An Axl Rose Birthday Six-Pack

Happy Birthday, William Bruce Rose, Jr., (aka William Bruce Bailey, Bill Bailey, Bill Rose and W. Axl Rose). In other words, Happy Axl Rose Birthday.

Who is a more talented yet confounding figure in rock music? You'd have to stop and think a bit to come up with a better example than Axl. Guns N' Roses stormed onto the scene in 1987 with their debut album Appetite For Destruction and we're basically the biggest thing in rock until the grunge explosion in Seattle in 1991. That's due largely in part to Axl's outsized and controversial personality.

Axl was a shit-talker. And Axl talked a LOT of shit in those days. And Axl did a lot of shit, too. Assaults, both verbal and physical. Multiple arrests. Multiple lawsuits. It's almost as if, at some point during the mid-'80s, someone in the pantheon of rock's powers-that-be decided that rock music needed a new bad boy, and Axl was created in a lab. But that's not the case. Axl was arrested over 20 times as a teenager in Indiana. He was just born that way.

Axl was, and is, the complete package. Seemingly unlimited vocal range. Responsible in part for some of the most iconic songs and lyrics in rock history. An all-time great rock frontman. You know, when he finally showed up. Almost everyone who bought a ticket to a GNR show back in the day has a story to tell about the band coming on stage late because Axl didn't show up on time. Remember Foxboro?

As of late, Axl has added Twitter to his repertoire of artistic expression and shit-talking. So to celebrate his birthday, I've hand-picked a six-pack of some of my favorite Axl tweets from the past few years. He's a rock legend, first and foremost. But he's also a good follow.

2020-era Axl posts on Twitter were magical. He was seething with hatred for the administration at the time and it was endlessly entertaining.

I mean, isn't that what the whole spirit of the Great Pumpkin is all about? Belief? Sure, Linus looks like a chump at the end of the special. But Axl doesn't care. Because Axl believes.

Far be it from Axl to be super serious when taking issue with his government. He'll throw a dad joke in the mix and not think anything of it. And it doesn't undermine his message at all.

Now, this is a thread on Twitter. Not a post on the social media network called "Threads," a.k.a. the social media network everyone has an account on but no one actually uses.

Now, this classic goes all the way back to 2018. So maybe the updated version would be that guy from Spotify instead? Axl should make a new post.

Or did Axl get hosed by a bad seller on eBay? I thought that was more of a Facebook Marketplace issue. Or Craigslist. Be careful out there, Axl.