[MBTI General] Axl Rose

[VILLANELLE]

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I've gotten into Guns N' Roses again and so that brings me to wonder about Axl Rose's personality type. There's few print interviews out there because he hates talking to the press, but I was able to dig up a few things. The same goes for any personable video interviews, but there are some "making of" videos of the Don't Cry/November Rain/Estranged music videos, which give great insight to the filming and behind the scenes.

2016 interview, with Duff McKagan. I think this interview is interesting, really, Axl comes off as really well-spoken. Him talking about the current album (Chinese Democracy) and I guess being more geared towards those songs sounds to me like he's more focused on the present.

Inducting Elton John into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1994
(This one's short/to the point, but I think it's rather sweet and eloquent of him, the way he speaks.)

Making F@kin' Videos - I haven't watched these in awhile and while it's more behind the scenes and explanations of the videos, they do give an insight, I'd think. Moreso to the story of the "trilogy" of the videos (at least, the first two, Don't Cry and November Rain), but the way it's explained by Axl a few times.. he's got a lovely voice to listen to and Slash has described him as being very smart and eloquent. The video trilogy is based on a short story called Without You by Del James, featured in the short story collection he wrote called The Language of Fear. It's a rarity amongst Guns N' Roses fans, probably found online if you want to get a physical copy. (If you're interested/curious, this story is the last one in the book.) But anyways, so that story is the most popular one; the plot essentially involves a tortured singer mourning the death of his girlfriend. Reading the story and watching the music videos, the similarities are glaring between the male character and Axl Rose. (To me, anyways. But it's no secret about that, I think, because the story and the music videos kind of go hand in hand. And while Axl didn't write it, he gave the idea to his friend, Del James, who hammered it out into Without You.)

I found the introduction Axl wrote to The Language of Fear and, again, spoiler cut, I've put some of it here. The intro was dated 1993.

I called Del James around the time that our album The Spaghetti Incident was coming out and wanted to see if he had any ideas for a video for the song "Ain't It Fun". We rapped for a while about the song -- it's a cover of a song originally done by The Beach Boys, which has a very desperate feel to it. Toward the end of our conversation, Del said that he saw it as "dark, dreary and addicted."

"Isn't that how you see everything?" I replied, half-joking. In your hands is Del's first published work of fiction, The Language of Fear. After you've read a few stories, you'll know what I mean. In these stories there's a real sense of the damage that can be done whenever an individual takes things too far. There's healthy doses of extreme violence, perversions, insecurities, addictions, infidelities, and other themes regarding the darker side of human nature. He paints a very vivid picture of people going down the tubes and spares no expense when it comes to using red. There's a real depth there, and he enjoys exploring it. Del's the guy who calls me after writing something particularly disturbing and says "I'm going to Hell" and then reads or faxes me what he's written. Personally, I think he just likes to scare the Hell out of himself. The Language of Fear is very up-to-date, modern fiction by someone who started this type of writing for fun. He likes to confront taboo issues, and since he's an avid horror fan, there's more of an understanding of what young horror fans enjoy and want. It gives a taste of all kinds of different areas of life and things to avoid. He writes about subjects, no matter how dark, that interest him. There's also a sense of rock n' roll in these stories because when he started writing them -- and some of them, like "The Nerve" and "Mindwarp", had rough first drafts written in '86 -- we were all involved in the rock n' roll club circuit and living on the streets. Back then, we were all definitely romanced by the darker side of life. We were all trying to get somewhere while having fun with all the wildness. We got through those experiences, and we're lucky we survived the lessons with only the amount of scars that we have.

