Axl Rose sues Activision

Guns N' Roses frontman W Axl Rose is attempting to sue Activision over the inclusion of Welcome to the Jungle in Guitar Hero III. Rose has filed a $20 million lawsuit against the games publisher, according to Reuters, It turns out, the singer did give permission for Activision to use the song, but only under condition that …

[Anonymous Coward]

Personally

Slash should counter-sue Axl for destroying the Guns N' Roses name with that sad fucking tribute band he is currently dragging around the globe.

[The Original Ash]

It makes no difference anyway

Slash did a lot of GnR material at Download this year with his band (Myles Kennedy on vocals, Lemi making an appearance), and it was much more enjoyable than the travesties that Axl and his troupe vomited out a few years ago (barely, before leaving the stage an hour before he was due to finish, causing riots and fires in the campsites).

Down with Axl, Long live Slash!

[Pypes]

I really don't know how to feel about this

I can't decide who I hate more tbh, Axl Rose or Activision. I suppose I best just sit back and enjoy the fireworks.

[Anonymous Coward]

Couldn't agree any less

They were good once, but now they're both greedy gold-digging penny pinchers.

It's really hard to feel sorry for Activision with that jackass Bobby Kotick in the helm, and it's really hard to feel sorry for GnR when they have not churned out any good songs for years and that the band has had a fallout.

Let the fireworks begin!

Beer. Because fireworks go down better with beer.

[Annihilator]

Clue is in the name

It's called GUITAR Hero, not Ginger-Childish-Tantrum-Throwing-Wailer Hero. What did Axl expect?

Besides, when I hear Welcome To The Jungle, I think of Slash and the guitar riff (that incidentally, the song grew from), not the vocals.

Sigh, another nail in the coffin of the already dead GnR. You can have anything you want but you better not take it from me.

[Anonymous Coward]

isn't it "W. Axl Rose"?

i always assumed the "w" stood for wanker, now we know.

[Anonymous Coward]

RE: isn't it "W. Axl Rose"?

An excellent observation.

And given that 'Axl Rose' is an anagram of Oral Sex I would also go as far as to call him a Cock Sucker as well.

[Anonymous Coward]

Hmm

Axl Sane, anyone?

[bean520]

This long? Seriously

It took him this long to realise that Slash featured in the game? and what is his problem with it.

P.S. Chinese democracy sucked

[There's a bee in my bot net]

Yeaaaahhhhhh!!!

ROCK'n'ROLL BABY!!!

[Reality Dysfunction]

Can Scotland sue?

for Axls terrible abuse of the kilt?

[SuperTim]

Interscope/geffen?

Isn't this Interscope's domain as holders of Geffen's back calalogue? I didn't think permission was legally necessary from the whiney-voiced gender-suspicious lead singer (other than maybe for some kind of image rights). Still seems a bit shady though.

[MJI]

How pathetic

To whine about someone who played on the tracks,

I hope he loses.

[Bloodymirova]

I think..

...he's just an Axhole.

[Da Weezil]

Greed...

Maybe next Axl (silly name) will cover something a little closer to his nature...

"money money money" comes to mind

[Nick Davey]

Sad, very sad

Axl Rose is not GnR, certainly not after he has dragged the name through the mud and shown what a self-interested money grabbing spaz monkey he really is. Way to keep living that rock star lifestyle? Sue someone for IP that isn't totally yours so you can take a chunk out of one of the most successful games franchises in recent years so you don't have to do any real work....

[MinionZero]

Welcome to the Twilight Zone

Have I just woken up in some kind of alternative reality?! WTF? So Axl Rose is pissed and so throwing a Naomi Campbell style prima donna tantrum because x-GnR member Slash is also in the game. WTF?! ... kind of, "oh I don't want it in the game if HE is in the game". Get a grip.

I think I'm totally on Slash's side, after all he did also co-write "Welcome to the Jungle" with Axl.

Axl should stop now, just stop, he is seriously showing himself up.

[serviceWithASmile]

they deserve each other

Axl is a bitter, arrogant bag of hasbeen and Activision are stupid, mindless greedy idiots.

They lost infinity ward out of nothing more than idiotic greed and have made more bad moves than I've had pints. They most likely didn't do this out of any clever political or strategic thinking, more likely they either thought "oh it won't matter" or didn't check.

Waxl has probably been waiting for exactly this moment to strike - like that guy he got sued for downloading Chinese Democracy.

It's nice when the bad guys fight each other for a change.

But up until now, I thought this kind of IP trolling was mostly limited to the software industry - that is, software other than games - i.e Google, Novell, SCO, et al.

Mon the lawsuits

[Anonymous Coward]

Has-been Rock Stars

Nope, it isn't just in the Software space where these dick moves happen. Just watch other dickheads like Gene Simmons saying "sue their balls off". There are a couple of jackasses who are former rockers, a sad state of affairs indeed.

[Anonymous Coward]

Would that it were possible..

