I think Axl should have officially gone solo years ago and saved us the agony of debating 'Is it GnR or not?'
GnR = Axl; Axl = GnR
That's certainly the case now, and I think it probably always was, at least in the sense that he was the real driving force behind the band.
Slash, Izzy and co took away those parts of the "GnR sound" that were theirs, but none of them have actually done anything very good since (IMO). I'd far rather listen to
Chinese Democracy than Snakepit, the Ju Ju Hounds or Velvet Revolver (mind you, he did have 15 years to work on it, of course... ).