Jimmy Immy™

GNR (http://web NULL.gunsnroses NULL.com/news/article NULL.jsp?ymd=20090303&content_id=a1&vkey=news&fext= NULL.jsp)

Did you break up the old Guns?

It is my belief that the commitment to end old Guns came long before the band started in the heart and soul of one man. After that, it became more visible sometime before/during [the 'Use Your Illusion' albums], when the others opted for personal reasons to change our approach, styles and methods of working together. At the time, I unwittingly chose as a means of what I felt was both my own and Guns’ survival to adapt, and threw myself into whatever I could get out of that to support and promote our efforts.

The group shot of the band in front of the piece ‘Dead’ was not a coincidence but not something I felt could be talked about openly, and something I hoped would change. I couldn’t reach Izzy [Stradlin] and couldn’t manage or curtail Slash and his personal objectives to take over Guns anymore than I did at the time, and I’m lucky to have survived, got what we did out of it and some still enjoyed the results. But for all intents and purposes, the ‘Appetite [for Destruction]‘ lineup and approach was already dead, and with the addition of Matt [Sorum], the end of the then-lineup and what Guns was really about was only a matter of time. Only heartfelt choices by the others could or would change that. Unfortunately, nothing did.

I’m generally blamed for the time it took to release ‘Illusions,’ but again the reality of my fault would be in not finding a way to manage Slash complete with his addictions and bring both him and Izzy together either similar to ‘Appetite’ or in some other progression more conducive to Guns than how ‘Illusions’ was accomplished. Unfortunately, that never truly happened, and both Guns and the public suffered for it. I’ll take the responsibility in the sense that had I known how to achieve those goals we would have made what I feel would’ve been a more effective and powerful album at the time.

See? There’s the catch, right? All this time, most thought I changed the direction with ‘Illusions.’ A lot of nonsense theories, speculation and complete nonrealities put together by others, based on Slash and others’ crap and off one interview taken out of context I did with Kurt Loder where I said I hated ‘Appetite.’ That sentence has been used and twisted in every conceivable way since to vilify me and purports to prove my guilt and responsibility, when I wasn’t speaking to the music itself but the overwhelming and at that time seemingly drowning success of our record.

My statement was in specific response to the feelings I had listening to DJs at the L.A. hard rock station KNAC at the time complaining about having to play the entire record for the umpteenth time for fans. I simply wanted to make another record and have it be as good or better. If you don’t think I would’ve liked to have five ‘Appetites’ and been living like the Stones at the time, you’re high. With that, any other avenue I hoped to pursue musically would more than likely been available as well. This was something I could never get through to the others with. Personal need to dominate in Guns was very important to them. Izzy has to be in charge or he’s not comfortable, same with Slash. Duff [McKagan] tries convincing himself he’s equal partners with Slash. Each to their own.