Stress Fracture

I do know that Guns wants to do something next year, so I’m hoping that it does and I can be a part of it.

They really need to change the Wikipedia page now. There is only one current member of GNR. Officially. And that will remain the case whether or not he chooses to take Richard, Slash, both or neither on tour with him next year.

It will make for the ultimate anniversary deluxe edition one day with all the demos, alt mixes and unreleased tracks from the sessions. Then the world will be able to appreciate it for what it is.

14 tracks of variable quality could never do justice to all that money, time and work spent on it. You need 14 discs to get to the heart of Chinese Democracy. A document of one man's madness and a lengthy, ever-changing cast of yes men indulging his every whim.

(And maybe finally give it some decent artwork/packaging too and include a 1000-page Making Of book in the box set with a foreword from Shaquille O'Neal.)

You create a legacy with music, not by spending your entire time living off the songs of the people you replaced.

Not that they're likely to care but Robin Finck and Buckethead have left some GNR legacy in their wake. Chinese Democracy will always be written about, albeit not always positively. DJ Ashba has absolutely nothing to show for his time with Axl. Bumblefoot and Fortus were shoehorned on to Chinese Democracy but created nothing.

Imagine if Axl had let go of the GNR name and formed a new band with that last line up under a new name in 2008. There'd be nothing to show for those seven years. No tours because they wrote nothing to play.

They had a habit of causing riots.

It might have gone to shit after Izzy left but its already gone to shit this time. No matter what happens, the idea of Axl, Izzy, Slash and Duff ever actually writing together again seems far fetched to me. So what you're looking for is a rhythm guitarist to play a greatest hits set for a massive world tour. In which case there's every reason to think Richard or Gilby will be better fits. I want Izzy, of course, but only if his heart is in it. It's difficult to imagine him wanting to play November Rain every night.

Adler says some people told him that the band (Axl, Slash and Duff) are already rehearsing with Matt??????

Minute. 1.35

https://t.co/El2vIja1aS

Axl rehearsing? LMAO.

From what Eddie Trunk's pinch of salt source says, Axl is open to an Appetite reunion tour but keeping Frank and Fortus around for obvious and sensible reasons.

All of this fits with everything else we've heard but Steven won't be helping anyone by continuing to throw insults at Frank as he does again in this interview.

Either way, it points to GNR effectively being dead. There's no band anymore, just one last nostalgia tour with with whatever line up Axl can throw together.

The drummer situation has always been one of the major problems with a GNR reunion. Given that we're all operating under the assumption that talks about a reunion have taken place on some levels, this interview and Frank still expecting to tour with GNR again add up...

In an ideal world Steven would be the preferred choice but then when it comes to the UYI tracks it's still not the 'proper' line up. And if Duff does doubt his sobriety and reliability when it comes to completing a world tour, then sadly that's something he shares with the rest of us.

I think it would be a case of history repeating itself. A reunion that starts with the AFD line up will end up without Steven and Izzy before long.

His dress sense doesn't always help. He better not turn up for a reunion like this!

UYI II is a great album with a terrible closer and an unnecessary version of Don't Dry preceding it. Get in the Ring is silly too. Take those three out and it's 10/10.

We all know that Steven wants this more than anyone and always has.

There might be better options as far as reliability goes but there would be a cloud over any tour without him knowing that he's missing out for the second time.

They'll have a hit in the UK if they reunite. SCOM will be straight back in the top 40 the moment a tour is announced.

Besides, of the songs on my setlist, I'm now thinking Double Talkin' Jive is the harder song for Steven, especially compared to Matt's live performances. Not saying he can't do it, just like I never said he couldn't do You Could Be Mine, merely that it's one where he might come off as inferior to Machine Sorum.

DTJ has to be played in any reunion show. Izzy gets a vocal, Slash gets an extended solo segueing into Civil War, Axl gets to go off and choose which hat to wear next. No James Bond themes needed.

The only third guitarist GNR needs...

(And the last thing that performance needed was Dizzy's circus organ.)

If Axl wants to have the last laugh over Kurt Cobain, he needs to be standing on the stage of packed out stadia across the world in front of a generation of new fans (not to mention old ones and apparently members of Slipknot) with GNR in 2016/2017.

Time is running out. He has no current band and this one last window of opportunity to make GNR the force it once was and deserves to be again for one final lap of honour. There comes a time when you have to accept what must be done for the greater good and...

(Not that I have anything against Nirvana.)

Yeah having watched some drum covers on YouTube I'm sure Steven would be fine on YCBM. My thinking was influenced by performances where even Brain never quite sounded right on it.

It really is just a rewrite of PSSOM. Therefore it sounds like the best thing they've done since PSSOM!

Presumably that's the point. Given it's the opening track on an eponymous album, I think it's meant as a statement of intent to let fans know they're going back to the Hysteria sound that let them take over the world. They could have been a BIT more subtle about it, though.

CD had a lot of hype behind it. Outside of these forums the follow up has absolutely none. To the vast majority it'll be a surprise there's a new GNR album out long after it comes out.

Kindalike did you know there's a new Bon Jovi album out at the moment? Because apparently there is.

With Izzy is on board, the set would write itself for the most part.

01. Welcome to the Jungle

02. It's So Easy

03. Mr Brownstone

04. Dust N' Bones

05. Out ta Get Me

06. You're Crazy

07. Don't Cry

08. Double Talkin' Jive

09. Civil War

10. Think About You

11. Sweet Child o' Mine

12. Rocket Queen

13. Patience

14. My Michelle

15. You Could Be Mine

16. November Rain

17. Nightrain

Encore:

18. Knockin' on Heaven's Door

19. Yesterdays

20. Paradise City

And the only potential problem I see for Steven there is YCBM.

Not only do you not need three guitarists if Slash is one of them, it would be downright rude to give anyone else a single note of his riffs and solos with him on stage.

The three guitarists thing has worked well for NuGNR, though, and helps quiet the 'he's not Slash' contingent. That said, the whole Buckethead/Bumblefoot OTT shedding during Appetite For Destruction songs has become more of a circus act than jungle welcoming.

But back in the 90s GNR didn't need a singing, dancing flute player either. Axl's gonna Axl.

The article can be boiled down to the quote "I know that Slash and Axl talking again is a really good sign". Which doesn't even amount to him knowing that Slash and Axl are talking again, just that he's seen the same reports we have.

But yes, if there are any plans whatsoever to carry on GNR next year without Slash, it doesn't help Axl in the long run to allow these rumours to continue to grow. A press release announcing a tour with a guitarist no one has heard of will be a tough sell after all this speculation...