People should listen to Velvet Revolver because the like Velvet Revolver.

Contraband sounded like fresh, angry new record cut by a new exciting band. It wasn't a retro trip, this was something a lot harder and aggressive and modern sounding than most people expected to hear. The production was uber-shiny and the record on the whole had a fantastic contemporary feel to it.

Then 'Libertad' came along and showed VR for what they really are.
'Libertad' sounded like a bunch of old men embaressingly stumbling through tired classic rock-esque songs. Each song runs out of ideas after a couple of minutes, leaving Slash to fill the void with the worst solos he's put on record. No passion, shit songs, shit production.

If they had got Seb Bach (Skid Row) or Josh Todd (Buckcherry) as frontman as rumoured, then i've no doubt the debut would have sounded a lot more like 'Libertad' ie. wank. Both are (like Duff and Slash, for the most part) quite happy to bash out classic rock by numbers with thier respective bands, with either of them at the helm VR would have become no bigger than Slash's Snakepit did.

Egotistic? Maybe. Troubled? I guess. Unreliable? Most definatley.
But would 'Contraband' have sounded so aggressive, alive, interesting, and anywhere near as truely fan-****ing-tastic with anyone but Scott?

No, it ****ing wouldn't.