Biography
While audiences gravitated toward Axl and fellow players admired Slash, guitarist Izzy Stradlin remained an essential component of Guns N' Roses. His departure in 1991 marked the start of the band's disintegration, as the lineup increasingly resembled an "Axl Rose Show" rather than a cohesive unit. Born Jeff Isbell in Lafayette, Indiana, on April 8, 1962, Stradlin cultivated a strong affinity for the Rolling Stones, above all Keith Richards. Before long he took up the guitar and began composing his own material steeped in Stones and punk influences, prompting a move to Los Angeles in pursuit of a rock career. After stints in multiple glam-metal outfits along the Sunset Strip, he endured financial hardship yet kept going. An Indiana acquaintance, Axl Rose, soon followed him west, leading to the creation of Hollywood Rose. Following repeated personnel shifts, Hollywood Rose evolved into Guns N' Roses, uniting Rose and Stradlin with lead guitarist Slash, bassist Duff "Rose" McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Although the group superficially matched the Hollywood glam aesthetic, its foundations rested in raw punk and blues-rock, a deliberate counter to the polished pop dominating radio and sales charts. Stradlin also cultivated a gypsy image at this time and restricted himself almost entirely to vintage-style guitars modeled on his idol Richards. The band landed a deal with Geffen Records and promptly delivered one of hard rock's most celebrated and commercially dominant debut albums, 1987's Appetite for Destruction. Rapid fame, however, exacerbated substance issues within the ranks. Amid breakup speculation the members released Lies in 1988, a patchwork of an earlier independent EP plus fresh acoustic recordings, yet a full successor to Appetite did not arrive until 1991's expansive, two-disc Use Your Illusion. As Rose's behavior grew increasingly erratic—manifested in chronic lateness and show cancellations that sparked riots—Stradlin, who was also attempting to maintain sobriety while touring, left the group mid-tour in late 1991. He wasted little time assembling Izzy Stradlin & the Ju Ju Hounds, a project unabashedly modeled on the Rolling Stones. The band dissolved after issuing its moderately successful self-titled debut in 1992; Stradlin made a short-lived return to Guns N' Roses for several concerts that same year before exiting permanently. In the aftermath he withdrew from public view and remained largely out of sight for several years. By the late 1990s he resurfaced with a series of solo releases—117° (1998), Ride On (1999), River (2001), and On Down the Road (2002)—and performed a limited number of solo dates in Japan. He later contributed songwriting to the Guns-related side project the Project, whose lineup included Slash, McKagan, and later drummer Matt Sorum, though he declined to participate as a touring member.
Albums
