New Dj interview at LegendaryRockInterviews.com (Sep 2014)

[D-GenerationX]

No, that is only your opinion.  And that only includes the old era of the band, not the new era.  Personally, I would define "core" members based on the AFD-UYI era, and then separately for the Chinese Democracy and beyond era of GN'R.

Yeah, I could see that.  

Of the post 1994 line-ups, I guess a guy like Tommy is a core member, whereas a Josh Freese or Frank Ferrer is not.

[D-GenerationX]

There is no evidence at all that DJ or anyone else in the band is saving their "best" material for their other projects.  That makes even less sense to me when the stylistic differences between Sixx: AM, The Replacements, etc. are considered vs. GN'R.  It very well may be that they have certain material that fits one project vs. another.

Furthermore, we do have evidence that these guys haven't written one note together in GNR in 8 years.

So its not like they brought some idea they all worked on and is now stuck in limbo while Axl dithers. 

[GypsySoul]

This is not Guns N' Roses.  Never will be.  

Is this your personal opinion as well?

Yeah, pretty much.  The group of guys that went into the HOF are what I would call Guns N' Roses.  Its when they did all their best work.  Its the line-up I would introduce to a new fan.  And I think the history of Guns N' Roses can pretty much stop at 1994 and nothing is really lost.

That explains a lot.

It puts me in a select group of folks otherwise known as 99.7% of the planet.  Tough to find a good seat at one of our meetings, I can tell you that.

Oh please.  Most of the people outside of these fan sites that are familiar with GNR and their songs probably couldn't name Izzy or Duff.  and the only reason some might know Steven's name is because he was on that Dr. Drew rehab reality show.

[D-GenerationX]

Oh please.  Most of the people outside of these fan sites that are familiar with GNR and their songs probably couldn't name Izzy or Duff.  and the only reason some might know Steven's name is because he was on that Dr. Drew rehab reality show.

Would you take the Pepsi challenge on that though?

Pull a guy off the street and give him 10 guesses to name 3 current band members.  Shit, you'd probably get Izzy or Duff before any of them.

[GypsySoul]

Oh please.  Most of the people outside of these fan sites that are familiar with GNR and their songs probably couldn't name Izzy or Duff.  and the only reason some might know Steven's name is because he was on that Dr. Drew rehab reality show.

Would you take the Pepsi challenge on that though?

Pull a guy off the street and give him 10 guesses to name 3 current band members.  Shit, you'd probably get Izzy or Duff before any of them.

Let me rephrase so you might be able understand my point.  Most people are familiar with the band Guns N' Roses and their songs NOT the individuals within the band (at any point in the band's existence).
 

[Ali]

There is no evidence at all that DJ or anyone else in the band is saving their "best" material for their other projects.  That makes even less sense to me when the stylistic differences between Sixx: AM, The Replacements, etc. are considered vs. GN'R.  It very well may be that they have certain material that fits one project vs. another.

Furthermore, we do have evidence that these guys haven't written one note together in GNR in 8 years.

So its not like they brought some idea they all worked on and is now stuck in limbo while Axl dithers. 

I'm not disputing that.  All I'm saying is this: why would one think that when these guys write material, they separate the material into batches for the different projects based on quality as opposed to what is stylistically more appropriate for one project as opposed to another?

Ali

[D-GenerationX]

Oh please.  Most of the people outside of these fan sites that are familiar with GNR and their songs probably couldn't name Izzy or Duff.  and the only reason some might know Steven's name is because he was on that Dr. Drew rehab reality show.

Would you take the Pepsi challenge on that though?

Pull a guy off the street and give him 10 guesses to name 3 current band members.  Shit, you'd probably get Izzy or Duff before any of them.

Let me rephrase so you might be able understand my point.  Most people are familiar with the band Guns N' Roses and their songs NOT the individuals within the band (at any point in the band's existence).
 

To most people, Guns N' Roses is Axl and Slash.

But based on percentages and probabilities, you're going to get Izzy or Duff before any of the current guys.

[D-GenerationX]

I'm not disputing that.  All I'm saying is this: why would one think that when these guys write material, they separate the material into batches for the different projects based on quality as opposed to what is stylistically more appropriate for one project as opposed to another?

If were one of these guys, I think they would consider holding something back if I really believed in it.

But I agree with you in that it would not be for stylistic reasons.  It would be because they know its never coming out.

Of course, the next writing session they have will be the first one, so this is the very height of conjecture.

[GypsySoul]

But based on percentages and probabilities, you're going to get Izzy or Duff before any of the current guys.

No.  They're NOT going to get Izzy or Duff before any of the current guys because they don't know or care that they exist!!!  They know "Guns N' Roses" NOT the individuals.

Let me try to explain it like this.... You're a sports fan, right?  Baseball fans are very familiar with the song "Enter Sandman"  They can tell you the song is by Metallica.  Ask any of those sports fans to name the members of Metallica and you'll get a blank stare.  No matter how many guesses you give them, 99.7% of them will never ever guess correctly.

