1994.03.30 - RAW - Bitter Sweet

BITTER SWEET
 
W AXL ROSE wrote GUNS N’ ROSES’ love song ‘SWEET CHILD O’ MINE’ for ex-wife ERIN EVERLY. The story behind the song had a tragic ending. This month, Everly filed a court action against Rose alleging that he badly mistreated her during their short marriage. These are the inside track facts…
 
‘Sweet Child O’ Mine/
Sweet Love Of Mine’
W Axl Rose, ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine, 1987.
 
The story of Guns N’ Roses’ classic, poignant love song ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ is woven deep into the story of the love affair between Guns’ mercurial vocalist W Axl Rose and Erin Everly, daughter of ‘60s pop star Don Everly, of the Everly Brothers.
 
As yet, there’s no sign of the story ending. The couple’s marriage broke up in spring 1991 and, this month, Everly filed court papers in the US that claim she feared for her life during their time together. It’s all a long, long way from Rose’s tender poem, written in 1987 for his future wife.
 
In comparison with the rest of the warlike intensity of ‘Appetite For Destruction’, ‘Sweet Child…’ stands out as the most honest and heartfelt of the tracks laid down, along with ‘Mr Brownstone’, a brutal sideways look at GN’R’s drug problems.
 
‘Sweet Child…’, with its lonesome guitar signature and emotional and revealing stanzas like, ‘Her hair reminds me of a warm safe place/Where as a child I’d hide’ provides a compelling counterpoint to the likes of ‘It’s So Easy’, where Axl snarls, ‘Why don’t you just… F**K OFF’!
 
Rose and Everly’s relationship had begun before Guns were anything more than a rowdy and deafening noise on the infamous Sunset Strip Glam scene. They couldn’t have grown up more differently. Rose was a working class kid from Indiana who, he has since revealed, was subjected to appalling sexual abuse as a boy, and Everly was raised in an affluent Los Angeles suburb, the daughter of an extraordinarily successful man.
 
Friends of the band from way back, who remember the infamous ‘Hell House’ where all of Guns lived together while they were broke, recall Axl spending a fair amount of time at Erin’s house when he needed the space.
 
Guns recorded ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ during the ‘Appetite For Destruction’ sessions of November and December 1986 and January and February 1987. Sessions for the album had been delayed from the previous summer while Slash and Izzy Stradlin’ underwent treatment for drug-related problems. Mike Clink, an English exile in LA, handled production at Rumbo Studios in Hollywood.
 
Guns N’ Roses’ ascent to superstardom really began when ‘Appetite For Destruction’ was released in August 1987, followed by ‘Sweet Child…’ as a US single in September. Backed with a video directed by another Englishman, Nigel Dick, that features all the band’s then wives and girlfriends and, of course, Erin, ‘Sweet Child…’ took six months to climb the US charts, eventually reaching the Number One position in April 1988 – making GN’R only the fourth hard rock band to have a US chart-topping hit.
 
In the UK, ‘Sweet Child…’ was released to coincide with the band’s ill-fated Donington appearance in August 1988 (two fans were crushed to death in during GN’R’s set – no fault of the band’s and despite their desperate efforts to calm the crowd down) when it reached Number 24. It was re-released in May 1989, and rose to Number Six.
 
Axl was rapidly becoming the world’s most talk-about, dissed, cussed and adored rock star. He and Erin finally married in April 1990, and it seemed like the happy ending that ‘Sweet Child…’’s success demanded. Instead, the couple divorced barely 12 months later. Now, almost three years after the split, Erin Everly has filed court papers in Los Angeles, suing Rose for assault and alleging awful mistreatment during their time together.
 
Everly, now 28, claims that it’s only now, three years after the event and “considerable” counselling that she has felt able to go ahead with the claim. Her lawyer, Rene Tatro, also plans to ask the Los Angeles District Attorney to bring criminal charges against Rose. The action is one demanding “multi-million” dollar damages.
 
The violence that Everly alleges Rose perpetrated is shocking. She claims that the singer forced her to sign several sets of divorce papers, which he then destroyed. On one occasion, he is alleged to have gone on a violent rampage through their house, destroying many household items and physically attacking her.
 
Everly passed out soon afterwards and awoke in hospital to be told she’d been injected with cocaine and heroin and had suffered a cardiac arrest. There was no suggestion, though, that Rose had given her the drugs.
 
Another time, Rose twice knocked her unconscious, then refused to take her to a hospital or doctor for medical assistance. A friend came and took her to a clinic for treatment.
 
Everly alleges that Rose forced her to have sex against her will, and tried to make her have sex with other women and take part in group sex on several occasions. When she consistently refused, Rose forced her from their home or hotel room.
 
One time, Rose is alleged to have attacked Everly at a barbecue in front of dozens of witnesses. He forced her from a car, threw her over a wall and punched her, only stopping when a friend intervened and pulled him off her.
 
The court papers say: “Rose repeatedly beat Everly by punching, slapping, kicking, shoving, tied and gagged her, spat on her and hit her with foreign objects”.
 
Everly’s lawyer Tatro continued: “Erin has never taken drugs, but there will be evidence of considerable drug abuse on the part of the defendant.”
 
