Axl Rose: how childhood abuse forged rock’s most volatile icon

The Guns N’ Roses reunion tour has already demonstrated sustained global demand for the band’s catalog, with stadium dates continuing to sell out years into the run. Whether Axl Rose will pursue new recorded material with the reunited lineup remains an open question — one that fans and the music industry have been asking since the reunion was announced. His relationship with the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, which he has never publicly revisited since declining the 2012 ceremony, also remains unresolved. At 64, the trajectory of his next chapter — artistic, personal, or otherwise — is the one story about William Bruce Rose that has yet to be written.