Axl: Sushi, Lloyd's Ribs - it's in Texas, they ship 'em to L.A., ice cream (no particular flavor), and steak.

RS: What foods won't you eat?
Axl: Lima beans, peas, spinach, and quiche.

RS: Is that because 'real men don't eat quiche'?
Axl: Yeah. My brother makes a great quiche, but I can't handle it. I like corn on the cob, but any other way it sucks! When we were in England, they have corn on pizza, they have corn on everything. I can't handle it!

RS: If you had a million tax-free dollars, what would you do with it?
Axl: I'd buy a Harley, buy a truck to transport it in, and buy a Cadillac. I'd buy an apartment here (in L.A.) and one in New York. I'd buy a lot of equipment, and I'd start investing. I'd also buy a few guns cause I like to shoot.

RS: If you were to cast yourself in a movie, what role would you play?
Axl: Mickey Rourke in Body Heat. That's the killer role. I actually have someone looking for that type of role for me. I don't know if it will ever come about. It's not like something that I'm pressing. It's not like something I work at every day. Just, if something comes about like that, I'd be very interested.

To be continued . . .