"I've been waiting seven years": Zak Starkey implores Axl Rose to return master tape he says could raise $2m for teenage cancer charity

Zak Starkey, former drummer of The Who, has taken to Instagram to implore Guns N' Roses frontman Axl Rose to return the master recording of a song he says could help raise $2m for the Teenage Cancer Trust.

The recording in question is a version of T.Rex's Children Of The Revolution, a project that came to initial fruition after Guns N' Roses and The Who appeared together at 2017's Rock In Rio festival in Brazil.

Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan all appear on the recording, which, if released, would be the first completely new studio material to emerge from the Guns N' Roses camp since their reformation in early 2016 (the four songs officially released since the reformation all originated during the sessions for 2008's Chinese Democracy).

Beatles drummer Ringo Starr and Elton John also appear on the track, but Starkey claims that Axl, who was reportedly mixing the song in April 2024, has yet to return the tape.

"Dear Axl Rose, please give me my master of this track back," says Starkey. “Me and Sshh [Liguz, Starkey’s wife] spent three years making this Bolan tribute for teen cancer and without the master of Children Of The Revolution, which my dad, Sshh, and I arranged to include a modulating section for Slash’s guitar, another for Duff’s bass solo and plenty of room for Elton before you asked Sshh if you could sing it.

"It’s a drag that the record is on the shelf, as Christie's [auction house] have advised it could generate $2M for teen cancer. C’mon, bro."

In the comments beneath his post, Starkey, who posted a snippet of Children Of The Revolution in an Instagram post in April, says that he hasn't had a version of the recording he could use since the recording session, and that it forms part of a charity album he hopes to donate to charity directly to circumvent entities that otherwise might take a percentage of any monies raised.

"I’ve been waiting seven years for the finished master sent as .mp3 to me on 4 May 2018," Starkey says. "I need a WAV for a record, not .mp3. Who is suffering? Not me, not you, not the contributors."

"There are 12 other massive legacy artists doing ten Marc songs," he adds. "Put it in an auction as a limited edition, make a shitload of money for teen cancer, and stop worrying about bullshit major label marketing plans.

"I had all this set up. I have the artwork in a one-off gold-leaf original, and a Marc Bolan Gibson Custom Shop guitar signed by all participants, including Axl Rose. All for the auction. It’s a charity record, not the Constitution."

Other acts contributing to the album include as-yet-unamed members of The Smiths and The Pretenders, as well as The Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft, Iggy Pop and more.