Cool Steven interview from 1988

[Slashly]

Yeah, Dizzy, those songs wouldn?t have been the same without Steven on them!!


Slashly//

[John Daniels]

I guess Axl sees that Steven got nothing to do with the success of GN'R..he just played drums over songs that had been made by others..

There's no doubt that Axl sees it that way, but unfortunately for uncle Axl, that doesn't make it so.  Steven's drum intros to "Mr. Brownstone" and "Paradise City" are incredible and contribute greatly to both songs.

well that's true.

[Slashly]

I have a question concerning Steven:
Haven?t you realized Slash allways says that Matt is the best dummer out there ??Well, do you think it?s because Matt is in the band and he doesn?t wan?t to say that Steven is the best drumer or because he really thinks Matt?s the best??



Baby Slash//

[Izzy]

I have a question concerning Steven:
Haven?t you realized Slash allways says that Matt is the best dummer out there ??Well, do you think it?s because Matt is in the band and he doesn?t wan?t to say that Steven is the best drumer or because he really thinks Matt?s the best??



Baby Slash//

Because he's in the band - ur not going to turn round to a mate of 14 years and so 'oh by the way, your crap on drums'

[Slashly]

I have a question concerning Steven:
Haven?t you realized Slash allways says that Matt is the best dummer out there ??Well, do you think it?s because Matt is in the band and he doesn?t wan?t to say that Steven is the best drumer or because he really thinks Matt?s the best??



Baby Slash//

Because he's in the band - ur not going to turn round to a mate of 14 years and so 'oh by the way, your crap on drums'

That?s what I thought, thanx Izzy.





Baby Slash//

[Izzy]

It can't be denied that despite Matt's best efforts to prove other wise he is a fantastic drummer - his GNR work is excellent and while his VR work is not stunning its still good.

[Dizzy]

As of late, Slash has always pretty much said that Steven was the best drummer for Guns N Roses.  He just thinks Matt's the best drummer alive right now, and for VR.  Being the best drummer alive doesn't mean you were the best for GNR, and Slash acknowledges this.  He said in that Aloha interview a few days ago that all the problems in GNR started with Steven's dismissal, and how much they missed Steven and Izzy during the UYI recordings.

[Ignatius]

Well, well, well....

Dizzy, Are you starting a Steven fan club and haven't invited me to join???

As of late, Slash has always pretty much said that Steven was the best drummer for Guns N Roses.  He just thinks Matt's the best drummer alive right now, and for VR.  Being the best drummer alive doesn't mean you were the best for GNR, and Slash acknowledges this.

Slash should've been a diplomatic.  Next thing he'll say, " Axl, he was the best frontman for GNR, but Scott is the best frontman alive, the best for VR ( shit, even Duff and Matt say Scott is the best now....)

Where was Slash 14 years ago when Steven was sacked? Even Steven recently said he hadnt talked to Slash in 6-7 years!! I remember reading Steven bumped into Slash once in the mid 90's but Slash would turn around ignoring the guy. It's so easy now to say nice things like" Steven was the best drummer" or " everything went down the hill after Steven's dismissal" None of his bandmates stood up for him, none.

I'm not gonna beat the dead horse again. I won't get into Steven's involvement in the song writing because I've already done so in many other threads. What I'm gonna enphasize though is the fact that wasn't no angel. He got sacked because he became a liability. Period.

Steven would bring his drugs to the "civil War" recording sessions in 1990 when Izzy and Slash  were trying to sober up. Steven was asked to go the same road as Slash and Izzy's but he refused. Even Duff and Slash tried to reach Steven's drug dealer a couple of times so he would not sell him any more drugs. Then he was involved in Axl's gilrfriend overdose when he was made responsible of suppling her with a heavy combination of heroin and cocaine. Things were beyond control with Steven and GNR camp made a decision.

Truth is, GNR management should've come up with much more than a $2,000 check. They went to court and Steven won, fair enough. But Do Not overlook the fact that Steven was fired because GNR camp  and members thought there was a reason for it. Steven wasn't ready to take the band into a different level so the band had to hire another drummer.

By the way, when you say " he was tricked into signing a those papers" the first thing coming to mind is...was he hypnoticed with a fucking yo-yo? C'mon guys! a thick stack of papers?? Steven signed that because he is not the brightest kid ( actually, none of the original five were) and  didn't have any clue what the hell he was signing.  He wasn't lied to..he could've read the papers.End of the story.

