What was your initial reaction when...

[Randy Lahey]

I thought Zakk Wylde would be a good replacement. GNR was kind of forgotten at the time Slash quit. I think I read about it in Rolling Stone.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Randy Lahey

[saber_]

The preceding losses of Steven, then Izzy softened the emotional impact when Slash finally quit. It didn't mean as much to me because the band had already changed significantly. Sure it was a surprise and another original member gone, but shit happens in rock n roll. Lots of bands go through lineup changes. Also, I seem to remember that, he was in the band, then out of the band, then back in again- according to various media sources. I think there was some grey area as to his status until it was finally confirmed. So I didn't quite know what was going on for a while.

[aranrod]

I thought Zakk Wylde would be a good replacement. GNR was kind of forgotten at the time Slash quit. I think I read about it in Rolling Stone.

Oh, yes. I was quite excited when hearing that Zakk joined Axl. But it didn't last long. What was? 2 or 3 weeks?

[DieselDaisy]

I did not really follow the band 1996-99. All that happened you see was this news report in October 1996 which said ''Slash has quit''. My reaction was ''gnr is over''. But the reports about Axl actually carrying on alone I treated as joke reports almost. But you have to remember that absolutely fuck all happened 1996-98 and there was no net to moan about it. It is not as if Axl produced this big statement, stating his intentions of carrying on. All you got were these little snippets like:

''Axl is said to be recording a new gnr album with Moby at his Californian home. An Interscope insider states that the album will be released by next december.''

That was all you got between Slash quiting and the Loder/RS interviews.

I thought Zakk Wylde would be a good replacement. GNR was kind of forgotten at the time Slash quit. I think I read about it in Rolling Stone.

Oh, yes. I was quite excited when hearing that Zakk joined Axl. But it didn't last long. What was? 2 or 3 weeks?

Zakk would have been, in addition to Slash. Zakk joined before Slash quit.

[Kapitch_77]

Guns N Roses was one of my favorite bands (if not my favorite) when I was 13 years old (about in 1991), it stayed that way till the end of highschool. After highschool, in 1996, I went to study in another town, I was 18, I remember I was with my cousin and we heard the news on the radio. To be perfectly honnest I didn't care much, I went like "oh Slash isn't in GNR anymore..?", and that was it, 5 seconds later I forgot about it, I had other things to think about really. I didn't care about what happened with GNR till 1999 I believe... I just had a computer with this "new" thing called the internet... one day I decided to look on the net for my old favorite band, and I came across this message board that was blue... (some of you might know what I'm talking about hehe)....

Yeah but that's it. I didn't care at that time for various reasons. I can't speak for everybody but their last video they made, Since I Don't Have You, was awful and by 1996 the band had been forgotten by many people I think.

[magisme]

I knew the end was coming when Izzy left, but I was still devastated. I thought maybe Axl could put something cool together if he turned around quickly and made some new music. Not GNR, but something cool. Then years went by. Then OMG came out. I remember sitting in the computer lab in college listening to it on headphones the day it was released. I thought, "This is what I've been waiting for?" I bought the soundtrack anyway. Then HOB happened and I got kinda excited again, but I was hesitant cuz I didn't think the new songs were any good. Then Rio happened. I bought a VHS copy of the performance off e-bay and got all geeked up to watch it. I thought Axl was fat but sounded OK, though he couldn't stay in rhythm with the band, and the new songs still weren't any good. I got tickets to the '02 Philly shows and was fired up cuz I thought he sounded the best he'd sounded in years at the MSG show. It felt like maybe he was building some momentum. Then he no-showed and cancelled the tour. I thought, "It really is over now." Looking back now, I think I was right.

[aranrod]

I did not really follow the band 1996-99. All that happened you see was this news report in October 1996 which said ''Slash has quit''. My reaction was ''gnr is over''. But the reports about Axl actually carrying on alone I treated as joke reports almost. But you have to remember that absolutely fuck all happened 1996-98 and there was no net to moan about it. It is not as if Axl produced this big statement, stating his intentions of carrying on. All you got were these little snippets like:

''Axl is said to be recording a new gnr album with Moby at his Californian home. An Interscope insider states that the album will be released by next december.''

That was all you got between Slash quiting and the Loder/RS interviews.

