Eager to become the talk of every music fans’ Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow, Axl Rose has just issued his most insane lawsuit yet, suing “Guitar Hero” makers Activision for $20 million for featuring Guns N’ Roses’ “Welcome to the Jungle” in “Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.” Axl initially signed off on “Jungle” being used in the game, but on one condition: Do not put any music by Velvet Revolver, which boasts guitarist Slash (Rose’s former bandmate and mortal enemy) in the game. Well, not only did “Guitar Hero III” offer a bunch of Velvet Revolver songs, they crowned Slash the game’s spokesperson, featured him on the game’s cover and made him a playable avatar. Cue Axl’s lawsuit.
“[Activision] began spinning a web of lies and deception to conceal its true intentions to not only feature Slash and VR prominently in GH III but also promote the game by emphasizing and reinforcing an association between Slash and Guns N’ Roses and the band’s song ‘Welcome to the Jungle,’ ” Rose’s lawyer Skip Miller writes in the $20 million suit. Guns N’ Roses’ “Sweet Child O’ Mine” featured in “Guitar Hero II,” and “Shackler’s Revenge” from Axl’s long-awaited “Chinese Democracy” actually debuted as a game-ending challenge in “Rock Band 2,” so Rose isn’t opposed to the use of his songs in music video games. This comes down to, once again, Rose’s undying hatred of Slash.
“There’s zero possibility of me having anything to do with Slash other than by ambush, and that wouldn’t be pretty,” Rose said in 2009. “In a nutshell, personally I consider him a cancer and better removed, avoided.” Rose also sued his former manager Irving Azoff, the CEO of Live Nation Ticketmaster, accusing Azoff of conspiring to assemble a Guns N’ Roses reunion tour that included Slash. That legal tiff is likely the reason why Axl’s GNR hasn’t toured the U.S. on its “Chinese Democracy” trek (although a February tour is rumored).
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