What happened to Steven Adler?

[Tadsy]

57 minutes ago, RONIN said:

@Modano09, we mostly agree on Adler but you're not able to be objective about the guy mate. He's got his faults and they are many, but your take on events is pretty one-sided. There was a lot more going on to effect his ouster if you look at the situation with an unbiased lens.

In light of some of the recent posts from Blackstar and others, my take is simply this:

*The guy was too deep into drugs to clean up for the new records. Even if they had waited another year it's anyone's guess whether Steven would have cleaned up in time. It seems to me, he was too far gone.

*Steven was too immature to see the gravity of the situation towards the end when most people in his place would have gotten their shit together. He just didn't take the gig seriously enough and this is something he continues to not take responsibility for. Even his NITL interviews continue the "woe is me" schtick. He put the band in a bad situation and it was unfair to them and he paid a heavy price. 

*He couldn't play the material. An even more significant part of the story than simply drugs. Adler could not adapt to the new direction of the band and Axl's vision. Axl's vision would eventually alienate Slash later on when he drifted towards other styles of music in the mid 90's. But it starts here with writing material that Steven could not adapt to. I'm not a drummer so I have no idea whether Illusion material is beyond Adler's abilities (he sounds great on YCBM) but his playing ability is questioned by Niven and Slash. Niven's tight with Duff, Izzy, and Slash - so it's hard to say whether he's being objective or covering for Sluff.

*The lawsuit situation has me leaning towards the band's side even though I want to give Steven the benefit of the doubt given the scumbaggery of the others. 

All that being said, I don't think Steven would have gotten kicked out of the band if..and this is a big if....he was on better terms with the others. I think there would have been more effort to work it out with him - the guy was just unceremoniously tossed out. We don't even know if they even considered having him sit out Illusions and returning for a future album or maybe sharing drum duties with Sorum on the tour. Seems like none of that was on the table given past interviews. He was literally erased from the band. And the lawsuit just sealed the deal as far as ending that relationship completely. It does seem weird for a band of brothers to toss one of their own out in the cold without even a chance for reinstatement.  

Axl delayed Illusions for several years and this is confirmed plenty of times by Izzy who had submitted some of his tapes two years in advance. The same Izzy who said Axl screamed at him and told him "There is no schedule!" when he asked about the recording delays for UYI. Axl also missed most of the Chicago sessions and only showed up right at the end. Let's not pretend Steven, as messed up as he was, delayed the album anywhere near as much as Axl. The truth is, the band was working on Axl's schedule and when Axl was ready to go, Steven wasn't and so the axe fell on Steven's neck. Simple as that. History would repeat itself when Duff would quit in '97 over the same reason - Axl not showing up and constant delays with the new record because of Axl being unwilling to stick to a schedule. If we're going to point out Steven's bad behavior, then it's only fair we do the same with Axl. 

Steven's problem was that he was completely alienated from the band by '89 and 90. He's said in interviews before how Duff and Slash stopped hanging out with him or would ditch him at parties towards the last few years of his time in GNR. There's actually a great article about the Chicago sessions that I posted last year which mentions how Duff/Slash would ditch Steven at the local chicago bars to party together. And then there's Axl - a person who did not get along with Steven from the start. Someone who had a very real dislike for him by the end due to the Erin Everly speedball incident. 

I don't think the guy had friends in the band towards the end (weren't they all ignoring him those last few months?) and I don't think any of them fought hard enough to keep him - I think they basically gave up and washed their hands after a certain point as Duff basically admits. The only guy who may have stuck up for him (Izzy) was deep in detox and barely around. So couple the bad behavior of Steven with the general apathy of the rest of the band and it's no surprise to me how things ended up. 

But can anyone imagine the same scenario with Slash and Axl's bestie Duff being a wasted mess who can barely play getting kicked out the way Steven was? Perhaps it might have happened the same way but it does make you wonder. I don't think Duff would have been treated this way but that's just conjecture on my part...

As I said in a previous post, when it comes to Steven....things just don't add up with the version of events we're given by the band. I don't doubt that Steven was a mess and that it was perhaps bad enough to get fired. I'm just skeptical of the band politics that led to his ouster.

 

Ronin, I think you nailed the theory behind how this actually went down.

 

Joining the dots, i dont think theres a great "mystery" to steven's sacking. There is countless quotes out there stating that Axl found Steven irritating because he has no filter. Put the clash of personalities together with a major drug addiction, a lot of water under the bridge, the erin incident, and finally steven being unable to record, its not a major mystery that the band moved on without him, regardless of them looking like major hypocrites which Duff and Slash have both acknowledged in their books.

