1989.02.06 - Howard Stern Radio Show - Interview with Axl

Full interview:



Transcript:

Intro: Calling a person at home was a line that Howard never wanted to cross but calling him in the hotel room was no issue for him at all. And I had a mole, I had a couple of moles, I had a couple of guys that worked at big hotels in the city, I had a couple of limo drivers who drove big name people. You know, we always said that this show was driven by the blue-collar guy, it's the guy that, you know, carries your bags, the guy that cooked your food, the guy that does your laundry, and those were the people who would constantly feed me numbers. But I had this one great contact who was a limo driver who would call me up like, "Chevy Chase is staying at the Four Seasons Hotel," "Mellencamp's," you know, "at the Regal Royal Hotel, this is the name he is staying under." It was great! And we caught so many people over there [?], we called Eric Clapton and woke him up, and we called Axl Rose and woke him up.

---------------------------

Stern: This is the guy from Guns N' Roses. I hope this is correct. They swear to me this one's correct.

Female: Did Jon check it out? Did Jon or Jacky [?] check it out?

Stern: I don't know, I think Jackie got it. And I'm really nervous, I'm really nervous over here. "Guns N' Roses, an exclusive interview with Axl Rose" [laughter] Um, room uh, 1403, please. And I hit the delay so no one will have that information.

Female: Good.

Stern: Calling Axl from Guns N' Roses.

Axl: Who? [?]

Stern: Hey! Is this Axl? It's Howard Stern from the radio. We're on the air.

Axl: Oh yeah?

Stern: Hey, how you doing?

Axl: What's happening?

Stern: It's him.

Female: You're awake! I'm shocked.

Stern: How do we know it's really him though?

Axl: Yo, it's me.

Stern: It is, really?

Axl: Yeah.

Stern: Oh, you're sleeping.

Axl: Umm, waking up.

Stern: They told me you'd be up after nine o'clock.

Axl: Nine o'clock, what time?

Stern: The fans are all calling in and telling me where you were, I think we could call you up and have you on the radio.

Axl: Oh yeah?

Stern: Yeah. How you doing?

Axl: I'm doing.

Stern: So you got to get up anyway, right, so it's not like you're mad at me?

Axl: No, not at all.

Stern: Right!

Female: That's cool! Okay.

Stern: We chat a little bit here. Bet you're there with a babe, right now, huh?

Axl: No.

Stern: You're not?

Axl: No.

Stern: You should come down to the radio station, I'll get you girls. I'll put you on a dial-a-date [?] program like a dating game. Get three girls [interrupted]

Axl: Maybe I I need to be there.

Stern: Yeah, I think you do need to be here.

[laughter]

Stern: Let me tell you [interrupted]

Female: A little tired, huh?

Stern: I've been supporting you guys all along, not like all the other crummy radio stations that rejected you guys in the beginning

Axl: Yeah that was kind of a wild one, huh?

]new section to be added here]

Stern: All right. Let's get down to it. So did you ever get Jessica Hahn?

Axl: Did I get Jessica Hahn?

Stern: Yeah?

Axl: No. I didn't go after Jessica Hahn.

Stern: You didn't it? Did Slash got her?

Axl: She's on a diet [?]

Stern: Did Slash get her?

Axl: Did Slash?

Stern: I think Slash [interrupted]

Axl: No, Slash used her for a spittoon.

Female: Oh, jeez.

Stern: Slash spit on her? That's what she told us. She said Slash spit on her.

Axl: Yeah, he really enjoyed that.

[laughter]

Stern: Now, uh okay, now, you must be getting, I'd say, ten women a week.

Axl: Let's say, let's say, psycho bitches.

Stern: Yeah, do you get, like, tattoo women because you got the tattoos?

Axl: We just get crazy, crazy people that, like, if they last 24 hours it's amazing [?]

Stern: You're not sorry you got all those tattoos, right?

Axl: No, not at all.

Stern: You like it?

Axl: Yeah.

]new section to be added here]

Axl: How'd you get this number?

Stern: Some listener called us up with it, we figured we'd welcome you to New York. You know, I've got a million and a half listeners, it's not like this is some dumb radio show.

Axl: Uh-huh.

Stern: Got New York, Philly and Washington. It's a network.

Axl:  [?]

Stern: You've heard of me, right?

Axl: Mhm.

Stern: You know who I am. FCC.  I've been in trouble with the government, a rebel like you. I'm a revolutionary like you.

Axl: [?] rebel without a clue

Stern: That's me. [laughter] That's the one. So, uh, when you guys gonna come in here? Sit in, we'll jam. Get the whole band.

Axl: I have no clue.

