Here Today... Gone To Hell!

I just got done reading Lisey's Story by Stephen King & I swear there is an obscure Axl reference on p. 478.  King is writing about how it is almost impossible to control the thoughts of the mind, like trying NOT to think about a certain subject & he says somethig like (I'm paraphrasing now...) "How can you not think of something?  After all, the mind is a high-kicking, kilt-wearing rebel...."

Does this make anyone else think of Axl?

Didn't he made another Axl reference in one of his older books ?

he made a lot of axl / gnr ref. that's what these writers do : pop culture ref, just like bret easton ellis :)

could be william wallace??

probably a coincidence

I have never read a GNR reference in the King books I have read but there are supposedly references in a few of his books, it wouldn't surprise me in the least if this was another reference to Axl.

There's an Axl reference in James Patterson's Along Came A Spider also...

King is a rock fan and a musician himself. He actually played in a band called the Rock Bottom Remainders a while back which consisted of himself and a few other writers I believe. And he's made a lot of Axl/GNR references in his books. One book, there's two kids, one wearing a Nirvana shirt, one wearing a GNR shirt. Welcome to the Jungle I believe was mentioned as playing in one book. And he actually mentioned Axl being an asshole in one story (the line was something like "in a world with an asshole like Axl Rose" or something). I'm pretty sure in either On Writing or one of his forewards he mentions listening to GNR, can't recall that one for sure though.

King's a master of pop culture so it could very well be related.

I think it's safe to say music plays more important part to King than it does to your average author/person; his books are flooded with referances to various bands/artists.Also, huge portion of his novels start of with a collection of quotes from whatever song lyrics he has found inspiring at the time of the writing.

When GNR was big in early/mid 90's King loved to namedrop them here and there:
In a short story about some kind of a demon librarian, there is a GNR poster on the wall of kid's department of the library, which puzzles the main character.
In Bag of Bones,as main characters are driving towards a final showdown, WTTJ is playing on the car's stereo. King uses few sentences to describe the song, "violent and dirty" or something along those lines.
There are many other GNR referances in his books  but looks like I have forgotten them.

Randal Flagg( a demonic bad guy of stand/dark tower) introduces himself to his would-be right hand man by saying "pleased to meet you Loyd, hope you guess my name" WHich is an obvious  Sympathy for the devil referance. Technically not a GNR referance tho:)

Also, in Dark Tower-series( the most central piece of King's work) revolvers and roses both have an essential part to play. Which isn't a GNR referance as such but as a result, just about every GNR logo would pass as Dark Tower fan art and vice versa.

Kilts actually come from Scotland.   Axl wore them now and then but he certainly can't lay claim to either originating them or popularizing them. 

Thanks LefttoDecay...I'm almost as big of a fan of King as of GNR, & I've read most of his work so I've noticed the obvious references...this one just isn't as clear (and maybe it isn't at all). ?I just thought of Axl when I read that & wondered if that was King's intention.

Some official  illustration from the final part of the Dark Tower series.

(http://img386.imageshack.us/img386/5092/nimetnsh5.th.jpg) (http://img386.imageshack.us/my.php?image=nimetnsh5.jpg)

(http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/4929/gunslingerje3.th.jpg) (http://img370.imageshack.us/my.php?image=gunslingerje3.jpg)

I seem to remember a reference in his book 'Needful things' but I could be confused with another book

In the music industry I would beg to differ.......when you mention bandana, kilt, catcher's vest or tiny little white shorts that show your junk....only Axl Rose comes to mind. ?I must give the man some damn credit....he went out there and took some serious, serious chances with fashion!

King is a huge rock n roll fan, so it is very possible.

And while its not a book reference, don't forget that AC/DC did the soundtrack to Maximum Overdrive when it became a movie!  :smoking:

I'm reading Cell now, so I'll be sure to post if anything comes up :)

I have Cell...great book (except the ending),  but no Axl references that I can remember!  : ok:

He mentioned GNR in Bag of Bones.

"He leaned forward, turned on the radio, and found something loud and nasty by Guns n' Roses -- welcome to the jungle, baby, we got fun and games."

I have actually read most of King's books and a few short story collections where he has some notations on why he writes what he does and how he gets his ideas. ?

He LOVES music, real music, Rock N' Roll. ?If he puts a reference to something in one of his books it is positive for sure. ? I believe him and his wife also own some radio stations up in New England where he lives.

I just finished Lisey's Story. ?I thought the same exact thing when I saw the reference that it HAD to be about Axl. ?It also was a good book, I was actually sad when it ended. ?Stephen King is a really versatile writer.

I read Cell a few weeks ago, didn't see any GNR references though-

There's a Axl mention in "Nightmares & Dreamscapes" (the book), in the last story. Like the 3rd sentence.

I suppose you could think of it as a reference to Rowdy Roddy Piper, one of those belligerent WWF wrestlers from the 80s.

King said in "On Writing" that Guns N Roses were one of his favourites to listen to while writing.  : ok:

In "Needful Things" there is a reference to Axl and a mention that the teenagers favourite band is "something called Guns N Roses."

Mr. King certainly has a good ear for music. I believe he has said AC/DC is his all-time favorite band, and was thrilled to have them record material for 'Maximum Overdrive'.

I hope he will talk about 'Chinese Democracy' in his Entertainment Weekly column once the album is released.

Very cool topic, and cool replies.

If I'm not misstaken in the movie pet semetary the funeral scene there are a couple of members of g n' r in it.Slash was one I can remember in it.

Or Roddy Piper, save for the high-kicking part.  Piper's artificial hip wouldn't let his foot get above a guy's knee-cap.

King's a genius, I didn't really think about the Axl/GN'R references until now! On a sidenote I remember he also included a lyric from NIN's "Hurt" as an intro to one of the Dark Tower books (the last one?).

Books like IT, The Stand, Needful Things, Tommyknockers, Christine, those were awesome. I don't rate his newer stuff quite so highly unfortunately, but then given the standards of his earlier work, that certainly doesn't make it bad. He has references to lots of bands, so a GnR reference would not surprise me at all. I know there are quite a few Def Leppard references in his work too..

I believe you are thinking of the Dirty Harry movie, Deadpool.

Stephen King should re-write 'Needful Things' so that the kid goes into the shop, touches an album called 'Chinese Democracy' and then hears this unbelievably awesome music in his head...and then sells his soul to the shopkeeper in return for the album and starts going nuts by starting riots everywhere!

I was going to say, I read Pet Semetary recently and I don't remember any GNR references let alone Slash being at the babies funeral? :hihi:

Edit - My apologies I misread it you're talking about the movie, my bad? :-[? :peace:

I spotted a gnr reference in the film final destination 2, it's probably just a concidence but one of the characters was called isabel or isabella (izzy) and another was hudson(slash) :-\

There was a Gnr mention in his short story The library policeman which appeared in the book 4 past midnight

In Doctor Who the doctors assistant is called Rose Tyler ,i wonder if the writer was Gnr and Aerosmith fan  ;)

Nah, I think that's just a coincidence somehow. :P