Guns N’ Roses were the biggest band in the world in the early 90’s, but following their epic Use Your Illusion Tour from ’91-’93, the band fell apart.
The Dissolution of the Classic Lineup
The band would try to get together to write new material between 1994-1997, but they couldn’t write one complete song, which led to the departure of Slash in 1996, and bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Matt Sorum in 1997. It was really a combination of musical differences, business disagreements and a revolving lineup that led to the dissolution of the classic lineup.
By 1998, Axl Rose was the last member of the classic lineup still standing and he was now left to his own vices as he reassembled a completely new band from scratch and started to work on the band’s highly anticipated Chinese Democracy record.
Producers and band members would come and go with former Nine Inch Nails producer Sean Beaven and Queen producer Roy Thomas Baker being linked to the record. It was also during this time that Axl Rose became a recluse, rarely making public appearances.
A New Lineup of Guns N’ Roses
At the turn of the millennium, Axl started to finally show off his new lineup of Guns N’ Roses. The band played several shows in Vegas in 2000 and 2001, in addition to an appearance at Rock in Rio.
As 2002 rolled around, the band launched a summer tour across Europe and played some shows in Asia.
Guns N’ Roses Appearance on the MTV VMA’s
As the fall approached, the MTV VMA’s were coming up and the band was set to make an appearance closing out the show. The band made several appearances at the VMA’s in the past, most notably appearing in 1988, 1989 and 1992 with Elton John.
Most people who weren’t hardcore Guns N’ Roses fans in 2002, either had no clue who was still in the band or whether they were still making music.
Axl’s new lineup consisted of guitarist Buckethead, former Nine Inch Nails member Robin Finck, and current guitarist Richard Fortus. Also part of the lineup was punk bassist Tommy Stinson, drummer Brain and keyboardist Chris ‘Rock N’ Roll’ Pittman and longtime member Dizzy Reed.
Guns N’ Roses Play Their Biggest Hits
Guns N’ Roses would close out the 2002 VMA’s playing a medley of some of their biggest hits including “Welcome To The Jungle” and “Paradise City” while also throwing in a song off their long awaited record Chinese Democracy with “Madagascar”.
Guns N’ Roses performing at the VMA’s hadn’t been announced by the network ahead of time so it came as a surprise to a lot of people.
Leading up to Guns N’ Roses’ performance at the VMA’s that night, host Jimmy Fallon who himself is a big GNR fan, teased the band’s appearance wearing the band’s shirt under his jacket and making a joke about the song “Patience”.
Same GNR Name, Unrecognizable Band
When Jimmy Fallon introduced the band, while the band’s name was familiar, the faces were not, including Rose.
Axl Rose’s slim snake-like figure of the early days was gone. Instead, he wore a baggy jersey, possibly to hide some weight he’s gained. He also had cornrows and his face looked different, as if he possibly had plastic surgery. In addition, it appeared that Rose had lost a lot of his rasp in his voice, singing with a much cleaner tone. Some compared his new voice to Mickey Mouse.
Matt Damon Impersonates Axl Rose on SNL
Following that performance, the reaction was mostly poor. Axl’s new appearance dominated a lot of the discussion following the VMA’s and he was mocked by Saturday Night Live with Matt Damon impersonating the singer.
Axl Roses Sneaks Into the MTV Video Music Awards
Axl had his own reasons for why the performance was so lacklustre that night.
“A nervous wreck all that day. Huh?”
“Well no, I wasn’t that, but everything tends to go wrong in my world. Like, even going to soundcheck, the police wouldn’t let me down the street to go to the building.”
“Then the day of the show, they didn’t let us go down the street and I had to get out of the car and run past the police. They are telling me I have to stop and I’m like, ‘I gotta sing’ and the best part is, as I am running down the street, I had to run past all the people lined up to get into the building and they’re going, ‘Hey, there goes Kid Rock.’ I thought that was pretty funny.”
“Now, why wouldn’t the police let you out? I’m kinda lost on that.”
“You know, it’s their loss. Just confusion, loss, not knowing what was going on, people not having people’s names on the list, not knowing what passes to check all the kinda crap. Just usual stuff going wrong for no reason.”
“So what you’re telling me is that Axl Rose had to sneak into the MTV Video Music Awards.” “Yeah, basically, I had like police chasing me down the street and then our security and MTV had to clear it with them, but yeah it was very interesting.”
Even Rose’s former bandmates including Slash and Duff commented on the bizarre performance two years later when they appeared with their new band at the time, Velvet Revolver on the Howard Stern Show.
“I’m a big fan but it does appear that Axl lost his hair and has some sort of hair weave.”
“And his voice appears to have been affected by something. It’s not as strong.”
“And he looks like he had plastic surgery on his face.”
“Scott, did he?”
“I dunno, there’s something going on with the eyebrow part, yeah.”
North American Tour is a Disaster
Guns N’ Roses’ appearance at the VMA’s was to set the stage for them touring North America for the first time since 1993. The tour was set to begin in the fall and then run through the winter of 2002. The only problem was, the tour was a disaster.
The first show was set to take place in Vancouver, Canada. Axl was a no-show and it ended in a riot. The band also had trouble selling out venues, playing to half empty arenas. In addition, Axl Rose was still up to his usual antics, showing up hours late to gigs and ranting about whatever had upset him recently.
There was another riot on the tour in Philadelphia after Rose was apparently sick or busy watching a basketball game in his hotel room, forcing Clear Channel Broadcasting, who was backing the tour, to finally pull the plug. The tour lasted only 15 dates.
Guns N’ Roses wouldn’t tour for another 4 years and fans wouldn’t hear Chinese Democracy until 6 years later in 2008.
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