The one artist Axl Rose thought never sold out and “never compromised his art”
Every artist will have to go through the often-hated process of being labelled sell-outs at least once in their career. It might all be going smoothly for the first few records, but the minute that you change directions in a way that rubs someone the wrong way, you’re bound to get angry comments from people saying that you betrayed everything that you stood for. While Axl Rose has tried his best to steer clear of sell-out territory, he seems to be following the model that Robert Plant laid down after Led Zeppelin.
Then again, not bothering to release any new music is certainly a tactic for not selling out. Considering fans had to wait over a decade to get new Guns N’ Roses music without any core band members, how can you call it selling out when Rose didn’t even bother making any new music he thought wasn’t good enough?
That’s in keeping with Guns N’ Roses’ initial vision of not doing anything that wasn’t from the heart. Compared to the posers strutting across the Sunset Strip, half of the band tried to make the most chaotic rock songs they could while still paying tribute to the rock gods of old.
At the same time, Rose claimed to be a massive fan of all kinds of music, which meant he got more than a few strange looks when he cited people like Elton John as an influence. For him, a good song was a good song as long as it came from a real place, and Zeppelin was the archetype of having nothing contrived with their music.
Aside from their various plagiarism cases, all of the classics Zeppelin have under their belt have continued to influence generations because of how fresh they sound. No one was looking to fit in with what was en vogue at the time, and every band member preferred to follow their muse rather than find their lane and stay in it the rest of their lives.
Whereas Jimmy Page eventually had to take years to pick himself back up after the death of John Bonham, Robert Plant knew the best way for him to get over was to keep moving forward. There was still music to be made, and Plant channelled all of his emotions into his solo career and reformed the Band of Joy.
While most Zeppelin fans were confused seeing ‘Percy’ making a more mystical take on rock and roll, Rose was inspired, telling Steve Harris, “He hasn’t compromised his art. He’s moved on, he’s an older guy. He doesn’t agree with some of the things he wrote about before but, like, you go through life and you make changes. I don’t listen to a whole lot of [his] stuff, but I have a lot of respect for it because he’s being himself”.
Then again, it’s better to appreciate the classic rockers back in the 1980s, when all that was on MTV were cheap imitations of his band. Though everyone from Poison to Ratt to Warrant probably would have never been without Zeppelin coming first, they were basically selling the cartoon version of what that sound was supposed to be, as if they were taking the crunch of hard rock and combining it with the commercial viability of The Osmonds.
Even though Rose would end up steering Guns N’ Roses through some of the most questionable decisions of their career, it’s like he’s not heeding Plant’s advice, with Chinese Democracy being authentically him…in that it’s an absolute mess from start to finish. It’s always better to come from a personal place rather than compromise your art, and if Plant can still find time to work with people like Alison Krauss years after being a ‘Golden God’, what’s stopping everyone else from proving that they still have something to say?