Axl Rose #5

Rose was born and raised in Lafayette, Indiana, and moved to Los Angeles in the early 1980s, where he became involved in the local hard rock scene. He joined several bands, including Hollywood Rose and L.A. Guns, before co-founding Guns N' Roses in 1985. The band achieved significant success with their debut album, Appetite for Destruction (1987), which sold over 30 million copies worldwide and became the best-selling debut album in U.S. history.

Throughout his career, Rose has been involved in various controversies. His high-profile relationships in the late 1980s and early 1990s inspired several songs, including the hit "Sweet Child o' Mine," but also led to allegations of abuse, sparking significant controversy. Additionally, the band faced backlash for the use of slurs in the song "One in a Million" from their album G N' R Lies (1988).

Guns N' Roses continued their success with the release of Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II in 1991, which debuted at No. 2 and No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and sold 35 million copies worldwide. However, the accompanying Use Your Illusion tour was marred by incidents, including riots, onstage rants, and feuds with other artists, such as Metallica and Nirvana. Rose was arrested for inciting a riot during the tour, known as the Riverport Riot, and was later fined $50,000 and given two years probation for property damage and assault.

After the tour, Rose retreated from the public eye, and the band's progress on new music stalled due to personal and musical differences, particularly with lead guitarist Slash. By 1998, Rose was the only original member left, and he reemerged with a new lineup at Rock in Rio 3 in 2001. The long-delayed album Chinese Democracy was finally released in 2008, becoming the most expensive rock album ever produced.

In 2012, Rose was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Guns N' Roses, though he requested to be excluded from the ceremony. His feud with Slash ended in 2016 when Slash and bassist Duff McKagan rejoined the band for the record-breaking Not in This Lifetime... Tour. Rose also toured with AC/DC in 2016 as a fill-in vocalist for two dozen shows. The current Guns N' Roses lineup continues to tour and release new singles.

Rose's legal troubles date back to his youth, having been arrested over 20 times as a teenager in Indiana. In 1985, he and Slash were charged with statutory rape after an encounter with a 15-year-old girl, but the charges were dropped due to lack of evidence. Rose has also faced multiple arrests as an adult, including a 1987 onstage arrest for assaulting a security guard, a 1990 arrest for assault with a deadly weapon, and a 1998 arrest at an airport in Phoenix for disorderly conduct. In 2006, he was arrested in Sweden for biting a security guard during an altercation and was fined and ordered to pay damages. These incidents, among others, have contributed to Rose's controversial and often tumultuous public image.