 

I think you make a key point and a lot of people may have missed this... Axl kept the band waiting on his time longer than anyone else in the band. That cannot be questioned. But.. and this is the big point... Axl had more control of the band than steven. When Axl was ready to go... Steven wasnt.. and that was the problem. Im not saying it makes Axl right, or more right than steven... but Axl had the power then, as he does now.. and steven (in Axl's eyes) was expendable and the show had to go on.

 

Interesting thought re: would duff or slash have been cast aside if they were at the same point as Adler? Well... in a way.. we got that anyway.. just a fair few years later.. Axl was taking GNR in HIS direction... regardless of what the others wanted, it was a simple case of, youre either on the bus.. or your off... in the end, as we know slash and then duff got off.. and sorum got fired.

 

as for this argument between daisey and soul, i think Diesel makes some very relevant points regarding Axl's behaviour, and Adlers influence on appetite is not in question, he IS the sound of that album, BUT.... If anyone is seen as expendable in a band, it certainly isnt the lead singer or lead guitarist, and certainly not such iconic figures as Axl or Slash. Steven was never going to win that battle with Axl regardless of how good his chops were on AFD. In fact.... id even go as far to say that if adler didnt have a drug issue AT ALL...and wanted adler out.. hed have eventually got his way anyway.. one way or the other. For what its worth.. there is a distinct difference in the sound of the drumming on AFD from UYI even to a very untrained person like me, steven and sorum are polar opposites in style and sound... both have excellent skill sets, i do think steven IS GNR.. but Matt was a very capable replacement and like Gilby, those 2 are pretty much the only members outside of the AFD 5 that i consider remotely "GNR" worthy.... (thats another argument for another day)...

 

In regards to this tour and the mystery of things not stacking up, my theory is this... Axl, slash and duff probably debated till the cows came home whether to include steven as the number 1 drummer and for the sake of live nation and the advantages of selling this as best they can (more so to hardcore fans) that steven was IN. But.... i reckon they had massive reservations about it (obvious reasons), then steven hurt his back and it solved their reservations for them. I dont think theres much more too it, i just think they said yes with massive reservations and then when he hurt himself, it was.. well that problem fixed itself... 

 

thats about all i have to add at this point.

 

 

 

 

 

[SoulMonster]

I am sure the band, and Axl in particular, were fed up with Steven even when we don't take into account his increasingly debilitating drug habit. But when a drummer can't drum he has to go. That becomes the primary reason for sacking him. Everything else becomes irrelevant. 

[DieselDaisy]

37 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I am sure the band, and Axl in particular, were fed up with Steven even when we don't take into account his increasingly debilitating drug habit. But when a drummer can't drum he has to go. That becomes the primary reason for sacking him. Everything else becomes irrelevant. 

Do you not see a discrepancy between Mike Clink's ''piecing together the drum track'' and Adler's perfectly fine performance at Farm Aid? At Farm Aid Adler stepped out in front of thousands and did the song in one take, yet, if we are to believe Clink, Adler had to have his parts for the very same song cobbled together from fragments like pro-tools except it was done manually in those days.

You're a historian of this band so you'll know as much as I that both the recording and live performance were loosely coterminous, circa spring 1990.

[SoulMonster]

Just now, DieselDaisy said:

Do you not see a discrepancy between Mike Clink's ''piecing together the drum track'' and Adler's perfectly fine performance at Farm Aid? At Farm Aid Adler stepped out in front of thousands and did the song in one take, yet, if we are to believe Clink, Adler had to have his parts for the very same song cobbled together from fragments like pro-tools except it was done manually in those days.

You're a historian of this band so you'll know as much as I that both the recording and live performance were loosely coterminous, circa spring 1990.

I know that it is one thing to be good enough for a live show and a completely different thing to cut it in a studio. I also know that a druggie's fitness vary tremendously from day to day, from week to week. 

What is more important, I find your theory that Steven was still a good enough drummer but was ousted out by Axl for other reasons -- and that Axl got everyone to lie about the reason, including Izzy and even Alan Niven (!) who has absolutely no love for Axl -- ludicruous, especially in the light of Steven afterwards demonstrating that he really was an unreliable drug addict.

