Game Change: Rock Hall Inducts Guns n' Roses
Thursday, December 8, 2011 at 12:01AM Boom!
It happened. I said it would: Guns n' Roses will be inducted into the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame this coming April. Other artist inductees include the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Beastie Boys, Donovan, Laura Nyro and the Small Faces.
Now, the real fun begins. The rumors. The panic. The crazy Tweets from GnR members, both past and present. The media tours. The arguments. Oh, it will be Glam joy to see how this plays out. But the most important thing of all is the induction ceremony and the constant refrain of "Will Axl show?"
If anything prompts an all-original Guns n' Roses reunion, it will be the Rock Hall induction ceremony. If the media scrutiny and hoopla surrounding the induction ceremony can't force Axl and Slash back together, I don't think anything else will. This year, the induction ceremony will actually happen in Cleveland, home to the Rock n' Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. I'm planning on going to the induction ceremony just to witness this all with my own two eyes. Some things in life just can't be missed. But don't worry: if you can't travel to Ohio in April, HBO will air the ceremony at a later date. I'm looking forward to writing about this over the next five months!
Reader Comments (16)
I would love to see a GnR reunion and agree that the HoF ceremony provides as much impetus as anything else that has happened in the past. But I doubt it will happen. Too many fissures in the House of Usher. My best guess is that it will be some variation on the Van Halen HoF fiasco.
Duff would seem agreeable to it. Steven all but lives off the narrative these days. But Izzy? Slash? Axl? And I talk about them like this, not because I know them, but because they were--for a brief period of time--everyone's thrashed out, punk-spiked, answer to mediocrity in music. And I do mean everyone. So many people, beyond fans who still visit sites like this, took something from them that the standard metal and mainstream music wasn't offering. Thus the confluence of people who called themselves fans at the time AFD came out. This is something that some commentators on this site don't get. Often, really great music--regardless of the genre or sub-genre--hits people who simply love music. AFD did that. UYI road that wave. The rest, ahem, brought that wave crashing down. And now you have fans who take what crests they can--JuJu Hounds, Velvet Revolver, GnR, Slash solo, Adler's Appetite--and hope they reform into something that is long since past. I count myself as one of them. But I ain't waiting for it to happen.
A final issue is this: the last place Axl did an interview was on Eddie Trunk's show. The guy, and the show, and the co-hosts, draw a lot of ire from certain fans. But Eddie has raised a really good point: the HoF is a wasteland of mismatched music. It serves the people that created it more than the people who listen to the music it purports to celebrate. And that is okay I guess. But I really wonder if a corporate love-fest is the hook that can bring this band together. If it is, what does that say about the state of music?
I'd give quite a bit to be in your position Allyson. I'd go if I could. So please bring us back the details. There are very few places I would go for them other than this site.
Thanks as always.
"Chinese Democracy" is a great record much better than anything former gunners have released.
Axl do not need to sell himself to money because it is obvious that he don't want to have anything in common with Slash anymore.
Yes, as HIM, more or less, says, putting the original line up together on stage at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is the near equivalent of moving mountains (in this case, Axl and Slash), but there is always hope.
I actually think Axl would go for it. If one or all of those who have been on stage with him since the break-up, namely Izzy, Duff
and Adler, get his blessing, then one or all can mediate reuniting the two for a one-off, "see how it goes", reunion for the obligatory induction ceremony.
As HIM points out, G'n'R's only REAL album, "Appetite for Destruction" transcended genres among music fans. Many people I know were lost to Post-New Wave/Alternative Hell until this album came out.
Personally, I was into Hanoi Rocks, Accept, Crüe, Scorpions, Saxon, plus first couple of Metallica records among others and had just bought the first two "Best of Metal Blade" albums on cassette right before "Appetite" came out.
Then this kid in the mailroom of the ad agency I worked at in D.C. told me to go buy it immediately without hesitation. And, obviously, boy was he right. I played the hell out of that cassette. Next thing you know, the guy's tellin' me they were playin' The Bayou in Georgetown. I got to witness Rock and Roll History, as that was the last official club date, according to Slash, played by G'n'R. After that, I made that album live up to the word "played" and had it glued into my Walkman 'til I just simply couldn't listen to it anymore.
Now is the opportunity for Axl AND the boys to make Rock and Roll History again.
