Guns N' Roses as a band made some kick ass music.

You can hate any of the guys in the band individually but the band as a whole really should be recognized for bringing some sound that was original and remains unique.

This isn't to say you need to love it, but you damn well better respect it.

Axl clearly suffers from Bi-Polar and OCD. It doesn't take a doctor to see that he is a distressed individual. Money and the rest of the band's willingness to pacify him lead to an uncontrollable egotistical frontman who may never be capable of working well with others again.

As far as music is concerned though, I always considered Axl to be the band member who polished the songs. Sure he wrote a large number of them, but the complex arrangement of musical styles was made by each individual who was a part of the band.

If you had removed any member of the original band it would never have sounded as good.

Slash brought killer riffs, insane solos, and what I consider to be true feeling and emotion through the guitar. But he couldn't have just played those parts alone. Izzy brought simplicity to a place where everything else was complicated. Yet it worked. Without him the band would have sounded overly technical and personally I think it would have gone the route that it has now with a much more industrial sound.

It is the metal, rock, country, classical, blues, and the rest of the kitchen sink that made GNR what it was.

Going forward, I enjoy all of the solo projects. I never expected VR to be GNR. And I never expect the "New GNR" to be what GNR was.

I just know that I loved Apatite, Lies and Use Your Illusions.