Everly alleges she became pregnant in 1990, but miscarried the baby. She claims that Rose told her while she was pregnant that he would take the child away unless she agreed to have the marriage annulled.
 
The marriage was ended in Reno, Nevada by Rose, on the grounds that Everly “refused to keep house and bear his children”. He claimed at the time: “Erin had no intention of complying with her promise to raise a family and be involved in a well-adjusted marriage”.
 
The newly filed court papers continue: “She (Everly) was driven to the edge of destruction. She has been unable to hold a job because of the emotional damage she suffered.”
 
GN’R and their label Geffen have offered “no comment” about the case.
 
Rose’s much-publicised subsequent relationship with model Stephanie Seymour was also dogged by allegations of violence.
 
The singer has been diagnosed as a manic depressive, and has confessed that he suffered serious abuse as a child. He has since done a lot of charity work for abused children.
 
Since splitting from Rose, Everly has been spotted with Matthew Nelson, of soft rockers Nelson, and Donovan Leitch, son of ‘60s star Donovan.
 
The tale has an ugly and sad twist, too. Every has also alleged that, after their split, Rose scrawled a message on their garage door, a reference to the song that he wrote for her. It ran: ‘Sweet Child O’ Die. Slut’.

*
 
GUNS N’ ROSES
‘SWEET CHILD O’ MINE’
 
TAKEN FROM:
Guns N’ Roses debut album, ‘Appetite For Destruction’ (1987, Geffen).
 
RELEASE DETAILS:
- ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ was released as a single in the following formats in August 1988:
   7’’ with sticker: ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’/’Out Ta Get Me’
   10’’, 12’’ and 12’’ Metallic sleeve: ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’/’Out Ta Get Me’/’Rocket Queen’
- It was re-released on 7’’, 12’’ and CD formats in May 1989.
 
VIDEO DETAILS:
Shot at a Los Angeles studio in spring 1987 and directed by Nigel Dick, the clip features the Guns performing ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine,’ intercut with brief clips of their girlfriends, including Axl’s future (and now ex-) wife, Erin Everly.
 
VIDEO THEME:
The video theme is simple, designed to reflect one of the band’s simplest and coolest songs. Rose wrote the lyrics about Erin Everly. However, the performance footage of GN’R is electric, capturing the band just before they became superstars, and in their original line-up, which included drummer Steven Adler and guitarist Izzy Stradlin’.
Guns N’ Roses have since become one of the most adventurous rock ‘n’ roll bands with their video clips, concocting epics for the likes of ‘Don’t Cry’, ‘November Rain’ and ‘Estranged’.
 
TRACK FAX:
‘Sweet Child…’ was a Number One hit in the US for GN’R (their first) and a Number Six hit in the UK (on its re-release in 1989). It became the tune that springboarded the ‘Appetite For Destruction’ album to sales of 30 million copies worldwide.
It hit the headlines again this year, when Erin Everly began court proceedings against Axl, claiming that he beat her up during their brief marriage.
 
SWEET FAX!
 
Writing:
Lyrics by W Axl Rose, music by Guns N’ Roses.
 
Subject:
The lyrics by Axl are about his relationship with Erin Everly, who became his wife in April 1990. They divorced a year later. Erin is daughter of 60s pop star Don Everly, of the Everly brothers. Guitarist Slash came up with the unforgettable guitar signature that kicks the song off.
 
Recording:
At Rumbo Studios in Hollywood, California as a part of the ‘Appetite For Destruction’ sessions in late 1986 and early 1987. Produced by Mike Clink.
 
Release date:
‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ was first heard on the album ‘Appetite For Destruction’, released in August 1987 on Geffen Records. It was released as a single in September 1987 in the US, and August 1988 in the UK. Re-released in the UK in June 1989.
 
Chart Positions:
UK: Number 24 August 1988.
Re-released May 1989: Number Six.
US: Number One, April 1988 (with Gold certified sales of 500,000 copies). Guns N’ Roses became only the fourth hard rock band to enjoy a US Number One hit. ‘Appetite For Destruction’ has sold over 30 million copies worldwide since 1987, topping both UK and US album charts, and spending an unbroken 147 weeks on the Billboard charts in the US.
 
UK Formats:
 
August 1988 (Geffen)
7’’ with sticker (GEF 43) ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’/’Out Ta Get Me’
10’’ (GEF 43TE) also features ‘Rocket Queen’
12’’ (GEF 43T) As above
12’’ Metallic sleeve (GEF 43TV) As above
 
May 1989
7’’ (GEF 55) ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’/’Out Ta Get Me’
7’’ with tattoo and sticker poster (GF 55W) As above
Cassette single (GEF 55C) As above
12’’ (GEF 55T) ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’/’Move To The City’/’Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)’/’It’s So Easy (Live)’
Cross-shaped picture disc with sticker (GEF 55P) ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’/’Out Ta Get Me’/’Rocket Queen’
3’’ CD (GEF 55CD) ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine (Remix)’/’Move To The City’/’Whole Lotta Rosie (Live)’/’It’s So Easy (Live)’