I think his relationship with Dylan says it all. This kid was calling him daddy, which is very common for children that age when their actual father is away, and Axl was bonded to the two of them. My background is Psychology, and even when I was younger I viewed things with that eye. I remember seeing their behavior with each other on Making the Fucking Videos. I think the November Rain video was closer to the reality in his head than one realized. Estranged was probably written for Erin, and by the time the video came out it was about Steph, like pretty much all the ballads on Chinese.

He took that mother fucker hard, and many people around him at the time said he completely shut down her birthday, and had continued to try to make contact with her with no avail. She married an ugly billionaire, and Beta said she was an opportunist (the fact Beta chose Axl, who wasn't her employer at the time said it all imo).

Obviously I don't know shit, but to me on the outside looking in, Axl could give a shit about the business. He wanted the success, and the life, and that normalcy that he never got when he was young. He blew it with Erin, but he wasn't going to make the same mistake with Steph. Except Steph was an money-hungry coke whore, who was a whole headcase in and of herself. Dysfunction + Crazy = Nuclear.

I don't think Axl was hung up on losing Steph, he was hung up on the loss of the dream. I think it's affected him to this day. With that kind of power, and that kind of love of a vision, I think Axl would've totally fucking bolted from all the insanity had Stephanie been willing to make babies with him and make a home in Malibu (the fucking house was FOR THEM).

Now a normal artist, like Slash, Axl knowing he could go home to a beautiful wife and family at the end of the day, might've grinded the rough edges off of him and he would've had a more loving personality, especially in dealing with Slash and all the sharks with GN'R. The problem with that is that Axl was NOT a normal artist. That tension, that anger, that loss, all of those emotions have been what has FUELED Axl as an artist his whole career.

Most of the rest of GN'R were the same. Guns N' Roses as an entity, always was marked by that. In the end as i've said before, whether Stephanie or someone else, Old GN'R might've had one more, and still does, one more album in them talking about the fight and eventual success and happiness they found as the end of the trilogy of their lives (Appetite, UYI, Part III). This is a band that wrote from tension and strife. They were never, in ANY alternate dimension, going to sit down and write songs for the sake of songs, and who would want them to? Look at Aerosmith.

Believe it or not, my mom actually brought this to my attention the other day.

Stephanie has a BIZARRE relatioship with her sons. Peter Jr. is supposed to be gay, which they claim makes it "cool", but Dylan I don't believe is, and Dylan was the one she was checking his wang at the beach, and there's another photo shoot where one of the boys had her bent over on the beach, taking it from behind.

They claim all the incest stuff is just people with dirty minds, but this shit is OBVIOUS. Is it for shock value? Of course it is. But some lines just are strange.

For example, the taking it from behind shot is WEIRD. Who here with, for a photo shoot, or for jokes, would bend their mom over, and press their junk up against her ass and act like she's taking it from her son?

All I can say is, she has a WEIRD relationship with her sons. However, if you're gonna go trailer park on your mom... hope she's Stephanie Seymour. I guess...

I definitely think Axl is a huge fan of Bucket's. They've tried to get him back more times then we probably even know, and the treatment of Ron by the band pretty much says it all. "This guy won't be around for long, so don't get used to him". I just get that overall feeling.

What stuns me is with Ron's medical problems, plus his vocal criticism of the dynamics of business in GN'R, i'm shocked somebody else wasn't called before the 2009-10 tour. Then Ron spoke of, well if Ron's not doing it, then Axl's not doing it, which is kinda stand up, but what's the overall point of it all?

I have full belief that DJ Ashba is there to write with Axl if and when the time comes. The rest of the band already has. Ron? Seems to be on the outside looking in.

Is he waiting for Bucket? I'm sure he'd take Bucket back in a second, at a high cost. I think Robin & Bucket inspire him, and maybe even DJ even though when haven't heard anything from him. Axl paling around with DJ and DJ saying "he's played me this, he's played me that", is definitely a man that has at least kicked the tires on new music with certain people he likes.

I personally am half hard right now thinking of a Guns N' Roses album with Axl vocals/lyrics, DJ radio melodies, Bucket melodic Padmasana solos, with Richard in the background waiting to Slash it up when they need him to.

Pretty bad ass hybrid of GN'R if you ask me.

They were willing to let SLASH walk in order for Axl to do things his way.

Ron ain't got a chance of them caring.

I don't think Ron leaving would have any affect on any new music, because we all know the next album is pretty much Bucket & Robin, and if they need anything Richard & DJ are there.

Ironically Axl seems to be the only one Ron cares about. He doesn't seem to talk highly of the band themselves AT ALL. I wonder if they are recording the new album without him, and it burns him? Maybe?

Wasn't there a rumor awhile back that Team Brazil had reached out to Bucket again to get him back in the studio? Maybe to try to replace Ron? Hurt feelings on Ron's part because after all these years, all the way back to 2004, he remained Bucket's bench warmer?

Ron has been a class act to the fans, but there doesn't seem to be any family-aspect to his involvement with Guns. He is not apart of the clique at all, other than maybe Frank, and he already knew him pre-Guns.