1990.07.DD - Spin Magazine - Axl & Me

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AXL & ME

Axl Rose wasn’t always the glamorous hell-raiser we know today.

I went to high school in Lafayette, Indiana, with Axl Rose and Izzy Stradlin. I didn't know either of them, but my girlfriend knew Axl. I was in the Boy Scouts with Izzy's younger brother, and his older brother used to beat me up. I don't know if Izzy pissed in the sink back then or not. Axl (real name Bill Bailey) transferred to a country school our junior year, and then dropped out.

My dad delivers mail to Axl's grandmother, and they both marvel that fans somehow send her things to give to Axl. My brother does a pretty good imitation of Axl's effeminate mince, which earned him the nickname "Axl Best." Once I visited "Axl Rose’s Star Shop," a Lafayette rock’n’roll clothing store akin to those found on Melrose Avenue or St. Mark's Place. However, there was only one rack of clothes.

Axl recently paid a visit to Club Dreamerz, Chicago's answer to New York's CBGB.

The word traveled upstairs to the concert room that the mainstream metal star had deigned to visit Chicago's last true punk bar, which caused amusement and derisive comments. The bands finished playing, and Axl and his retinue stormed upstairs. His bodyguard and followers formed a flying wedge that made a perfunctory sweep of the room, examining the wall-to-wall graffiti and looking at no one.

I yelled out, "Bill Bailey, Bill Bailey!" Axl didn’t blink, but his bodyguard tapped him on the shoulder: "He knows your name, man." I tried again. "Bill Bailey! I went to high school with you!" Again, his bodyguard tried to help: "He says he went to high school with you, man." Axl didn't respond. I could have approached him later in the evening, but I realized I really didn't have anything to say to him anyway.

—David Best