10 Music Artists Who Disappeared From The Limelight
5. Izzy Stradlin
Guns N Roses always felt like a street gang that happened to play rock and roll. While the band's tunes were the biggest draw, the actual star power of members like Slash and Axl Rose sent them up the charts and put their faces all over MTV. On the other hand, when you have two amazing personalities like that in one band, it's pretty easy to get overshadowed.
Though primarily known as the rhythm guitarist, Izzy Stradlin was one of the biggest songwriters in GNR, having a hand in everything from "Paradise City" to the power ballad "Patience."
With him as the engine, the band powered through Appetite for Destruction, but Stradlin quickly ran out of gas (and patience) going into the double album Use Your Illusion. The overblown production of the new songs was already bad enough, but the fact that the accompanying tour ballooned into a multimedia frenzy was too much for him to handle.
Not taking care of himself, Stradlin checked himself into rehab while on tour, only to find himself unable to deal with Axl's antics once he found sobriety. In between two legs of the tour, Stradlin announced his departure, leaving the band to carry on with replacement Gilby Clarke.
Though he has come out with a solo project every now and again, Izzy has been the one member of GNR that has washed his hands of fame and fortune.