What were your expectations for New GNR when you first became familiar with the classic Buckethead lineup?

[The Archer]

Initially, Buckethead's involvement with Guns was confusing as was Slash's departure, but Axl's continued involvement overrode everything else. I wanted to see a kickass Guns' N Roses tear it up again with Axl at the front of the band. That being said, the current lineup is more representative of what I expected.

An album and Axl at '06 levels of fitness would be great though.

It made me extremely happy when Buckethead left and Finck changed his image.

Buckethead is extremely talented but I prefer Bumble looking like Rasputin . Finck dressed up as Jesus was nice too.

Edited May 30, 2012 by The Archer

[finck6]

What were your expectations for New GNR when you first became familiar with the classic Buckethead lineup? I was expecting songs like the one below (mixed with electronica) sparking complete and utter world domination. The saddest thing to me in the whole CD saga is that A. Rose has seemed to have lost his ambition to conquer the world. I wish Axl could find a way to get back that Donner Party spirit that he started the trip off with and take his cannibal gear back off the wall.

i call it the original chinese democracy band. robin finck. buckethead. tommy stinson. brain. when i first saw them live in 2002....my expectation was they take over the world. and they did take over the world lol a great live band. loads of chemistry. robin and tommy worked great together. robin and axl worked great on stage. brain kicking ass on the drums. it was the perfect rock n roll band. the greatest rock n' roll band on the planet

[Nosaj Thing]

All I gotta say is that Buckethead earned my fuckin' respect killing the Nightrain solo. After I heard that I was blown away just like the first time I heard November Rain outro.

[Silent Jay]

Buckethead was the one who could makes us forget Slash in our minds.

[AXL_N_DIZZY]

Expectations were high- but completely misguided. No way in hell IMHO would Bucket have stuck around to "conqueror the world" and be an RnR poster-boy and icon like Slash, etc. He's just not wired that way IMHO. I personally think he was there to create music, build chicken coops in studio and whatever other crazy shit he could get-away with and hang out in Disneyland with Axl- who's somewhat akin to the "Michael Jackson of rock" (one of Bucket's idols).

The truth is Bucket's fans were in agony during his GN'R tenure and at the end of the day there was no way he was going to turn his back on them to be a super-star. He prefers to be way off in left- field as a cult hero. He made his contribution (rather sizable at that) to CD, played a few gigs and packed up the circus. Period.

Without really fully knowing the above at the time- my expectations were very high as the general public seemed to be genuinely fascinated by Bucket and the Axl-Bucket duo. Alas- not to be (though the recorded work lives on- and hopefully there's more to come someday)...

Edited May 30, 2012 by AXL_N_DIZZY

[Cosmo]

I honestly hated buckethead until he left the band. I thought he was just another limp bizkit guitarist-with-a-mask clone. I have a newfound respect for him so I can say that my dislike was misguided.

When I got into the band, Bucket was already gone and probably so was Robin (don't really know now)... Didn't really know bucket and judging from what I had seen from him in GnR, I thought what the average fan thinks "Amazingly fast but no soul". Hell I was wrong. I'm a huge Buckethead solo fan now. Love it.

I absolutely fucking hated Bucketheads and Finks image when i saw them in 02 as GNR...HAHAH i though Axl is pulling our wieners with these dorks up there playing real rock and roll......totally ruined my concept and image of GNR...at least the GNR I had waited to see for 11 years! i though wow what a bunch of panty fags ...and youhave to admit they took thier stage personas to the sissy bitch side of things pretty seriously...like that Herbie the sock stunt doiong his talking...that made me wanna chuck a bottle at his head from front row. That all being what it was ...and the understanding that they were scab labor at best ...certainly not in any way to be confused with Guns and Fucking Roses....they are and have been the best cover band that Axl has ever had the pleasure of singing with EVER!!!!

Buckethead however is a great guitarist ...I met him back in the day when he and my guitarist were under the tutalage of Paul Gilbert at MIT in Hollywood. I have all his stuff and have seen him several times SOLO where he belongs doing his THING(playing with his THINGs) Pissed me off to Go to GUNS AND ROSES show AND HAVE A bUCKETHEAD SHOW BREAK OUT....but given the history of GNR at that time....you had to wonder if Axl hadnt spent his time with his nose in the bag.

The very first time I saw nuGnR was in a MTV Brasil show called Top Top: 10 most decadent acts in music. They showed a few scenes and even commented about Axl's and the band's look and I wasn't even a GnR fan. i was probably 13 or 14 or something. Really, All I knew about GnR was WTTJ, SCOM and PC and that's it. Not even November Rain or Patience. My opinion was: He obviously wanted to look modern, and was ripping off Limp Bizkit: He looked like a Fred Durst wannabe and Buckethead was like that weird guitar player they have. I thought Robin was also ridiculous, even brain was stupid was that stupid hat he still wears.

[Eu4ic]

I was expecting more Buckethead and Brain.

Listen to BH on c2b3's album The Big Eyeball in the Sky. BH sounds like a part of the band (i.e. he doesnt dominate like a solo album) yet he shines like crazy. Chi Dem used him great in some ways, but it didnt seem to pull the best out of him the way AFD did Slash n co., the way C2b3 did BH.

The same applies to Brain. Having a super talent like Brain simply reproduce Josh Freese's (albeit awesome) parts is ridiculous. Brain is a monster. See, Brown Album, Antipop, C2b3. Being that I've followed Brain over the years, it's strange that I kinda forget he really is the drummer on Chi Dem.

Also, I dunno what dude above was saying about Ron's solo on CITR. That's a great solo and I think it has more fire than May's solo, which is great in its own right.

Too much Finck. Love the guy but most of the solos were like a cold shower. TIL was great. I dont care for Better much. Axl, dont try to sound like Jon Davis.

[JONEZY]

I was glad Axl was back, and I hoped the new lineup would work. But the album was not released, the tour blew up, etc..., and that was that.

[rainman_1985]

In short, a lot more than what came to fruition.

My introduction to GNR was the VMAs. After that I listened to AFD and not too long after, the Illusions. I didn't notice Axl's vocal performance, only his energetic and charasmatic movement. When I heard some of the new songs from the tour and then read Axl's descriptions of the stuff he was working on it sounded fucking cool, doing alternative so well that it would become mainstream. He really sounded like he knew exactley what he was doing and the album was going to blow everyone away. I thought he was going to truly modernize hard rock, bring in electronic influences whilst maintaining the power of GNR. I also thought at 40 Axlstill had a great chance to bring GNR back to the top.

I liked CD but it was nowhere near as revolutionary as I thought it would be, nevermind the disappointment that it took so long to come out.

[SONOFABITCH]

I didn't really think it was going to go very far. Being an OG fan, I thought it was a mistake to use the band name Guns N' Roses, and then totally change the sound, and have a guy who wears a KFC bucket as a hat and Robin's hideous haircut. I don't think they really got a fair shake because I am sure these guys wanted to produce new music in a timely fashion and it took way too long, and they had to endure riots, etc. While I liked OMG, I didn't think the general public was going to embrace what was happening. But again, waiting until 2008 to release it when there was already so many changes to the lineup, it just dilluted the band name big time.

[tat2d1]

I heard of the new lineup before Buckethead was ever in the band. Once I heard who was in the lineup I figured they had the potential to make some great music, but feared they would never have public acceptance as GnR.

[themadcaplaughs]

Just a kick ass rock band. To me, the exemplified what rock was about...doing whatever the hell you wanted.