Once upon a time a Dishevelled Happiness was an angst ridden, angry young woman of 19 years of age. She was very anti-establishment, very angry with the world around her and had her middle finger giving the world and everyone around her the royal bird!
One boring Sunday morning she happened to stumble across a song titled "Welcome to the Jungle" by an unknown band at the time (well unknown to her) Guns and Roses. At 19 years of age, her ears pricked up and she stood frozen on the spot totally unable to function, breathe, move or think. This song had her transfixed and felt something, possibly her heart racing a thousand beats per hour. She had to lay on her bed and look up at the ceiling and repeat over and over and over: "What the fuck was that?"
I remember this because I love music and I have never been moved as much as that moment when I first heard Guns and Roses. It isn't everyday that you hear something that makes you relate. Songs and music and bands come and go. A band you might have been a devout fan of for years can also turn to shit in time. Look at The Rolling Stones I thought there first few hours were amazing but now they just look and sound old and out of place, well for me anyway (sorry to any Rolling Stones fans - but this is just my opinion)
I remember buying Appetite for Destruction, the album almost immediately and played it and played it and played it. I couldn't get enough and it was my anthem for a few years. It was what I would always listen to in the car, in the shower, on the way to work, whilst getting ready to go out partying and what I would listen to as I lay in bed at night trying to get some sleep.
I was in love with all the members of Guns and Roses and fantasized about meeting them one day and having one of them, any one of them, meet me and fall in love with me and marry me. Yep I was a young 19 year old who sort lived in a fantasy world (but so rather funny to actually just put that out to the whole world). I remember getting my friends into the band and they too became devout fans and you couldn't blame them as this music was totally progressive for its time. Its not often that a band comes out and the entire world becomes crazy devout fans.
Over the years I grew up and my musical taste changed. I never really liked the next album and I sort of drifted away from being a complete and utter Guns and Roses fan. I recall that the original line up started to change almost yearly and thought yeah whatever. But I was always curious as to why Steven Adler the drummer was the first member of the band to be replaced.
A year or so ago I was watching Dr Drew Celebrity Rehab and there was Steven Adler. I was shocked to see how drug sick he looked and I religiously watched the series just to see how Steven pulled through. What amazed me about him was how sweet he came across in this show and the constant smile he had on his face and it looked so genuine. There was no "air" about him meaning "I am a celebrity and thou shall kiss my feet" he seemed like a warm, fun loving , real person who was trying ever so hard to battle his demons. The Husband and I were literally rooting for him throughout each episode as we both thought "please Steven try and get through this, you so deserve this".
Last week whilst looking through a bookstore I came across an autobiography by Steven Adler called : " My Appetite for Destruction"The second I saw it I knew I just had to read this book and find out what had happened to this wonderful human being and from the second I opened his book I could not put it down. I was glued to it and tried to read it at every opportunity that I could. So much so that when no one was looking in my office I would pull the book off my lap and read.
Well I have just finished reading his autobiography and I am gobsmacked at the life this man lead, his battle with drug addiction and the honesty of the fact that he is still addicted and probably always will be and the raw emotions of being booted out of a band that he practically bought together. I loved his honesty.
Whether you are a Guns and Roses fan or not this was truly a great read and one that I will read again. I pray for you Mr Steven Adler, I pray that one day and one day soon you get through this misery called drug addiction as you seem like a wonderful human being who deserves so much more and deserves a happy life. You rock Mr Steven Adler and God Bless you!
DH
xoxo
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