Axl Rose Posts About Keeping the Gn'R Name in New Message Board Chats

Axl Rose was back on the message boards this weekend, answering fan questions as well as penning a long explanation for why he continues using the name "Guns n' Roses" despite the absence of the band's other founding members. In a long post on the MyGNR forum entitled "My homework assignment, Just the tip... (of the iceberg)," Rose writes, "Why keep the name? I'm literally the last man standing. Not bragging, not proud. It's been a fucking nightmare but I didn't leave Guns and I didn't drive others out."

Rose also defends Chinese Democracy as a Gn'R album and not a solo record, saying, "A solo record would be completely different than this and probably much more instrumental. I made a Guns record with the right people who were the only people who really wanted to help me try, were qualified and capable while enduring the public abuse for years. The songs were chosen by everyone involved." Rose also cites Pink Floyd as a band who, despite constant lineup changes of key members, continued to operate under their initial moniker. Read the rest of Axl's detailed post, which touches on everything from past legal issues to the potential of a reunion with former band members, here.

Rose then returned to answering fan questions, this time over at the ChineseDemocracy.com board as Rose surprised the posters with a note entitled "Who wants to chat." There, Axl answered questions about the possibility of returning to the road ("Not sure, looking at options and I would love to play Philly"), his rumored autobiography ("It's not exactly an autobiography as much as legal record of every last detail of what went down with the breakup"), his favorite moments on Chinese Democracy and verifying which rumored song titles are, in fact, songs. More from that Q&A starts at around page 34 at this message board.

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Song Stories

“I'm Yours”

Jason Mraz | 2008

Jason Mraz re-emerged after his disappointing second album with this lead single, a Jack Johnson-esque ditty about giving yourself fully to someone else. The success of the reggae-tinged song (it earned two Grammy nods and a spot on the Billboard singles chart for well over a year) was something the folk-pop singer never predicted when he wrote it in 15 minutes at home. "I played a happy-hippie chord progression that would probably work without 50 different Bob Marley songs," he told Rolling Stone. "I thought, 'It's too novelty. This is a nursery rhyme,'" concluding that "you can never guess what's gonna be a hit."

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