When Steven Was Fired

[Dizzy]

I swore I'd never post again, but this thread lured me out of seclusion....

I won't bother arguing with anyone.? I'll just post quotes from the band members.

They told me I had a drug problem, well, who the fuck were they to tell me that?? A couple alcoholics and heroin users?? Did they take some time in between fucking strippers to decide they were going to throw me out of the band?? Doug Goldstein took me to have an opiate blocker, which made me very sick.? I told them [Slash & Duff] that I felt sick and couldn't record.? Slash told me we had to, because we couldn't waste the money.? I said "Money?? What about the money we wasted last year [referring to the 1989 Chicago rehearsal/recording sessions, in which only Slash, Duff, and Steven attended] when Izzy was cleaning himself up, and Axl was nowhere to be found?? Why was it okay for those guys to waste the money, but not me [in order to] get well?"? So anyway, they bring me into the studio and I feel like shit.? It took me forever to get the song [Civil War] right, and they got frustrated with me.? So next thing I know, Doug has a stack of papers in front of me that I could never fucking read because they were about five inches thick!? He's telling me 'sign here, sign there' and telling me I was signing an agreement saying I was on "probation", meaning I was going to detox in time to record, or else.? But it turns out, those papers weren't really giving me that chance.? So I don't hear a fucking thing from anyone for awhile, then I got these notices saying 'you're out of the band'.? Through my lawyers, I discovered that the "probation" papers that Doug had me sign were actually the rights to my partnership and all my royalties, which I was unknowingly signing away!? They completely screwed me out of everything, these guys, [who were] my friends, my family.? It hurt more than anything.? My royalties were from playing, writing, and [use of] my image such as t shirts and shit.? When we recorded [Appetite for Destruction], Slash came up with this system where whoever wrote got credit.? But then when it came time to actually divide them up, suddenly everybody was getting credit but me.? I mean, [for example] Izzy wrote the song "Think About You" by himself before we started playing it, yet Slash, Duff, and Axl were also going to be receiving royalties for it, since they supposedly "added to it".? I said, "well what about me?? Did I add nothing?"? I mean Izzy wrote the fucking song, I thought that's how the writing credits were determined, but the other guys were getting credit for something they didn't write, and I wasn't.? Same thing for all the other songs, Axl would get credit for songs such as "Brownstone" [written by Slash and Izzy] and "It's So Easy" [written by Duff and West Arkeen], even though he didn't write anything on them, and the other guys [who didn't write also got credit] too.? So why not me?? So Axl gave me a portion of his [to compensate for not being included], and my name was put beside the rest of theirs [in the writing credits] and that was that.? But now they've screwed me out of those royalties and my other ones too.? Two fucking albums that I played on are still selling and they're collecting money from them, and I'm not.? Guns N Roses T shirts with my face on them are still selling, and they're collecting money from them, and I'm not.? That's what they did to me, people I thought were my friends took it all away and said goodbye as if I never existed.? Fuck that!? That's why I sue them, and I'm confident the jury will see it my way.

--Steven Adler, 1991 press release on his lawsuit against Guns N Roses.


[After the trial, in which the jury voted in Steven's favor] The jury members were giving me hugs and telling me how sorry they were, because they could see what these guys did to me was wrong.

--Steven Adler, VH-1 Special "The Secret History of Rock n Roll"


I knew it was the beginning of the end when Steven was legally voted out of the band for doing drugs.? This from a band that spent five years doing groupies and acting like idiots!

---Izzy Stradlin, 1993


When Axl began to gain some money and to get laid, he wasn't controllable any more.? Then I saw Steven, Slash and Duff literally killing themselves before my eyes.? I don't even know any more if Steven was still in the group in fact: what was that bullshit anyway?? A musician is fired from Guns N' Roses because he's on drugs while the group spent all of their time on drugs?

I did the [1993] shows and I didn't enjoy myself a lot because Duff and Slash were always still wasted.

--Izzy Stradlin, Hard Rock magazine, June 2001


Even Slash implied that Steven's termination was a big mistake...

[Guns N Roses] already went wrong when original drummer Steven Adler was kicked out of the band.  Because Steven was gone, Izzy also [eventually] left.  But we had a whole tour planned so we kept the whole thing going.  When it was time to record a new album, though, we missed those guys a lot [Izzy did not play much on the UYI albums].  Look, nothing was right about our little band, but we were very successful.  Without Steven and Izzy, though, it really turned into Axl's trip.

--Slash, Aloha magazine, June 8, 2004

[D]

maybe he was the scapegoat for the other members problems, its possible.

