A post-GNR interview with Izzy Stradlin' in 1992. Izzy talks(!) about his leaving GNR and his then-current project, Izzy Stradlin' and the Ju Ju Hounds. Also some rare performances of the JJH in the studio. A must for Izzy and GNR fans!
He also had serious ambition, sharp instincts, was savvy and shrewd in his approach to the business, aesthetic sensibilities. He added so much to the mix.
And maybe most importantly of all he got sober, stayed sober, and made really good common sense decisions that PRESERVED his mental health when all the odds were stacked against him. That is a strong spirit there and a wise one. He listened to intuition and it served him well. Long may he run!
Not really.....izzy was the great sound guitar for gnr....slash was and is the clown jackal on front stage jumping and missing notes like crazy.....slash is a over rated guitar player
@@ericrojasvelez8891 Nah. Slash’s solos are iconic for a reason, he’s a great lead guitarist. Plus, his playing live has gotten only better with the years, since he got sober
@@dannitru4762 His solo work is just for fun. GN'R was his creation too, he was the biggest songwriter on the first two albums and a very important one on the next two.
Well he does from many huge fans like me. When you hear the albums with headphones in stereo, Izzy is on one side rocking, Slash is on the other. And they’re both so good at doing kick ass riffs. Plus I know that he wrote a lot for the band.
+TJ Anderson Yeah. And later Izzy ditched the bus until it was only him, his girlfriend, his dog & his motorcycle & he still beat 'em to the gigs. lol.
@@terrylandess6072 If you think that a plane wouldve blown guns n roses' money then you clearly have no idea, how much money they made. They couldve gotten a jet for a lifetime just from the appetite for destruction money.
he just didn't want to be that famous,that "big"...he didn't care about the money,he just loved playing music and wanted to live a normal life at the same time....long live Izzy!!!
Dabucean Denis if he doesn’t care about the money then why did he state that the reason he’s not on the reunion tour is because he wasn’t getting paid enough?
It always bugs me when people perpetuate this narrative. I don't think that's something that's been definitivelt established at all. Izzy has said plainly that the rush of playing for the size of crowds they were playing for was a thrill and something he was into. My read on the situation was how their band and its camp operated at that level of fame, not the fame itself, that was the problem. Axl's issues meant they were losing hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties. They were splurging on nonsense. They couldn't get it together to make an album in a way that didn't blow through vast sums of money. The walk-offs devolving into riots put people's safety at risk. The level of addiction in the band, which was out of control and on a collision course for disaster, was exacerbated by these delays and all the other shit. If not for all that shit, I don't think Izzy had a problem with the fame itself.
AGS 15 Well that exactly shows he didn't care for money. I don't get how you can interpret it the other way. Izzy hasn't been making any tours or live shows for more than 20 years. He was chillin', living a normal life. So anything a band as big as GN'R would offer would be a lot of money for him. If he was greedy he would argue for more but in the end would accept it. But he didn't. He said F U! Since after Illusions everytime Izzy played with GN'R you couldn't hear his guitar, he was a co-founder and wrote a lot of their hits, and GN'R haven't put out that many new remarkable stuff after Izzy's departure, and don't forget that this money thing; how Axl wanted more money, paid less to others, making them sign contracts etc. was a big problem in GN'R when Izzy left. So after all this time, all these years passed, there is supposed to be a Reunion and you come and tell me that you want to pay me less than these guys and start to argue? Hell nah. Like I said F U! I'll keep chillin'.
