Okay, so this artwork showed up on Slash and Duff McKagan's Twitter feeds yesterday confirming the world's worst kept secret that the "Bad Boys of L.A." are reuniting.....But is it the real "Bad Boys from L.A.?" Let's take a look at this for a minute. I know you're used to me poking fun at stupidity, but today, I have a real buzzkill rant and that buzzkill today is the excitement around this false Guns 'N' Roses reunion.
Don't get me wrong, Guns 'N' Roses was one of my favorite bands of all-time. Appetite for Destruction is still my favorite record of all-time. There was not one bad song on that record! The first time that I saw "Welcome to the Jungle" on Headbanger's Ball on MTV (Yes, aging myself again since MTV doesn't even play music videos anymore!), I was hooked! Motley Crue may have been my favorite band, but GNR gave them a run for their money. Both bands were from L.A., both bands had the same "Fuck You" attitude, and both bands were legendary. Then when MTV presented the "Guns 'N' Roses Live at the Ritz" concert, I solidified myself as a fan, buying all of their t-shirts, home videos, back patches for my jean jacket....I even spent the money and bought the original Appetite for Destruction vinyl with the girl being raped by that robot. I was all in!
Then after GNR Lies, the band fired drummer Steven Adler and replaced him with Matt Sorum for the Use Your Illusion albums, which was definitely not a bad trade-off, but it showed vulnerability in the band. It meant the members were replaceable. If they can do this with Steven, they can do this with anyone. At the time, Motley Crue was a solidified band. It was the four of them for life! Then they fired Vince Neil and hired John Corabi, but we all know how that turned out and even they eventually returned to the original lineup. Anyway, after Steven was gone, Izzy Stradlin left the band and was replaced by Gilby Clarke. Again, not a bad replacement, but vulnerability.
Then on July 17, 1993, Slash and Duff McKagan would play their last show as members of Guns 'N' Roses. To me, this band was finished. My fandom had been depleted. I was not following a band that consisted of Axl Rose and a bunch of back up guys. Nothing against Bumblefoot, DJ Ashba, Frank Ferrer and Rich Fortus, but they were not Guns 'N' Roses. They were just hired guns to play Axl's songs. I had the opportunity to roadie for Sebastian Bach a few years ago when he opened for this new version of GNR and back in the day, I would have been super excited, but I went out to see the first couple of songs of the extremely late set (Thanks again, Axl!), and it just didn't have the same magic that it once had.
Slash and Duff went on to do some great things with Velvet Revolver and then eventually Slash's solo stuff. Duff became a New York Times Best Seller and is still one of my idols and major influences when it comes to playing the bass. I interviewed Slash a bunch of time and thought he was a super nice guy and extremely intelligent. In fact, my boss was talking to Slash backstage at the Rock Carnival here in Clark, NJ this past September, which is right around the time he and Axl first made up, sparking all these GNR reunion rumors and my boss asked him, "Will there be a reunion?" Slash told him, "Never!" He basically said that he just kissed and made up with the guy and a reunion was furthest from his mind. I guess the cash wasn't too far from his mind though because they will be reuniting at Coachella this year.
I feel like I'm the only one who isn't excited, though. After, I just explained to you my history with this band and the fan that I used to be, you would think that I would be super excited. I guess I would be if I knew that Steven and Izzy were part of this reunion, but according to all of the reports, it's just Axl, Slash, and Duff with Richie Fortus and Frankie Ferrer and that isn't sitting right with me. If it's going to be a reunion, it needs to be a reunion. I would even be okay with Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke, but I'd mainly like to see the original five members. That would make it worthwhile to me. Otherwise, this reunion is shit! Steven wanted this reunion the worst. That's the way I heard it on my pal, Eddie Trunk's show, and he's not even a part of it.
Who knows if Axl will even show up? I mean, he was supposed to be on Jimmy Kimmel tonight and guess what? He bailed! So, is this a sign of things to come for the organizers of Coachella? Is this a sign of things to come for an upcoming stadium tour? Will I go? I might go just to see it, but as far as excited? Not even a little bit! I would be more excited to see Sebastian Bach and Rob Affuso reunited with Skid Row.....or at least Steve and Izzy joining this reunion. Otherwise, smeh!
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