Appetite for Disquisition: Axl Rose on \'Jimmy Kimmel Live\'

If only one late-night TV interview from Wednesday had the power to shape the national discourse and influence events on Thursday morning â€" well, that would probably go to Jay Leno's conversation with President Obama on “The Tonight Show.” But if you had to pick a runner-up in that category â€" and used a lot of Aqua Net in the 1980s â€" you could make a case for Jimmy Kimmel's sit-down with Axl Rose on “Jimmy Kimmel Live.”

Making a rare appearance on television, Mr. Rose, the mercurial front man of the hard-rock band Guns N' Roses, looked to be wearing some sort of wide-brimmed hat on top of a more customary bandana; his eyes were often obscured by shadow, and if his responses to Mr. Kimmel were terse, he at least seemed to be in a cheerful mood. No bombshells were dropped in the interview : when Mr. Rose said he “would lean Democratic” and “would lean Obama,” he also mentioned that he doesn't really vote; and the names of his ex-Guns N' Roses band mates, with whom he fell out long ago, were never invoked.

But Mr. Rose's anecdote about the Halloween tree he hangs in his house, and his recreation of how young visitors react when they see it, was endearing enough to remind you that this is the same person who sings “Sweet Child o' Mine.”

The complete interview can be found in three parts here, here and here.