In a new interview for Paramount+’s new three-part docuseries ‘Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal,’ drummer Steven Adler talked about his time in Guns N’ Roses. The rocker revealed that he was hurt after frontman Axl Rose decided to fire the drummer because of his heroin addiction.
“Who the hell do you think I was doing them with? When I started doing heroin, I wanted to be a part of what Slash and Izzy [Stradlin] were doing. took two hits, I was never so sick in my whole life. And wouldn’t you know what an asshole I am, I had to try it one more time. And the third time was the charm. I fell in love with it,” he explained.
Although he got kicked out of the band for his addiction, it wasn’t a wake-up call for the drummer. “I’ve always loved the whole team thing. That’s why putting a band together was so important to me, where we work together and create something. And then when my team threw me out, I didn’t know what to do. I know I could either have gotten better, or continued doing what I was doing. I continued doing what I was doing. I was that hurt,” the rocker added.
The drummer was fired from the band after not being able to play during the record of ‘Civil War’ because of his addiction. He tried to do his part 25 times, but couldn’t get it right.
“Broke my heart, dude. No, he didn’t do me a favor,” the drummer said in a different interview when asked if Axl Rose did a favor by firing him. “It did nothing but break my heart, and break millions of our fans’ hearts. That’s all it did. Then they drove Izzy out… This is the way I look at Guns N’ Roses with the five of us. We baked the pie for five years. Every year, we would enter a different pie in a pie contest, and every year, we would win.”
“Then on the sixth year, they decided to put a different ingredient in, and then they didn’t win first prize. It’s the five of us that made the ingredients that made us winners. You take one of those out, and it’s just not the same,” he added.
Since being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2012 as part of GN’R’s classic lineup, Adler has had several sober periods since 2008 and has performed with the band multiple times.
‘Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal’ is now streaming on Paramount+.