Stern: You got to start doing that, you got to start coming around to my show. Sam Kinison comes on here all the time.

Axl: Yeah. I've been like talking about trying to get a place out here for like a year now.

Stern: You gotta have... how much money, you gotta have like ten million dollars?

Axl: "Ten million dollars," right! You wanna be real.

Stern: Let's figure it out. You sold six million albums right?

Axl: No, we're like about 7.5 in America.

Stern: Right. 7.5, right. Let's figure an average of five dollars an album, alright?

Axl: Let's figure a dollar an album

Stern: Okay, so that's 7.5 million. Do you guys split that equally with all the other guys, no?

Axl: Pretty close to it, yeah.

Stern: You get most, you wrote most of the songs.

Axl: Umh, yeah, but we're a band. And everybody makes their own publishing deals, make your own, you know, you make your own agreement on how you gonna split things up.

Stern: Hey, I don't want to say anything, Axl, but..

Axl: No one knew how much we would sell with the first record, so it's like you want everybody to, like, you know, make as much as they can to get secure.

Stern: Hey Axl, you could go, you could go back to those other guys and just say, "Hey man, if you guys don't, uh, if you guys don't give me more of a percentage, because I'm up there singing and wracking my voice out.. hey, I'm leaving the group and I'm going solo," so...

Axl: Yeah, but I leave the group every three days anyway!

[laughter]

Female: They're not gonna buy it!

Stern: Yeah right!

Female: [?]

Stern: [?]

Axl: They'll buy it, they'll buy it. I rock the boat about every three days about something so they'll just be like [interrupted]

Stern: But you write, you write most of the songs, right?

Axl: Uhm, it depends. You know, it's like, I had like probably about... we figured out some, like, 41% of the last record but, you know, it's like we split up pretty equal so we all [?] get places to live [interrupted]

Stern: That's a mistake, let me tell you something [interrupted]

Female: No, he's right for the first album. Let them get a little bit of bread, get themselves a house and a car.

Stern: Let's say the drummer come up with a good song, who even knows his name? That's what I'm saying. I know Slash, I know Axl. That's it! And I listen to that record maybe once a day, at least. I'm being serious.

Female: Oh yeah, but they've all been piling around together all being poor at the same time.

Axl: Yeah, I mean, there's no one that we want...it's like [interrupted]

Stern: Yeah, yes

Axl: We don't want to have replacements in the band so it's like, Stevie's got a way like, things just come up in his life.

Stern: After this album though, I would get yourself a better percentage. I mean, you're talking about, what, do you guys see a dollar on every album?

Axl: When we write this record, Slash is writing some scary, scary stuff.

Stern: Yeah, I know, I know. This is going to be good man.

Axl: He's writing very good. It's like I was very, very mad at Slash just because of other things going on in our lives until I went over to his apartment and [interrupted]

Stern: And then you saw then music?

Axl: ...and one of the 13 songs is "Well, it's okay."

Stern: Yeah, if he's gonna be a dick who cares?

Axl: Yeah [laughter]

Stern: The guy has the ability to write some music.

Female: Is Traci Lords really hanging out with him?

Stern: Hey, did he get her?

Axl: Yeah, but she's like trying to change her image and got all mad that like, you know, he wears a "Killer Pussy" t-shirt, he's got a bootleg Guns N' Roses record with her picture on it, and he has lots of porn around and once she came over and saw that and just went "Ooooh!" [?] he's into [?] sex, of course, he's American, he's red-blooded, he's breathing [?]

Stern: Does she have a lot of slut friends that I could maybe party with?

Axl: Oh I don't know what she's doing. I don't know what she's doing.

Stern: What a life these guys are living. First of all they're all famous now, they're all single, they can have whoever they want.

Female: They played it right.

Stern: You played it right. You played it right, pal. I got to tell you something.

Axl: Yeah?

Stern: What's all this stuff about you being manic-depressive? You sound fine to me. You're alright.

Axl: [?] depressive. No, it's just because I believed we could sell a lot of records if everybody thought [?] we should go gold and so I was always pissed off trying to, like, push things and "He's having a mood swing!"

Stern: Oh, you don't have any... you're fine. You know who's got mood swings? That Patty Duke. Ever read about her?

Axl: No, I watched her singing some song about guys or something on [?]

Stern: Yeah, right.

Axl: She was terrible.

Stern: [?] identical cousin, she's a great actor.

[laughter]

Axl: Yeah. Identical cousin, that could be fun in a room.

Stern: Yeah, you would like... I bet you've had three women at the same time. Am I close?

Axl: That's fine, yeah.

Stern: You've had it, right?

Axl: Yeah.

Stern: Oh man. What's that like?

