Guns N’ Roses is back together!

Well, Axl Rose, Duff McKagen and Slash are back together. Original members Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler may not be joining them. Replacement drummer Matt Sorum and replacement guitarist Gilby Clarke may be left out as well, but still, depending on your knowledge of the band, you may know that the fact that Axl and Slash will be in a room together is a miracle in and of itself. 

The band will play at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival in Indio, Calif., this summer, as well as perform two shows before the iconic festival.

My mom grew up in the ’80s, and while I was growing up, she loved telling me about the stereotypical clothes she wore and about how big she would spray her hair to make it as voluminous as possible. But most importantly, she told me about the music she used to listen to. Music in the ’80s was loud and confusing, composed of old styles blending with new and included Satanic imagery to shock parents. It was a statement and an experience rather than simply listening to songs that go in one ear and out the other.

Thankfully quite a few bands — Motley Crue, Poison, Warrant, Bon Jovi and even Guns N’ Roses — from the ’80s outlived the decade. Some of them transcended the title of “hair metal,” while others such as Warrant and Poison are stuck with the moniker forever. But these bands have continued to make music, arguably past their hay day in hopes of captivating the generations that followed that of my mom’s. 

Motley Crue, in particular, went on a few tours long after the ’80s. In fact, the band just performed its “final” show in Dec. 2015.

Motley Crue’s music was wildly popular in the ’80s, which is probably why the band primarily played its music from the ’80s, even as the lead singer’s voice arguably failed. It reveled in its past and kept rolling; its first album after eight years, “Saints of Los Angeles,” was actually well received.

Poison, which was pretty much the definitive example of hair metal in the ’80s, is also still together. The band’s front man, Bret Michaels, has made a recent career of having long hair, wearing bandannas and being on a show where women follow him around and try to date him. He’s also taken a stab at other types of reality TV and won season three of “The Celebrity Apprentice.” 

Posion hasn’t released original music in years. The band’s recent albums have been either greatest hits or covers. And I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that. Nothing against the group as musicians, but Poison was an ’80s band, and people want to hear ’80s music from the band instead of its modern version.

Bret Micahels has not stopped making original music. He came out with an electronica dance track in 2013 titled “You Know You Want It.” 

I’m not a music critic. I don’t pretend to have some deep knowledge of the way it’s made or anything, but I know this: that track is bad. It’s forced and generic and shows what can happen when a holdover from an old era tries to conform to the trends of a new generation in an attempt to re-brand. 

If I go to see Guns N’ Roses, I want to hear music from “Appetite for Destruction,” or “Use Your Illusion I or II,” maybe even “G’N’R Lies,” but not “Chinese Democracy.” It’s not a bad album; it’s just not the band’s roots.

Motley Crue, Warrant and Twisted Sister know to stick to their roots. We love these bands not just for what they are now but for the nostalgia they instill in us, nostalgia for a time we were never a part of. In a time when new music is constantly coming out, classic bands like these should be around to remind us about an important part in music history rather than try and change our memory of them.

Classic bands should stay classic.