Trivia

Has been arrested over 30 times for various offenses, mostly drunk and disorderly and assault charges.

Is manic depressive.

Was born William Bruce Rose, but when his parents split his mother changed his name to William Bruce Bailey, taking his step-father's last name. Axl claims that when he was 17 he learned of his real father and changed it back to William Bruce Rose, but this is disputed. One of Rose's first music managers in L.A. claims that in the early 1980s Rose was still legally William Bailey.

Upon signing with Geffen Records in 1986 he had his name legally changed to W. Axl Rose.

His mother, Sharon E. Bailey died on May 28th, 1996.

Younger sister Amy and younger brother Stuart.

His ex-wife, Erin Everly, is Don Everly's daughter.

Attended high school with former longtime Guns N' Roses bandmate Izzy Stradlin.

When compiling song selections for the 1999 Guns N' Roses live album "Live Era", he communicated with Slash and Duff McKagan only through intermediaries.

"Axl Rose" is an anagram for "oral sex".

Was found guilty in November 1992 of property damage and assault at a 1991 Guns N' Roses concert in Maryland Heights, Missouri. Was given two years probation and ordered to pay $50,000 to community groups.

Has served as his own lawyer and defended himself at his innumerable trials.

Grew up in a strict Pentecostal (fundamentalist Christian) household. Was kicked out of his house at age 16 for not cutting his hair.

Played with Guns N' Roses in Rock in Rio II (January '91) and Rock in Rio III (January 2001) as one of the most expected attractions.

Has kicked off Guns N' Roses' "Chinese Democracy" world tour in Hong Kong, China. The band will play a series of shows in East Asia and Europe before resuming their tour in Spring 2003, and will keep the tour going for "two or three years" according to Rose. The album they're supporting, "Chinese Democracy", is in its finishing stages. [August 14, 2002]

"Sweet Child O' Mine" is played in State of Grace (1990).

"Welcome to the Jungle" is played in The Dead Pool (198 .

Guns N' Roses were voted the 92nd Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artists of all time by Rolling Stone.

Released two albums at the same time with Guns N' Roses. This was the first time a band had ever released more than one album on the same day.

Legally changed his name to W. Axl Rose in 1986. The 'W' is legal, not an abbreviation, and was chosen because Rose did not wish to share the name William with his biological father.

Played in a band called Hollywood Rose prior to Guns And Roses.

Personal Quotes

"Life sucks, but in a beautiful kind of way."

"I used to use the Internet a lot, but I got tired of reading all the garbage on there about me. The Internet is just a huge garbage can."

Throughout Guns N' Roses' career, Rose has been notorious for personally addressing disruptive fans and giving instructions to security guards from the stage, at times stopping concerts to deal with issues in the crowd. In his 1992 Rolling Stone interview Rose explained, "Most performers would go to a security person in their organization, and it would just be done very quietly. I'll confront the person, stop the song: "Guess what: You wasted your money, you get to leave. He has also been noted for his late appearances at concerts, sometimes taking the stage hours after the opening acts

In many instances, Rose's actions have seemed to be based in concern for the safety of the band and audience members. At the 1988 Monsters of Rock concert at Castle Donington, England during which two fans were crushed, Rose stopped the show several times when the audience rushed the stage. The final report into the Donington tragedy noted that Rose had immediately cooperated with venue security when advised of the dangerous crowd conditions, and had attempted to calm the crowd. In a more recent incident, during a concert in 2006 in Birmingham, Rose stopped the show and had a security guard ejected for assaulting a fan in the audience

In July 1991, during the early stages of the 28-month-long Use Your Illusion Tour, Rose jumped off stage during a concert in St. Louis to take a video camera away from a fan. The concert was aborted as Rose and the other band members left the stage, sparking an intense riot. Rose was blamed for the melee, and was charged with four counts of misdemeanor assault and one charge of property damage, for which he was arrested in 1992. The case eventually went to trial in late 1992, and resulted in a conviction, two years' probation and a US $50,000 fine for Rose

During a show on August 8, 1992 at the Montreal Stade Olympique during a summer concert co-headlining tour with Metallica, James Hetfield, lead singer of Metallica, was burned in a pyrotechnics accident, which cut short the previous set. This meant Guns N' Roses needed to take to the stage early, however, Rose, already late for the band's appearance, walked off stage and left the stadium after playing 9 songs, claiming he had problems with his voice and deciding to cancel the band's set. Before "Double Talkin' Jive", Rose said this will be “our last show for a long time”, and at the end of "Civil War", their last song, Rose said “Thank you, your money will be refunded” and went off the stage after less than 5 songs. This led to another riot which authorities were barely able to bring under control

Since Guns N' Roses' return, Rose's onstage antics have remained much the same as they were 15 years ago. On June 11, 2006, Guns N' Roses headlined the Download Festival in Donington Park, England. Within the first half hour of the show; Rose had become annoyed with the quality of the sound and had also lost his footing almost causing him to fall due to the "slippery stage". After briefly leaving and returning the set mid song, throwing the microphone on the floor, yelling at the crowd for throwing a water bottle at him, insulting a security guard and then finally exiting the stage citing technical difficulties while leaving Bumblefoot to play an instrumental of the song 'Don't Cry', he returned on stage with tennis shoes on (he was previously wearing boots), announced that he had some old friends to bring out, and was joined by Izzy Stradlin to play "Used to Love Her". Stradlin left and returned on stage multiple times, for "Patience", and the final number "Paradise City". During the night, Rose was also joined by Sebastian Bach and together they sang "My Michelle"

On July 19, 2006, at a show in Newcastle, England, Rose walked off-stage during the performance of "Nightrain" after what was alleged to be a £1 coin was thrown on to the stage directly at him. Rose addressed the crowd off-stage and informed them that any person caught throwing objec