Axl Rose tries to refuse induction into Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

[Snowboarder_Bo]

[

In a letter to the hall, band fans and “To Whom It May Concern,” Rose listed several reasons for not attending Saturday’s ceremony in Cleveland, including a feeling that the hall does not respect him.

In declining his own induction, he added: “I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf.”

](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_ROCK_HALL_AXL_ROSE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-04-11-22-59-09)

Unfortunately, they plan on inducting him anyway. I think that’s too bad, unless the category he and the band are being inducted for is “Most Over-Rated Bullshit Ever”. And of the members of that band, he’s the most worthless.

Come on, Hall of Fame! Do the right thing and leave him out of your retarded, bloated, craptacular bit of pomposity!

[Red_Barchetta]

And Rush still isn’t in it. Go figure.

[Cheesesteak]

I think he should go. Show up 2 hours late, drunk, piss on the stage and tell everyone there that they’re assholes who need to get a life, oh and demand that Rush be inducted instead of GnR.

[Smapti]

The Sex Pistols did it first. And better.

[Ike_Witt]

If everyone ignored him do you think he’d go away?

[stolatt]

(Pats Axl on head) There there. No one respects you Axl.

[Accidental_Martyr]

@Red_Barchetta

And Rush still isn’t in it. Go figure.

Warren Zevon still isn’t in the HoF either.

[Little_Nemo]

In a letter to the hall, band fans and “To Whom It May Concern”

…and that’s where I always stop reading anything Axl Rose says.

[pulykamell]

Axl is a grating little prick, but Appetite is one of the great albums of the 80s. It’s not my usual kind of music, but I’d induct him for that album alone.

[Accidental_Martyr]

People in my age group seem to have some sort of incredible sense of nostalgia about GnR because of Appetite For Destruction. Apparently, this one album makes them one of the greatest rock bands of all time. Personally, I disagree. I didn’t care much about them then, and even less now.

[bup]

I don’t know much about Axl or GnR, but I do wish more inductees also told the hall of fame to choke it. It’s an elite group of music critics’ choices, and it’s antithetical to rock music. It’s like having an nihilist hall of fame, with a bunch of type-A button-down nihilists deciding who makes the cut.

[Jonathan_Chance]

Actually it makes me respect him more. It’s been clear for a long time that the hall of fame isn’t anything like what it should be. Opting out shows a certain … Something that I wouldn’t have thought Axl had.

Quote Alex Lifeson. “I kind of like the status quo where they don’t want us in there and we don’t want to be in there, so it’s kind of a good place to be.”

[Cheesesteak]

The whole thing with Rush has me of two minds. I definitely think they deserve to be in for their extraordinary body of work, but if they get selected, they might actually go, and I would have to lower my opinion of them.

[GrandWino]

I’m no Axl fan, but if you read the entirety of his letter he actually comes off quite well:

To: The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N’ Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern,

When the nominations for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame were first announced I had mixed emotions but, in an effort to be positive, wanting to make the most of things for the fans and with their enthusiasm, I was honored, excited and hoped that somehow this would be a good thing. Of course I realized as things stood, if Guns N’ Roses were to be inducted it’d be somewhat of a complicated or awkward situation.

Since then we’ve listened to fans, talked with members of the board of the Hall Of Fame, communicated with and read various public comments and jabs from former members of Guns N’ Roses, had discussions with the president of the Hall Of Fame, read various press (some legit, some contrived) and read other artists’ comments weighing in publicly on Guns and the Hall with their thoughts.

Under the circumstances I feel we’ve been polite, courteous, and open to an amicable solution in our efforts to work something out. Taking into consideration the history of Guns N’ Roses, those who plan to attend along with those the Hall for reasons of their own, have chosen to include in “our” induction (that for the record are decisions I don’t agree with, support or feel the Hall has any right to make), and how (albeit no easy task) those involved with the Hall have handled things… no offense meant to anyone but the Hall Of Fame Induction Ceremony doesn’t appear to be somewhere I’m actually wanted or respected.
For the record, I would not begrudge anyone from Guns their accomplishments or recognition for such. Neither I or anyone in my camp has made any requests or demands of the Hall Of Fame. It’s their show not mine.

That said, I won’t be attending The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame Induction 2012 Ceremony and I respectfully decline my induction as a member of Guns N’ Roses to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.

I strongly request that I not be inducted in absentia and please know that no one is authorized nor may anyone be permitted to accept any induction for me or speak on my behalf. Neither former members, label representatives nor the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame should imply whether directly, indirectly or by omission that I am included in any purported induction of “Guns N’ Roses”.

This decision is personal. This letter is to help clarify things from my and my camp’s perspective. Neither is meant to offend, attack or condemn. Though unfortunately I’m sure there will be those who take offense (God knows how long I’ll have to contend with the fallout), I certainly don’t intend to disappoint anyone, especially the fans, with this decision. Since the announcement of the nomination we’ve actively sought out a solution to what, with all things considered, appears to be a no win, at least for me, “damned if I do, damned if I don’t” scenario all the way around.

