These are the “hardest parts” of being a Guns N’ Roses fan, according to Guns N’ Roses fans on Reddit.
Guns N’ Roses have quite a complex history due to the lineup changes they’ve endured over the years, their divisive 2008 album Chinese Democracy and their highly-anticipated reunion in 2016, which saw the return of Slash and Duff McKagan after nearly two decades.
As with most fanbases, there are quite a few shared frustrations and irks amongst Guns N’ Roses fans. Someone posed the question “What’s the hardest part about being a GN’R fan” on Reddit and we thought the discussion was rather entertaining — especially the comment that said “people that can’t spell Axl.”
Read some of the other responses, which are bulleted and italicized, and why each are a common pain point for most Guns fans below.
Chinese Democracy was Guns N’ Roses’ last album, and we’re just a few years shy of its 20th anniversary. The band has shared four singles since then — “Absurd,” “Hard Skool,” “Perhaps” and “The General” — four tracks written during the Chinese Democracy era that were reworked to feature Slash and McKagan.
Various members of the band have confirmed that a new album is in the works several times over the last few years, but there are no concrete details as far as a release timeline just yet.
“Other people lol! Constantly people repeating stuff that is either flat out not true or something that happened 30 years [ago] that people still act like happened yesterday.”
No band has avoided controversy or having rumors spread about them — it’s just the nature of what happens when people become famous. The person that wrote the comment didn’t note anything in particular, but a few others responded to their remark.
READ MORE: 10 of the Nicest Things Guns N’ Roses’ Axl Rose Has Ever Done
“Yeah like people have not been able to let go of how bad of a douche canoe Axl [Rose] was back in the day. He’s changed drastically but nobody outside the fanbase cares to recognize it,” a fan replied.
“Casual GN’R listeners think the band is a glam band because they only know the most mainstream songs.”
Firstly, glam and hair metal are great, so just because someone says “Guns N’ Roses aren’t hair metal” does not mean they’re knocking the subgenre.
While Guns did sport the big hair and makeup aesthetic during their early years (and in some of their music videos), they really didn’t fit in sonically and stylistically with other groups that have been given that classification.
guns n’ roses
Their musical output was more diverse in sound and was much more related to the bluesy classic rock groups that reigned in the 1970s, such as Aerosmith and Led Zeppelin.
“For me personally it’s the fact that I was born in 2009 so I’ll never get to experience their prime.”
This is a common sentiment amongst young fans of many legacy acts. Guns were on top of the world from the late ’80s through the early ’90s.
But while they’ll never be as young as they were back then, they’re still active today. The same can’t be said about many other great bands — Led Zeppelin, Van Halen, Queen and so on. Time and tragedy have made it impossible for certain acts to carry on, but Guns N’ Roses are still here.
Read the full discussion on Reddit.
All 24 Musicians Who’ve Been in Guns N’ Roses
Guns N’ Roses have had over 20 musicians in the band since they formed in 1985, so we compiled a list of al of them below.
Gallery Credit: Lauryn Schaffner