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A PERSONAL APPEAL TO AXL ROSE
Follow in Alice Cooper's footsteps. Alice has been touring for years with a line-up of musicians other than those he originally formed his band with, but he knew to accept being inducted the right way honorably -- with as close to the original line-up as he could (one original member had passed away). Axl, here is your chance to put it all back together -- let bygones be bygones. Extend the olive branch to Slash and make Rock and Roll History again!
That single interview changed my thoughts about him...what he is trying to do with the current version of GnR...and I, for the first time as a fan, respect his vision.
I dont care much about he RARHOF...its not a real reflection IMHO, but I can easily see Axl realizing the opportunity for exposure as well as reliving a moment in time, and agreeing to play at least 1 or 2 songs with the Appetite lineup. It would be good for GnR, good for his image, good for public image, and just...good.
I'll watch and follow along with you as this unfolds. Partially wondering how the train wreck might end...and partially as just a fan...a fan hoping for a couple songs from some guys that rocked my generation.
But could you imagine if they could actually get their shit together enough to pull it off? It would be a massive spectacle that would fill stadiums in every city they play in.
Back to the Hall of Fame gig, one of the biggest travesties would be for the new GNR to play a few songs without the original lineup that got them into the Hall in the first place. Axl must realize this, so I think he only has 2 options: (1) not play at all, or (2) play at least some songs with the original lineup. If Metallica can play some songs with both Jason & Rob on stage, Axl & Slash can figure out a way to make this happen and not have anyone's ego bruised.
Even if it's just a one-off, it will still sell a ton of albums as the hype will provoke people to refresh their collective Rock'n'Roll Memories.
And if there was ever a reason to do it beyond creating one of the single most significant moments in Rock'n'Roll History would be to do it for Adler. As I said before, it would be a very healing moment for him, considering how much pain he's put himself through.
And it doesn't stop there. There is a lot of healing to be done throughout the band. One thing that I think helps beyond the fact the others might be able to strike the peace between Axl AND Slash, is both of them have already rehearsed a lot of the material. How? Because they have been playing it consistently in their other incarnations during all these years since the break-up.
Now it's time to bring all of that warm-up on stage and set the world on fire!
p.s. Heck, Richards said in last week's Rolling Stone that they're planning a 50 Year Celebration Tour and he wants to include Wyman and Taylor. Hell, if The Stones can set aside their differences, so can G'n'R!
I am more upset that KISS is not in that i would have been if GnR never made it in. My giving the Hall any good thoughts undermines all the crap that the wrongfully name building deserves.
My first point is, G n' R is not even HOF-worthy. 1-1/2 great albums does not make a career. In any other HOF, they care about sustained excellence, not a flash in the pan, no matter how brilliant the flash was. What did they last, 5 years? Next you will be telling me that Nirvana is going in - same story, short career, 1-1/2 great albums. And don't count Axl's solo project as G n' R, because it is not.
We all know the bands that deserve to be in, yet are not and never will be. [rush]
Second point is, HOF is a POS anyway, so who really cares? Why elevate them by showing up at all? Guns doesn't even show for their own concerts. Do you think the G n' R of 1986 sat around thinking, "Gee wouldn't it be great if 25 years from now we could all get together, talk about the old times and accept some meaningless award? F it, none of us will even be alive in 25 years!" What would be much more in the spirit of the original band is for none of them to even show. Or better yet, do a reunion show in Pittsburgh that very night. FU HOF.
"Don’t overthink this, don’t worry about this being their first year of eligibility. If GNR doesn’t get in on the first ballot we should occupy Cleveland and demand they shut the Hall down. GNR made one of the greatest debuts of all time, one of the two best hard rock records ever (the other being "Back In Black"), and although the "Illusions" were overbaked, they still stood heads and heels above almost all of the dreck out there."
Each generation draws on influences from their predecessors and then creates a unique sound.
As for Nirvana, they deserve to go into the hall on first vote too. It just is what it is. We may not like Nirvana but to say "Nevermind" wasn't influential is insane.
"Bleach" came out in 1989, so I guess we'll see Nirvana in the hall in 2014.
Now, the discussions over whether the Hall is relevant is another thing entirely... which I feel we've already argued here ad nauseum over the years. :)
And yes, I know you want Rush in... and I'm sure it will happen someday.
I was also told that Mayhem Music Fest "MAY" see GnR as the headline band, IF they can agree.
Say what you will about Axl's psychological make-up, but the guy does shit HIS WAY. We don't necessarily have to like it, but that's the ONLY way it's going to be. If he was hurting for money, you'd probably see a whole different attitude. Fact is, he's not, so you get what you get.