It is simply a much more plausible explanation that Steven primarily was kicked out of the band due to increasing drug problems which messed with his ability to play. Parsimony, Occham.

[RONIN]

1 hour ago, SoulMonster said:

I know that it is one thing to be good enough for a live show and a completely different thing to cut it in a studio. I also know that a druggie's fitness vary tremendously from day to day, from week to week. 

What is more important, I find your theory that Steven was still a good enough drummer but was ousted out by Axl for other reasons -- and that Axl got everyone to lie about the reason, including Izzy and even Alan Niven (!) who has absolutely no love for Axl -- ludicruous, especially in the light of Steven afterwards demonstrating that he really was an unreliable drug addict.

It is simply a much more plausible explanation that Steven primarily was kicked out of the band due to increasing drug problems which messed with his ability to play. Parsimony, Occham.

Niven may not be willing to lie on behalf of Axl but he sure would be willing to stretch the truth for Duff and Slash who he is still close to. Iirc, according to Axl, the decision to sack Steven came from the "others": Duff, Slash,Clink, and presumably Izzy. There is no confirmation or denial whether Izzy signed off on Steven's firing - hard to say either way since he was pretty much showing up sporadically after '89 and being excluded from major band decisions. Either way, as much as I think Niven is a straight shooter, when it comes to Steven I'm a bit skeptical. 

Another thing - what is so ludicrous about the band closing ranks and throwing a member under the bus by giving corroborating stories? One year later they were all talking about how unreliable Izzy was - the guy who turned in his UYI tapes before the others and never missed a gig. The same guy who was beating the band's jet to the gigs in his tour bus.  I just take all these guys with a grain of salt. I actually think Axl of all people is probably closer to the truth along with Izzy. 

 

Edited September 13, 2017 by RONIN

[RONIN]

Can anyone clarify what Duff is talking about with regards to his dissatisfaction with Steven's drumming for Illusions? Here's the mates rehearsal from '89. Seems fine to me...

Does he mean just issues with Civil War or that he wasn't feeling the drumming ideas Steven was coming up with?

Duff: We had recorded like 18 tracks for the Use Your Illusion I record with Steven and it just wasn’t happening. We put him through rehab like three times. I even went to his drug dealer’s house and threatened him with a gun and said, ‘Dude, if you ever...’[Circus Magazine, 1991]

 

Edited September 13, 2017 by RONIN

[SoulMonster]

1 minute ago, RONIN said:

Niven may not be willing to lie on behalf of Axl but he sure would be willing to stretch the truth for Duff and Slash who he is still close to. Iirc, according to Axl, the decision to sack Steven came from Duff, Slash and Clink. There is no confirmation or denial whether Izzy signed off on this decision - doubtful since he was pretty much gone after '89. Either way, as much as I think Niven is a straight shooter, when it comes to Steven I'm a bit skeptical. 

What is so ludicrous about the band closing ranks and throwing a member under the bus by giving corroborating stories? One year later they were all talking about how unreliable Izzy was - the guy who turned in his UYI tapes before the others and never missed a gig. The same guy who was beating the band's jet to the gigs in his tour bus. 

You really buy into the absurd story that Steven wasn't fired due to his drug problems and ability to play, but because of Axl's dislike of him? Has the whole world gone mad?  You really find it more plausible that Axl would somehow force/coerce/manipulate/convince Slash, Duff, Izzy, Clink and Niven (and probably many more) to go along with a cover-up story of it being due to Steven's addiction, and that they would all stick to this story to this very day, than simply that Steven was struggling too much to function? How can people consider these two scenarios and fall down on the conclusion that, yes, the former must be correct and not the latter, especially in the perspective that Steven turned out to be exactly as fucked up as the band claimed he was (wait, aah, of course he only became a drug wreck because of being so ill-treated by his best friends and comrades ).

[RONIN]

32 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

You really buy into the absurd story that Steven wasn't fired due to his drug problems and ability to play, but because of Axl's dislike of him? Has the whole world gone mad?  You really find it more plausible that Axl would somehow force/coerce/manipulate/convince Slash, Duff, Izzy, Clink and Niven (and probably many more) to go along with a cover-up story of it being due to Steven's addiction, and that they would all stick to this story to this very day, than simply that Steven was struggling too much to function? How can people consider these two scenarios and fall down on the conclusion that, yes, the former must be correct and not the latter, especially in the perspective that Steven turned out to be exactly as fucked up as the band claimed he was (wait, aah, of course he only became a drug wreck because of being so ill-treated by his best friends and comrades ).

