Alcohol Abuse

The friendliest place on the web for anyone that follows U2.
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

ybab gnuthca

Acrobat
Joined
Jan 27, 2008
Messages
440
It's a known fact to most U2 fans that Adam was an alcoholic back in the early 90s, and that it meant that his technician had to play at one of the ZOO-TV Sydney shows - and that Edge hinted that Adam could be history in U2 if he didn't get himself together. But do we know why he was depressed enough to start drinking?
 
his drinking started before the Naomi break-up. it was more because of the rock star attitude.... Zoo was a crazy time. Then the night he missed was indeed mostly because of his break-up with Naomi. I remember reading that he got drunk, high and slept with prostitutes all night.... :doh:
 
his drinking started before the Naomi break-up. it was more because of the rock star attitude.... Zoo was a crazy time. Then the night he missed was indeed mostly because of his break-up with Naomi. I remember reading that he got drunk, high and slept with prostitutes all night.... :doh:

I've still got that edition of the Sun :love: I should flog it on ebay,:hmm:
 
his drinking started before the Naomi break-up. it was more because of the rock star attitude.... Zoo was a crazy time. Then the night he missed was indeed mostly because of his break-up with Naomi. I remember reading that he got drunk, high and slept with prostitutes all night.... :doh:

I thought he said he just drank everything in his hotel room bar?

Maybe I'm remembering this wrong, but I thought he said that a while before the missed show, he had realized that the sauce was getting out of hand, and layed off it. Then the day before the show, (because of Naomi, or whatever else) he slipped back and just went through all the alcohol in the room.

That's what I remember..who knows if that's true though. :shrug:
 
I've still got that edition of the Sun :love: I should flog it on ebay,:hmm:

Go for it! :D

There's usually a reason why people start drinking.

Everyone else is doing it. It tastes good. Likes the way it makes him feel. All sorts of innocuous reason people start drinking (or using other mind altering substances). Doesn't have to be anything major or seamy, and often isn't.
 
I say Adam is a classic case of low self esteem who finds comfort in alcohol and that eventually leads him to depression. That mixed with the fact that in his youth he found himself in a band and his naive self thought he had to be all of what people expect of someone in a rock band has to be, but it caught up to him at some point.

Him getting wasted and missing a concert because of his brake up with Naomi in 93 was the last drop I guess. I think it was what showed him he was heading to the wrong direction.
 
It's hard to conceive of why the healty and much loved bass player in U2 would fall into a depressive state, but we've seen this happen -- usually in much worse circumstances than Adam's -- one thousand times with famous musicians who are addicts. Adam will always be an alcoholic, which means he will always have an addictive character, which means he'll always have to be careful. It's no different from people like Elvis and Johnny Cash who were handed amphetamines in their 20s to keep them going on long tours, happened to have addictive bodies and characters, and ended up dependent on little pills to get them through every day of their lives, despite their apparently lofty status in life. In Adam's case, he was lucky that he's in such a clean, healthy, and productive band as U2 where his band mates are willing to help him and keep an eye on him.

If you're looking to identify the moment when Adam went from 'young guy who loves to party' and into 'alcoholic', we could only speculate.

I thought it was interesting in a recent interview when Adam put out the theory that it took U2 about 10 years to 'recover' from the success that The Joshua Tree gave them. That kind of success changes people's lives whether they like it or not, I suppose.
 
Is Adam's former alcoholism really our business? Famous people tend to go insane because their fans, God love them, are this... pesky.

We're just very lucky that Adam did pull through his issues and is in the best shape of his life, mentally and physically, now.
 
It's a known fact to most U2 fans that Adam was an alcoholic back in the early 90s, and that it meant that his technician had to play at one of the ZOO-TV Sydney shows - and that Edge hinted that Adam could be history in U2 if he didn't get himself together. But do we know why he was depressed enough to start drinking?

This is hilarious.
 
Funny thread. Has it ever even been stated that he was an actual alcoholic? Or just that he gave up boozing? There’s a big difference. Someone living a fast, jet setting, high profile life who, when hitting their 30s and having run aground a couple of times decides that it’s time to give up the penchant for seeing sunrise from the wrong side, for the good of his health and career, is very different to someone with a daily issue/addiction. I of course might be completely mistaken, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anywhere that he was an actual alcoholic, just that he went at it too hard and decided to give that side of his life up.
 
Funny thread. Has it ever even been stated that he was an actual alcoholic? Or just that he gave up boozing? There’s a big difference. Someone living a fast, jet setting, high profile life who, when hitting their 30s and having run aground a couple of times decides that it’s time to give up the penchant for seeing sunrise from the wrong side, for the good of his health and career, is very different to someone with a daily issue/addiction. I of course might be completely mistaken, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anywhere that he was an actual alcoholic, just that he went at it too hard and decided to give that side of his life up.

I agree, Adam cleary felt that he wanted to stop drinking, this doesn't mean he was an alcoholic, and for the record, Adam is English.
 
Well according to the Dunphy book Adam was smoking dope in Pakistan while he was still in school, so it's not like he decided in November 1993 to have a drink for the first time. Does it matter? and who cares?

More importantly, I have a copy of the Sun I'm trying to flog. Who's gonna bid???
 
How much work have you done with alcoholics or known? Do a little research, you'll find you're wrong in this assumption.

How much work have you done with alcoholics and how can you speculate and label someone as a "recovering alcoholic" for the rest of their lives if they have had previous substance abuse issues?
 
Is Adam's former alcoholism really our business? Famous people tend to go insane because their fans, God love them, are this... pesky.

We're just very lucky that Adam did pull through his issues and is in the best shape of his life, mentally and physically, now.

Yeah, I don't know if a millionaire, world-famous rock star is going to be able to handle some sensitive discussion on an internet-forum regularly visited by about 11 people on the subject of his health. The poor guy!

Also, how are "we" lucky that Adam pulled through? I would say the luckier ones are Adam's friends and family...

Usually, that would be right, but Adam is English.

The way I understood it is that Adam gave up his UK passport for an Irish one. To my way of thinking, that makes him Irish.
 
Funny thread. Has it ever even been stated that he was an actual alcoholic? Or just that he gave up boozing? There’s a big difference. Someone living a fast, jet setting, high profile life who, when hitting their 30s and having run aground a couple of times decides that it’s time to give up the penchant for seeing sunrise from the wrong side, for the good of his health and career, is very different to someone with a daily issue/addiction. I of course might be completely mistaken, but I don’t think I’ve ever read anywhere that he was an actual alcoholic, just that he went at it too hard and decided to give that side of his life up.

choosing alcohol over your job is pretty much in the definition of an alcoholic. as is choosing alcohol over anything, to be honest. it's fair to say he was one, but he hit his rock bottom fairly quickly in the process. good for him

/seriousness
 
Back
Top Bottom