For some people, having their photo taken is worse than having to reach down into a blocked toilet to retrieve their keys.
But for rock stars, it’s all par for the course. Go to the shop? Click click click. Fall out of a nightclub looking like your brain has gone on strike? Click click click. Gigs? Click click click. Don’t look great in every frame? Tough shit, mate. It’s going to get published so people can laugh at you while you’re off counting how many planes you can buy with your pocket change.
One person who won’t stand for this any more is Axl Rose, who’s currently attempting to have one or two porky pics removed from the internet. Which, by the looks of it, will be as simple as herding some cats through a raw chicken buffet. And as for the people who like to make memes and share them around? They were not kind when a particularly chubby Axl was pictured during a 2010 Canadian show. ‘Welcome to the jungle, we got tons of cake’, they’d write, the cruel, witty bastards.
Poor old Axl – he’s 54, to be fair – has had to put up with a lot recently. Earlier this year, the Guns N’ Roses reunion news was greeted with weary cynicism. And the very idea that he was to replace Brian Johnson in AC/DC for the remainder of their current tour was met with the sort of reaction you’d expect if you unleashed a very wet fart in a packed lift.
So we’re attempting to redress the balance. Here are six positive memes to inspire Axl and turn that frown upside down.
Feel free to share these on Twitter, remembering to tag him @axlrose. He’d love that.