Again... this is kind of where ignorance goes. GN'R being more diverse brings in more MUSICAL diversity. Like Lofton was referring to the other day. Axl has his musical tastes which tend to be more American rock based, with the exception of bands like Thin Lizzy, Nazareth Queen & Elton John. Slash tends to be more British-based, Zeppelin, Bowie, Sabbath. Duff tends to be very Seattle, alot of punk, little bit of noise rock, alternative rock, and alot of love for the grunge scene of the early 90's. Richard & Frank tend to be in this bracket as well. Dizzy brings in an old school keyboardist mindset, Stones, Doors, Deep Purple. Melissa Reese MIGHT bring in something a little different. A little more Bucket & Brain. Techno, Funk, EDM possibly... who knows.

The more diverse your musical base is, as long as the band is on the same page, the more options and resources you have to pull from for making good music. It's what made Guns N' Roses... GN'R to begin with. Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff & Steven all had unique musical personalities which is what made the band so powerful.

Ethnically, yes we all can be generic rock fans. But that's not what usually happens. The more of that ethnic base is there, the more musically diverse groups usually become... like I said, as long as they can stay on the same page.

For example, what if Axl wanted to record a rock ballad that sounded like a death metal of version of Queen's "Mustapha" ? Might not have attempted it before, but if there's a lead female vocalist in the band... suddenly there's a new opportunity. That kind of stuff. That said person might know what to add, that the others didn't, because of their musical background.

For example, when I go to a local bar in the Southern U.S., I can hear some good bands sometimes. But all of them are honky tonks, mainly all white bands, with redneck backgrounds. They have great vocals, great chops, good at blues, and sing great country music, great southern rock. They are good at what they do.

But if I asked all them boys to perform Bohemian Rhapsody in full... they'd probably be totally lost. Why? Because their musical background just isn't diverse enough.

That's why diversity helps in a band. The more, the better. As long as everyone stays on the same page, and the same goal of "hey, we're a fucking rock band, first and foremost".

See my amended post.

Beatles, Skynyrd... would all be on the Top-20 somewhere. It'd a VERY hard list to make.

Even if the crash hadn't happened, I think Skynyrd would've eventually went the route of .38 Special and probably recorded AOR Southern Rock during the 80's. Skynyrd imo would've scored tons of hits, but probably would've gotten a big lack of respect like Deep Purple (another one on the list somewhere).

Like I said... it's hard.

If Buckethead comes back, even for a song or two... I might actually cry. He has been the one guy I just felt like everything went wrong, and he could've been so much more for GN'R, as well as himself. He is legendary as an underground artist, but never quite had the career he deserved.

With Melissa being in the band, possibly Brain returning for a few songs, maybe Bucket... with Slash & Duff in the band... interesting. Crazy. But interesting.

We've seen so much of Izzy since 2006, but the Bucket thing was left so badly and such a mystery as to why it crumbled in the first place. He was so involved in what ultimately became of Chinese, and even Ron was just there to basically re-do his parts (which was unnecessary).

Like I said... if I saw Bucket & Slash doing dueling solos on Nightrain... I would burst into tears. It'd be the emotional pinnacle of Guns for me. That and maybe Slash doing a bluesier version Robin's solo from TWAT, and Bucket finally getting to perform his solo live on TWAT. That'd probably do it for me as well.

Appetite won't be left alone. Me thinks next year the album will be remastered with maybe some demos, possibly cleaned up versions of Jumpin' Jack Flash & Shadow of Your Love, as well as the original version of You Could Be Mine. Maybe throw on the live cut of Whole Lotta Rosie from 1987.

There's too much money to be made for a Deluxe Edition to not be on tap for next year for the 30th Anniversary. Plus, AFD has never, ever, received a deluxe edition in any form.

Disc 1:

AFD: 30th Anniversary Remastered

Disc 2:

AFD: Original 1987 Release

Disc 3:

Appetite For Rediscovery (full disc of acoustic versions, and other remixes by current 2016 band + appearences by Izzy & Steven)

Disc 4:

Demos for all songs, plus cutting room floor lost demos

Discs 5 & 6:

1-2 Live shows, remastered such as the 1986 shows, CBGB's 1987, Ritz 1988, Philly 1988, LA Coliseum 1989

There's alot of different shit they could do for that album. Just one album. Forget the rest of the catalog. All of it would sell MASSIVELY with Axl, Slash & Duff promoting it, plus Izzy & Steven showing up for shows next year.

My favorite idea?

Ritz 1988 show gets remastered for release, and sold exclusively as a special edition Keep Case VHS with Audio Cassette & CD as a LE package for hardcore collectors!

If this is true, it makes it even more interesting what Slash & Steven's relationship is with Axl and the future. Steven has been eerily silent, which means Slash is talking to him imo.

I still feel there's a backdoor deal to bring out Izzy & Steven next year for the AFD 30th Anniversary. I wonder if Steven was fine with this arrangement and Izzy wasn't, and the GN'R camp just felt "well... we've got a year to figure out our negotiation with him"

Matt said from the on-set he wasn't going to be apart of it. Although I think at some point this year, being it's the 25th Anniversary of Use Your Illusion, it might be nice to bring out Gilby & Matt and jam a couple tunes maybe towards the end of the summer tour to coincide close towards the original release of Use Your Illusion I & II.

Then watch the internet freak out about... "WHAT? They bring back Gilby & Matt before Izzy & Steven?!?! What the fuck??!"

That'd entertain me at least 'til Christmas