No I think you're largely right - I think Steven was indeed fired for his drug problems. But I think the reasons the band gave like how they were under deadlines for the record, that he was costing them lots of money, that it was unfair to the band that Steven was making them wait, etc was largely hypocritical nonsense because Axl was causing 2x more delays and expenses. The only guys who actually seemed to be trying to pull the band together during Illusions were Duff and Slash. Izzy seemed to show up, turn in his work and disappear. To me, it looks like the band had two troublesome members, Axl and Steven, who could not pull it together. The band decided to wait for one guy and not for the other for obvious reasons. As I said before, when Axl was ready to roll - Steven wasn't - and since he didn't have any friends left in the band, it became a simple business decision to remove Steven. I don't think Duff and Slash fought all that hard to keep him in there - it's really on them. And needless to say, for Axl, it was an easy decision - he was more than happy to go along with the program and remove Adler.

Even after sacking Adler, the album was further delayed by Axl taking months upon months for overdubs when the others felt the record was ready for release earlier. Look - firing Steven for debilitating drug addiction is fine. But when you say that he was holding up the album because of his addiction and that was the deciding factor in his removal - well, that just sounds silly when the lead singer is causing even more delays. I think the reason Steven was ousted was 50% not having his shit together, and 50% band politics. They didn't like working with the guy anymore. Simple as that. Clink and Niven just went with whatever Duff and Slash told them. If Sluff tells them they can't work with Steven or that the drumming isn't sounding as it should - then of course they're going to take their side and tell the band to find a new drummer.

I think this is the reason Steven so vehemently refuses to accept the reasons why he was sacked. Nobody has the face to tell him that he was no longer liked anymore and that the others didn't really want to work with him. His drug addiction was just an easy out for everyone. Is this really all that implausible considering none of the gunners including Izzy, the most reasonable guy in the band, have worked again with Steven aside from random one-offs? Steven is a great drummer but an extremely annoying man-child. I think had his personality not been so divisive for the band, they would have fought harder to keep him. I can't imagine Izzy or Duff getting fired like this. And history repeated itself on the NITL tour when Steven threw out his back and gave the band an easy out to remove him again.

I'll leave you with this thought: If your band mate was too messed up to drum and he had just played on your industry busting previous record, would you outright fire him or would you try to work it out by at least giving the guy a chance to play on portions of the record? Or perhaps joining you guys on the tour? No? Then how about at least being able to play on the next record? He was a full founding member of the band. It's kind of crazy that they couldn't just hire a session musician to help him complete the work on the album/tour while he cleans up. I dunno man - seems a bit cutthroat. It's not like Adler's playing wasn't regarded well - people to this day single out his drumming as one of the highlights of Appetite. Not a single rock critic worth his salt does that with Sorum. They could have made it work if they had really wanted to but I think the band just turned on him after a certain point. As they did on Izzy soon after by cutting him out of band decisions. Somewhere around 1989, GnR became the Axl and Slash show with Duff along for the ride.

 

Edited September 13, 2017 by RONIN

[SoulMonster]

I have no objections to any of that except referring to Steven as a founding member of GN'R, but let's not get into that 

[RONIN]

Just now, SoulMonster said:

I have no objections to any of that except referring to Steven as a founding member of GN'R, but let's not get into that 

Ha - we might want to steer clear of that one. 

[vloors]

Steven could of got his shit together and joined or started any band after being dumped by gnr but didnt. He rather get high.

It took him like 15 years to start adlers appetite because he was strung out on drugs until the gnr money ran out.

Look at izzy he left started his own band straight away. Slash left started a new band straight away. Duff left started a new band. Adler got kicked and took him 15 years to sober up enough and get his shit collected enough to start a new band.

Adler loves to blame anyone other than himself for getting booted. But its squarly on him. Band was all fucked up but still could record and perform when needed. 

 

 

[RONIN]

6 minutes ago, vloors said:

Steven could of got his shit together and joined or started any band after being dumped by gnr but didnt. He rather get high.

It took him like 15 years to start adlers appetite because he was strung out on drugs until the gnr money ran out.

Look at izzy he left started his own band straight away. Slash left started a new band straight away. Duff left started a new band. Adler got kicked and took him 15 years to sober up enough and get his shit collected enough to start a new band.

Adler loves to blame anyone other than himself for getting booted. But its squarly on him. Band was all fucked up but still could record and perform when needed. 