well he kept it low with that bad ass rock n' roll star lifestyle...that means no more drugs and not so much alcohol....just take a look at how the other bandmates endet up...slash ended up addicted to heroin,he almost died in a hotel.....duff ended up addicted to alcohol,just imagine how much he was drinking if he wanted to slow it down by drinking "just" 10 bottles of wine per day....steven just couldn't play drums because of drug addiction so he ended up leaving the band and having a stroke caused by his addiction,thankfully he survived but half of his face was paralized....and axl rose got overwelmed by his BIG ego,had big justice problems and..GOT FAT:))...(just wanted to cheer it up a bit in the end ;p )...howerver,izzy deserves a lot of respect:D
Kudos to this guy for clearing up his act and getting the shit together after years of substance abuse, then walking away from one of the biggest rock bands of the time at its peak, and putting out his own material that sounded so him and so cool; and be totally low key about the whole thing! takes some balls and real cool attitude to do this
All round songwriter? Yes. But without Axl's lyrical and melodic contribution, Guns would not have got anywhere substantial. After all, Axl did write the lyrics to Jungle, Nightrain, Paradise City, Sweet Child, November Rain, Don't Cry x2, Estranged, You Coud Be Mine, Civil War, Rocket Queen, Coma, and much more... you get the picture. And as Slash said, Axl turned Izzy's 'Patience' into a hit... Izzy was fucking great, but I believe him and Axl needed and still do 'need' eachother to be truly great.
axl would have been a crappy "all-around" songwriter for guns because the songs that he normally wrote by himself were ballads such as november rain. and estranged. granted, they're great stand-alone songs. however, axl alone would not have been able to get the GNR sound and neither would izzy. izzy's songs were generally the most rock-n-roll sounding. then slash would add on technical bits and the rest of the band would contribute to the song's feel. all five of them were a team.
onepinkrose x you don't know shit...Izzy was the brains behind the operation...Axl gave a bit of variety to the hard rock genius of Izzy but even izzy wrote patience...do the research.
blk stone''You don't know shit... do the research?''.... Lay off the acid, mate. ... You're asking me to ''do the research''... when it's obvious you clearly know fuck all... Yeah, we know Izzy wrote 'Patience', and it's a fucking excellent tune, but as Slash said in his book 'Axl turned it into a hit'... They needed each other. But you're not having any of it. Why? Because you're allowing your hatred and aversion for Axl to steer your opinions. Why not be mature and neutral, and even though you hate Axl, just say, yeah, the bloke was a prick, but he was a talented prick that wrote some great stuff... I fucking love Izzy, he was the soul of Guns, and a great songwriter, but ask him who wrote Sweet Child, and November Rain... Peace.
Izzy seems like a great guy and he's one hell of a great song writer. He seems to be very humble and down to earth man. Good on you Izzy. Guns just isn't the same band you.
And no one bought any of them. Izzy needed the rest of the band to work up a lot of his songs in GNR. Slash and Duff had just as much to do with creating the sound of GNR. It was the five guys together that made the band.
agreed the 5 of them was what made GnR special. The moment Adler left, it wasn't the same and even less so when Izzy left. That being said Izzy was probably the mosr down to earth one of them who cared the least about success at any price, he could have stayed and put up with Axl a bit longer and milk the last out of the money making machine, but he didn't
Izzy wanted to be low key, Guns N' Roses got too big with too many egos. When Izzy sobered up and took a look around, he realized he didn't want that. Plus dealing with fucked up Slash. Duff & Matt on one hand and Axl's antics on the other. Plus he was not to happy about the way Steven to Sorum change stating that the original sound of the band has changed because of it. IMO as much as I love Slash, the band was finished the day Izzy handed in his resignation.
