TheMole wrote:

polluxlm wrote:

Why is there a difference between Duff and Dizzy's contributions? How many hits have Duff written without Axl? How many have Slash?

If we're talking about hits (and not personal opinion about the songs) post UYI's, then Duff objectively has a much better record than Dizzy given his work on Contraband and to a lesser extent Libertad and IFOCS (Beggars, co-written by Duff, charted pretty damn well).

I also think you're underestimating how much of a public spokesperson Duff was for the band back in the day. Whenever Slash wasn't available, Duff would be the guy everyone went to. You don't become a beer on the Simpsons without a public image.

polluxlm wrote:

If we look at song writing the common denominator appears to be Axl, with Slash playing. Everybody else is a mere contributor. If Slash had been on CD it would surely have generated some big hits, and then you are suddenly looking at the same role for Dizzy and Tobias as you do Duff in the old band.

Again, here I disagree with you, but this is more about personal taste than anything. Everyone will likely agree that neither Slash, Duff nor Axl have produced anything that comes close to what they had written together in the past (same goes for Izzy). The more of those core 4 people were included in a solo project, the higher the songwriting quality. So Axl somehow being the linchpin to GnR's songwriting prowess is bullcrap, IMHO. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: to me the best post-GNR songs are on Contraband and IFOCS. Slash's later solo albums all fall short of those two, as does Chinese.

CD (single) performed better on the Hot 100 than anything from VR, so not sure if Duff's post UYI career is that much better than Dizzy's. CD (album) is a decent effort to be part of.

I doubt a majority on these boards would agree VR wrote better tunes than GN'R these last 20 years. CD may not have been a huge hit commercially but I get the impression most fans think it was far closer to GN'R quality than anything Slash & Co ever did on their own. And whichever way you slize it, if we take GN'Rs biggest hits the only common denominator is Axl as a songwriter. I also include Slash on guitar since I believe that is important. Did Duff make a big difference either way there? I don't think so. I think NR and SCOM could be released with any other bass player and be as big hits as they were. Remove Axl and Slash and the equation changes.

His image marketability is also overrated. Bigger than Dizzy's for sure, but not significant like Axl and Slash. In the end he is a bit player like Dizzy, albeit of course more prominent than him. That doesn't make him integral.