Great to see them giving GNR credit when its due.
And its been due for a long fucking time!!!
Joe
Agreed.
The thing is, in my view, down to several factors.
1st being when the inevitable implosion of the original band happened, any attempt to rebuild the band in any state other than original was always going to be regarded as inferior. In music, it seems that unlike a sports team that evolves over the years, the original band HAS to remain intact in many fans/media minds. This is a ridiculous way of looking at things, but hay-hoo some people think like that.
Axl, who to many has been viewed as the short fuse and thus the instigator of the wreckage time and time again. Never mind having to work with others being stoned, drunk or both was impossible to do, never mind the sniping and bull5h!t they were saying/spreading and the general sense of the mistrust being created. Axl WAS supposed to rise above it and was condemned for not doing so, those same people all on the outside looking in, not being the ones having to put up with it. I wouldn't either, would you?
The new millennium gigs, all new line-up didn't go down well, cancelled shows, shows booked but nothing to do with Axl, created another avenue of ridicule, same ol' Axl fucking it up again, yadda yadda yadda. There was an image issue too. Buckethead, brilliant guitarist, but different, people ridiculed Axl's choice of somebody who visually wasn't the full ticket, his contribution to the shows (and later CD) didn't even get a mention, just the vitriol of troubled souls being in the same place became the story...
The wait for CD, enough said...
As time passes, the new band start playing great shows and fulfilling the programme, the press can't whack the band anymore, yes any event that doesn't go to plan it gets criticism, old habits die hard I suppose, but good shows are also worth reporting too. A positive review pleases fans and those are the customers of the publications that write them, they start to write articles and shock horror, run competitions to win tickets to a show, for all bands I hasten to add, people do still buy stuff just for articles and comps. It is now when the band can start to release new stuff, singles and DVDs without fear of being comeback scheme no 286 being the prejudice driver for their story. Guns n' Roses have turned a corner, on Axl'x terms too
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