Believe or not, I do like Steven, AFD wouldn't have been the same without him, but he gambled his life and became unreliable. His bandmates didn't fucking help them either (Not just Axl, Slash, Izzy, Duff...)

He said in that Aloha interview a few days ago that all the problems in GNR started with Steven's dismissal, and how much they missed Steven and Izzy during the UYI recordings.

Bullshit. How come they missed Izzy during the UYI recordings? Have they suddenly forgotten Izzy didn't quit until November'91? The Illusions had already been recorded and released.

[Izzy]

He said in that Aloha interview a few days ago that all the problems in GNR started with Steven's dismissal, and how much they missed Steven and Izzy during the UYI recordings.

I adore Slash as a musician - he is the very best around

But as a human being he is despicable

He is a patholgical liar - 'it all went wrong with Steven going' - fuck's sake - he was the one that went up to Adler and announched he was out - he was at the heart of the decision to sack him.

What even worse - in 14 years he has barely spoken to a man he went through life and death with, not good.

[Dizzy]

Even Steven recently said he hadnt talked to Slash in 6-7 years!!

Where?

Steven said last year during a radio interview that it felt great that he and Slash had been getting along in recent years.  And then of course, Slash and Izzy joined him onstage last year during the Adler's Appetite Key Club gig.

None of his bandmates stood up for him, none.

Izzy did, he was just overruled.  Plus, it seems he wasn't around enough to offer a strong enough objection to the decision.

He wasn't lied to..he could've read the papers.  End of the story.

Okay, you're flat out incorrect.  Steven was lied to.  Doug Goldstein told him the papers were probationary papers he was signing.  True, Steven could've read them, but the fact is, Steven had no reason not to trust Goldstein's word on what they were, because he was the band's manager.  It turned out, they were not probationary papers at all.  Rather, he was signing away his partnership and his rights to all his royalties.

From a TV special called the "Secret History of Rock N Roll".....

Steven was told he was being put on probation until the drugs were kicked.  He was told to sign a series of papers stating that he would detox on deadline.

STEVEN: "All I remember is Doug telling me 'sign here, sign there'.  I had no idea what I was doing."

It turned out, Steven was not on probation after all.  He was out of the band, signing away his partnership, his rights to royalties, his reason to live.

STEVEN: "I tried to kill myself.  Rather than finish cleaning myself up, I went back into heavy drugs with the hope of never making it out alive."


Besides, how in the hell can you even doubt that they lied to Steven?  Do you really think Steven would've smiled and said "Sure Doug!  I'll sign away my partnership and all my royalties!", if they had been honest with him about what those papers were?  They had to lie to him to get him to sign them, and it ended up biting them in the ass, because the shady circumstances proved fodder for Steven's lawsuit against the band.

Bullshit. How come they missed Izzy during the UYI recordings? Have they suddenly forgotten Izzy didn't quit until November'91? The Illusions had already been recorded and released.

I tell you, you don't know your GNR history very well do you?  You'd do well to visit Jarmo's article section and read, because the information is all there.  You definitely strike me as the kind of guy who makes blind assumptions based on general facts rather than reading all the information that is out there in official interviews.

I had a lot of resentment towards Izzy for not playing on the UYI records.  I had to double up guitars for him on most of it.  He didn't play very much.

--Slash, 1992

We tried to work with Izzy, we had him play one part, and then after we'd determined whether or not it was usable with the rest of the song, we'd ask him to record it again, and he'd say "why, I've already done it?"  It got really frustrating.

--Axl, 1992

We had to work really hard on Izzy's parts to make them up to par, because he didn't play very much.

--Slash, interview with Paris press, 1992

[Dizzy]

He is a patholgical liar -- - he was at the heart of the decision to sack him.

While this is true, that doesn't make him a liar.  Hell, it's been 14 years.  Slash can look back in retrospect and realize what went wrong, from a more mature, reasonable standpoint.  Granted, Steven was treated badly by his bandmates, Slash in particular, but Slash obviously did what he felt was right at the time, and now he is looking back and realizing that it was the wrong decision.  That doesn't make him a liar or "despicable".  Jeez, you're starting to sound like Axl now.  

What even worse - in 14 years he has barely spoken to a man he went through life and death with, not good.

Not true.  In 2000, Slash stated in an interview that he talked to Steven all the time.  Steven backed this up in a radio interview last year, saying how wonderful it was that he and Slash had been getting along so well in the past few years.

[Izzy]

Not true.  In 2000, Slash stated in an interview that he talked to Steven all the time.  Steven backed this up in a radio interview last year, saying how wonderful it was that he and Slash had been getting along so well in the past few years.

