Duff McKagan
By All Music Guide
By All Music Guide
After a self-released EP gained them more attention in the Los Angeles area, Geffen Records signed them for an album in 1986. The result, Appetite for Destruction, would be one of the most important rock records ever released, although it would be hard to tell from the initial impact. The album floundered at first, McKagan even considered going back to Seattle, until Welcome to the Jungle became a runaway hit. The band instantly became a huge sensation, and the media ate up their bad boy reputation and incredible live performances. The whole band let fame get to them, but no member took it as seriously as Axl Rose, who began to shake up the band with his increasingly controversial statements to the media and erratic behavior. Things became serious during the release of the Lies EP, which featured a racist rant in the song One in a Million that McKagan and Slash both spoke out against in the press. Rose slowly continued to dominate the band, driving out Adler and Stradlin and replacing them with less vocal contributors Matt Sorum and Gilby Clarke. Ironically, McKagan and Slash bonded with these two members strongly, making the distance between Rose and the other members only larger. When the band hit the road for the endless Use Your Illusion tour, the backstage decadence and wild spending became ridiculous, as opening bands would report to the press about orgies and pig roasts.
McKagan was disillusioned with the music he was making, and after contributing songs to Iggy Pops Brick by Brick, he tried his hand at a solo album. His drinking had gotten wildly out of control, and the resulting Believe in Me was a disjointed and awkward effort that failed to spark the publics interest. When the tour ended, McKagan discovered that his pancreas was in such terrible shape that he had to immediately give up drinking or face almost-certain death. After a cover of the Rolling Stones Sympathy for the Devil, the band separated to take time away from one another. Thinking that Guns N Roses was just taking a break, McKagan started working with Slash on the Slashs Snakepit project along with the other members of Guns N Roses, except for Rose. Sessions for a new Guns N Roses album continually fell apart, and McKagan started working with the Neurotic Outsiders and several solo projects from fellow- and former-Guns N Roses members. As the years began to tick away, Rose finally sent news to the remaining members of the band that they had to stop working on other projects or they were going to be fired. That was the final straw for McKagan, as he separated from the band and joined Seattle punk rockers Ten Minute Warning, a band he had played in almost 15 years before.
Since that point, McKagan has continued to release solo projects, perform with his fellow Guns N Roses outcasts, and was married for the third time. He even had his first child in 1999, and managed to get acting jobs on television. He ran a marathon in 2001, right before reuniting with Izzy Stradlin for a tour of Japan. The likelihood of the original Guns N Roses reuniting looks slimmer every year, but even his brief time with that band will forever give McKagan the notoriety that has made him one of the most recognizable bassists in rock music.
