10 Hard Rock Bands That Had To Fire Major Members
4. Steven Adler - Guns N Roses
Among the other hair metal acts of the time, Guns N Roses seemed like the epitome of a street gang. From the way they dressed to the "take no prisoners" attitude that they had while onstage, the camaraderie of GNR during the Appetite for Destruction days could not be overstated. On the other hand, a funny thing starts to happen when money begins to creep in.
Looking to go even more ambitious for the follow up album, Axl Rose's approach to Use Your Illusion was to pull out all the stops musically, with orchestras and piano ballads not being off the table. However, a strange thing started happening when Steven Adler wasn't able to pull off the tracks. Years of drug abuse had really started to take their toll on Adler, who didn't have the stamina to actually play the songs in the studio anymore. After many attempts to get clean failed, Adler was let go in favor of Matt Sorum of the Cult.
Though Sorum fit in like a glove when playing off the rest of the band, it didn't fare too well for Adler, who would get clean after suffering a cocaine-induced stroke shortly after being fired. Despite being one of the main draws of GNR's early days, this was the first sign that the original lineup was going to hit a brick wall a lot sooner than we thought.