Ex-Guns N’ Roses Manager ‘Can’t Listen’ To Axl Rose

Former Guns N’ Roses manager Alan Niven revealed that he still cannot listen to the “Use Your Illusion” albums. He also expressed amazement at the depth of knowledge some fans have about the band.

When Guns N’ Roses started their professional journey in the ’80s, it was clear they possessed a unique quality that held the promise of future greatness. However, the odds were stacked against them. Niven took on the role of manager after initially declining the position twice, as other managers had avoided the tumultuous rock band.

Once he joined, Niven believed that, given their music and nature, the band would remain in the underground scene. However, after the success of “Appetite for Destruction,” Guns N’ Roses evolved into a formidable presence in the music industry.

In the following years, Niven got to be a part of one of rock’s greatest glory runs, before parting ways with the band just prior to the release of “Use Your Illusion”, amid tensions with Axl Rose. Speaking to Ghost Cult Magazine in a recent interview, the manager said that he still can’t bring himself to listen to the album:

“I live in Arizona, I’ve got a nice little stereo in the truck. If I turn on a radio station, I know I’m going to hear something that I worked on within the day. When I come home, I’m not going to play those records. I’m not going to listen to them. And yes, emotionally, for example, I don’t think I even have a copy of ‘Use Your Illusion’ in the house. I won’t play it. I love ‘Dust N’ Bones.’ It’s one of my favorite Izzy [Stradlin] songs. Love that song, but will I pull out an album and have Axl’s voice bouncing off the walls of my home for an hour and a half? No.”

On the other hand, GN’R fans tend to be the complete opposite of that. In the same interview, Niven shared his amazement at the detailed knowledge some fans have of all the minutiae of the band’s career:

“If you go to a GN’R GNR forum, which I really, really, really avoid doing as best I can and almost completely manage to not see these things… The thing that I’ve discovered is that everybody knows everything, and there’s not that much that you can talk about that is going to surprise someone somewhere. It’s extraordinary.”

“It reminds me of when I first started going to Japan. The level of fandom there is just amazing. I mean, they know what they had for breakfast three years ago. They are that intent on knowing about that which they love. GN’R fans are almost to that degree. There’s really nothing that I talk about that isn’t known in one way, shape or another.”