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It’s telling that the biggest stories coming out of last weekend’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony were about the people who weren’t there. Rod Stewart (being inducted for the second time, this go-round as a member of Faces) called in sick, as did Beastie Boy Adam “MCA” Yauch.

Meanwhile, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose seemed to be in fine health, but declined to show up with his old band for various reasons.In the aftermath of Rose’s open letter to fans, there were a handful who called him out as a whiner who put himself about the greater legacy of his group.

There were also plenty who felt he was doing the right thing, and in a follow-up statement posted to Twitter, Rose thanked those who supported him and even issued something of an apology to the city of Cleveland for raining on their rock parade.

“With such a generous outpouring of solidarity from fans, media outlets, writers and other artists, I’m truly humbled, blown away and unbelievably relieved,” Rose wrote. “To be honest, I thought it would go the other way and was just hoping to weather the storm. As I said, I sincerely didn’t want to disappoint anyone.”

In the letter’s most interesting passage, Rose brings up a lot of questions about the Hall that forced him to keep them at arm’s length. “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?” he wrote. “This isn’t an attack. These are genuine issues I don’t have enough verified information on to have more than rough ideas. Certainly not enough information to make any judgments about.”

Check out the full text of Rose’s letter below. READ FULL STORY »