"Take me down to Paradise City where the grass is green and the girls are pretty;
Oh won't you please take me home." (Guns n' Roses--1987)
A rock anthem for the ages, or it should have been. With GNR making such a sudden and complete exodus from the rock scene in 1992, they somehow lost the respect of music critics and even fans--even a fan like me.
From other's accounts, it sounds like the band self-destructed after their 1992 world tour. Axl's self-destructive tendency was perfectionism. This contributed to the band's breakup and kept him from putting out another album until 2008.
Folks at work still give me grief for liking GNR twenty years later--even the younger folks at work know that I was a GNR fan. The Bible says that our thoughts are directed by our hearts. So, I guess my heart was pretty attracted to and infatuated with GNR.
The band's sudden breakup and terminus caused even me to look down on them. How could they not get it together to make their amazing music again? If they couldn't control themselves, then maybe their music wasn't that great after all. This is where I wound up--disenchanted and feeling like a rube for ever having liked GNR.
Then, I read "Mess of Help" by David Zahl. David applies grace to band after band--from the Beatles to GNR. The grace that David Zahl heaps upon Axl is not to be believed.
David explains that Axl was raised in a very fundamentalist Christian home to which Axl responded with rebellion. He and his band mates wrote their first album "Appetite for Destruction" while all five were living in a one room apartment in LA. David notes that they gave song-writing credit to all five of the band members--which is rarely if ever done. They were living in a state of thankfulness for one another--a state in which each was humble about his own role in the band.
Than, after the remarkable success of Appetite--the largest selling debut album of all time--they were faced with the law of performance--"how're you going to top that?' Living under this burden, it took them several years to put out "Use Your Illusion 1 and 2." (By the way, I bought this album when it went on sale at midnight and went home and listened to it right away.) UYI has multiple types of music--from hard-edged rock to ballads to even rap-like songs. UYI was loved by the fans, but panned by the critics.
After their world tour to support UYI, they broke up. Axl wanted to control everything, and other band members thought he was getting away from their roots.
David points out that Axl's desire for control over the band in his pursuit of perfection was probably derived from the control which was modeled to him in his family growing up. Sin begets sin. God doesn't curse future generations-- we do. So, the band's breakup is now more easily understood. David gives grace to Axl. Rather than condemning Axl as the media and fans like me have done, David explains where Axl's actions came from.
David ends his article with a crescendo of grace. David says that Axl wears a large cross whenever he performs. Of course, David points out, this could merely be a fashion statement. But David doesn't think so. For you see, Axl has a collection of antique crosses. Axl seems to understand that, in the midst of the "mess" of this world, all he has and all he needs is God's grace.
If God is as gracious to us, as David Zahl is to Axl, then heaven is probably going to be more like Paradise City than the monastery or the clouds or the golden streets promoted by American evangelicals. There will be rock guitars rather than angel's harps. The grass will be green, and the girls will be pretty. Indeed, we'll all be beautiful--reflected in the glow of Jesus' love.
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