Steven Adler
Steven Adler (born January 22, 1965) in Cleveland, Ohio) was the drummer of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses from 1985 - 1990. He was fired from the band in 1990 when he was unable to competently record on the Use Your Illusion I & Use Your Illusion II albums with the band as a result of his drug addiction. Adler was replaced by former The Cult drummer Matt Sorum, who is now in Velvet Revolver.
He met future GN'R guitarist Slash as a teenager in California. The two became fast friends, and as Slash took up guitar, Steven took up drums in order to form a band (albeit missing some components), Road Crew. The two eventually joined forces with Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, and Duff McKagan to form GN'R. Steven drummed on two of GnR's albums, Appetite for Destruction and GN'R lies. During his time with GN'R, however, the great difference between his and Axl Rose's personalities and attitudes towards the band grew proportionally to the band's success. While Axl was bent on world domination and found little fun in his struggle to achieve it, Steven was the most easy-going of the band, and sought to enjoy his life and career maximally, of course not without the aid of drugs. When Steven shared a combination of heroin and cocaine with Axl's girlfriend Erin Everly (apparently her first time using hard drugs) and almost killed them both, Steven's relationship with Axl reached a breaking point. A legendary manipulator, (having also obtained the exclusive rights to the band's name and forced other members to quit their addictions, both through ultimatums), Axl rallied the other band members against Steven when it came time to start recording for UYI and Steven was still not past his heroin addiction. Steven was soon fired, his playing remaining only on the first track of UYI II, "Civil War". Axl has said in an interview that "Civil War was recorded a good 60 times" due to problems with Adler. On one hand, this was understandable behaviour by Axl, who had previously threatened in front of thousands to quit the band if the others didn't clean up, and the rest of the band also endorsed his firing at the time. On the other hand, Steven claims it was the medication against heroin addiction that made him unable to perform in the studio, and the unaccomodating attitude of the band, even his lifelong friend Slash, indicated much manipulation by Axl.
GN'R fans are often devided into two camps: one favouring the brighter-sounding early GN'R with Adler, the other preferring the heavier sound GN'R aquired with replacement drummer Matt Sorum (previously of The Cult). Izzy Stradlin, who quit the band (citing Axl's dominance) a short while after Steven was fired, insisted later that Steven's drumming was crucial to the band's sound, and agreed to an interviewer's comment that replacing him with Sorum turned GN'R from a hard rock band to a heavy metal one. Sorum, nonetheless, became an integral part of GN'R, and continues to work with Slash and Duff today in Velvet Revolver.
After being fired, Steven was taken advantage of by many former "friends" and had an overall tough time in the 90's as a poor junkie-slash-burnt-out former rock star. He still couldn't quit drugs and eventually, as the result of a 'hellacious speedball' suffered a stroke which impairs his speech. Now clean, Steven drums for his band Adler's Appetite, formerly Suki Jones. He is still in contact with Izzy, and has repaired his friendships with Slash and Duff.
When Slash and Duff began creating Velvet Revolver, Steven expressed hope that history could repeat itself and that he would be in a band with them once again. VR was created with Matt Sorum instead (Sorum's first band which he would be part of from the beginning as opposed to joining as a replacement, a detail he cherishes), and Steven continues instead with his small-time band, which plays many GN'R classics at GN'R's original type of venue: clubs. Despite his short career in the spotlight and its unpleasant aftermath, Adler was a part of GN'R's cherished early years during the 80's, and is heard on one of rock's all-time best records: Appetite for Destruction. His lively and enthusiastic stage presence and his skilled drumming are undeniably two of the components which made Guns N' Roses so wildly popular.
Quite recently, Steven Adler teamed up with former Guns N' Roses guitarist Tracii Guns and formed a band called Guns N' Roses revisited. After playing a show and preparing for an Asian Tour, the band was shut down. No word has came up as of yet on Guns N' Roses Revisited.