Axl: What's that like? Oh, usually somebody gets pissed off [laughter].

Stern: And then all of a sudden you, because you paid attention to one girl more than the other?

Axl: Yeah, she's for [interrupted]

Stern: And it's hard for you to, like, control the situation cuz you got three girls all vying for your attention. But can't you get the other girls, like, getting on with each other?

Axl: Yeah, that happens.

Stern: Oh man.

[clapping]

Female: This sounds like a regular thing. This is not a one-time thing.

Stern: I swear to God. You know, as hard as this is going to be for you to believe, I'm a pretty famous guy, not as famous as you, but I'm famous, I've never had that.

Axl: But usually the problem is its one-on-one because they get all upset, you know, it's like, "What? You have me and you're going to look at another girl?" and it's like, "Great, you didn't pass 24 hour test."

Stern: Yeah, but you know, but you know how to handle that. I mean, you're famous, there's no problem.

Axl: Yeah, I just call up my friends and say [?]

Stern: I swear to God, you got the life.

Axl: Pick up some kind of code and then they come over [?]

Stern: She gonna get another tattoo, huh?

Axl: She gonna get another tattoo?

Stern: You got enough tattoos. You put tattoos, like, right in the middle of your arm. I mean, you put them down [interrupted]

Axl: I'm getting this naked girl riding the Nightrain logo with tigers and snakes all around it.

Stern: Where you putting that?

Axl: Do you know? Today's my birthday. Is today's... also today is also supposed to be Chinese New Year. Is that true?

Stern: Yeah. Year of the Dog.

Axl: It's Year of the Dog?

Female: It's you, babe.

Stern: I don't know.

Axl: Ooooh. I hope it's not.

Stern: Now don't put that on your arm. Cause you'll put a tattoo [interrupted]

Axl: No, I'm Year of the Tiger.

Stern: No, you'll put like a tattoo in the middle of your forearm. You know what I'm saying?

Axl: Yeah.

Female: You don't think placement. Is that what you're saying?

Stern: I'm gonna put one, like, right on my shoulder. Not like Brian Joey, don't put a jackass Superman sticker on my shoulder
which looks stupid.

Axl: I'll put a pie slice on my forehead.

[laughter]

Stern: I mean, where [interrupted]

Axl: Tire tracks on my chest.

Stern: But how many have you got now?

Axl: No, I'm just joking.

Female: I should hope so.

Stern: You got about 6. You got about 6 right now.

Axl: [?] lines on my neck.

Stern: Well Axl, you're welcome here anytime. Anytime you want to come on the air with us, you should come down. We're at 600 Madison. You're coming down here tomorrow. I'll bring out the guitars, I'll party with you, right here on the air.

Axl: You'll bring out the guitars? Good and I'll play the only two strings I know how to play.

Stern: I got the guitar, I play. You know Howard Stern knows how to play the guitar. What's the matter with you? Of course. You come down here, you sing. But anyway, listen Axl, we gotta go, we can't stay on the phone all day.

Axl: All right.

Stern: I mean, I know you're having a good time but [interrupted]

Female: You've got to come in and visit us.

Stern: Yeah, you should. Don't ignore radio. You know, I know you guys are big now, but you need us, you need me, you need me. You don't need the other stations, you need me.

[laughter and clapping]

Stern: You know what I'm saying.

Axl: Mhm.

Stern: All right?

Axl: All right.

Stern: All right, Axl.

Axl: Take care everybody.

Stern: Okay, thanks for coming on.

Female: Bye-bye!

Axl: Hello New York.

Stern: Bye-bye! Happy birthday!

I assume the Slash and Jessica Hahn story refers to Sam Kinison's music video to his single Wild Thing which featured both Hahn and Slash.

The hotel Axl was staying at at the time when Stern called him was The Mayflower. This interview would be referenced when, one and a half year later, Axl and Sebastian Bach would call in to Howard Stern's show: https://tinyurl.com/y78uqlp6

https://soundcloud.com/thefucksong/howard-stern-interview-with-axl-rose-1989-02-06-complete?utm_source=clipboard&utm_campaign=wtshare&utm_medium=widget&utm_content=https%253A%252F%252Fsoundcloud.com%252Fthefucksong%252Fhoward-stern-interview-with-axl-rose-1989-02-06-complete

Five more minutes of the interview.

I indicated a couple of places in the transcript where new pieces should go in, but there might be more.

Soulmonster wrote:I indicated a couple of places in the transcript where new pieces should go in, but there might be more.

I listened to it and most of it is towards the end. It's almost ten minutes more and really interesting stuff. Nice!

(I have also embedded the audio from soundcloud in the OP).