A lot of Del's insight comes from his personal experiences, taking them even further in a fictional form. These stories tap into the self-destructive side of things that have actually helped me not be self-destructive. While some of these stories are just horror-for-fun type stories, others were inspired by real-life personal situations. He'd express his feelings and emotions through horror stories because there were a lot of times when we didn't realize how scary our real lives were. Del's writing is a way he's dealt with his own personal emotional developments, battles with substances and decadence, and then adding a horror slant. Del's been turned on by things that weren't necessarily good for him, but the birth of his two daughters has helped him deal with that and now he steers clear of those things, except in his stories. I've watched him battle alcohol and drugs, and I've also seen him become a father and the love for those babies and the desire for them to live happy, successful lives has overtaken his self-destructiveness.

Back when we met in the summer of '85, food, shelter and relief from boredom constituted survival. Del has always been the one to find something to entertain himself faster than anyone else, whether it's a hockey game, horror movies, a video game, or The Simpsons. It's amazing to me that considering the self-destructive nature in each of us, our relationship helps us avoid self-destruction. There are a lot of times when Del helps me work through something that is emotionally too huge for me to deal with. That helps me to not self-destruct and in the process take GN'R or anything down with me. He's always talking me out of stupid shit that I really wouldn't want to do but I think about doing because I'm frustrated, hurt, angry or embarrassed. We've both saved each other's lives a few times. Back when we had no clue of what the other was going to do in life and whether or not we were going to succeed, we still had respect for each other. Now we help inspire that success in each other, and with the success in each other's lives there's been a sense of compassion for whatever the other guy is going through. We value each other's opinions and have found a way so that our lives work together. If I need Del, he's going to be there for me, and if he needs me, I'm going to be there for him. He treats people the way he would want them to treat him and a lot of people aren't like that. That's who Del is.

Del is also the guy who called me and said, "I just wrote my best friend's death." For me, the short story "Without You" helped me focus on what could happen in my life and sometimes what was happening. Although Del was being inspired by situations that were going on in my life, it was his way of helping me acknowledge and deal with a painful situation. It stopped me at different times from going too far. When people are looking for their own identity and things aren't going well, they'll settle for being the bad guy or the loser and create an identity that way.
Although the story "Without You" was written before our first album ('87), the video for the song "November Rain" ('92) where you see Del's name at the end of it is just a piece of "Without You". Things that were predicted in the story actually happened in my life. The goals set before GNR's first album came out were to get to the levels of success described in "Without You". It's the ultimate rock n' roll/self-destructive fantasy. In the story, Mayne Mann writes a song called "Without You", and around this time I started writing "Estranged". I remember calling Del after finishing "Estranged" and going, "I wrote that song" meaning a song that means so much to me, the way "Without You" does to Mayne. I would also end up being haunted by that song as Mayne is. I think it's amazing that the female character, Elizabeth, is the good character, and yet she gets the last word in (don't worry -- I won't give it away) by doing something knowing it'll severely fuck Mayne up. I think there was some spite in there, and there's a lot of self-blame in the story on the part of the rocker. Everything is Mayne's fault and he flips out, which is something that I can relate to. There's a lot of personal pain on Mayne's behalf regarding why he can't get a certain love to work.

For years, we've been thinking about making either videos or or a full-length movie based on "Without You" and that kept me focused on not wanting to become the character, Mayne, although I basically was that person. There are things involved in the character that had a lot of elements of Del as well as a lot of elements of me. "November Rain" is actually the set up for the short story rather than for the "Estranged" video. We were going to try to bring out more of the "Without You" story and elements in "Estranged", but Stephanie Seymour had other plans so we had to change ours. The story actually helped me for a long time, and I would have loved to have filmed it, but right now it's better for me to evolve and transcend the close similarity to my life and let the story live its own life.

Okay, so, this isn't the WHOLE intro, which wraps up after a few more paragraphs (talking about some of the other stories), but I thought that was kind of pivotal to include.

And excerpts from a 2012 interview of his I found:

Interview with USA TODAY, circa 2012

New music: "All the guys are writing, and we recorded a lot of songs over the years. We'll figure out what we feel best about. Chinese was done in piecemeal with one person here and one there at different times. Appetite for Destruction was the only thing written with lyrics and melody fitting the guitar parts at the same time. After that, I got a barrage of guitar songs that I was supposed to put words to, and I don't know if that was the best thing for Guns. I do want to lean more toward lyrics and melody."

