ALL ORIGINAL MEMBERS OF GUNS N’ ROSES TO BE IN THE SAME ROOM, STILL NOT REUNITE
No, this is not the original line-up of GN’R. But I wanted a photo with Dizzy in it. So, this is the best I could do. Suck it up.
Some people have been really excited about the news that Guns N’ Roses are being inducted into the Rock N’ Roll Hall of Fame, ’cause they thought that maybe, just maybe, it would finally lead to a reunion of the original line-up (or, at least, something resembling the original line-up). Cynical prick that I am, of course, I didn’t even think Axl Rose would show up for the ceremony.
But hey, guess what? I was apparently wrong. Rose, Slash, Duff McKagan, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and even replacement-members-who-played-with-the-classic-line-up Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke are all attending the event next month. This according to keyboardist/still-current-Gunner Dizzy Reed — not really an original member himself (he joined the band for the Use Your Illusion albums) — in a new interview with Billboard:
“I know that all the original band is going to be there. I don’t know exactly what’s going to go down. It’s one of those things I’m sure will all come together and be really cool. I’m just going to go in with a good attitude and a clear head and a grateful heart.”
Reed does, however, go on to admit that he and Rose “haven’t spoken about” the event, and that “I don’t know when or why or how to bring it up.” So that sounds like they have a healthy, open relationship.
ANYWAY, please allow me to be cynical some more and point two things:
- Just because Axl Rose says he’s gonna do something doesn’t mean he’s gonna do it. No one should believe that Axl is gonna walk into a room with Slash for the first time in sixteen years until he actually does.
- Even if Axl does actually show up, there have been no promises that he’s gonna play with the old band again. While he seems to have made his peace with some of his former cohorts — notable Stradlin and McKagan — he still openly holds a grudge against Slash, even going so far as to say that “one of the two of us will die before [we do] a reunion” back in ’09.
Look: no one in the universe wants a reunion of the original GN’R more badly than I do. It would be one of the rare instances in my life where I would be 210% NOT snarky about something. I wouldn’t care if Axl were fat or Slash were making rap songs with Fergie or whatever — I would totally be willing to just shut the fuck up and enjoy the ride.
So I would LOVE to be wrong about this. I would LOVE for Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff, and Steven to all show up at the RN’R Hall of Fame, and for that meeting to lead to a reunion. Even if all they did was get it together to play a few classics at the induction ceremony, it would pretty much make my year.
But I’m not gonna hold my breath.
-AR