Direct me to the magazine or television interview where Izzy expresses his unhappiness at how the original sound of the band had changed for the worse with Matt. You're full of shit on that count and there's a million of people just like you that buy that shit. Especially by people who weren't around to watch GNR progress as musicians following the release of Appetite and the two years of touring - everybody except Steven. The people who know Guns N' Rose history by way of Steven's book. There is one person and one person alone that had shit to say about Matt once he started touring and recording with GNR and that was Steven. The only thing that made Izzy any different than than Axl, Duff, and Slash was he actually brought Steven up in an interview to say he had some merit as a drummer i.e. his chops and a few compliments in regards to his character. His best friend was the guy who was the angriest at him. Slash said "Steven is scared of me". This was when he filed the lawsuit. What sort of fondness and respect did Slash have for Steven even in the mid 90's? None. His best friend was the guy that decided that Matt was the type of drummer that he wanted along with Duff. They both maintain that they became better musicians as soon as they started playing with Matt. Izzy was happy with how Matt was working with the band. He said Steven and Matt had different styles but were both good drummers. Axl was overwhelmed at the fact that they had a drummer that could play, period. The band spent months trying to help Steven and it all went to waist. I can throw videos at you right now that back up what I'm maintaining. You're an idiot if you think the first Ritz concert was GNR at their peak. They couldn't play. Duff said they were more towards a punk band than a band like Rush at that point. They had big or huge technical holes to fill. Did you even see GNR when they were going? The shortcomings of the Illusions had nothing to do with Matt. Did you see The Cult with Matt touring for Sonic Temple? I did and I was stoked on Matt from that point. Do you know the story of how Matt ended up as the replacement for Steven in detail? Izzy splitting was very complicated and he's been misrepresented. You have to read the magazine and television interviews to get a clear picture. Watch the concert that I went to an especially the drum solo and tell all about how it pales in comparison to GNR with Steven. Anybody with a brain in there fucking head knows that 1991 was Guns N' Roses best year as a live band.
nkmcfrln Wow who shat in you're coffee this morning?, if you start actually looking up for information about this particular BEFORE you start up with your high testosterone levels and arse hurt :D
Wolfie 24 Yeah, Izzy says at 1:20 " I've got no problem, really, with touring, I think I got a bad rap on all that, but, you know what I mean, it's like..." What was the actual story then? "Uh... Wel, I had a bus, they had a plane... and I beat 'em.. to the gig (laughs) The interviewer preceded the questioning by saying the reasons for Izzy quitting the band were personal. So, what have I said that's wrong? "If I started looking up for information?" I'm a pure Rock N' Roll fan. I'm on the same page as the members of Guns N' Roses. We all have our biases but are in the same ball park. I was into The Cult. I got to see them on the Love tour and Sonic Temple with Matt. I decided not to see them for Electric and If I did I would have seen GNR and possibly into them by then in 1986. I got into them after Appetite was released at the end of 1987. I didn't like them immediately, but would read about them in the magazines I collected. Many of my favourite bands are bands that I didn't like at first or even hated.
Izzy never quit the band in terms of songwriting, he just refused to tour, and be in the big budget videos like NR....Izzy plays on every original GNR album released.... GNR died the second they signed their record deal... Only a matter of time before 5 totally different personlities, with 5 totally different musical tastes, in the same band, start squabbling and fighting... but those differences is what made them sound so fucking great...
I said that "The Spaghetti Incident" Cover Album was an Izzy's Idea not that Izzy played Guitar on the Album!!!! So..the first Album after The Illusions came out from the Head of Izzy as easy as always...He was the Heart and the Mind behind Gn'R...😉
this guy is a true f*ckin genius. Genius performer, guitarist, vocalist..etc. BUT most of all a genius songwriter. He WAS the main songwriter of GN'R. The moment he left the band was not the same. It was downhill from then.
Notice that since Izzy left the band (GNR), they did not produce any original song... I think that more than half of GNR's originals were wrote by him... Izzy was the true brain of that band!
Just once. Just one single concert. Hell, one single song would do. Just anything to have all of the classics on stage again. Duff, Axl, Slash, Izzy, and Stevie. That's literally all I want in life.
+Stay Cold613 Yeah he did. He said in an interview that she hit him "so he just lifted up his foot and gave her a kick and she fell back hard" (his words). That sounds bad. Kicking a woman is not cool. She was also pregnant at the time so that makes it even worse. I like Izzy but the fact that he did that bothers me. Course maybe he was high as a kite but still...
Please would all hardcore Izzy Stradlin fans and Axl-haters, be a 'little' bit more objective and far less biased when talking about who 'wrote' the Guns songs. 'Izzy wrote all the songs'...'Izzy wrote the best songs' etc... so fed up with continuing to read these sorts of commentson GNR videos... Yes, we all love Izzy. Yes, he wrote some fucking great stuff for Guns, and Izzy was very cool, very stylish, and a brilliant guitarist, and Guns would never have sounded, or been as great without his contributions, but lyrics are massively important... Ask Elton John how far he would've got without Bernie Taupin's lyrics. The fact is, Axl Rose, love him or hate him, wrote the lyrics to Jungle, Paradise City, Sweet Child, November Rain, Nightrain, Don't Cry x2, Civil War, You Could Be Mine, Rocket Queen, Estranged, and Coma, and many more... Izzy and Axl were as important as each other. Hate Axl, but to discard or ignore his contribution to the Guns songs would be foolish.
