Angry Anderson, who died on 21 September 2026 at the age of 79, was a small man with a big presence.
Shaven-headed and standing just an inch over five feet, Anderson cut a striking figure as the singer for Australian rockers Rose Tattoo, a key influence for Guns N’ Roses.
In a varied career and colourful life, Anderson was also a close associate of AC/DC and an actor who starred in the hit ’80s movie Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome.
In addition, as a solo artist he had a huge hit in 1987 with – uncharacteristically for him – a romantic ballad, Suddenly, which featured in the Aussie soap Neighbours as the soundtrack to the wedding of characters Scott Robinson (played by Jason Donovan) and Charlene Mitchell (Kylie Minogue).
Anderson died at home in Australia surrounded by family. Just a few weeks prior to his death, he had suffered a cardiac arrest while on tour in Germany.
He was born Gary Stephen Anderson on 5 August 1947 in Melbourne, which is where he formed his first proper rock band, Buster Brown, in 1973. After one album, Something To Say, the band’s drummer Phil Rudd quit to join AC/DC. Anderson subsequently relocated to Sydney to become the frontman for Rose Tattoo.
Anderson saw AC/DC as kindred spirits to Rose Tattoo. Both bands were signed to the Albert Productions record label and were produced by the team of Harry Vanda and George Young, the latter the older brother of AC/DC guitarists Malcolm and Angus.
In an interview with Classic Rock magazine in 2018, Anderson spoke fondly of the connection between the two bands – not least his own friendship with AC/DC’s singer Bon Scott.
“In the early days the Tatts were AC/DC’s fave band to go and see,” Anderson said. “That’s how we got signed to Alberts, they recommended us. Malcolm and Angus and particularly Bon all jammed with us back then.”
Rose Tattoo’s brand of hard rock was similar to AC/DC’s, with Anderson a powerful and gritty singer like Bon Scott. As Anderson said of his band’s brute force approach: “I thought, ‘We’re going to be the most dangerous thing on the planet. And if you don’t like it, stand aside or lose a limb.’”
It was in 1978 that Rose Tattoo’s self-titled debut album was released in Australia. The album was later reissued and renamed after the band’s signature track, Rock ’N’ Roll Outlaw.
The classic Rose Tattoo line-up featured Anderson alongside Mick Cocks on rhythm guitar, Peter Wells on side guitar, Geordie Leach on bass and Dallas ‘Digger’ Royall on drums.
The band built a solid worldwide fanbase with uncompromising albums such as Assault & Battery (1981) and Scarred For Life (1982), but their first run ended in 1987, when Anderson’s debut solo album Beats From A Single Drum was released, with Suddenly its big hit single.
The timing of Rose Tattoo’s split could not have been worse. In 1987, Guns N’ Roses were fast becoming world famous with their debut album Appetite For Destruction, and they were huge fans of the Tatts. Guns N’ Roses’ 1986 EP Live ?!★@ Like A Suicide included a cover of Nice Boys, one of the key songs from Rose Tattoo’s debut album.
However, in 1993 Anderson was able to reunite his band in order to tour as the opening act for Guns N’ Roses. And in later years he steered Rose Tattoo through three more albums, Pain (2002), Blood Brothers (2007) and Outlaws (2020).
Anderson’s life was not without controversy. In 2012, his views on immigration were challenged and to an extent softened by his participation in the reality show Go Back To Where You Came From. He was also briefly involved in Australian politics as a representative for the conservative National Party and later the right-wing Australian Liberty Alliance Party.
The self-styled rock ’n’ roll outlaw is best remembered for the music he created in those heady early days of Rose Tattoo, in which he famously sang: “Nice boys don’t play rock ’n’ roll/I’m not a nice boy – and I never was!”
