I'm just waiting for Paul Tobias to get his due credit. Any day now folks!

I find it bizarre that Axl had this sort of bravado about the whole thing in the beginning.

He was like, hey, we're here, we're playing half of our album, we'll be back soon with more songs. Oh and the album is actually a double album but there's another album worth of stuff in the works too. He was aggressive as fuck back in the day.

I can see him getting hurt by fan/media reaction, frustrated by the record company, and dejected when RTB and friends told him it wasn't good enough, but even after Rio he was in high spirits. The 2002 shows were getting good reviews before the tour was cancelled.

It's tough to date things but I'd guess a lot of was written/recorded 2003-2005 even with Buckethead officially quitting as well considering they were scheduled for a "comeback" in 2004/2005 before it got pushed off until 2006.

I also want to know what happened 2007-2008 when the album negotiations and all that shit was going on. That'd be some juicy drama for sure.

My guess is that if an album were to be released then it would be the most conservative CD II remaining cuts combined with new songs.

I wonder if Axl would ever considering rebranding the CD II material under a new band and rejoining with Robin and/or Buckethead or if it's too late in the game and he doesn't care anymore. Maybe he could leverage a new Slash/Duff album with the record company and have them sell back the rights to the CD material.

Considering the past history of the band when it comes to releasing music, that their massively successful monkey-making tour hardly provides for good songwriting fodder, and the lack of financial incentive to release new music, I would consider it highly unlikely we ever see a new Guns N' Roses album. I really hope I'm wrong.

To the contrary, Axl seems happy and motivated and has mentioned wanting to release more GNR music. So there's that.

The problem for me is 2002 band played the old material in a completely new way. They were an actual band.

The 2006-2014 band, lesser so when Robin was around, was basically a straight cover of the original Guns. Let them eat cake.

That and DJ got worse and more obnoxious as the years went on.

It's pointless to talk about New GN'R because the past is the past but I'm not sure I agree.

Buckethead was the new Slash. He's the guy that everyone knew, attracted you to (New) Guns N' Roses, and delivered killer solos.

Robin called Buckethead a stunt solo artist or something like that, which is cynical but still pretty accurate from what we've heard. I never got the feeling that Robin liked Buckethead because he had already put in several years into the band and then Bucket shows up and gets the glory, press, etc. I think Robin is a super talented player and has shown flashes of lead potential but I'd dub him "the Izzy" of that band. And that's not to diminish him, I think Robin is far more important to CD than Bucket like Izzy was far more important to AFD than Slash.

But at the end of the day both Buckethead and Robin are reclusive creative types and most people, or at least GN'R's general demographic, is too close minded to see past the exterior. Slash has always been generally approachable and likable. Snakes, booze, and women fit within your general American male machismo.

Combine that with Axl / the business side of GN'R absolutely bungling every press and marketing opportunity from 2001-2009 (it improved somewhat around 2010) and you have a recipe for disaster. They could have written songs as good as WTTJ and SCOM and it would've been DOA simply because of the Hindenburg tier operating procedures of the band in those days.