The long wait for Chinese Democracy: "I had to deal with so many other things that don't have to do with music but have to do with the industry. There's such a loss of time. It was more about survival. There wasn't anyone to work with or trust. Someone would come in to help produce and the reality was they just wanted to mix it and get it out the door. They had a different agenda. (The next album) will come out sooner."

Songwriting slump: Supermodel girlfriend Stephanie Seymour and original Guns guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan "did more damage to my ability as a writer. To those three, it was all crap. It beat me down so much. At the time of the (Use Your Illusion) tours, Slash and Duff said, 'You're an idiot, you're a loser.' I didn't write for years. I felt I was hindered for a very long time. I was also trying to figure out what I wanted to say, when it's right to be venting and when you're digging a bigger hole. Lyrics on Chinese took a long time."

Good times with GNR: "Here's what I miss about old Guns the most. And this is really before we got Appetite out. In the very beginning, you had three people (Rose, Slash and guitarist Izzy Stradlin) on the same page for a short period looking out for the best interest of that band and its goals. We were trying to get signed from the beginning. We were figuring out the right attorney, the right label. I had two other guys I could rely on. I don't necessarily have that now because it is more my thing, but I do ask everyone's opinion about everything."

How the original band might have lasted: "Maybe if we could have worked together in the way Appetite was put together. I was really naïve. I thought the success of that record would bring everyone together more. It did the exact opposite. They got success and wanted to run in their own directions. I thought they'd go, 'Whoa, it did work.' But they wanted to do their own huge bigger success off of Guns."

The odds of a Guns truce: "I feel that ball's not in my court. I'm surviving this war, not the one who created this war."

The music industry now: "It's horrible. It has nothing to do with music. I'm not trying to be bitter or cynical, but it's an ugly business. People want you to care about them or their lives, their kids, but in the end, you're just a commodity. I don't feel that way about this Guns lineup. I'm not trying to use them. I have to treat it like a business, but I don't want to make decisions that are detrimental to anyone's welfare."

Skipping the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction: "It wasn't painful to not be there. It was a beating to deal with all the pressure of feeling I was supposed to be there and deciding what to do. I try to be respectful about getting an honor or recognition, but I don't really know what the Rock Hall actually is. In my experience with the people who run it, I don't see it having to do with anything other than them making money."

Seclusion and ducking the media: "I just didn't go places where media was. I wasn't interested at the time. If the place to go was some restaurant in Hollywood, I went to the Valley. There was so much negativity, I didn't see any way to go public. I felt I was going to be slammed. The rock entertainment world just wanted to sell magazines."

Psychological issues: "I worked out a lot of them. It was strange to get successful and lose almost your entire family. Then you end up with daytime TV talk shows. All of a sudden, things considered horrific when I was growing up were so what? You were abused? Who cares? There should be more of a public acknowledgement of reality. When I talked to Rolling Stone about it, I thought people would take a harder look at my stepdad. Instead, they came down harder on me. That's still confusing to me. But surviving at any level is good. I'm a lot better than a lot of people predicted. They were rooting for the opposite. There were things on the Internet about how I'd be found dead. I had a very dark attitude."

Free time: "I go to movies, go out with friends, go to car shows. I have a zoo. My animals (wolves, parrots, dogs, cats) are my buddies. They need lots of love and attention."

Fans who discount GNR as less legitimate than the original: "They can think whatever they want. I'm not interested in their opinions."

I read somewhere that typed him as INTP, which, I don't know.. I could agree with on the introversion part, I don't know, only based on his reclusion/dislike of doing press (because apparently whenever he speaks out, he's gotten sh*t for it.)
There's a 1992 Rolling Stone interview he did which is very eye-opening. I don't really want to go into details about One In A Million, regardless of how Axl means the song (I interpret it as something sarcastic), the slurs he used in the song, regardless that it was written so long ago, I just..

