Here Today... Gone To Hell!

1. What if Slash had joined Poison when auditioned back in '85/'86.
2. What if Tracii Guns had stayed with GN'R?
3. What if Nirvana had toured with GN'R back in '92?

Here is my guess:

1. Poison might have gotten big. Maybe Brett Michaels would be known for SCOM instead of Axl. Or maybe Poison would not have gotten big at all, since CC wrote most of "Look at What the Cat Dragged In." Maybe Slash w/ Poison wouldn't have been a top 40 winning formula. Still, it would have been an interesting collaboration.

2. GN'R still would have been big, albeit not as big. After all, they still would have had Axl, and Izzy, two great songwriters. And Tracii still rocks.

3. GN'R would have been more accepted by the elitist alterna-indie crowd. Or at least would not have been despised by them and would not have suffered the terrible backlash that they did thoughout the second half of the 1990s.

Interesting assumption. I tend to agree, although as time has gone by most of the backlash and negativity that still remains to this day are more focused on Axl while his former bandmates have made the crossover (thanks to Scott Weiland) to the genre that's never accepted Axl Rose.

You could argue that Weiland was never really accepted by that crowd. I doubt Cobain was much of an STP fan. The Alterna Crowd itself is divided: Cobain hated Pearl Jam, Peal Jam loved old-school Van Halen, Hole made a Def Leppard esque album (Celebrity Skin), Tommy Stinson and Robin Finck  (alterna-rockers) are in GN'R, and so on.

I think Axl and GN'R have reached a sort of cult-underground status that's similar to that enjoyed by the Misfits.

Very true.

That said, he and his band were accepted by modern rock radio and to this day are staples on every playlist within that format imaginable.



Not sure about that, arena rock has never really been "underground" so to speak, kinda defeats the purpose..