Guitar players like to play. Guitar players like to get paid.

Slash can play with who he likes, he's a recognised legend, he brings that extra something to a show and that's why he's asked.

I guess Fortus is the same, lower scale maybe but he's been a very well known and respected session guitar player for years and now a GNR axe man too.
He's got the chops and he's got bills, gotta pay 'em.

I remain amazed that this debate has so much energy still in it after so many years. The name 'Guns N Roses' sure generates passion.  Thanks to all who have contributed so far. I can see both sides of the argument here as I've seen and enjoyed both versions of the band live several times.
I still don't get why people have to be so nasty to each other, none of us are being paid by Axl or Slash to do so, none of us even know them.
I also want CD then the old band playing new material. I love Axl's voice with Slash's guitar tone, it's a unique combo that I have not found an equal to yet.

James,
Again you're spot on. I probably didn't make myself clear. My point is that people should try to see all sides. I am just really, really tired of the 'Slash is a liar', 'Axl is a power mad despot' stuff. If you're that set in your opinions why come to a forum? How can there be any interesting discussions if it's just 'fuck you and your opinion' and nothing much else.

Buzz,
Maybe you have a point but in fairness those opinions are more suited to HTGTH than here.
I think to blankly blame Axl or Slash alone for the GNR break up is retarded. I am a massive fan of both musicians. For me the break up is a combo of money, power, ego and drugs..all members were guilty of abusing each or all of these, some abusing certain things more than others.

I still cannot believe that people bounce into forums to pass off their almost religious hatreds of either Slash or Axl when both men wrote the songs that made them fans in the first place.
None of us were there, we don't know and to be so black and white shows a shallow grip on things.
I really thought we were passed this stuff..

Jimmy,

I think it's fair to say you'd be one of the forum members who have more extreme loyalties to Axl than many others here. To discount Slash's opinions/writings/musings on GNR is just plain wrong. Axl's inability to supersede Slash's presence and sonic legacy in GNR enforces that. It's a long time since 1996 and yet the 2007 GNR shows still open with '˜Welcome to the Jungle' and finish with '˜Paradise City', that really says it all right there, Slash remains relevant because NOTHING real has been done by Axl to wipe him away. I feel sorry for the band for having to remain in his shadow but that is not Slash's fault.

The fact remains is that the guy was there, he wasn't off his head for every single day of his time in GNR. He has memories, he was a member and deserves to be acknowledged for that. It's the one thing that really depresses me about some fans is that they just pretend the people that drove the band to the stratosphere simply do not matter anymore. 

It's a book, nobody called it the '˜GNR bible' as you termed it. Slash has always maintained it's his take on things and nothing more. You taint Slash's intentions with darker motives simply because you are trying to vilify him and save your idol.

Axl is where Axl is today because he wanted '˜the power rewards of my vision'. Us fans may be pissed with the fiasco that is nu-GNR but the fact is that he might be quite happy with the status quo. He has all the reigns and that seems to suit him regardless of the disintegrating legacy.

The fact remains well documented that Axl had problems getting up on stage:
Off the top of my head:
    St. Louis,
    Dallas (they caught him at the airport)
    Mannheim, Germany in 1991 (I was there Axl threw his mic over his head and walked off and took an hour to get back on)
    Vancouver and Philly in 2000

It's well documented so where are these '˜lies' you attest exist?

Both men have had selective opinions about the demise of the old GNR.
If I asked you to write about the break up of your first serious relationship do you think you would be unbiased?
I think Izzy is the key to all of this; he has had damning things to say about both men in his time and visa versa but is friends now with both of them. Both men could learn a lot from him.
I think Slash has mellowed and has let it go.
I don't think Axl ever will.

At the end of the day two good guys like Izzy and Duff left the band because of issues mainly with Axl and secondly with drugs and alcohol in the band. That to me would indicate that that's where the truth of the GNR matter lies.

Please try to be a little less dismissive. Slash played those songs that brought you here in the first place.
Peace,
Intercourse.