This weekend, The Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame had its ceremony to induct the members of this year’s class. Included was rock and roll band Guns N’ Roses. Former lead singer Axl Rose stated that he would not be attending the ceremony and would not be participating in any activities with his former band mates. Mr. Rose had gone as far as sending a letter to the hall stating this…going on a rant about how he would not be attending the show. He would not indulge in other people’s fantasies about the band playing together at the Hall, as is customary of all inductees. Billy Joe, which as lead singer of the band Green Day had the honor of inducting the band into the Hall. As he proceeded with the induction, every mention of Axl Roses name was met with a barrage of boos, deservedly so. As the attending members of Guns each stepped up to give their acceptance speeches, a smattering of boos could be heard across the room with each mention of “Axl Rose”. So I guess with all the media hype and pick up of the negative reaction in the media, Mr. Rose has decided to send another “letter” to the hall explaining his decision not to attend. Here it is in full, per Mr. Roses request…

To: Cleveland, Ohio, Guns N’ Roses Fans and everyone who’s shown support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame.
I seriously didn’t plan on or expect the overwhelmingly positive response and public support for my decision regarding the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. With such a generous outpouring of solidarity from fans, media outlets, writers and other artists, I’m truly humbled, blown away and unbelievably relieved! To be honest, I thought it would go the other way and was just hoping to weather the storm. As I said, I sincerely didn’t want to disappoint anyone. It gets old being the outlaw even if “it’s only rock and roll”.
It took a lot of focus and soul searching to be sincere and informative while making a genuine effort to be somewhat diplomatic. We made, what I feel, are real efforts to learn about the Hall and the Board, spoke as I said with the president and various members, and though I inducted Elton John and Bernie Taupin in ’94 saying something to the effect of “I’m learning what the Hall’s about…”
I still don’t exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how or why it makes money, where the money goes, who chooses the voters and why anyone or this board decides who, out of all the artists in the world that have contributed to this genre, officially “rock” enough to be in the Hall?
This isn’t an attack. These are genuine issues I don’t have enough verified information on to have more than rough ideas. Certainly not enough information to make any judgments about.
I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city. I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!
Now that the smoke’s cleared a little, any desperate, misguided attacks have been just that, a pathetic stab at gossip, some lame vindictiveness, the usual entitlement crap, he’s obsessed, crazy, volatile, a hater. I once bought a homeless woman a slice of pizza who yelled at me she wanted soup. We got her the soup. You can get your own.
Again: HUGE thanks to the fans and to everyone for the incredible public support. My congratulations to the other artists inducted. And my apologies to the city and people of Cleveland, Ohio. I hope you’ll forgive me and we hope to see you again soon!
Keep Rockin’,

Unlike my open letter to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, Guns N’ Roses Fans and Whom It May Concern this was written for GNR’s official website, Facebook account and my personal twitter account and not intended as a press release. If anyone does choose to pick this up as has been done previously I’d appreciate if you’d run in full including this paragraph so as not to give a partial picture, have things taken out of context or to imply or inadvertently give the impression this was intended for other outlets.
Now, this man, Axl has been known for his ranting and raving personality, but this is just ridiculous. I remember speaking to someone in the industry some time ago, and the discussion came up as to why Axl Rose still has a contract with a record label? His answer…Appetite For Destruction still sells something like 1,000 copies a week. That was it. This guy, whose band was once considered to become one of the greatest rock bands of all times, has single handedly ruined “IT” for an abundance of fans around the world. I would say this, there is a long list of wayward behavior from this individual (from relationships, to band descent ion, to drug use, manic behavior). What I don’t get is why write this letter trying to apologize for something you obviously decided upon weeks before the induction? Just own your decision not to attend and move on. Axl Rose is not relevant in the world of Rock and Roll any longer. No one cares about quasi Guns N’ Roses music without the original band members. I was browsing a Dollar store the other day and saw a whole section dedicated to “Chinese Democracy”…that much anticipated album 10 years in the making, selling for 99 cents! In the early 2000’s, I went to see the “band” play at Madison Square Garden. I walked out on the third song, Axl sounded terrible running around in dreads! A week later, he decided to cancel the whole tour, two shows in! This guy is a clown, doing things just to get attention. Read the rambling of the letter above and you can see how detached this guy is with reality. I’m not mad with his decision not to attend, that’s his right, for what ever reason. Just own your decision and stop blaming everyone else for what you decided! I am writing this article as a person who purchased Appetite For Destruction as one of my first 5 metal/rock albums ever!!! (The other 4…Poison – Look What the at Dragged In, Aerosmith – Permanent Vacation, Kiss – Crazy Nights and Kiss – Smashes, Thrashes and Hits) I have a bit of advice for Mr. Rose… no there was not an over whelming positive response to your decision to skip the Halls induction, it was mostly negative…negative to the point wher Billy Joe had to try and defend Axl’s actions and tell the crowd to “Shut The Fuck Up”. One last word… Axl, grow up or get help.