..for both sides to lose. Axl Rose vs Bobby Kotick- both such wonderful people.

Bobby Kotick icon, because it's there.

[blackworx]

Sounds suspiciously like some kind of rock and/or roll to me

Can't wait to see what his plastic surgeon will do to him for that amount of cash. Cat Woman II anyone?

*gets popcorn*

[Anonymous Coward]

Now we know why he's always late for his shows

The guy spends too much time with his layers...

[Cliff]

Breach of agreement?

This isn't about who played on what by whom, it's about a contractual breach if a material term wasn't honoured. Don't think 'ahhh poor little guy' about a games publishing company, they should still honour their agreements, they didn't, so the other party sues. Nothing to see here - just because it's music makes it no different than (say) Mickey Mouse image rights.

[Tigra 07]

No tit required

Well i like Axl Rose, but then i also like Slash.

But which is better?

There's only one way to find out...

[DrXym]

What can you say?

Wikipedia actually maintains a separate article to detail all the feuds he is involved in. No wonder people think he is a crybaby prima donna. In this case it seems like a combination of sour grapes and a cash grab.

[Red Bren]

After seeing the footage of Reading

My significant other renamed him Fatsl Rose.

[hahnchen]

Such a fail

Axl Rose is suing Activision to prove that he can sell out more than Slash. That's what GNR has come to, who can sell out the most.

[Anonymous Coward]

No

Like someone else said earlier, Activision agreed a contract, then broke it, if the guy is to be believed.

It doesn't matter if we think the guy is a tosser, a contract is a contract.

It is as simple as that.

[hstiles]

r.e. no

It depends. The wording of the article doesn't help. Is there a clause in the contract that states that permission to use Welcome to the jungle was granted on the condition that Velvet Revolver or Slash were not to be included? If not, there it's an (unreasonable) request and Activision would have a case to answer.

I would also assume that Axl Rose would have to prove that this inclusion caused him personal injury, loss of earnings, loss of reputation, etc...

Anyway, we're talking about the USA, so the likely outcome is a lengthy and costly court case involving lots of expensive shit hot, sheister lawyers and a not-inconsiderable settlement amount that keeps A (triple) XL Rose happy and allows Activision to include G'N'R songs for the next 6 Guitar Hero releases.

[Tin Pot]

Pram

Why has every commenter thrown his toys out of the pram? If Activision agreed to this, they've got themselves to blame - how can this be construed as an Axl hissy fit?

Methinks you all wish the original GnR line up were still going.

[Anonymous Coward]

Who cares?

Gun's and Roses are shite anyway. Their only decent song was a rip off of Paul McCartney's Live and Let Die.

[Tony Smith, Editor, Reg Hardware]

Re: Who cares?

No, it *was* PMcC's Live and Let Die.

[blackworx]

And yet...

I still prefer the Pretenders' version over either of those.

For one thing, la Hynde fixed McCartney's bad grammar and in the process made it a song in which the lyrics scan more better in.

[Youngdog]

Wings?

Only the band the The Beatles could have been...

[bobbles31]

Whats the matter?

Is slash getting way more pussy than you? Suck my fucking dick, get in the ring mother fucker I'll kick your bitchin little ass.....

Oh you want to do the lawyer thing, how rock and roll.

[Les Claypool]

Axl of evil

..to the jungle of greed. Activision are at fault here for sure, but doesn't change the fact Axl is a complete dick. Sour grapes indeed - just couldn't handle the fact Slash was cooler and without his perfect guitar solos, Guns N' Roses have not been the same.

Even Buckethead, who proclaims to live in a chicken coop couldn't stick around Axl for too long - Just too much of a cock I guess.

[Keith Crooks]

Just stop already!

Just when you thought Axl Rose couldn't be any more of an idiot! It's a guitar-based game featuring a song that Slash played guitar on and co-wrote. It's not rocket (queen) science!

I think he just likes having something to get a bee in his bandana over.

I wouldn't mind but the current "GnR" (or Chimps 'n' Roses as I like to call them) are just a bad parody of what used to be a fantastic band.

[Colin Miller]

The ego has landed

Rose managed to drive Tracii Guns away before GNR released the Lies! EP.

[gaz 7]

SCO?

is it me or is Axl Rose turning into the SCO of the rock world.

i.e. he had summat half decent a good number of years ago, cocked everything up royally, and is now trying deperately trying to claw whatever cash he can get by suing whoever he can.

RIP - cos GNR died a long time ago now; and should have been buried then.

[Mike Arthur]

so....

Is this Axl trying to make money to cover people who are suing him for Chinese Democracy being so shite?

[jerkrichards]

axl welcomes us to the jungle...

...and he's making it worse everyday! yeah rock on, you crazy rock'n'roller!

[Rick Cross]

"Incredibly Valuable"?

I guess the concept of "incredibly valuable" is a personal thing as I wouldn't give a penny for either.