2004.05.03 - Celebrity Justice - Former Guns N' Roses Members Fight for Control of Songs

Former Guns N' Roses Members Fight for Control of Songs

Axl Rose and Guns N' Roses ruled rock in the '80s with hits like "Sweet Child of Mine" and "Paradise City." The original band members parted ways in 1995, but now, former band mates Slash, whose real name is Saul Hudson, and Duff McKagan are suing Rose, claiming he ripped them off to the tune of at least a million dollars.

Duff and Slash now have a new band called Velvet Revolver, and are about to go on tour. But they're bound to have some things on their mind -- mainly the lawsuit against their former front man which pertains to who controls the rights to old Guns N' Roses hits.

In the suit, Duff and Slash claim Rose doesn't have any controlling interest in the songs, but they say he killed deals that would have put their tunes in a half dozen movies, including "Just Married," "We Were Soldiers," "Death to Smoochie" and "Old School."

And you won't hear the band's huge hit, "Welcome to the Jungle" in the movie "Blackhawk Down," because, according to the lawsuit, Axl wouldn't let the producers use it. Instead, he wanted to re-record it, thereby allegedly cheating his ex-band mates out of the licensing fee.

David Powell runs "The Music Bridge," a company that deals with music rights for movies. According to Powell, "Licensing is very important for any band or any artist that gets out there in popular culture."

In Powell's business, when the movies come calling, most bands seem eager to participate, since, "There are many income streams that can be generated from the songs, as well as the master recordings, for years and sometimes generations to come."

https://web.archive.org/web/20040605072743/http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0405/03a.html

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This was the site that had published the lawsuit document:
The lawsuit document:

https://www.a-4-d.com/t5146-2004-04-29-slash-duff-vs-axl-lawsuit-document

MTV News, May 5, 2004
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AXL ROSE SUED BY EX-GUNS N' ROSES BANDMATES

SLASH, DUFF MCKAGAN SEEK AT LEAST $1 MILLION; ACCUSE SINGER OF TURNING DOWN LUCRATIVE OFFERS WITHOUT THEIR CONSENT.

ARCHIVE-JON-WIEDERHORN
05/04/2004

In March, guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan joined forces with their old singer in Guns N' Roses, Axl Rose, to file a lawsuit against their former label to prevent it from releasing a Guns N' Roses greatest-hits album. They lost.

Now, Slash (a.k.a. Saul Hudson), McKagan and Rose again have their names on a legal document, only this time their union is adversarial: the two members of Velvet Revolver are suing Axl for at least $1 million, according to "Celebrity Justice."

In the suit, Rose is accused of rejecting requests to use old Guns N' Roses songs in major motion pictures even though he lacks controlling interest in the material. Slash and McKagan added that they weren't consulted when their ex-bandmate nixed lucrative offers from the makers of "We Were Soldiers," "Death to Smoochy," "Old School" and "Just Married."

The suit also claims Rose killed negotiations with the producers of "Black Hawk Down," who wanted to use "Welcome to the Jungle" in their movie. He allegedly had wanted to re-record the track with the new members of GN'R he had hired so Slash and McKagan wouldn't receive any licensing payment.

Rose's management had no comment on the suit.

http://www.mtv.com/news/1486792/axl-rose-sued-by-ex-guns-n-roses-bandmates/