[draguns]

GypsySoul, I disagree with you on that. A lot of people do know Duff and that he was in GNR. Actually it's partly due to "The Simpsons". However, it's mostly due to the popularity of the ORIGINAL lineup.  Fewer people know about Izzy. However, he would get more responses than anyone naming the current lineup.

[D-GenerationX]

But based on percentages and probabilities, you're going to get Izzy or Duff before any of the current guys.

No.  They're NOT going to get Izzy or Duff before any of the current guys because they don't know or care that they exist!!!  They know "Guns N' Roses" NOT the individuals.

Let me try to explain it like this.... You're a sports fan, right?  Baseball fans are very familiar with the song "Enter Sandman"  They can tell you the song is by Metallica.  Ask any of those sports fans to name the members of Metallica and you'll get a blank stare.  No matter how many guesses you give them, 99.7% of them will never ever guess correctly.

Look, I don't think this is something to go to the mattresses over.

If you need to believe that people won't know Izzy or Duff because it allows you to feel better about the fact no one knows the current guys, I'm not going to go 12 rounds with you on it.

We disagree, that's all.

[GypsySoul]

GypsySoul, I disagree with you on that. A lot of people do know Duff and that he was in GNR. Actually it's partly due to "The Simpsons". However, it's mostly due to the popularity of the ORIGINAL lineup.  Fewer people know about Izzy. However, he would get more responses than anyone naming the current lineup.

You can't get a response if you don't know the person exists.  Most people tend not to know the individual band members names.  Most people only know the name of one or maybe two members who are "up front."

And you saying people probably would know more that Duff was in GNR over Izzy kind of proves the point since both were part of that same "popularity of the ORIGINAL lineup".

As a GNR fan, don't you agree that Izzy's contributions to the old GNR songs were kind of major compared to Duff's?  So why would people know Duff over Izzy?  They don't.  They don't know or care either one exists unless it's because of something like "The Simpsons" thing or Steven on Dr. Drew's Rehab.

Point being that the GNR "core" is today what it always was.

[GNR2014]

Axl Rose and Slash are the most famous guys.
People who remember the Don't Cry video might come up with Izzy's name.  

[Ginger King]

This is not Guns N' Roses.  Never will be.  

Is this your personal opinion as well?

Yeah, pretty much.  The group of guys that went into the HOF are what I would call Guns N' Roses.  Its when they did all their best work.  Its the line-up I would introduce to a new fan.  And I think the history of Guns N' Roses can pretty much stop at 1994 and nothing is really lost.

That explains a lot.

It puts me in a select group of folks otherwise known as 99.7% of the planet.  Tough to find a good seat at one of our meetings, I can tell you that.

Oh please.  Most of the people outside of these fan sites that are familiar with GNR and their songs probably couldn't name Izzy or Duff.  and the only reason some might know Steven's name is because he was on that Dr. Drew rehab reality show.

This is the definition of revisionist history.  By devaluing the original members (please keep your Ole Beich and Tracii Guns comments to yourself) do you think you're elevating the current lineup?  Is your point that it doesn't matter who's in GnR, it just matters if they can play the songs?

Maybe that makes sense elsewhere (like I don't care if Starbucks changes baristas, as long as they don't fuck up my latte) but I don't think it holds true for bands, especially a band that (once upon a time) was on top of the world. 

[D-GenerationX]

By devaluing the original members (please keep your Ole Beich and Tracii Guns comments to yourself) do you think you're elevating the current lineup?  Is your point that it doesn't matter who's in GnR, it just matters if they can play the songs?

Hahahaha.  I love that routine.

[sandman]

people know Slash. he's one of the most famous musicians of my generation (i'm 39).

alot of people know duff and izzy. i talk to people all the time about gnr, and i am always pleasantly surprised to see how much respect izzy gets. 

and the proof is in the pudding....the current version of gnr struggles to sell 3,000 tickets in major markets. if the old band reunited they would get paid $100M+. why? becaue they would be selling out 20,000 seat stadiums across North America.

so to say that people do not know the old band is silly. the lack of original members is the exact reason why gnr is not one of the top selling bands today.     

[D-GenerationX]

Yep.

But we tap dance all around it and contort ourselves in pretzels to avoid having to say that out loud.

[JAEBALL]

If you know more than 3 GNR songs ( SCOM, Jungle and PC) then you know who Duff and Izzy are....

and I think anybody with any sense of pop culture knows that the current configuration does not include them

whether the average guy cares... thats up for debate... but everybody knows them and knows they are the OG's

[JAEBALL]

Although I know a lot of people confuse Izzy and Dizzy because of their names lol

Honestly I am shocked in the past week since this thread started that DJ Ashba hasn't told us again how many songs are ready to go 

[GeorgeSteele]

I agree with GypsySoul.  Most casual fans don't know or care about the individual members within a group.  I've always like The Cure, have their greatest hits CD, but as a casual fan, it was years before I knew that their singer's name is Robert Smith and to this day I could not name one other member of that band, past or present.  That's not arguing that Ron is more well known than Slash or that Slash is not one of the most high profile guitarists of the past 25+ years.  Only means that there are a LOT of fans who don't know either individually, but still like Guns N' Roses.