Rose Tattoo

Rock ’n’ Roll Outlaw, the title track of Rose Tattoo’s first international album, was a chart hit in Germany. And more than 45 years later, it remains the Australian band’s manifesto:

“I don’t need lots of people tellin’ me what to do,” Angry Anderson sings. “All I need is a rock ’n’ roll band, somewhere new to play and I’m on my way, I’m on my way.”

Rose Tattoo – who are celebrating their 50th anniversary in 2026 – are one of the most respected Australian bands ever.

Their entry in The Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop starts: “In the pantheon of Australian hard rock, Rose Tattoo stands as one of the most revered bands of all time.”

Rose Tattoo’s self-titled debut was featured in the book The 100 Best Australian Albums, with the authors stating: “AC/DC presented a cartoonish version of the hard rockin’, hard livin’ lifestyle but Rose Tattoo were the real thing.”

In 2006, Rose Tattoo were inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame – Australian music’s highest honour.

But the band’s influence extends far beyond their home country.

Izzy Stradlin, Guns N’ Roses co-founder and guitarist, says: “Axl \[Rose\] and I had done stuff together before we’d heard Rose Tattoo, but I think when we heard them it just gave us that much more steam, that much more power.”

Axl Rose saw Rose Tattoo on their first American tour in 1982. Six years later, on Guns N’ Roses’ first Australian tour, responding to accusations that GN’R were ripping off Rose Tattoo, Axl told the Sydney crowd: “We ain’t no f\*cking Rose Tattoo rip-off. They’re just one of my favourite f\*cking bands, that’s all. We put a Rose Tattoo song on our record because we wanted people in America to listen to some bitchin’ Australian band.”

Guns N’ Roses covered Rose Tattoo’s Nice Boys on their first release, the 1986 EP Live ?!\*@ Like a Suicide and on their 1988 album, G N’R Lies.

As Angry is fond of telling the crowd when introducing Nice Boys, “Just remember, there’s a little bit of evil in the best of ’em. And there’s a little bit of good in the worst of us.”

UK magazine Sounds gave the first two Rose Tattoo albums five-star reviews. And the Tatts were voted Best New Band for 1981 in UK magazine Kerrang!

Four years later, Angry Anderson spoke about Rose Tattoo’s mission statement in Rolling Stone’s Big Australian Rock Book: 

“It’s the dedication, the very heartfelt obligation of Rose Tattoo to appeal to everyone who has a heart and a soul, who lets life affect them on an emotional level. What about the kids who are being brought up in the suburbs today? … Society’s turning a lot of people into desperados, and the numbers are growing. These are the people for whom Rose Tattoo speaks: the dispossessed.”

 

Four decades on, Angry’s words continue to ring true.

Rose Tattoo

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