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More than words: Axl's Rocket Queen exposed...
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Have you ever loved a song to the point of ridiculousness but no matter how hard you try, you just can’t understand the lyrics? What was the artist thinking when writing your favorite tune? More Than Words, a weekly column, will help to delve a little deeper…
Rocket Queen, Guns N’ Roses (Appetite for Destruction, 1987
With a lead singer continuously steeped in controversy for his arrogance, in-your-face lyrics and overt rock n’roll lifestyle, Guns N’ Roses’ explosive 1987 release of Appetite for Destruction was bound to test limits and cross boundaries. Nothing could be more true of the Axl Rose-penned tune, “Rocket Queen”.
“I wrote this song for this girl who was gonna have a band and she was gonna call it Rocket Queen. She kinda kept me alive for a while. The last part of the song is my message to this person, or anybody else who can get something out of it. It's like there's hope and a friendship note at the end of the song. For that song there was also something I tried to work out with various people—a recorded sex act. It was somewhat spontaneous but premeditated; something I wanted to put on the record.” Axl Rose, Hit Parader, 1988.
The song’s lyrics initially seem to reflect a volatile relationship between Axl and the girl who is reportedly, a woman named Barbi Von Grief. “I can turn on anyone, Just like I've turned on you, I've got a tongue like a razor, A sweet switchblade knife, I can do you favors, But then you'll do whatever I like.”
Slash states that, while Von Grief was only eighteen at the time, she had a notorious reputation and was "a queen of the underground scene back then. She'd eventually become a madam, but Axl was infatuated with her at the time." Wikipedia.
In the song, Rose barks perverse orders at Von Grief before realizing his feelings for her as a friend and pleading with her to never leave him. “Don't ever leave me, Say you'll always be there, All I ever wanted, Was for you, To know that I care”.
Midway through the song, the listener can hear what was initially thought to be simulated sex sounds. However during an interview with Rolling Stone, Rose confirmed that the sounds were real – after feeling that something was missing from the song, he asked a 19 year-old stripper to have sex with him in the studio so he could record it.
The stripper in question was Adriana Smith, the then girlfriend of Guns N’ Roses drummer, Steven Adler. Smith was mad at Adler for cheating on her and decided to get back at him by agreeing to Rose’s proposition.
"I would do anything Axl asked me to do," says Smith, now a forty-year-old mom. "He's fuckin' magical." Though she was drunk and giggly that day, Smith eventually gave Rose what he wanted: Her orgasmic moans — which ended up high in the mix on Appetite for Destruction's final track, "Rocket Queen" — are for real. But when Adler found out what had been captured on his band's album, the drummer "fucking freaked out," Smith says. She was haunted by her recording session for years: "I ended up drinking and using drugs over this for a really long time, because I had this extreme shame and guilt and stuff." Rolling Stone, 2007.
According to Sky News, Appetite for Destruction was certified diamond, (plus 18x platinum), by the Recording Industry Association of America, after selling 28 million copies. “The album still remains the fastest-selling debut album in history,” Amazon.
*More Than Words is a weekly column. If you liked this column, you may also enjoy – Comfortably Numb, Spoonman, Yellow,Jane Says, Barracuda, Bohemian Rhapsody, A Day in the Life, All I Want, War Pigs, Message in a Bottle, Buffalo Soldier, Purple Haze, I am The Walrus, Riders on the Storm, White Room, Wear Your Love Like Heaven, Could Have Lied, Go Your Own Way, Sweetest Thing, Smells Like Teen Spirit.
More Info: The Making of Appetite for Destruction (Rolling Stone), Rocket Queen (live in Tokyo), Appetite for Destruction on Amazon, Guns N'Roses website
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