Oh, yes. I was quite excited when hearing that Zakk joined Axl. But it didn't last long. What was? 2 or 3 weeks?

I thought Zakk Wylde would be a good replacement. GNR was kind of forgotten at the time Slash quit. I think I read about it in Rolling Stone.

Zakk would have been, in addition to Slash. Zakk joined before Slash quit.

Yes. You're right. That's correct. I was really looking forward how that would turn out.

[themadcaplaughs]

Like many of have said, when I heard (I think through a radio station as I did not have the Internet and did not watch MTV) my initial thought was "that's weird." I remember kind of being puzzles that it was certain Axl was continuing on with Guns N' Roses, but once more, things were different then. Music news was much harder to come by without being subscribed to magazines, and message boards like this were still quite a ways away from being something common.

When "Oh My God" was released, I dug the hell out of it, but could not help feel it was an Axl Rose solo song (something he's denied vehemently) but to this day I still think it's a fantastic song. Every occasion at the grocery store or a book store, I'd read a magazine which speculated on what Axl was doing (like the aforementioned Spin article) but everything just seemed so vague and uncertain that I never actually thought Axl would go through with anything and sort of relegated it to the back of my head.

The first time my enthusiasm was completely jump started was in 2000, or whenever it was announced Buckethead was going to be lineup. I'd been a fan of his since 1997/1998 and it was one of those strange moments were worlds collided. Then things started to really seem to come together: Las Vegas shows, Rock in Rio, and new songs heard lvie, all of which got pretty good reception.

Of course after that, I just sort of learned that Guns N' Roses just seemed to operate in a time vacuum. After the cancelled tour in 2001 and no signs of Chinese Democracy, it just sort of struck me that nothing was going to happen soon and that I should just enjoy the ride...at this point my attitude remains the same. I've just learned to accept that the music will take a long time to come out, but I'll give it a fair shot when it comes out.

[Kapitch_77]

... and to continue my personnal story... off topic but anyway...

When I heard Oh My God I didn't hate it, it was different, it was cool but I didn't find it extraordinary either. I can't remember exactly but when I saw videos of RIR 2001 to me it was clear that this new band wasn't the band I loved when I was a little younger, but I was ready to accept the new line-up. I was even excited in 2002 when there were these rumors about "GNR" performing at the VMA's... boy after the performance I wanted to hide.. I was ashamed Axl was so bad... since then it has been letdowns after letdowns.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Kapitch_77

[volcano62]

... and to continue my personnal story... off topic but anyway...

When I heard Oh My God I didn't hate it, it was different, it was cool but I didn't find it extraordinary either. I can't remember exactly but when I saw videos of RIR 2001 to me it was clear that this new band wasn't the band I loved when I was a little younger, but I was ready to accept the new line-up. I was even excited in 2002 when there were these rumors about "GNR" performing at the VMA's... boy after the performance I wanted to hide.. I was ashamed Axl was so bad... since then it has been letdowns after letdowns.

I'm I the only one that appreciates GNR at VMA's 2002?

[magisme]

... and to continue my personnal story... off topic but anyway...

When I heard Oh My God I didn't hate it, it was different, it was cool but I didn't find it extraordinary either. I can't remember exactly but when I saw videos of RIR 2001 to me it was clear that this new band wasn't the band I loved when I was a little younger, but I was ready to accept the new line-up. I was even excited in 2002 when there were these rumors about "GNR" performing at the VMA's... boy after the performance I wanted to hide.. I was ashamed Axl was so bad... since then it has been letdowns after letdowns.

I'm I the only one that appreciates GNR at VMA's 2002?

The intro scream was pretty good. Axl's energy was almost Axl-like at moments. The scream during Madagascar was pretty good. Overall, though, not good. Not good at all.

[Kapitch_77]

... and to continue my personnal story... off topic but anyway...

When I heard Oh My God I didn't hate it, it was different, it was cool but I didn't find it extraordinary either. I can't remember exactly but when I saw videos of RIR 2001 to me it was clear that this new band wasn't the band I loved when I was a little younger, but I was ready to accept the new line-up. I was even excited in 2002 when there were these rumors about "GNR" performing at the VMA's... boy after the performance I wanted to hide.. I was ashamed Axl was so bad... since then it has been letdowns after letdowns.