In my personal opinion, I feel like the ball was always in Axl's court because he was a bit of a dictator with the band and everything, his ego definitely got in the way. I wouldn't really call it ego, but moreso his perfectionism. I'd almost put him at an enneagram type 1, with his itch for perfection... but he doesn't listen to anyone's clock except his own, being notoriously late for a lot of gigs and stuff. And Chinese Democracy took a long time to come out, but again, perfectionism. I've got some quotes on that/related to Chinese Democracy:

In 2003, DJ Eddie Trunk spoke about the demo of "I.R.S.", which was leaked on his radio show by New York Mets catcher Mike Piazza, stating "It reminded me of Use Your Illusion-era stuff, with some modern flairs to it. The song had a loop track in the beginning, but then, when it kicked in, it was that same dramatic Guns N' Roses hard rock."[61] During the launch party for Korn's 2006 tour, Rose conducted an interview with Rolling Stone and told the magazine:

It's a very complex record, I'm trying to do something different. Some of the arrangements are kind of like Queen. Some people are going to say, 'It doesn't sound like Axl Rose, it doesn't sound like Guns N' Roses.' But you'll like at least a few songs on there.[53]

(Here he doesn't sound that egotistical. Really, he's just a big perfectionist. I get that.)

"This I Love" is a song dating back to 1992 that Rose called "the heaviest thing I've written".[92] The song is a piano ballad with Rose singing to a former lover.[84] "Prostitute" is another orchestral lined power ballad that features the lyrics "Ask yourself, Why I would choose, To prostitute myself, To live with fortune and shame".[72][84] According to early producer Youth, Rose 'labored' over the song due to past successes weighing heavily on him.[93]

I don't really have any other things to type up or what else to say, and frankly writing all of this has kind of mentally exhausted me.

 

[Galaxy Gazer]

From what I know about him, I'd say ISTP or ISTJ

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

Axl Rose to Donald Trump: 'Do you ever stop whining?' - NME
Donald Trump: Axl Rose Is The Donald Trump of Rock and Roll

 

[VILLANELLE]

Axl Rose to Donald Trump: 'Do you ever stop whining?' - NME
Donald Trump: Axl Rose Is The Donald Trump of Rock and Roll

HAHAHAHAHAHAAHHA

 

[Carpe Vinum]

He always struck me as xSTP, leaning toward ISTP.

 

[ilikeitlikethat]

 

[neko 4]

I would guess either ISFP or ISTP. 4w3 sx/sp.

 

[neko 4]

After reading more about MBTI, I would say he's INTP.

 

[neko 4]

No, probably ISTP, my final guess.

 

[neko 4]

I'm not sure if he's an introspective Eight or an aggressive Four.

 

[Tomb1]

EIE-Fe 6w5 sx/sp...the volatile-self-protective gestalt. Eminem is ESI-Se 6w5 sx/sp.

A Primer On The Core Gestalts For Each E-Type And More

 

[raskol]

Eminem is ESI-Se 6w5 sx/sp.

In other words, your system leads you to the conclusion that Eminem is an ESI/ISFj "guardian" (Хранитель), the conservatively oriented stoic that embraces the core values of society. Fi lead and Ne PoLR. A type that most of all prefers stability and continuity.

At this point I can't tell whether you're keeping up an elaborate comedy act or the base antics of a used-car salesman.

 

[neko 4]

Not every cool celebrity is a Six. Six is over-typed.

 

[Peter Deadpan]

Not every cool celebrity is a Six. Six is over-typed.

4 is over-claimed and -assigned.

 

[neko 4]

Aside from the "volatile self-protective" qualities, how exactly is he a Six? No book or test I've ever seen would suggest that. (I was obsessed with him when I was younger, so I feel I would know this.)