Axl Rose Is Miffed!

Axl Rose, front man and lead singer of Guns N' Roses is upset with the makers of the "Guitar Hero III" video game. The game, which allows novices to "play guitar" to some of the greatest riffs written, features not only two GN'R songs; it also carries the image of the band's former guitar player, Slash.

Actually, the current incarnation of GN'R features only one original member, and that's Axl.

This article came from the British web site DigitalSpy.

Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose has threatened to sue Guitar Hero publisher Activision over alleged use of the band's music without permission.

Rose told fans on MyGNRForum that he is considering legal action over the use of 'Welcome To The Jungle' and 'Sweet Child O' Mine' in the series.

He said he is "fine" with former bandmate Slash appearing in Guitar Hero III, but he is not happy about Activision's "unauthorised" use of the band's songs."

I read about it as it moved along but Activision continually denied it right up to the release," Rose explained. "That's some low life chicanery on all their parts." (Evidently Axl took English at George W. Bush Middle School)

"Yes, Slash was in Guns and on 'Jungle' and he has rights to perform it, but not to be represented in this context in association with Guns," he added. "And since they weren't granted the license, it'll take some sorting."

Let's begin with a little clarification, not only was Slash in the band at the time, he co-wrote the dang song. That would give him some rights. He wrote the bloody music, the guitar part the game invites the player to mimic. Of course they would use Slash's image and not Axl's!

And I have a question about the "unauthorized" use of the songs. Given that this is the third incarnation of this game, and there are other editions of similar games, I'd think the game makers would have the copywrite issue down by now. The song has also been used in many other games without a problem.

The only difference is this time Slash's image is used and he's not in the band any more--this is Axl is upset. So sorry William Bruce, er, Axl.

picture from DigitalSpy.