Guns N’ Roses have had billboards and posters up of the band’s original lineup from Appetite for Distortion all across the world this week. The band are expected to announce a 30th anniversary reissue of Appetite for Destruction later this week following billboards appearing throughout the world featuring Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler. Unfortunately, Steven Adler doesn’t seem to think he and Izzy Stradlin are coming back.
Adler laughed when Heavy asked him about the billboard: “I think it’s just an ad for a box-set of CDS,” he says the disappointment also clear in his voice.
“It’s a collection I think, I’m not sure but that is what I think it is. If it is a tour of the Appetite Of Destruction line-up to be touring together and playing together again, which I have been praying for over twenty-five years, then nobody has said anything to me. So I don’t know but you will definitely be able to see me play Appetite For Destruction with an amazing band in Australia…. that we definitely have going! Until the other GNR guys, whoever runs GNR I don’t know, wants to get the five of us back together when they are ready… I am ready. I am ready and I am set.”
Despite Adler’s quote, we’re not giving up hope, especially on Izzy coming back. Guns N’ Roses have long fit the bill as the bad boys of rock. From their insanely unprecedented success with their hard-hitting debut, Appetite For Destruction, all the way through Axl Rose’s numerous versions of the band. The question lingers about what’s next for Guns. Whatever that is- it absolutely must include Izzy Stradlin. Izzy, along with the rest of the original Guns, well… There truly has never- and never will be- another band quite like Guns N’ Roses. No one will be as cool. No one will be as dangerous. Those are both facts.
But while that is true, you have to admit, their reunion- as unexpected and honestly as awesome as it’s been- we need Izzy! Yeah, I get it. Steven Adler could be there also. But to a certain degree he has been. He showed up, played some songs. An unfortunate back injury seemed to keep him from contributing at a higher level. But still. Fans got to see him…in this lifetime…reunite with the old gang. But We Need Izzy! No disrespect to Richard Fortus. He is awesome- and deserves to be there also. After all, he is the longest serving guitarist in the band’s raucous history.
Anyone who saw Guns over the past twelve years or so leading to the reunion knows Axl likes the three-guitar attack. We could keep that going with Mr. Stradlin. Here are Alternative Nations Top Five Reasons We Need To See Izzy Stradlin Reunite with GnR!
- Izzy is Just Cool
Between the bandanas, the cigarettes and the sunglasses, Izzy was cool personified during the heyday of Guns. His look sat somewhere between Johnny Thunders and Keith Richards. For your own knowledge- a truth about being cool is that if you don’t give a shit- or at least don’t appear to- it’s so god damn cool. That’s a universal truth. The reunited Guns- as cool as they are- you can’t deny Izzy’s influence over the current incarnation would be a welcome sight.
- Past Reunions
Crazily enough, Izzy has actually reunited with Guns a few times throughout the years since his initial 1991 departure. In 1993, he actually did a run of five shows with the band to fill in for his replacement, Gilby Clarke. Throughout the mid 2000’s, specifically in 2006, he again reunited with that version of Axl’s band for a run of shows- much to the delight of fans starved for a taste of some more original Guns. The precedent had been set. But this is the reunion we need him for!
- Vocals
Izzy may not be the Michael Anthony of Guns, but his voice no doubt plays a role in the overall pallet of the band. Also, “14 Years”. Come on. That song is one of the absolute classics of the Use Your Illusion era that is too often overlooked. IT’d be great to have that thrown back into the setlist. But you need Izzy there for it to work to perfection. Without that- well. I don’t think Slash is going to sing it.
- His Guitar Playing
Lead guitar playing is overrated. Don’t believe me? Ask someone about Malcolm Young. Better yet- talk to James Hetfield or Stone Gossard or even Keith Richards- they’ll tell you what’s what. Slash is no doubt one of the greatest guitar heroes of the past thirty years. But Izzy is no slouch. The measure of a guitarist should not be how fast they can play scales or map and configure modes, licks and harmonies together. IT should be about the feel. Izzy was all about the feel. Good Lord! And without that- the songs don’t feel the same- or sound the same. Check out Izzy’s isolated guitar track below for “Welcome to the Jungle”. You’re welcome
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUSFOxhxtLI
- So Many Classic GnR Songs Were Penned By Him
“You Could Be Mine”, “Patience”, “Mr. Brownstone”, “Don’t Cry” and the aforementioned “14 Years”. We’re just scratching the surface here. There is something cosmic- something not of this world when certain musicians play together. Having Izzy removed from the band denies not only the band, their fans and the entire god damn universe the fantastic revalation to see them reunited- but it also denies the songs themselves of being performed as originally conceived. By the artists who crafted them seemingly out of thin air and made them these anthemic songs that are as much a part of the fans as the air they breathe.
Please Guns N’ Roses- for the next tour- maybe even call it, “Again In This Lifetime Tour”- please get Izzy Stradlin back on board and let us get the classic reunion! A lot of things in life are a process. And getting everyone back on board may well be. But it’d be a process well worth seeing to fruition!