Axl Rose speaks to Jimmy Kimmel in rare live TV interview

1/5

In 1991 concert near St. Louis, Rose, then 29, jumped into the audience to confiscate a fan’s unauthorized camera. He returned to the stage only to criticize security and then storm off. When the band did not return about 2,500 of the 19,000 fans stampeded the stage, destroying the band’s drums and amplifiers, tearing down chain-link fences and demolishing two large video screens, police said.

In an interview with The Times two days later, Rose blames lax security for his outburst. But he was up to the same tricks days later, throwing down his microphone at the start of an encore number in Costa Mesa and stomping off stage. This time he was apparently upset about technical difficulties. “Axl’s act is getting tired,” snapped one man in his mid-20s. (Left: Guns N Roses at a 1991 concert in Brazil. Credit: Ken Mazur / WireImage Right: Fans at a 1992 Guns N’ Roses and Metallica concert. Credit: Los Angeles Times)

2/5

Guns ‘N Roses and Metallica toured together in 1992. An accident on stage during Metallica’s performance in Montreal caused the band to cut their performance short. And when Rose also chose to cut Guns ‘N Roses’ performance short as well, fans rioted. Rose told the press that Hetfield was a racist for removing Ice-T’s Body Count group from the tour. Hetfield later said on VH1‘s “Behind the Music,” “We couldn’t relate to Axl and his attitude.” Other members of Metallica and Rose himself told MTV News that the two groups never really gelled on tour. (Associated Press / Los Angeles Times)

3/5

In 2006, after Guns N Roses played a set for Rosario Dawson’s birthday, the rocker went mano a mano with American fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger. But this time he was a gentleman. Hilfiger clocked Rose after he claimed that the rocker pushed him out of the way, saying it was in self-defense because of all of Rose’s intimidating rings. “He wears all this jewelry. [I’m thinking], if I get hit, it’s over. No teeth, no eye. So I hit him before he hit me. It was self-protection. Now we’re friends,” Hilfiger said. (Evan Agostini / Getty Images / Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

4/5

In 2006, when Scott Weiland and Slash were in the midst of their Velvet Revolver collaboration, Weiland became a target of Axl Rose’s ire. After filing a lawsuit against Slash, Rose released a missive that knocked Weiland, as well as his former bandmates.

Weiland didn’t take it lying down. MTV reported that in a posting on Velvet Revolver’s website, Weiland wrote that Rose had an “unoriginal, uncreative little mind, the same mind that had to rely on its bandmates to write melodies and lyrics -- who’s the fraud now?” (Left: Axl Rose in 2006 at his first Southern California concert in a decade. Credit: Gina Ferrazi / Los Angeles Times. Right: Scott Weiland and Slash perform in 2007. Credit: Los Angeles Times)

5/5

Though Rose and Slash were the two most prominent faces during Guns N’ Roses’ rise to the top, Slash left the band in 1996 after years of inactivity. After a news report of a possible reunion between Rose and Slash surfaced in the press in 2009, Rose responded, telling Billboard, “What’s clear is that one of the two of us will die before a reunion and however sad, ugly or unfortunate anyone views it, it is how it is.” In his 2007 memoir, Slash explained that the split came from his frustration with Rose’s lack of respect toward his fans and his bandmates. (Stephen Chernin / AP / Los Angeles Times)

By Randall Roberts

Oct. 25, 2012 10:15 AM PT

Jay Leno may have snagged Barack Obama for a late-night sit-down interview on Wednesday, but the president of the United States has nothing on a competing booking. Jimmy Kimmel sat down with Guns N’ Roses cofounder Axl Rose, who gave a rare live television interview on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Rose’s band will open a 12-night run in Las Vegas on Halloween night, and no doubt to drum up sales and interest in the gigs, the notoriously grumpy and outspoken singer agreed to talk to Kimmel -- and in the process endorsed Obama for president.

True to form, Kimmel didn’t waste any time ribbing Rose. After the oft-tardy Rose received a huge ovation from the crowd, the host offered a compliment: “First off, you’re right on time. It’s unbelievable. You’re very punctual.”

“It’s a miracle,” replied the singer, who said he was recovering from a recent bout of strep throat.

“Are you on antibiotics?” asked Kimmel.

“I’m on a bunch of different things, legal and illegal,” joked Rose.

From there the two had a freewheeling conversation that touched on, among other topics, Rose’s pre-rock star life as a manager of the Tower Video store on Sunset Boulevard, his affection for making and decorating “Halloween trees,” how he once dressed as an ear of corn, his former cornrow hairstyle (he doesn’t regret having them at all), and other semi-surreal topics.

Kimmel records his show at the El Capitan theater on Hollywood Boulevard, only a few hundred yards from the rehearsal space where the first incarnation of G ‘n R first practiced in the ‘80s. Kimmel asked Rose if he remembered that time in his life.

“Unfortunately,” Rose replied tersely.

Another question involved politics. Kimmel asked Rose whether he votes, which prompted an awkward silence. “Uh, I haven’t really voted,” followed by Rose’s rationale that he lives in California, which usually leans Democratic, “and that’s usually where I’m leaning anyway.”

“Ok, so you figured, ‘Let them do it?’ ” Kimmel said.

“Well, no, no,” Rose said. “It’s not like, ‘Let them do it.’ But going for the presidential stuff, it’s usually such a landslide anyway.”

PHOTOS: Axl Rose’s famous feuds

“This would make a great ‘Rock the Vote’ commercial right here,” Kimmel joked.

Rose then gave his endorsement: “I would lean Democrat. I would lean Obama.”

The rest of the interview was about the Vegas residency, and punctuality. At the end, Rose pulled an Oprah and gifted the crowd tickets to the Vegas shows, as well as gift certificates to redeem at a Tommy’s Burgers truck outside Kimmel’s studio.

What a guy.

ALSO:

Axl Rose pens letter to Rock Hall, won’t attend

Woman arrested in theft of Axl Rose’s jewelry in Paris

Guns n’ Roses reunites sans Axl Rose for Rock Hall performance

Follow Randall Roberts on Twitter: @liledit