The act of selling out may as well be considered a cardinal sin in rock and roll. For all of the money to be made touring worldwide, it comes at a price of one’s credibility, as they enter the studio trying to chase whatever trend is popular to stay in the good graces with the public. While Guns N’ Roses have had to dodge their fair share of critics for selling out, Axl Rose thought that one of the titans of 1980s hard rock had sold their souls long ago.
Rose was never ashamed of his or the band’s success. While some rock groups hide behind their millions and proclaim that the attention, the fame and the fortune is all an accidental part of their artistic expression, it felt like Guns N’ Roses were always aiming for stardom. Classic rock or otherwise, Rose and co wanted to be icons.
Then again, Rose was never a snob about the kind of music that he listened to. As far back as the band’s inception, Rose would talk about the virtues of everyone from punk bands to the pop-rock of Todd Rundgren to the all-out balladry of Elton John. Although he may have had a vast array of tastes, all of it went into the melodic framework for the band’s debut album, Appetite for Destruction.
Once Guns N’ Roses started to see money rolling in, Rose thought that the next course of action was to go as far away from their roots as possible. Looking to bury his previous effort, Rose went all over the map stylistically when crafting the Use Your Illusion albums, putting hard rockers like ‘Right Next Door to Hell’ and ‘Garden of Eden’ next to sweeping epics like ‘November Rain’ and ‘Estranged’.
While the band may have jumped the shark, it was all about going bigger than the artists who were trying to make it at the same time. For all of the macho posturing Rose could do onstage, the primary goal was to leave every glam metal band in the dust, feeling as though they had made a mockery of what made rock and roll so enticing.
Although Guns N’ Roses were known as the antithesis of the poodle-haired nobodies trying to make a name for themselves on the Sunset Strip, many artists were willing to go along with the order of the day. While Aerosmith would see a career renaissance by embracing the styles of the MTV generation, David Coverdale would give his career a second wind thanks to the reinvention of Whitesnake.
In the wake of Deep Purple crumbling in the late 1970s, Coverdale started his glorified solo outfit to continue their bluesy tradition. Although the band made plenty of quality tunes in their early years, their makeover for MTV made them pin-ups for the network, earning them massive hits for songs like ‘Here I Go Again’ and ‘Is This Love?’.
Despite the massive success Coverdale got at the time, Rose was less than impressed seeing their videos everywhere he went. Compared to the rootsy rock band Guns N’ Roses wanted to be, Rose felt Coverdale’s makeover spat in the face of what real rock and roll bands should aspire to.
When talking about bands of the day, Rose would single out Whitesnake as sellouts, saying, “I don’t call Whitesnake crunch guitars; I call Whitesnake the biggest sellout. I’ve heard this, you know, the biggest sellout I’ve heard in a very, very long time”. Rose would also critique their journey to the big time, including taking their old songs and putting a refined polish on them to establish their new identity.
When you look at it, it is hard to disagree. Not only was David Coverdale routinely bashed by Robert Plant for trying to steal his schtick, but the band seemed hellbent on mainstream success and were willing to do just about anything to get it.
Regardless of Rose’s criticism, Whitesnake would continue to dominate the 1980s before the grunge revolution stopped every hard rock band in their tracks. While Coverdale was determined to carve out his place in rock history, Rose still questioned whether he was in the business for the right reasons.