 

 

Harsh, but true.

Steven's a man child. He spiraled out of control after Guns with more drugs to kill the pain. That was the ultimate gig and he blew it. There was nowhere left to go but down for him. Even Slash was in a rut after leaving Guns all the way up till Velvet Revolver. This part is sort of understandable I suppose.

I just don't see Steven lasting in that band even if he wasn't strung out on drugs. As per the rest of the band, he wasn't able to adapt to the Illusion material - they weren't happy with what he was bringing to those sessions. Either way, Adler was doomed for Illusions. Even in the fluke event that he had completed those albums, he would almost certainly have died on the tour.

I'm playing devil's advocate a bit on this thread just to give ol' Stevie some support but he was a complete assclown on that celeb rehab show. Not exactly the nice level headed guy he tries to portray. All of the GnR guys are flawed big time.

[soon]

Axl said in his UYI interview with MTV that Steven had "other things he was involved with other then the band, to do with his drugs, that are very dangerous and scary that I want nothing to do with him."

Do we figure he's referring to the Everly speedball incident?  Turning tricks?  What was Steven said to be involved with?

 

Axl starts at 0:46

[DieselDaisy]

2 hours ago, SoulMonster said:

I know that it is one thing to be good enough for a live show and a completely different thing to cut it in a studio. I also know that a druggie's fitness vary tremendously from day to day, from week to week. 

What is more important, I find your theory that Steven was still a good enough drummer but was ousted out by Axl for other reasons -- and that Axl got everyone to lie about the reason, including Izzy and even Alan Niven (!) who has absolutely no love for Axl -- ludicruous, especially in the light of Steven afterwards demonstrating that he really was an unreliable drug addict.

It is simply a much more plausible explanation that Steven primarily was kicked out of the band due to increasing drug problems which messed with his ability to play. Parsimony, Occham.

You have completely misquoted Niven. Niven said exactly what I said that is that the booting out for ''drugs'' is a complete load of bollocks: he said they fired Adler because ''he couldn't handle the epics'' - or at least they thought ''he couldn't handle the epics''. That interview was that lengthy podcasty one one, from about five years ago. It is actually when I started to have serious doubts myself about the Adler case.

[SoulMonster]

3 minutes ago, soon said:

Axl said in his UYI interview with MTV that Steven had "other things he was involved with other then the band, to do with his drugs, that are very dangerous and scary that I want nothing to do with him."

Do we figure he's referring to the Everly speedball incident?  Turning tricks?  What was Steven said to be involved with?

I've been wondering about that, too. 

[RONIN]

2 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I've been wondering about that, too. 

Erin Everly speedball incident most likely. 

[DieselDaisy]

That is just a load of Rosey cryptic nonsense. You should all be well versed in Axl speak by now?

[SoulMonster]

1 minute ago, DieselDaisy said:

You have completely misquoted Niven. Niven said exactly what I said that is that the booting out for ''drugs'' is a complete load of bollocks: he said they fired Adler because ''he couldn't handle the epics'' - or at least they thought ''he couldn't handle the epics''. That interview was that lengthy podcasty one one, from about five years ago. It is actually when I started to have serious doubts myself about the Adler case.

Did I quote Niven? I don't think I did. What I said was that Niven has corroborated the story that Steven was fired due to his drug problems. That is not a quote. Nevertheless, Niven did imply in that podcast from 2011 that Steven couldn't play due to drugs, as shown in this actual quote: 

"I agreed with the final exasperated decision, with reluctance, because once you change the structure of the molecule that is the band it can become volatile and unstable. And, from an emotional point of view, you don’t want to lose anyone along the way but we had tried all we could to help Steven win his battle with smack, but only he could win his war."

Niven also suggests Steven got fired because he "lost his mind" in this article: http://www.gunsnrosesfans.com/post/87822231619/alan-niven-opinion-on-izzy-stradlin I think he is here implying that Steven's drug habit got out of control and he lost his mind because of that, although I am open for other interpretations (like injecting speedball into Erin).

Anyway, this does not come down to Niven alone. You also have to explain how Axl could manipulate everybody else into playing along with his nebulous plan to fire Steven due to drugs, including Izzy. And then you have to explain how this scenario is more plausible than simply Steven being fired due to being so drug-compromised he couldn't function as a drummer anymore, especially in view of how fucked up Steven turned out to be.

 

 

14 minutes ago, RONIN said:

Erin Everly speedball incident most likely. 

