I don't agree with you there monkeyman - there are lots of quite bland drummers, but then you have John Bonham, Iain Paice, Mitch Mitchell, Mike Portnoy, Vinnie Paul, Dave Lombardo, Lars (tentatively), drummers who either are extraordinarily talented or have a very unique or original style that is hard to replicate.

I grew up to GNR and Steven was a big influence...he had that swagger and groove plus that smile and big hair...perfect antidote to angry axl!

If chinese democracy sells boatloads of cds (millions) then I'd be surprised if the the thought of returning to gnr doesn't torment them on a daily basis (whether they like the thought or not). I bet they thought thos day would never happen.

Something to remember...Bucket has rejoined before. Maybe a bigger coop or his own personal chicken tour bus might be enough to persuade him to come back...

I love Bucket's work, haven't heard much of his other stuff but GNR and The Big Eyeball in The Sky impressed me.

The question I had, is what did he expect when he got involved with Axl? He's hardly renowned for being 'normal' or 'easy to work with' or even releasing albums regularly

I really hope we hear more of Bucket's contributions on future albums.

Nope - I agree there's not much in this for the hardcore fans that will buy the album.

To be fair I think this isn't really aimed that the hardcore fans.