In a new interview, legendary ex-Guns N’ Roses band manager Alan Niven has spoken out about his time working with Guns N’ Roses at the height of their success – stating that it was Izzy Stradlin who was responsible for the band’s commercial success.
When speaking with VWMusic on Thursday, Niven discussed Stradlin and Steven Adler.
He continued: “Stevie [Steven Adler] couldn’t play anything the same way twice. Slash – a great player, extremely empathetic to a composition’s feel – but cannot write a song. Duff is not quite as brilliant as he thinks he is [… and Axl Rose] wasn’t a nice person back then. He may have changed. To me, he’s kinda like the Tonya Harding of rock ‘n’ roll – capable of being sublime but best known for other reasons.”
When it was good, it was really good as Niven would end up being shocked by the success that came with Appetite For Destruction and Use Your Illusion, Niven stated that the band would have almost certainly fallen apart without the contributions of rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin.
He ended: “As far as I was concerned, it was his band – he had the cool disposition and the unimpeachable street vernacular. Add to that the syncopation of his right rhythm hand, and you have a personification of rock ‘n’ roll right there. He was always the one who was always available for conference, for discussion. Axl was insular. Slash and Duff were mostly fu*ked up.”
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