(Credits: Andreas Lawen, Fotandi / Ed Vill)
Sun 26 October 2025 16:00, UK
If rock music is the kind of genre that invites competition and brutal gang-like behaviour, then there are some groups who seem to find themselves in more hot water than most. Guns N’ Roses frontman, Axl Rose, is one such person who could seemingly find himself fighting in an empty room.
Whether it be Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love or old bandmates, the Indiana native isn’t afraid of getting stuck in and vocalising his thoughts. One of rock’s most volatile characters, we’ve seen him get involved in protracted rivalries and see them out till their conclusion, as he’s not one for giving in. Most of his problems, and his successes in life can be attributed to his mouth. Both able to hit some spectacular notes and capable of insulting everyone in the room, Rose left fellow rocker Vince Neil with balled fists and ready to fight.
While his feud with Kurt Cobain is the most famous, before the grunge hero, Rose was already deeply ensconced in a bitter feud with one of heavy metal’s other prominent frontmen, Möley Crüe‘s Vince Neil. Although you might have expected two of the world’s biggest metal bands to be good friends, particularly because of their Los Angeles roots, in reality, it was quite the opposite.
Mötley Crüe formed in 1981 and quickly rose to become one of the decade’s most prominent acts, with their 1985 record Theatre of Pain helping to usher in the first wave of glam metal. Meanwhile, Guns N’ Roses didn’t break through until 1987 with the release of their iconic debut album Appetite for Destruction. So, by the time Axl Rose had come to the party, Vince Neil and the rest of Mötley Crüe were already big stars.
Even though there were many parallels between the bands, namely musical styles and hard-partying antics, one incident in 1989 would bring them into direct conflict, kicking off the feud between Rose and Neil.
Axl Rose at his piano. (Credits: Far Out / YouTube Still)
Strangely, Rose could have saved himself from the lengthy feud because, at its inception, it had nothing to do with him. It all started after Mötley Crüe had presented the ‘Best Group’ and ‘Best Metal Video’ to Guns N’ Roses for ‘Sweet Child O’ Mine’ at the 1989 MTV Music Awards Ceremony. When the band left the Universal Amphitheatre after completing their job, Neil stayed behind and waited for Guns N’ Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin, who had reportedly hit his wife, Sharise, at an earlier date.
Waiting backstage, Neil got his shot and sucker-punched Stradlin after he and the rest of Guns N’ Roses had completed a performance with Tom Petty. Rose screamed at Neil and threatened to kill him for the attack on Stradlin; however, no action was taken, per an account in Rock Celebrities.
Given their status, this scuffle made the headlines, which caused tensions to rise exponentially. Rose then appeared on MTV in 1990 and informed Neil that he was ready and willing to fight things out once and for all. Neil sat on the challenge for almost a year, but eventually stuck his head above the parapet. He told everyone watching that Rose had threatened him, and that he was more than ready to settle the score. He would use just four words to make his point, and off out the Mötley Crüe for a dust up.
In the interview, Neil said: “He said a lot of bad things about me last few years and a lot of threats. Even on one of your guys’ shows before the MTV Awards. He said, ‘Well, any time any place.’” Those are the kind of words usually reserved for cowboys in the movies and not two hair metal rockers as happy to wear cropped tops and eye make-up as they were singing falsetto. But that just goes to show the machismo at the heart of rock music.
Clearly sick of the thought of being spoken about by the Guns N’ Roses man, Neil took the apparante Rose offer for a fisticuff duel into his own hands and threw out his own challenge. Neiul continued: “And right now, I wanna put an end to this, and what I want is, Axl, if you are watching this, I want to challenge you to a fight. I’m gonna give you time and I’m gonna give you the place. There’s no backing out now buddy. It’s time to put up or shut up.”
He continued: “I’d like to do it at an arena where people can come and see. I’d like to have it televised. I want the whole world to see this fight. I think it’s gonna be great. I’m really psyched for it because I need to put an end to this. It’ll end it once and for all the bad blood between us. So let’s do it. Men should do it”.
A media frenzy followed Neil’s infamous interview, but weirdly, nothing ever happened. The feud swiftly faded into history as Mötley Crüe’s relevance was severely diminished by the advent of grunge and the rise of Kurt Cobain.
The same could be said for Guns N’ Roses, and even though they stayed on the scene for another couple of records, they always struggled to replicate the heights of their debut, with audiences now more bothered about Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Soundgarden than they were overblown rock epics such as ‘November Rain’.
Fast forward to the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards, and Rose was now concentrated on another bitter feud with everybody’s favourite power couple, Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love. It’s never been made clear whether Rose and Neil buried the hatchet, but given their respective stubbornness, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s still unresolved.
Watch the infamous interviews below.
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