2018.12.24 - GN'R Central - Interview with Doug Goldstein

Excerpts from Alternative Nation and Metalhead Zone:
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Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed the reaction to Slash’s Snakepit’s 1995 debut album It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“Tom Zutaut wouldn’t tell Slash that he didn’t like it. He called me and said, ‘You need to tell him, you’re his manager.’ I said, ‘You’re the A&R guy, what are you talking about?’ He said, ‘I’m not going to ruin my relationship with him, but we’re not going to put it out the way it is.’”

“The record company President [told me to talk to Slash], so I ended up having a conversation with Slash. I just said, ‘Lyrically, you might want to take a look at some of the songs. Musically, I like it, but the record company has an issue with it.”

“Axl [Rose] wanted it to be a good record. The reality is it would have given Axl time to relax for a little bit, and not have to concentrate on Guns stuff, he could have had a life for a little while.”

“[Axl] didn’t want it to fail, quite the antithesis. He really wanted it to be a great record. I don’t think he thought it was, from my recollection.”

http://www.alternativenation.net/axl-rose-surprising-reaction-slash-album-revealed/

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Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed GNR feuding with Metallica while on tour in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“We got along great until we started the tour with them. There’s a lot of reasons but once that tour started it went from we were great friends to we don’t really like each other. Just generally. I think that they intentionally wanted that spot before us and I told Axl I wanted to swap headlining and he didn’t wanna do it and I think they walked into it going, we’re going to try and kick their ass every night. That’s what an opener is supposed to do. As a manager, that’s what you tell your opener. Go leave them with a feeling of go and try to follow that.”

“When I first started with a band, tee shirts were $19. And we earned out our advance in a month. So tickets went to, because they gave us such a large advance that tee shirts went to $20. And we kept earning our advances as was Metallica. Metallica wanted a better deal than GnR, GnR wanted a better deal than Metallica. And when tee shirt went to like $23, $22 maybe, I told the band you know what, Metallica is going to have a better deal than you. I won’t do it anymore. This is where I jump off. And they supported it because they understood and again it was because I was more fan-based. I made sure that all of our shirts were done in heavy cotton material. I didn’t want some throw away tee shirt that was going to rip after six months, two months.”

http://www.alternativenation.net/guns-n-roses-metallica-bizarre-feud-revealed-kick-their-butt/

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Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed Axl Rose’s love of Grunge music like Alice In Chains and Nirvana in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview. He also said Axl had to convince Slash and Duff McKagan to listen to grunge bands like Nirvana and Alice In Chains. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“He loved Alice In Chains, he liked them a lot. I told you before but Axl had to get the guys in GNR, in particular Slash and Duff, to listen to Nirvana. He was like, ‘Guys, this is where music is going.’”

Goldstein also discussed a possible new Guns N’ Roses album. A host mentioned he is happy now, and how that could influence it.

Goldstein responded, “God forbid, being this happy, you don’t have that angst to write from, so it could end up being a Sesame Street record if you’re not careful I think. I’m joking, obviously it wouldn’t be, because Axl is a phenomenal lyric writer.”

A host mentioned it could have political themes, and said Axl followed the news and was well read.

Goldstein said, “I wouldn’t say watching the news, but the first comments you made, very well read. He reads and reads, his vocabulary is incredible, he’s very verbose. Everybody knows he’s a genius. Back when I was working with him, he loved reading and stayed on top of it, and I think that’s what set his mind.”

http://www.alternativenation.net/axl-rose-ranting-slash-alice-in-chains-nirvana-revealed/

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Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed Axl Rose and Guns N’ Roses’ reaction to the early 90’s grunge explosion in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview, and telling Rose the ‘mistake’ he made in relation to Pearl Jam and Nirvana’s massive success and the appeal of their look and ethos. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“None of us knew it was coming. In Axl’s defense, he asked me on time, ‘What do you think the biggest mistake I ever made is?’ I said, ‘Showing the fans your mansion. Now you’ve got Nirvana and Pearl Jam wearing their lumberjack shirts and jeans and it’s just changed, right?’

He called me back, ‘You know what, I can’t accept that.’ I said, ‘Why?’ He goes, ‘Because nobody told me that was happening.’ And he was right, and that’s something I should have been able to call out, and I didn’t. Nobody saw it coming.”

http://www.alternativenation.net/axl-rose-biggest-mistake-pearl-jam-revealed/

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While the MTV 1992 VMA’s story of late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain having an argument with Guns N’ Roses singer Axl Rose has long been out there, former GNR manager Doug Goldstein shared some new details on how he believes Cobain behaved like a coward in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview. Alternative Nation transcribed Goldstein’s comments, which differ a bit from previous accounts that are online.

“Look, Axl loved Kurt and wasn’t necessarily a big fan of Courtney. So me, Axl, and Stephanie Seymour are walking across the area where everybody is sitting and eating, and you hear is, ‘Oh look it’s Asshole Rose and his supermodel girlfriend!’ It was Courtney. Axl just went over and told Kurt, ‘Look, shut up your girlfriend or I’ll knock you out.’ None of the band members of Nirvana said anything until they walked out onstage, and Krist Novoselic is trying to make himself look like a tough guy. Really Kurt, where were you? You never came to our dressing room? If you have that much of a problem dude, bring it up.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20190107190314/http://www.alternativenation.net:80/axl-rose-scary-threat-kurt-cobain-finally-revealed/

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During a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview, former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein described how the band’s rivalry with Nirvana extended all the way up to their relationship with their label Geffen Records. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“You know it was interesting because when Nirvana hit, I immediately became a dinosaur at the label. They were hiring all these guys that this was the only thing they cared about and Guns was, you know, passe. At least that was they way I got treated when I’d walk I. I used to walk in and get treated like King Tut. And now I had a choice between the White House and the out house and now I get the out house.”