Well there was the 10 year interval - he may be speaking to him now but 1990-2000.......

[Dizzy]

Well there was the 10 year interval - he may be speaking to him now but 1990-2000.......

Very true.  Bottom line is, just like the rest of the band, Slash needed time to grow up.  He admitted himself in a 1999 interview that during the UYI tour, they were "a pretty volatile band that hadn't grown up much...".  But it's obvious that he's wiser now that he's gotten older.  You know what they say, hindsight is always 20/20.  I think that definitely applies to this situation.

[Doc Emmett Brown]

This thread is still going strong!  Dizzy is holding down the fort in the Ex-Gunners section  

Posted by: Dizzy  Posted on: May 22, 2004, 04:28:49 pm  
Quote from: John Daniels on May 22, 2004, 04:08:16 pm
I guess Axl sees that Steven got nothing to do with the success of GN'R..he just played drums over songs that had been made by others..
 
 
There's no doubt that Axl sees it that way, but unfortunately for uncle Axl, that doesn't make it so.

I remember reading somewhere that Axl said Estranged is about Steven (dont ask me where)... and this how I interpret the song as well.  I also feel the same way about Madagascar.  

Axl, when he speaks, is mostly cock & bull, but in his lyrics, he shows his true self, IMO.  And then you see that he really does care about all the Gunners.  

[Izzy]

I remember reading somewhere that Axl said Estranged is about Steven (dont ask me where)... and this how I interpret the song as well.  I also feel the same way about Madagascar.  

Alledgedly he said that in the making the video thing for Estranged - i haven't seen it though

I don't think Estranged is about him - mainly because that would be very gay - this song is aimed at a woman (Erin?)

Axl certainly doesn't care about Steven - no doubt he orchestrated screwing him out of all his money as he tried with Izzy with the infamous new contract he offered him.....

[Dizzy]

"Estranged" was about Axl's relationship with Erin.  But....

It's a song about being hurt or angry at a person, but still caring about that person enough to not want them to destroy themselves.  The song could be applied to many different situations.  It could be a song about Steven Adler... (paraphrase)

--Axl, "The Making of Estranged"


It's interesting that Axl could've said anybody when describing what/whom else the song could be about, but Steven Adler was the first name out of his mouth.

[Ignatius]

Where?

Steven said last year during a radio interview that it felt great that he and Slash had been getting along in recent years.  And then of course, Slash and Izzy joined him onstage last year during the Adler's Appetite Key Club gig.

Yes. I'm sure he is happy that Slash is doing well & sure they had lost of fun las year when thery performed together but the fact is where the hell was Slash when Steven was sacked and 10 years later?  

Izzy did, he was just overruled.  Plus, it seems he wasn't around enough to offer a strong enough objection to the decision.

He was just overruled?? Ok, first of all, since you seem to give me quotes for everything you post, I'll appreciate one here as well. Also, when Steven was fired you should know ( it looks like you should take another look to your GNR history books as well) no one was really around anyway. 1990 was pretty much a sabatic year for the band as a band( with the execption of " Civil War " recordings and " Farm Aid").

Okay, you're flat out incorrect.  Steven was lied to.  Doug Goldstein told him the papers were probationary papers he was signing.  True, Steven could've read them, but the fact is, Steven had no reason not to trust Goldstein's word on what they were, because he was the band's manager.  It turned out, they were not probationary papers at all.  Rather, he was signing away his partnership and his rights to all his royalties.

Yes you are correct. He was told they were probationary papers and signed then. Still, he should've read them.

I tell you, you don't know your GNR history very well do you?  You'd do well to visit Jarmo's article section and read, because the information is all there.  You definitely strike me as the kind of guy who makes blind assumptions based on general facts rather than reading all the information that is out there in official interviews.

If you assume things, you make and ass out of you and me. You are telling me I make blind assumptions based on general facts rather than....you have just made an assumption about me. From now on, Please refrain yourself from doing so.

I had a lot of resentment towards Izzy for not playing on the UYI records.  I had to double up guitars for him on most of it.  He didn't play very much.

Ok, if in order to post I have to back up everything I say with quotes, I would go crazy. By saying they missed Steven and Adler during the recording of UYI you either are implying that Slash is a liar or you are. Yes, I have read that quote before ( thanx again for reminding me to go through Jarmo's " band History" section) and I don't buy for shit. Slash said that in 1992 when GNR had just left a year earlier...woudn't you think Slash was still resented about Izz's absence? None of the things I heard/read about Izzy in 1992/1993 had Axl/Slash praising Izzy...