[jarmo]

"We turned him onto drugs? My f?!king ass!" Slash say about Adler's allegation. "That's so pathetic. Steven is scared to death of me. If he sees me in public, he just turns into a grovelling heap of defeatism. He just doesn't know what to say. He mumbles. I ask him a straightforward question, 'What's your motivation behind this?"' and he doesn't know what to say. Until now I haven't said a word about Steven to the press. I haven't attacked him; I haven't insulted him. I felt sorry for him. I didn't want to hurt him. We gave him a year to get his shit together. He couldn't play any of the new shit anyway. It got to a point where the material was way beyond him. I can't believe this little f?!ker. I read the shit he said about us in Circus.

----

"At Rumbo, Steven would nod out to the point where he would be on a stool, but his head would be touching the floor. He'd say, 'I'm tired. I'm sleepy,' and he couldn't play. That was basically it. We gave him so many chances to turn around. We took him to Indiana, to play Farm Aid, and he jumps on the drum riser and almost breaks his f?!king neck. Look, Steven was a part of what made Guns N' Roses happen. He had a great energy. He wasn't an insanely great drummer, but he had tons of attitude. When the sex and drugs and the whole bit started to get out of hand, he went right along with it. But there's a certain time when you really have to control your life. I'm not preaching - I'm in no position to preach - but you must be aware of your own existence and take care of your own business. You just can't be loaded all the time and expect everything to be okay. Trust me, I know. As far as the rest of us, we bounced back, we straightened up. Steven never did. We always told each other when it was getting real bad. Everybody was there for the individual who needed help. That's how we're survived as a band. But Steven would never cop to anything, as far as telling us how bad it was. And now he's suing us. Thank you very much."

Slash, RIP magazine March 1992


AXL: The misconception is that we kicked him out for the hell of it, and that I was the dictator behind it. The truth is, I probably fought a little harder to keep him in the band, because I wasn't working with him on a daily basis like the other guys were. They grew tired of not being able to get their work done because Steven wasn't capable of it. I've read interviews where he's saying that he's straight. Most of the time he isn't. He's the type of person who wants everything handed to him, and he did get it handed to him. He got it handed to him from me. At one point, in order to keep this band together, it was necessary for me to give him a portion of my publishing rights. That was one of the biggest mistakes I've made in my life, but he threw such a fit, saying he wasn't going to stay in the band. We were worried about not being able to record our first album, so I did what I felt I had to do. In the long run I paid very extensively for keeping Steven in Guns N' Roses. I paid $1.5 million by giving him 15% of my publishing off of Appetite For Destruction. He didn't write one goddamn note, but he calls me a selfish dick! He's been able to live off of that money, buy a shitload of drugs and hire lawyers to sue me. If and when he loses the lawsuit he has against us, and he has to pay those lawyers, if he has any money left, it'll be the money that came from Guns N' Roses and myself. At this point I really don't care what happens to Steven Adler, because he's taken himself out of my life, out of my care and concern. I feel bad for him in ways, because he's a real damaged person, but he's making choices to keep himself in that damage. There's nothing we can do at this point. We took him to rehabs, we threatened his drug dealers, we helped him when he slashed his wrists. I even forgave him after he nearly killed my wife. I had to spend a night with her in an intensive-care unit because her heart had stopped thanks to Steven. She was hysterical, and he shot her up with a speedball. She had never done jack shit as far as drugs go, and he shoots her up with a mixture of heroin and cocaine? I kept myself from doing anything to him. I kept the man from being killed by members of her family. I saved him from having to go to court, because her mother wanted him held responsible for his actions. And the sonofabitch turns on me? I mean, yeah, I'm a difficult person to deal with, and I'm a pain in the ass to understand, and I've had my share of problems, but Steven benefited greatly from his involvement with me - more than I did from knowing him. Steven had a lot of fans, but he was a real pain in the ass. I need to keep him in my life for you? F?!k you!

RIP October 1992




/jarmo

[Slashly]