I'm I the only one that appreciates GNR at VMA's 2002?

If you like it, good... If you compare that performance with what we have now, the performance is decent I guess, but in 2002 we only had the early 1990's voice to compare (well almost, since there's the RIR 2001 show). We went from the killer voice we were used to hear in the early 1990s to that... there was a BIG difference.

Edited October 9, 2013 by Kapitch_77

[aranrod]

... and to continue my personnal story... off topic but anyway...

When I heard Oh My God I didn't hate it, it was different, it was cool but I didn't find it extraordinary either. I can't remember exactly but when I saw videos of RIR 2001 to me it was clear that this new band wasn't the band I loved when I was a little younger, but I was ready to accept the new line-up. I was even excited in 2002 when there were these rumors about "GNR" performing at the VMA's... boy after the performance I wanted to hide.. I was ashamed Axl was so bad... since then it has been letdowns after letdowns.

I'm I the only one that appreciates GNR at VMA's 2002?

If you like it, good... If you compare that performance with what we have now, the performance is decent I guess, but in 2002 we only had the early 1990's voice to compare (well almost, since there's the RIR 2001 show). We went from the killer voice we were used to hear in the early 1990s to that... there was a BIG difference.

This. The transition from the 90s voice to the 2002 voice was confusing at the least

[Raz0r]

This was actually one of the big moments of my childhood. No joke. As ridiculous as this story is, I swear this happened.

I was 14, watching TV in the living room when I hear my sister exclaim, Noooooo! I jumped up worried, but before I could run to her or ask what's wrong, she runs in and exclaimed "Slash quit the band, they're broken up!"

I was a little taken aback, we were both fans, but I was surprised by how emcional she was at the news. I mean she had a face on like her dog just died.

So I said, "Hey, calm down, calm down. Now, did you say they broke up? Or did Slash just quit? Because if it's just Slash, they can just get another guitarist."

To which my sister exclaimed, "you don't fucking get it". "GNR is Axl and Slash! Without Slash, it's over. It's fucking over!" And she storms out of the room. And I was just left standing there thinking, did that really just happen?

I'll never forget that.

And as far as she was concerned, the band did break up that day. She never cared about anything that happened with the band after that.

Edited October 10, 2013 by Raz0r

[WAR41]

This was actually one of the big moments of my childhood. No joke. As ridiculous as this story is, I swear this happened.

I was 14, watching TV in the living room when I hear my sister exclaim, Noooooo! I jumped up worried, but before I could run to her or ask what's wrong, she runs in and exclaimed "Slash quit the band, they're broken up!"

I was a little taken aback, we were both fans, but I was surprised by how emcional she was at the news. I mean she had a face on like her dog just died.

So I said, "Hey, calm down, calm down. Now, did you say they broke up? Or did Slash just quit? Because if it's just Slash, they can just get another guitarist."

To which my sister exclaimed, "you don't fucking get it". "GNR is Axl and Slash! Without Slash, it's over. It's fucking over!" And she storms out of the room. And I was just left standing there thinking, did that really just happen?

I'll never forget that.

And as far as she was concerned, the band did break up that day. She never cared about anything that happened with the band after that.

That's a pretty cool story actually. I think your sister's reaction reflects the attitude of more fans than the GNR community likes to admit.

[CoolRanchDressing]

I didn't care really. GNR sucked by TSI. I quit flowing or caring and when slash quit I had pretty much assumed GNR already broke up. I got interested again with the VMAs and the various bizarre happenings. It's tabloid fun for me really.

[NicoRourke]

I didn't cared that much, as I was listening to other bands after a heavy GN'R period :-)

Somehow I knew that Axl was gonna move on and come back.

Then came the 2002 VMAs, that I was watching without knowing what would happen at the end. Fallon kept teasing and when the scream came I went nuts. Madagascar launched a new GN'R frenzy for me.

So yeah, I wasn't bummer that much.

[Raz0r]

This was actually one of the big moments of my childhood. No joke. As ridiculous as this story is, I swear this happened.

I was 14, watching TV in the living room when I hear my sister exclaim, Noooooo! I jumped up worried, but before I could run to her or ask what's wrong, she runs in and exclaimed "Slash quit the band, they're broken up!"