He later told a story about Axl Rose refusing to play a show at Madison Square Garden in New York unless top Geffen executives were ‘removed’ from the show.

I remember at a Madison Square Garden show, and again,  I don’t want to name names but there were some very higher ups at Geffen and Axl said look, “Unless they’re removed from Madison Square Garden, I’m not going on.” It was pretty embarrassing, you know what I mean. Professionally and for me personally.

https://web.archive.org/web/20190117001552/http://www.alternativenation.net:80/axl-rose-big-name-removed-from-guns-n-roses-show-nirvana-feud/

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Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed the publishing splits between original Guns N’ Roses members Axl Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, and Steven Adler in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview. Alternative Nation transcribed his comments.

“Publishing splits that were 20/20/20, Duff, Slash, Izzy, and then 25 Axl, and 15 Steven. That was a gift to Steven, I mean Axl used to say that all the time. I wasn’t around for the writing, but he was like, ‘Look, they were trying to force me into even splits.’ Steven never wrote anything, so he considered that a big gift to Steven.”

Goldstein also discussed Adler suing the band, and how that hurt the possibility of him coming back after his dismissal in 1990.

“I think that had he not sued everybody, it would have been a possibility, but once that was thrown out there, it’s amazing, once you have to reach into your own pocket to spend money for legal defense, and those are big numbers. I personally spent $500,000. We settled on the court room steps, which means we didn’t wait for the jury to comeback. When you do that, they do what’s called a jury debriefing, so my attorney, god rest his soul, Howard King got to go first and the jury foreman stood up and said, ‘The only question we have is, is your client married?’ My lawyer said, ‘I don’t understand the relevance.’

He said, ‘This guy didn’t do anything wrong, we want him to marry our daughters. All he did was try to save the guy’s life.’ Then [Alan] Niven’s attorney came up, and they were going to crucify Niven, because he was at the helm of it. The band didn’t know, the band was following the lead of the manager and the attorney. Literally all I was doing was taking Steven to different rehabs and trying to get him clean.”

http://www.alternativenation.net/guns-n-roses-money-splits-revealed-ugly-lawsuit-spent-500000/

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Former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed women being backstage at shows, and if Axl was into groupies, in a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview.

“We had your typical backstage you know, 90% females and 10% males and they were just using people that had gotten to know somebody in the group.”

He was then asked who the women were for, and he said that Axl was never a groupies kind of guy.

“The guys weren’t like that. All of them had girlfriends or wives and you know, when I toured with some of the other bands I toured with, it was crazy with them. But with the Guns guys, they just weren’t really into it. I mean, it just wasn’t who they were.”

“Axl just wasn’t that kind of a guy. He wasn’t married, but that just wasn’t who he was. He doesn’t really, he’s just not into that scene, never really was.”

Doug was later asked if Axl ever fully got over Stephanie Seymour.

“I don’t know. I mean I’d have to ask him today. I don’t know; it’s more about her son Dillon. He wanted to be Dillon’s step-dad and he treated that kid amazing like he was his son. I think it was a chance for him to have some normalcy in his life that he otherwise didn’t get the opportunity to have.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20190122000713/http://www.alternativenation.net:80/guns-n-roses-had-90-percent-women-backstage-is-axl-rose-into-groupies/

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n a new Guns N’ Roses Central interview, former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein discussed Axl Rose’s bitter feud with Motley Crue frontman Vince Neil, and how he wanted to kill him in a fight to the death in a country where it was legal, and how that challenge is what shut Neil up for good and ended the feud. Alternative Nation transcribed Goldstein’s comments.

He said during certain times touring together, Guns N’ Roses and Motley Crue members did not interact that much.

“We didn’t really socialize with them much. I mean, they kinds stayed in their camp and we stayed in ours.”

The interviewer asked, “Who do you think would win in a fight: Axl or Vince?”

Goldstein said, “Axl. You know, he’d kill him. He had me call Doc McGhee who managed them at the time because Axl was just tired of Vince running his mouth. And he said, ‘I found a country where you can fight to the death and we don’t have to announce it. Just, let’s get on a plane and go. I’ll put up what I got, he could put up what he’s got.’ And he was serious. And low-and-behold, we never heard anything publicly again from Vince.”

https://web.archive.org/web/20190121193310/https://www.alternativenation.net/axl-rose-almost-fought-motley-crue-icon-to-the-death-insane-reason/

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During in a recent interview with Guns N’ Roses Central podcast, former Guns N’ Roses manager Doug Goldstein has shared the story about why Axl Rose didn’t attend Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon’s funeral.

He said that Axl Rose run away from paparazzi. Here’s the reason:

“He didn’t attend. It would’ve been too weird for him to show up in Lafayette under those circumstances. Just to sneak in.

Something that big, he didn’t want to take away from Shannon. It was Shannon’s day. And it would have been, put it this way: I got married in 1990 and Axl and Slash came and I had to hire security. They found twenty paparazzi. They weren’t there to take pictures of me. Twenty paparazzi hiding in the bushes at my wedding.

So, Axl, we talked about it. Out of respect for Shannon more than anything else- it wasn’t a disrespectful thing he wasn’t there. Quite the antitheses. He was torn up about it. I mean he was torn up about it. I mean, he loved Shannon.”

https://metalheadzone.com/guns-n-roses-source-reveals-why-axl-rose-run-away-from-paparazzi/