Too right. None of the classic GNR five are as successful solo as they were as a group. Together, they had the right chemistry for the place and time. Everyone, including Izzy himself, acknowledges that Izzy's songs were normally basic structures that the others, primarily Axl and Slash, would add onto with lyrics and guitar parts. Also, Izzy's stuff has gotten simpler over the years. His most recent album, Wave of Heat, has just been a collection of 3- and 4-chord mid-tempo songs with little to no guitar interplay or variety. These guys needed each other to produce that special sound, without a doubt.
Chineese Democracy was missing something... I listen to Izzy solo stuff and I hear GNR in there... I can listen to Civil War/You could Be Mine/ then go to anything off of LIKE A DOG by Izzy and it sounds like they are intertwined... Thats the Izzy influence...
Every interview with Izzy after he left GnR makes it so clear that he was miles ahead of every band member when it came to his outlook on what's best for the band and completely dropping his ego. Izzy no longer making music was a major loss for the world.
...and that axl, his OWN BEST FRIEND, was trying to put him on salary. my guess is izzy had enough of the drama, the lifestyle, the bullshit, and going from being part of a great rock band between friends to being part of a support group for axl, so he left. izzy is just doing his own thing, making occasional guest appearances with his old bandmates and recording a single every now and then. basically, at this point, he's an independent artist who was once part of the biggest band in the world
He is so beautiful.I just found this interview a few months ago-or rather,a friend found it and emailed it to me.I wish Id gone to see the JuJu Hounds when they were around but i missed my chance.Ive never met Izzy but he so sweet and so talented.Thanks for posting this.
Eve Stradlin Izzy originally wanted the band to be just a thing between old friends. Keep in mind that he's been sustaining his own solo career ever since he quit GNR. Besides, I really can't see Izzy fitting in with the whole Velvet Revolver sound. Izzy is really loose, old-time feel-good rock n' roll, while Velvet Revolver is a tight, stadium-oriented modern hard rock band. But that's hindsight talking. I don't know if VR would've sounded cooler with Izzy than with Scott and Dave, but it would've sounded much different for sure :)
Guitarists are Gods He better talk to his lawyers then as he has zero writing credits on that album. He worked with them in the early stages but they didn't release any of the songs that he worked on.
Miss u izzy! would be amazing to see u pop in to play a song or two during the last few dates of this tour. I won't be at the shows in cali, but it would be great for all the die hard GNR fans to see the majority of the band back on speaking terms. do it for the fans who have stood by u guys all these years. it's never too late
I really can’t say I blame him for leaving the band. He got clean and didn’t subscribe to the drugs/alcohol/excess that GnR was known for, and he just wanted to stay lowkey and genuine. Being in the spotlight 100% all the time is not for everybody. I respect him for not only getting clean and beating addiction but for staying true to himself and who he is as a musician.
izzy knew he would end up dead of an OD eventually so he went back to Indiana and asked his Dad to help him get clean. Smart guy. He was right about where he was headed and saved his life
+Roniel81 It'll never happen though. They're two very different people. But yeah, they're both great and I like them both. They march to their own drum that's for sure. Like many true artists.
I find it rather interesting and telling, that he has his guitar with him in all the interviews I've seen him in. Haven't seen a lot, but the one I have seen, he has his ax.
Well I read a lot about how Slash "sucks" in songwriting. Have a look at Slash's Snakepit or his solo projects. Pretty good stuff... But I also like Izzy pretty much ;)
Biggermack20 i'm guitarist and i love slash but i disagree a good solo makes a song sounds good. Guitar solo is just the cherry on the cake lol. But without a cake, you just a have a single cherry.