Possibly. I understood it as something else other than drugs, but I probably misread it.

[Blackstar]

Another Niven quote from the same book, regarding Steven's alleged inability/reluctance to play some of the Illusions stuff:

‘Steven is not the world’s best drummer by any stretch. But he had a quality that he brought to the band that anybody would accept as being part of the magic. He had such an enthusiasm for what he was doing. Duff even had to show him what to play sometimes. Let’s be real – Steven’s not going to be sitting in with Chick Corea any time soon, but exuberance is just the right word for him. So did we want Steven to go? Fuck no. Replacing people in bands is a pain in the ass. It changes the dynamic personally and musically. We tried for the longest time to give Steven a vision and a function. There was a combination of factors going on. One was that he could just not connect to the kind of material that Axl was writing. “Coma”, “Estranged” … he’d just roll his eyes. And, of course, the fact that he had no control over his heroin habit.’

And about the Erin incident:

‘Axl was fucking convinced that Erin had been overdosed and raped. Well, that’s going to go down well, isn’t it? That was a really clever choice that you made there, Steven, and it really helped everybody. Is it any surprise we got to the point that we had to seriously consider getting someone else? Did we have any choice?’

What Niven says is that Steven's sacking was due to a combination of factors, and his "inability" to play was just one of them; not that it was the real reason and the drugs were just an excuse.

On a sidenote, it seems strange to me that Niven keeps calling Coma an Axl song in his interviews. Doesn't he remember that it was mainly a Slash song?

Edited September 13, 2017 by Blackstar

[soon]

25 minutes ago, Blackstar said:

 

On a sidenote, it seems strange to me that Niven keeps calling Coma an Axl song in his interviews. Doesn't he remember that it was mainly a Slash song?

that is weird.  I wonder if he means that its one of those Axl songs lyrically that just over shares a narration of Axls life?

[Blackstar]

2 minutes ago, soon said:

that is weird.  I wonder if he means that its one of those Axl songs lyrically that just over shares a narration of Axls life?

I don't think it's about the lyrics, because in the podcast interview he'd done with Mitch Lafon he had talked about it along the lines of Axl's bloated songs that are too long etc.

[SoulMonster]

1 minute ago, Blackstar said:

I don't think it's about the lyrics, because in the podcast interview he'd done with Mitch Lafon he had talked about it along the lines of Axl's bloated songs that are too long etc.

I would think Slash brought in the main riffs and how they go together, but there is a lot more to structuring the song. Axl, adding the lyrical content, would probably have a say in deciding the length of the song to fit what what we wanted to say, and possibly also how many times various riff were to be repeated and when there would be breakdowns and so on. I am sure it could be possible, while still keeping the main riffs, to make a version of Coma that is much shorter - and I wouldn't be surprised that was what Slash brought in (he wouldn't be going, "and now we are to repeat this chord progression for 20 meters without anything else happening", it would be Axl who said, "I need the verses to be this long so I can it with these words", or "and we have to repeat this for one more time"). 

[Blackstar]

25 minutes ago, SoulMonster said:

I would think Slash brought in the main riffs and how they go together, but there is a lot more to structuring the song. Axl, adding the lyrical content, would probably have a say in deciding the length of the song to fit what what we wanted to say, and possibly also how many times various riff were to be repeated and when there would be breakdowns and so on. I am sure it could be possible, while still keeping the main riffs, to make a version of Coma that is much shorter - and I wouldn't be surprised that was what Slash brought in (he wouldn't be going, "and now we are to repeat this chord progression for 20 meters without anything else happening", it would be Axl who said, "I need the verses to be this long so I can it with these words", or "and we have to repeat this for one more time"). 

Yeah, this makes sense, although Slash says in his book that it was 8 min. long when he wrote it; but he also says that it (as well as Locomotive) was "fully arranged from the start when Axl wrote lyrics to them."

Edited September 13, 2017 by Blackstar

[RONIN]

I just finally listened to this interview and...I'm sorry, it just cracked me up. I'm laughing with Steven and sometimes at him. He's ridiculous but somehow oddly likable. 

[SoulMonster]

Just now, Blackstar said:

Yeah, this makes sense, although Slash says in his book that it was 8 min. long when he wrote it; but he also says that it (as well as Locomotive) "were fully arranged from the start when Axl wrote lyrics to them."

You are right, maybe Niven just forgot Coma is mainly a Slash song, or maybe he misspoke and meant another song?