The biggest douchebag in Rock history?

If you are into podcasts the Disgraceland one on Guns N Roses talks a lot about Axl‘s dysfunctional upbringing (he was molested by his own Father & physically abused by his Step-Father) & his ongoing psychological problems as a result of that.

It’s kind of makes sense that he wasn’t built to handle success or fame as a young adult when you know his backstory.

A lot of people can’t cope with any form of responsibility when they are broken inside or have had no functional support system around them to teach them right from wrong, let alone any kind of coping skills when they are in their formative years. Axl certainly didn’t have anything resembling normality in his environment when he was growing up.

By the time Guns N Roses had started doing well he had also developed a deep distrust of the media (and had always had a problem with authority) and I believe once he got sober, he couldn’t stand to be around his other band members that were still getting high daily. Axl would show up late & cancel shows not only because he was full of deep self-loathing and didn’t want to perform anymore but also because he was trying to scare/control his band mates into towing the line to give up the drugs and booze after he gave them all ultimatums to get clean or he’d leave the band.

I agree it’s crazy unprofessional, especially by today’s standards but when you’re not emotionally equipped to handle what you can’t control in your life then you either lash out, shut down or implode. Axl did all 3 things.

Do I condone his asshole behaviour? God no but if you dig deep enough & have a basic understanding as to why people who are emotionally crippled don’t behave to societal norms, then ongoing poor behaviour can pretty much be expected.

On top of all that, bad behaviour also gets compounded and often goes unchecked when you are talented and surrounded by enablers which is the very definition of what happens in the Music Industry, especially if you are a hugely successful touring act.

Does any of this excuse such behaviour, absolutely not but you can get an inkling as to why some people end up being so full of themselves and also so completely self-destructive when to us from the outside looking-in, they should be living the dream lifestyle.

All of the above. Or he would show up hours late to concerts. Very unprofessional behavior to paying customers.

Just to give you an idea of his character. There was a bigass show in the Olympic Stadium of Montréal in the early 90's with Metallica and Guns N' Roses. That's where James Hetfield got burnt by pyrotechnics early in the concert. The guys from Metallica were very bummed as they wanted to please the 55+ thousands of fans that came to see them.

In a documentary I saw on tv a few years later, the guys from Metallica were confiding that they thought "Well, at least "Guns" are still there to save the show." The people waited a full 2 hours before Guns showed on set. Apparently some things weren't to Axl's taste (something about monitors not being at the exact places he wanted them and/or the sound not being good enough) and after 40 minutes, mr Rose yelled something like "This'll be the last you see of us for a good while. Go get a refund!!" and walked away.

In the Metallica documentary, I think it was Lars speaking (James went to the hospital but the other guys stayed behind) or a guy of Faith No More, I don't remember well. He said "Alx got backstage, just sat there, light up a cigarette like nothing was going on. We were shocked... we'd just look at him and be like "What the fuck are you doing!??".

Frustrated fans went into a riot in the streets of Montréal.

All this is from what I remember... I may not have all the facts exactly right but the big picture stays the same. After James' accident, Axl and Guns could have been heroes and save the day. But no... instead he decided to just be the biggest douchebag he could be. Man it must have sucked to be his band mates.

I'm sure there's plenty more instances of him being an asshole.

That was more on Cobain's end. He couldn't stand Axl or GN'R, but Axl was a fan of Nirvana.

Sounds like you're an abject moron, bro, since you clearly didn't pick up on the fact that bands (including GnR) don't always have control of the venue's sound system.