the 411 on 46 MISSING Guitar Heroes

When we unveiled the first installment of Where Are They Now? In our March 2001 issue, we had little inkling of just how popular it would be. Now, three years later - just enough time for another bunch of guitar heroes to turn up missing - we're pleased to bring you a fresh batch of conspicuously absent players. But are they MIA exactly, or just off your radar screen?

Izzy Stradlin, Guns N' Roses

"Izzy is a one-take kind of guy," Guns N' roses producer Mike Clink told G1 in 2002. That M.O. apparently informs the rest of Stradlin's life - he never sticks around long enough to be traced. Sixteen years ago, on GN'R's Appetite for Destruction, Stradlin' resuscitated rock with his deft rhythm playing and melodic song-writing. By the early '90s, he'd had enough of Axl Rose's indulgences, and so left in the midst of the Use Your Illusion tour. "I had my own bus because ... there's nothing worse than waiting on somebody," he said. "Their jumbo jet would sit on the runway for three hours while Axl blow-dried his hair." Since leaving the band, the press-wary guitarist has returned to his Stonesy roots, recording with former Georgia Satellites guitarist Rick Richards and Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan. In 2002, he was also jamming and writing with Slash once again, though he wisely opted out of full-time membership in Velvet Revolver. Stradlin's latest import-only solo disc is aptly titled On Down the Road.
-ROBERT CHERRY

Thanks Gypsy