Axl Rose to Cleveland: Sorry, You Rock

Axl Rose wants the people of Cleveland to know his decision to shun Guns N' Roses' Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction over the weekend was nothing personal. "I would like to apologize to Cleveland, Ohio, for not apologizing to them beforehand for not attending [the ceremony] in their city," he writes in an open letter on the band's website, saying he has received an "overwhelmingly positive response" to his decision. "I think they know how much I genuinely love performing there. Cleveland does in fact Rock!!"

"I still don't exactly know or understand what the Hall is or how or why it makes money, where the money goes, who chooses the voters and why anyone or this board decides who, out of all the artists in the world that have contributed to this genre, officially 'rock' enough to be in the Hall?" Rose writes, congratulating other inductees and offering an anecdote: "I once bought a homeless woman a slice of pizza who yelled at me she wanted soup. We got her the soup. You can get your own." (More Axl Rose stories.)