Editing Axl Rose (section)

=== 1987–1989: breakthrough with ''Appetite for Destruction'' ===
In July 1987, Guns N' Roses released their debut album ''[[Appetite for Destruction]]''. Although the record received critical acclaim, it experienced a modest commercial start, selling as many as 500,000 copies in its first year of release.<ref name="Wiggins03">{{cite web|last=Wiggins|first=Keavin|title=Antitorial - Appetite for Destruction|publisher=Antimusic.com|url=http://www.antimusic.com/ksw/03/dec.shtml|date=December 2003|access-date=June 5, 2011|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610182300/http://www.antimusic.com/ksw/03/dec.shtml|archive-date=June 10, 2010}}</ref> However, fueled by the band's relentless touring and the mainstream success of the single "[[Sweet Child o' Mine]]"—Rose's tribute to his then-girlfriend Erin Everly—the album rose to the No.{{nbsp}}1 position. To date, ''Appetite for Destruction'' has sold over 30 million copies worldwide,<ref name=Smith/><ref name=Havelock/> 18&nbsp;million of which sold in the United States, making it the best-selling debut album of all time in the U.S.<ref name="RIAA">{{cite web|title=Top 100 Albums|publisher=[[Recording Industry Association of America|RIAA]]|access-date=June 5, 2011|url=http://riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-100-albums|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604050421/http://www.riaa.com/goldandplatinum.php?content_selector=top-100-albums|archive-date=June 4, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>
During the band's performance at the [[Monsters of Rock]] festival in [[Castle Donington]], England, in August 1988, two fans were crushed to death when many in the crowd of 107,000 began slam-dancing to "[[It's So Easy (Guns N' Roses song)|It's So Easy]]". Rose had halted the show several times to calm the audience.<ref name="Tannenbaum88"/> From then on, he became known for personally addressing disruptive fans and giving instructions to security personnel from the stage, at times stopping concerts to deal with issues in the crowd. In 1992, Rose stated, "Most performers would go to a security person in their organization, and it would just be done very quietly. I'll confront the person, stop the song: 'Guess what: You wasted your money, you get to leave.'"<ref name="Neely92"/> As a result of the deaths at Monsters of Rock, the festival was canceled the following year.<ref>{{cite news|last=Anthony|first=James|title=Tour Commandments: Pants projectiles are no excuse for cancelling shows|newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=March 22, 2007|access-date=June 6, 2011|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/mar/22/thetourcommandmentsunderpan|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131224224719/http://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2007/mar/22/thetourcommandmentsunderpan|archive-date=December 24, 2013}}</ref>

In November 1988, Guns N' Roses released the stopgap album ''[[G N' R Lies]]'', which sold more than five million copies in the U.S. alone.<ref name="RIAA" /> The band – and Rose in particular – were accused of promoting racist and homophobic attitudes with the song "[[One in a Million (Guns N' Roses song)|One in a Million]]",<ref name="Goldstein89">{{cite news|last=Goldstein|first=Patrick|title=Behind the Guns N' Roses Racism Furor|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|date=October 15, 1989}}</ref> in which Rose warns "[[nigger]]s" to "get out of my way" and complains about "[[faggot (slang)|faggots]]" who "spread some fucking disease". During the controversy, Rose defended his use of the racial slur by claiming, "it's a word to describe somebody that is basically a pain in your life, a problem. The word nigger doesn't necessarily mean black."<ref name="James89"/> In 1992, however, he conceded that the song reflected his initial and impressionable perspective when he first arrived in Los Angeles in his late teens, where he experienced culture shock to a lifestyle very much different from the conservative town he grew up in. Rose stated "I was pissed off about some black people [who] were trying to rob me. I wanted to insult those particular black people. I didn't want to support racism."<ref name="Neely92"/> In response to the allegations of homophobia, Rose said he considered himself "pro-heterosexual" but is "not against [homosexuals] doing what they want to do as long as it's not hurting anybody else and they're not forcing it upon [him]".<ref name="Neely92"/> He blamed this attitude on "bad experiences" with gay men, citing an attempted rape in his late teens and the alleged molestation by his biological father.<ref name="Neely92"/><ref name="James89"/><ref name="Sischy92"/> The controversy led to Guns N' Roses being dropped from the roster of an AIDS benefit show in New York organized by the [[Gay Men's Health Crisis]].<ref name="James89"/><ref name=Sugerman91/>
With the success of ''Appetite for Destruction'' and ''G N' R Lies'', Rose found himself lauded as one of rock's most prominent frontmen. By the time he appeared solo on the cover of ''[[Rolling Stone]]'' in August 1989, his celebrity was such that the influential music magazine agreed to his absolute requirement that the interview and accompanying photographs would be provided by two of his friends, writer [[Del James]] and photographer [[Robert John (photographer)|Robert John]].<ref name="WAR">{{Cite book|last=Wall|first=Mick|title=W.A.R. The Unauthorized Biography of William Axl Rose|publisher=St. Martin's Press|year=2009|isbn=978-0-312-54148-4|pages=161–162}}</ref> [[MTV]] anchorman [[Kurt Loder]] described Rose as "maybe the finest hard rock singer currently on the scene, and certainly the most charismatic".<ref name="Loder90">{{Cite video|people=Loder, Kurt|title=Famous Last Words: Axl Rose|medium=Television production|publisher=MTV|date=1990}}</ref>