I was a little taken aback, we were both fans, but I was surprised by how emcional she was at the news. I mean she had a face on like her dog just died.

So I said, "Hey, calm down, calm down. Now, did you say they broke up? Or did Slash just quit? Because if it's just Slash, they can just get another guitarist."

To which my sister exclaimed, "you don't fucking get it". "GNR is Axl and Slash! Without Slash, it's over. It's fucking over!" And she storms out of the room. And I was just left standing there thinking, did that really just happen?

I'll never forget that.

And as far as she was concerned, the band did break up that day. She never cared about anything that happened with the band after that.

That's a pretty cool story actually. I think your sister's reaction reflects the attitude of more fans than the GNR community likes to admit.

I think so too. The funny thing for me was how we each represent the split on the fan base. She was done, but I stuck with them into the new lineup.

[rockerman]

I've always been curious as to what peoples first reactions were when gnr fell apart in the mid 90s, specifically when the big news hit that Slash had quit. Rightfully so or not, there's no question that departure caused the biggest stir.

I was only 6 years old in 1996, and didn't get to experience that time as a gnr fan. Did you have endless faith that Axl could continue gnr without slash and the rest of the guys? Did you think it was over? Were you angry? Sad? Dare I say...happy? How much faith did you have when Axl (sans Dizzy) was the last man standing?

I'm especially curious for those who are extremely pro nu guns. Was that always the case? Completely ignore however you feel about "guns n roses" now. I'm talking exclusively about INITIAL reactions for those who were fans back then.

So...how bout it?

weeping and nashing of my teeth, wailing followed by deep dispair.

Seriously though...my reaction has been and has remaines to this day.. what a shame. THey came in like an atomic bomb and went out in a whimper. By then I was in my late 20's and feeling gutted. I was indifferent to TSI and for the most part just didnt get into the grunge era of things. GNR was and remains the one band of my era that had it all going.

All good things must come to an end but in my opinion I believed that GNR was just getting started. They hit after I graduated high school and I spent the summer of 87 just amazed by AFD. I remembered the previous summer (86) I had spent in LA with my bandmates( who were going to MIT) and seeing Axl and Izzy and hearing the rumble about them going to be the next big thing and so i was looking for them. I still have the Hit Parader magazine that has the rising star article about them. I remember watching The Ritz show while I was at University and just being absolutely blown away by the authenticity they had as a band. They were the real deal. THey were everything that was right about rock and roll and attitude. What they had to say ..said it all about the late 80's and the world around them. They were real and that was all that mattered. Raw, defiant, headstrong, visonary, energetic, talented etc...

In the summer of 88 Sweet Child o Mine Exploded on the scene and it became THE song about how I felt about my girlfriend that brought me home to her. GNR and SCOM still to this day conjures up the best memories of that era I spent with her. After 20 years apart , at our reunion my high school band played a set and I sang SCOM to her (better than I ever had before) She lives in Chicago and I live in Northern Colorado and when ever we hear that song now...we text .

That relationship ,like how I view GNR brings to mind the thought: What could have been?? What could have happened if time and circumstances allowed it to go on.??

[ARBeast]

I figured there was no way gnr would continue without slash, and if axl would continue the band that they would become a laughing stock...

Good call huh?

[ChristmasFnatic]

This was actually one of the big moments of my childhood. No joke. As ridiculous as this story is, I swear this happened.

I was 14, watching TV in the living room when I hear my sister exclaim, Noooooo! I jumped up worried, but before I could run to her or ask what's wrong, she runs in and exclaimed "Slash quit the band, they're broken up!"

I was a little taken aback, we were both fans, but I was surprised by how emcional she was at the news. I mean she had a face on like her dog just died.

So I said, "Hey, calm down, calm down. Now, did you say they broke up? Or did Slash just quit? Because if it's just Slash, they can just get another guitarist."

To which my sister exclaimed, "you don't fucking get it". "GNR is Axl and Slash! Without Slash, it's over. It's fucking over!" And she storms out of the room. And I was just left standing there thinking, did that really just happen?

I'll never forget that.

And as far as she was concerned, the band did break up that day. She never cared about anything that happened with the band after that.

Cool story. And quite sad to know she is a big fan and due to that, she is a an no more. Cant blame her though, many felt same way.