Axl Rose’s damning view of Kiss

Every great artist will want to put as much of themselves as possible into their music. The goal is to get people all over the world to respond to the music. But the personal side of each song keeps people listening for years on end. It is as if the musicians left a piece of their souls on the vinyl. There was no doubt about Guns N’ Roses‘ lifestyle permeating their debut Appetite for Destruction. But Axl Rose believed that one of their forefathers didn’t care about music.

Looking back at the band’s origins half of the band’s appeal was to shock people. In comparison to the other hair metal acts clogging up the Sunset Strip at the time, the band stormed onto the scene looking like the punk answer to the glam pretty boys. It infused their riffs with the sounds of classic bands such as The Rolling Stones and Cream.

Axl Rose, on the other hand, was interested in singing songs that reflected their current state of mind. It’s easy to imagine the band’s daily life as they scrounged for food in West Hollywood and tried to keep their sanity throughout their debut.

The songs were shocking at the time. But the first major shock to the hard rock system had occurred a decade earlier. Kiss were already storming onto the scene out of New York City. They were riding the coattails of shock rocker Alice Cooper, with each member performing hard rock clad in horrifying face paint.

Kiss dared to remove their makeup in the early 1980s. But they had kept their ears to the ground for any new talent. Bassist Gene Simmons helped give newcomers Van Halen their first big break by cutting their demo. During the time Paul Stanley had a similar idea for Guns N’ Roses. It was only to be shot down when he suggested rearranging their songs.

The band stuck to their guns. But Rose had some harsh words for where he saw Kiss heading in the coming years. In contrast to the spooky artists who sparked fear in parents and excitement in listeners in the 1970s, the frontman believed the group was only interested in making a quick buck rather than expressing themselves creatively.

Rose was far less diplomatic when discussing the similarities between Kiss and Guns N’ Roses. He said, “I like Kiss in their early days.” I believe the only thing we have in common with Kiss now is that we both like to make money and like girls. But as far as their music goes, basically, their music is like second fiddle to their other desires while our music comes first”.

Rose was about to take Guns N’ Roses in a completely different direction as the years passed. After making a gritty rock record on their debut, the band would pull out every style in the book on the Use Your Illusion double album. It was as being more eclectic than even KISS would dare on songs like ‘November Rain’ and ‘The Garden‘. Guns N’ Roses, like KISS, were in transition in the early 1990s. But no one was going to question whether the music didn’t come straight from Rose’s tortured soul.