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Axl Rose Is a Voice of Reason, and I Have No Clue What to Make of It
Not too long ago, he would have been voted Most Likely to Go Full Wingnut. And yet…
Not a day goes by when I don’t feel lost and alone in a deranged America. Donald Trump is president. People are dying in scores because millions of my countrymen think wearing a mask is for losers. Protesters are risking their own health to beg for police abolition, only to watch politicians at local and federal levels do little more than nod politely. I crave forthright leadership from citizens of great import. The good news is that I have found a compassionate voice out there in the wilderness. The baffling news is that said voice belongs to… Axl Rose?
I worshipped Axl growing up, but I did not expect to become the person I’ve become, and I sure as shit didn’t expect Axl to become the person he’s become. If you’re as old as I am, you already know the basics of Axl’s personal history. He co-founded the most successful rock band of the 1980s. He was notoriously late to pretty much every concert he headlined. He once started a riot in St. Louis after cutting a concert short by walking off the stage in a huff. He used another concert to publicly accuse his own bandmates of using heroin (they were). He used the N-word and the f-word (not fuck, the other one) in “One In A Million” and testily defended himself in doing so. He was accused by not one, but two ex-wives of physical and emotional abuse. Given his rap sheet, you would…
