Steven Adler

Original Guns N' Roses drummer, Steven Adler, has the dubious distinction of being the first member of the band to have been fired by singer/leader Axl Rose (touching off a trend that would continue until Rose was the only remaining original member left in attendance by the late '90s). Born January 22, 1965, in Cleveland, OH, Adler was entirely self-taught on the instrument, inspired by such '70s hard rockers as Kiss and Aerosmith. After relocating to the Los Angeles area, Adler befriended a fellow musician, Saul Hudson, who would eventually adopt the nickname Slash -- as the duo formed a musical bond and played together in an outfit called Road Crew (named after a Motörhead song). By the mid-'80s, Roadcrew had split up, while Adler and Slash had joined forces with other members of the Sunset Strip metal/glam/punk scene -- Rose, bassist Duff McKagan, and rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, to form Guns N' Roses. The story of G N' R is a well-known one, as the quintet issued one of the best-selling rock debuts of all-time, 1987's Appetite for Destruction, whose raw, stripped down approach (both musically and visually) was a welcome break from the overwrought glam pop bands that were ruling the airwaves at the time.