AXL: The misconception is that we kicked him out for the hell of it, and that I was the dictator behind it. The truth is, I probably fought a little harder to keep him in the band, because I wasn't working with him on a daily basis like the other guys were. They grew tired of not being able to get their work done because Steven wasn't capable of it. I've read interviews where he's saying that he's straight. Most of the time he isn't. He's the type of person who wants everything handed to him, and he did get it handed to him. He got it handed to him from me. At one point, in order to keep this band together, it was necessary for me to give him a portion of my publishing rights. That was one of the biggest mistakes I've made in my life, but he threw such a fit, saying he wasn't going to stay in the band. We were worried about not being able to record our first album, so I did what I felt I had to do. In the long run I paid very extensively for keeping Steven in Guns N' Roses. I paid $1.5 million by giving him 15% of my publishing off of Appetite For Destruction. He didn't write one goddamn note, but he calls me a selfish dick! He's been able to live off of that money, buy a shitload of drugs and hire lawyers to sue me. If and when he loses the lawsuit he has against us, and he has to pay those lawyers, if he has any money left, it'll be the money that came from Guns N' Roses and myself. At this point I really don't care what happens to Steven Adler, because he's taken himself out of my life, out of my care and concern. I feel bad for him in ways, because he's a real damaged person, but he's making choices to keep himself in that damage. There's nothing we can do at this point. We took him to rehabs, we threatened his drug dealers, we helped him when he slashed his wrists. I even forgave him after he nearly killed my wife. I had to spend a night with her in an intensive-care unit because her heart had stopped thanks to Steven. She was hysterical, and he shot her up with a speedball. She had never done jack shit as far as drugs go, and he shoots her up with a mixture of heroin and cocaine? I kept myself from doing anything to him. I kept the man from being killed by members of her family. I saved him from having to go to court, because her mother wanted him held responsible for his actions. And the sonofabitch turns on me? I mean, yeah, I'm a difficult person to deal with, and I'm a pain in the ass to understand, and I've had my share of problems, but Steven benefited greatly from his involvement with me - more than I did from knowing him. Steven had a lot of fans, but he was a real pain in the ass. I need to keep him in my life for you? F?!k you!

RIP October 1992

Thta was pretty clear.........






Baby Slash//

[duffsgal]

I have never seen that article before where Axl speaks about Adler.? Damn that is quite blunt and to the point - my hopes of a reunion of the original five have just vanished. ?

[usurper]

I have never seen that article before where Axl speaks about Adler.? Damn that is quite blunt and to the point - my hopes of a reunion of the original five have just vanished. ?

You had hopes for a reunion? Ha, I laugh in your face!

[Eugene Klein]

? Without Steven and Izzy, though, it really turned into Axl's trip.
--Slash, Aloha magazine, June 8, 2004

 

[michaelvincent]

but the bands drug use didnt hinder their playing, thats the main reason. he couldnt play so they had to find someone who could.

fucked up guitar players are easy to work around, thats why we have keith richards 

fucked up drummers on the other hand are a pain in the ass because their timing is shitty, and a drummer is the heartbeat of a band. a guitarist with funky rhythm can sort of dance around a solid beat. dancing around a fucked up beat is just a clusterfuck.

[duffsgal]

Posted by: usurper?
Insert Quote
Quote from: duffsgal on December 13, 2004, 12:05:51 AM
I have never seen that article before where Axl speaks about Adler.? Damn that is quite blunt and to the point - my hopes of a reunion of the original five have just vanished.? ?

You had hopes for a reunion? Ha, I laugh in your face!

Yes I did smart arse and I unless I am mistaken I am free to believe that.? So why dont you take your stupid comments and stick them where the sun dont shine.? ?

By the way how do you know that they wont ever reunite - are you a personal friend with any of the original five??? Didnt think so.?

[usurper]

Posted by: usurper?
Insert Quote
Quote from: duffsgal on December 13, 2004, 12:05:51 AM
I have never seen that article before where Axl speaks about Adler.? Damn that is quite blunt and to the point - my hopes of a reunion of the original five have just vanished.? ?

You had hopes for a reunion? Ha, I laugh in your face!

Yes I did smart arse and I unless I am mistaken I am free to believe that.? So why dont you take your stupid comments and stick them where the sun dont shine.? ?


By the way how do you know that they wont ever reunite - are you a personal friend with any of the original five??? Didnt think so.?

Oh, getting angry are we? All the members said that a reunion is out of the question, no matter how much money people gave them. Also Axl is happ with full control of the band and he is not going to give up something that he fought 19 years to achieve.

[duffsgal]

Posted by: usurper?
Oh, getting angry are we? All the members said that a reunion is out of the question, no matter how much money people gave them. Also Axl is happ with full control of the band and he is not going to give up something that he fought 19 years to achieve.

Really - well if you bother to read any of the articles, Steven and Slash both said that a reunion was not out of the question but they have issues that they have to work through with Axl.? And I am betting that if these two agreed to do a reunion, then Duff and Izzy would too. ?

[Justis]

Monday, January 03, 2005

Steven was very traumatized by being thrown out of Guns and Roses. No matter what I am glad he is playing again. I saw him the first time he played with Slash and Gilby after many years of not playing out and he fucking rocked.