By the way, be more specific when you post things
 

like He said in that Aloha interview a few days ago that all the problems in GNR started with Steven's dismissal, and how much they missed Steven and Izzy during the UYI recordings.

 

Not all of us have saved every quote Slash and the boys have made in the past 15 years in files in alphabetical order and two printed back up versions just in case. This is me just joking, so don't take it the wrong way  

[Dizzy]

Yes. I'm sure he is happy that Slash is doing well & sure they had lost of fun las year when thery performed together but the fact is where the hell was Slash when Steven was sacked and 10 years later?  

I've already explained that in replies to Izzy's posts.

He was just overruled?? Ok, first of all, since you seem to give me quotes for everything you post, I'll appreciate one here as well.

I knew it was the beginning of the end when Steven was voted out of the band for using drugs.  This coming from a bunch of guys who'd spent the last five years doing groupies and acting like idiots!

--Izzy, 1993

By criticizing the other guys for Steven's termination, and by using the term "voted out", he implies that he wasn't part of the "let's get rid of Steven" crusade, rather, he was against it.  But obviously, three guys (Axl, Slash, Duff) were for it, so he was overruled.

Also, when Steven was fired you should know ( it looks like you should take another look to your GNR history books as well) no one was really around anyway. 1990 was pretty much a sabatic year for the band as a band( with the execption of " Civil War " recordings and " Farm Aid").

I'd be happy to take another look into my GNR history books.

According to Slash's January 1991 interview with Rolling Stone magazine, almost all the music (though not vocals) for the UYI albums was recorded in 1990.

Besides, your statement doesn't really make sense.  Why do you think Steven was fired?  Because they were trying to record in 1990, and decided that they couldn't because of Steven.  My statement that "Izzy wasn't around" was in relation to Slash's and Axl's assertion that Izzy didn't play much on the UYI albums, hence he wasn't around much when Steven was ousted.

Yes you are correct. He was told they were probationary papers and signed then. Still, he should've read them.

Yes he should've, but that wasn't the point.  My point was that they deceived a guy (a guy who trusted them) into signing his life away.

You are telling me I make blind assumptions based on general facts rather than....you have just made an assumption about me. From now on, Please refrain yourself from doing so.

Fair enough, but perhaps my assumption was based on the fact that you've made flagrant assumptions to begin with which led me to believe my "assumption" was true.  Perhaps you should refrain from making assumptions in the first place, especially when they contradict facts that have been documented about the band.  And yes, I read your joke at the end of your post about not having all the statements on file, but that begs the question as to what you're doing debating matters such as these when you admit that you don't have all the facts.

By saying they missed Steven and Adler during the recording of UYI you either are implying that Slash is a liar or you are.

Um no, and I've already explained this in response to Izzy's comments above.  Slash obviously felt he was right at the time they dismissed Steven, but in retrospect, he realizes it wasn't a wise decision.  That happens sometimes you know.  People do things thinking they are right, but in hindsight realize they weren't.  It's human nature.  That doesn't mean Slash is a liar, and it certainly doesn't make me a liar, I'm just presenting the case as it stands.

Slash said that in 1992 when GNR had just left a year earlier...woudn't you think Slash was still resented about Izz's absence? None of the things I heard/read about Izzy in 1992/1993 had Axl/Slash praising Izzy...

Okay I am not sure what the hell you're talking about now.  In the year 2004, Slash stated that Izzy was missed during the UYI tour.  Again, a statement made in retrospect, from a man who's had time to grow up and look bad from a more rational, reasonable standpoint.  You're right, neither he nor Axl praised Izzy in 1992, and I never stated that they did.

By the way, be more specific when you post things

Let's see, I explain my case thoroughly and post quotes/articles from band members involved in the case to buttress my statements.  How much more specific can I get?

[matt88]

After reading this last page of this thread, i've come to realize what a big part Steven had on this band.

It really was a different GN'R without him and he was unfairly screwed out of money and luckily got what he deserved, his fair share of money.

He had a big part in the music and the bands attitude. Fucken luv ya Steve

[Slashly]

Also, if you come to think, Izzy?s quote (Stevens playing mak the big musical diference....) is totally true.AFD would had been a lot more metal than it was, and that was mainly because of Stevens playing!!He made some of the AFD songs sound much more hard rocker.Steven (well, and Slash and Duff and Izzy) is the king!!!




Baby Slash//