In regard to a reunion of any kind of either the Appetite or Illusion lineups, I’ve publicly made myself more than clear. Nothing’s changed.

The only reason, at this point, under the circumstances, in my opinion whether under the guise of “for the fans” or whatever justification of the moment, for anyone to continue to ask, suggest or demand a reunion are misguided attempts to distract from our efforts with our current lineup of myself, Dizzy Reed, Tommy Stinson, Frank Ferrer, Richard Fortus, Chris Pitman, Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal and DJ Ashba.

Izzy came out with us a few times back in '06 and I invited him to join us at our LA Forum show last year. Steven was at our show at the Hard Rock, later in '06 in Las Vegas, where I invited him to our after-party and was rewarded with his subsequent interviews filled with reunion lies. Lesson learned. Duff joined us in 2010 and again in '11 along with his band, Loaded, opening in Seattle and Vancouver. For me, with the exception of Izzy or Duff joining us on stage if they were so inclined somewhere in the future for a song or two, that’s enough.

There’s a seemingly endless amount of revisionism and fantasies out there for the sake of self-promotion and business opportunities masking the actual realities. Until every single one of those generating from or originating with the earlier lineups has been brought out in the light, there isn’t room to consider a conversation let alone a reunion.

Maybe if it were you it’d be different. Maybe you’d do it for this reason or that. Peace, whatever. I love our band now. We’re there for each other when the going get’s rough. We love our fans and work to give them every ounce of energy and heart we can.

So let sleeping dogs lie or lying dogs sleep or whatever. Time to move on. People get divorced. Life doesn’t owe you your own personal happy ending especially at another’s, or in this case several others’, expense.

But hey if ya gotta then maybe we can get the “no show, grandstanding, publicity stunt, disrespectful, he doesn’t care about the fans” crap out of the way as quickly as we can and let’s move on. No one’s taking the ball and going home. Don’t get it twisted. For more than a decade and a half we’ve endured the double standards, the greed of this industry and the ever present seemingly limitless supply of wannabes and unscrupulous, irresponsible media types. Not to imply anything in this particular circumstance, but from my perspective in regard to both the Hall and a reunion, the ball’s never been in our court.

In closing, regardless of this decision and as hard to believe or as ironic as it may seem, I’d like to sincerely thank the board for their nomination and their votes for Guns’ induction. More importantly I’d like to thank the fans for being there over the years, making any success we’ve had possible and for enjoying and supporting Guns N’ Roses music.

I wish the Hall a great show, congratulations to all the other artists being inducted and to our fans we look forward to seeing you on tour!!

Sincerely,

Axl Rose

P.S. RIP Armand, Long Live ABC III

[Scumpup]

Never cared for his music. Mostly I remember him for the scandal that time he had to get his stomach pumped…

[silenus]

Hate him, hate the band, hate their music. But that letter was well written and well thought out.

I wonder who wrote it for him.

[astorian]

I was only a tepid fan of Guns & Roses in their heyday, and have no use for Axl Rose.

Now, I happen to agree with the people who wonder why G & R is being inducted ahead of superior bands that they themselves copied from. I mean… Slash definitely borrowed heavily from Ritchie Blackmore and Axl has always been a blatant Rob Halford wannabe. So, it rubs me the wrong way that G & R is getting in ahead of Deep Purple or Judas Priest.

But that’s not Axl’s fault, so I’ll move on.

The situation here is simple: Axl still has major grudges against Slash and some of his other bandmates. Maybe his reasons are legitimate, maybe they aren’t. I have no way of knowing, and really don’t care. The bottom line is, Axl hates a lot of his former bandmates and has no interest in putting on a phony smile and making nice with them at an industry party. Moreover Axl has a new version of G & R, and it appears his CURRENT band won’t be welcome at the ceremony. Axl probably thinks he’d be disrespecting his current G & R lineup if he attended without them. So, he’s not going to show up.

And frankly, given some of the unpleasantness that has occurred at the Hall inductions in the past, I respect that. I wish John Fogerty had the decency to do the same thing when CCR was being inducted. Fogerty SHOULD have written a letter saying, “I despise Stu and Cosmo, and don’t want to get together with them again. Ever.” That would have been preferable to what he DID do- namely, show up and then perform on stage with Springsteen’s band, while leaving Stu and Cosmo on the sidelines.

In the same way, the Eagles should have skipped the induction or just quietly, politely told Randy Meisner to stay away, rather than openly snubbing and shunning Meisner.

Bands and friendships break up, sadly, and they aren’t always patched up. If former bandmates are no longer on speaking terms, I’d RATHER they stayed away.

[Death_of_Rats]

This is just one more reminder the the Rock and Roll HOF is a sad, pathetic joke.

Not as bad as the induction of LL Cool J, but bad.

[Living_Well_Is_Best_Revenge]

@pulykamell

Axl is a grating little prick, but Appetite is one of the great albums of the 80s. It’s not my usual kind of music, but I’d induct him for that album alone.

This.

[Pashnish_Ewing]

@Death_of_Rats

Not as bad as the induction of LL Cool J, but bad.

No one is badder than LL