The band originally consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Their albums Appetite for Destruction and G N' R Lies are credited by many for "saving" rock music after the rise of disco and pop. Matt Sorum replaced Adler on the amazing double-album Use Your Illusion I and II.
Many reasons led to the break-up of the original band. Izzy quit and was replaced by Gilby Clarke whom Axl would later unceremoniously fire without consulting the rest of his bandmates. Guns N' Roses' next album, The Spaghetti Incident?, was a critical and commercial disappointment, and it included a controversial cover track of a song written by the infamous Charles Manson. After recording a cover version of The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" with Paul Huge on rhythm guitar for the movie Interview with the Vampire, Slash quit and was replaced by Robin Finck. Axl Rose then fired Sorum and eventually Duff left the band too, leaving Axl as the sole original member.
Although the band never officially "broke up," the new version of Guns N' Roses (Axl Rose, Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal, DJ Ashba, Richard Fortus, Tommy Stinson, Frank Ferrer, Dizzy Reed, and Chris Pitman -- and others, including Brian "Buckethead" Carroll) has been viewed by some fans as a pale imitation of what it was. The long-awaited new album Chinese Democracy was welcomed enthusuastically by many loyal fans, but failed to meet industry sales expectations.
The other original G N' R musicians have moved on to other things in their careers, including solo albums. Slash, Duff, and Sorum formed the supergroup Velvet Revolver with Scott Weiland and Dave Kushner.
I think the personality clashes might never allow the original Guns N' Roses to reunite longterm, but it would be nice to see them all get together on stage at least one more time for a song or two. Stranger things have happened.
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Metallica, Slayer, Anthrax, Motley Crue, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Motorhead, etc, etc, etc were all going strong well before, during and after GnR were. And, their time on top was short lived because just like Kurt did to himself, Nirvana killed GnR when their 2nd album debuted (along with the fledgling alternarock/modern rock stations that Clearwire had decided to put in most major markets just a few months prior to that album's release).
They were a great, hard rockin band, but they couldn't save themselves let alone an entire genre of enduring music that didn't need saving (it does now, but it didn't then).
I saw the latest incarnation of GnR in their only concert of a planned north american tour 5 years ago (Mixmaster Mike was opening and a friend really wanted to go, so what the hell?). They were surprisingly good, and I wasn't expecting them to be at all. Axl still got around the stage and despite looking like a clown, he still had the pipes working. And, Buckethead was friggin' amazing (that kid can really wail, man).
Adler is too fucked up to play, so he's out from the start. The rest likely won't get on stage with Axl, so you're probably right about the idea being a non-starter. I wouldn't mind seeing it either, though....though, I wouldn't get pissed if the new GnR ended up playing at the induction ceremony either.
I was speaking of the pre-black album Metallica...the one that thrice sold platinum without any true singles and almost no radio or MTV airplay. But, Van Halen was still going pretty strong, as were The Scorpions, U2, The Smiths, Yes, Dire Straits, The Pixies (hell-ooo...THE band which bridged the two eras together and one of the most influential bands in music history), and so on.
This is the era just before soundscan numbers became available at a moment's notice to give a true reflection of what was selling and what wasn't (putting so many country and rock and rap records into the billboard top-40 for the 1st time ever and really launching the careers of Garth Brooks and Billy Ray Cyrus into the mainstream, a place they really were anyway, even if people who avoided country music didn't know it).
So, the top 40 numbers leading up to the grunge era are a bit deceiving as they brought radio airplay into account and were focused on a single genre and not popular music overall.
If you're trying to argue that Axl is a douchebag, though, you'll get no argument from me on that (but...but...Night Train...Mr. Brownstone...all his sins are forgiven.)
may be partially possible, after all.
So, I try to keep you excited with my comments, because you also write about a part of the culture which interests me, but that doesn't interest me enough to go out and find news myself, so if I can give you little tidbits, or engage you in a fun conversation, chances are your writing is gonna be better, which means my reading is going to be more enjoyable, or so it has worked out lately (because really, I figure GnR makes it in eventually, and I could care less if it's this year or next or he year after, but since you're writing about it, I also don't mind knowing, and it leads me to think about x, y and z, which is fun.)
Anyway, good on ya, Nick.