No matter what one artist thinks of another taking away their right and ability to perform their art is the cruelest most inappropriate behavior I can imagine.  Men have a particularly difficult time rebounding from this type of rejection, no matter how tough they think they are. Men also seem to have some difficulty believing the unbelievable and with Guns and Roses, the truth was always unfucking believable. Trauma makes it very difficult to communicate, Stevie will be all-right, he is a great drummer.

ALL of these Guns have wicked wicked tongues, they are not nice to each other, much less people that do not speak the mean streets language.  In the end no one could speak everything was so fucked up. It appears that after a brutal run of no communication abilities, civility is trying to return to Rock N Roll. The lawsuit, it is necessary. It is a long way to the top after having the collective conscience put in the toilet by the ever encroaching forces of Hollywood.

I never thought much of Ax?s cruelty except I would like to change it. It seems it?s the bad boy formula (Mick Jagger, etc?) hopeless cause.  Girl wants to fix bad boy. Mother goose of Drug abuse would say Wise up, cannot be done... Wells been pissed in. Bad Boy wants to kill sweet girl, turns her into the wicked witch of the west, Amazing Dorothy, freaking amazing. Granma take me home....


 Keep smiling Peanut. We love you.

It was not Erin that Ax said Steven overdosed it was a chick named Angela. With any drug situation KNOWING is just the same as SPECUALTING.
That takes some balls, any one of them casting a stone at another, and believe it or not, that is what they do for sport.

 Steven was a sweet guy, drugs, will fuck anyone up and steal there dreams?. Music can take you back when you wise up enough to choose to be HAPPY? His driver is full of shit and they twist information in his head??. Pisses me off?.Some info for the boys...Something to think about..

[chadj76]

Sorry, stupid question but who is the Dizzy poster above?  And why did he/you swear never to post again?

[erose]

Posted by: usurper?
Oh, getting angry are we? All the members said that a reunion is out of the question, no matter how much money people gave them. Also Axl is happ with full control of the band and he is not going to give up something that he fought 19 years to achieve.

Really - well if you bother to read any of the articles, Steven and Slash both said that a reunion was not out of the question but they have issues that they have to work through with Axl.? And I am betting that if these two agreed to do a reunion, then Duff and Izzy would too. ?

good call duffsgal! 

guess you got it there ursurper

[DeadHorse]

You know after reading all of this crap alder has gotten on with he should shut his trap and count his lucky stars that he was associated with 4 superstars.

They carried him on their coat tails for far too long,  gave him a ton of money and yet he still milking the G n' R name.This monkey didn't write a single note. Nevertheless,  he's been touring for the past couple of years nip picking at every penny he can get from the guns name. It would be the same thing if Mike Clink got a band together and tour playing G n' R songs.

Then there's the Axl situation. I mean how classy is Axl for giving him a share of his publishing rights.  And then this below average drummer turns around and sues the band for loyalities and such.  Seriously, how many people actually bought a t-shirt b/c cry-baby alder was on it.

I know for sure as hell I didn't.






 

[duffsgal]

Whatever Deadhorse - that band was five guys who completly rocked together.? They all contributed to Appetite either lyrical or musically and all deserved an even share of the profits. ? ?

[erose]

i guess any drummer in the world would say that that the drumtrack is 25% of a song when it has two guitars a bass, vocals and drums.... i don't know...

[thejungle]

yeah exactly, there's no difference in playing a guitar chord and doing a drum track with regards to music writing. adler  himself says he thought that if izzy wrote a song then it should have been  izzy, but if it was going to be everyone else then why not him. and to be honest, i do agree with him on that one.

as for all the other shit, yeah, drugs make you into a wanker basically, hopefully he's better now but basically each member is as bad as each other with regards to dragging each others name through the muck. it's understandable adler is pissed  off i suppose. izzy seems quite level headed about it though which is cool

[sic.]

I haven't seen this little piece posted here before and thought it would fit nicely in this thread.

Former GUNS N' ROSES drummer STEVEN ADLER claims elusive frontman AXL ROSE's wild behaviour was due to his "very low self-esteem".

Adler - who was fired from the group in 1990 after developing an addiction to heroin - claims Rose used to attack camera-wielding crowd-members in the fear they'd take unflattering pictures of him.

He says, "He is very insecure. Like when he used to jump in the crowd because someone took a picture of him.

"In his sicko head, he's thinking it's gonna be a bad picture. Very low self-esteem. I would knock it right out of him!"
14/01/2005

Source: contactmusic.com

[D]

he would knock what out of axl?

this guy really must still be on drugs

fuckin pathetic